I need to get in shape for the military. Here is my old stats, my current stats, and what they need to be

2 min situps: was 18. now 41. needs to be 54

2 min pushups: was 0 now 5 needs to be 21

1.5 mile run: was 18:00. now 16:45. needs to be 15:00

So the situps and run are coming right along, no real worries there. But I've been doing pushups this whole time, and hardly seem to be getting any better. Help me! Would weights help? The hardest part of a pushup for me is the lower half, lifting myself up. I've been doing inclined pushups on the stairs but my floor pushups are still bad.

I want to get in shape quick as possible.

Also advice for running & situps would be appreciated as well. thank you, TWW jocks!

5/19/2008 10:02:29 PM

military?

why?

5/19/2008 10:06:10 PM

Quote :

"The hardest part of a pushup for me is the lower half, lifting myself up."

You don't say

5/19/2008 10:16:27 PM

^^

5/19/2008 10:18:39 PM

wait what?

we have jocks here?

5/19/2008 10:19:56 PM

When you say lower half, do you mean the lower part of the maneuver or the lower section of your body keeping rigid? I assume it means the former and I would use some higher weight, lower reps on the benchpress and isolation of the triceps using their full extension, or range of motion. But thats just me.

5/19/2008 10:21:05 PM

WELL SHIT,
I CANT WAIT FOR arcgreek TO DROP SOME POMPOUS KNOWLEDGE !

5/19/2008 10:33:29 PM

youre joining the military....?

5/19/2008 10:39:25 PM

holy fuck! that's all you have to do to qualify for whatever branch of the military?!?

The simple answer is: you just need to keep doing them until you can do enough.

I'm no personal trainer, but I would suggest doing as absolute much exercise (until your body cannot complete it anymore given sufficient rest between sets) on the involved muscle groups on the first day, as much as you can of the other on the second day, and the third on the third day. Rest on the 4th and do it all over again.

[Edited on May 19, 2008 at 10:42 PM. Reason : .]

5/19/2008 10:41:18 PM

ive been working out. you wanna come to the gun show?

5/19/2008 11:24:39 PM

the best way I found to increase my # of push-ups was to do........ more push-ups (shocker, I know)

Basically what I did was as I was just layin around watching tv, everytime a commercial would come on, instead of changing the channel, I did push-ups (or sit-ups, etc) for the entire commercial break.

And of course PT'ing in the am with ROTC helped

what branch? enlisted or officer?

[Edited on May 19, 2008 at 11:35 PM. Reason : stuff]

5/19/2008 11:34:34 PM

^I'm guessing officer since she just made a thread about graduating.

5/20/2008 12:40:05 AM

Do more pushups, when you reach failure go to your knees and keep doing them until your chest/arms are smoked. Do wide-arm, diamonds, etc. Cobra's are good. Do some weight training focusing on chest and triceps.

Also, if you are going through some sort of OCS you will more than likely need to do pull-ups. which will help your pushups, so start doing those.

5/20/2008 12:53:39 AM

ha i already qualify... cool

stop doing inclined pushups and do floor ones if that's where you're hurting

5/20/2008 3:12:56 AM

this is just my experiences from the PRT

after you can't do pushups, do sun gods (arms out going in circles forward and back, small and large, then overhead)....do that till your shoulders can't keep your arms up....then do more pushups...seriously

also, make sure you know if it's pushups or situps first....doing pushups will take some strain on your abs while keeping your body in position...so be sure you can do the situps after you do the req pushups

when i was at the academy, we had a 10:30 1.5 mile req....i used to run 3-4 miles daily at a decent pace...surprisingly easy to knock out sub 7 min miles when you're used to running longer distances

5/20/2008 3:22:00 AM

When I have a PT test coming up I do this routine for a month:

Monday/Wednesday: Upper
Tuesday Thursday: Lower


Upper:

1x50 pushups
10x25 pushups
5x15 pushups

1 minute each side (Left, Right, Straight) Planks x3 sets


Lower:
1x50 Situps
10x25 Situps
5x15 Situps
4x200 crunches (50 legs flat on ground, 50 legs regular, 50 legs 45 degrees, 50 legs 90 degrees)
4x100 flutter kicks

Rest 1 minute between sets. Obviously you'll need to adjust the numbers such as your initial set may be 1x20 or so, then 10x15 pushups.

Take a full PT test every friday to test your improvement.

For running, run intervals. Say Monday morning or afternoon, Wednesday, Saturday. Run 2 miles with a breakdown like this 1/4 Run 1/4 Jog 1/4 Run 1/4 Jog for 2-3 miles.

I stole this program from a DA school I went to. It has worked well for me and all I know who have tried it. However I wouldn't do it more than about a month or so.

I use it before every PT test like I said and almost always make a 300. Let me know if you need any clarification

5/20/2008 12:24:15 PM

What you need, Nerdchick, is a personal trainer.

Perhaps this guy.

5/20/2008 12:30:01 PM

Quote :

"ha i already qualify... cool"

you're a woman?

Quote :

"The hardest part of a pushup for me is the lower half, "

do throw downs, on your back raise your legs, have someone stand around your head and push away on your feet, you try to keep your feet up.

superman drill, on your stomach lift your legs and arms apart in front of you/ behind you off the ground (you only want to be touching the floor with your torso)

sounds like some of your core muscles and upper leg muscles arent strong enough to maintain the posture of a push up when it's under the greatest stress down going up.

also practice just staying in the "up" stance of a push up in perfect form straight back to leg line, that should help, you should be able to do a minute or 4 of that.

that combined with what you are doing should work the best...

you will see the most improvement the more you push yourself (yeah its not gonna feel good really)




why are you going into the military and what branch?

5/20/2008 3:12:10 PM

Quote :

"^I'm guessing officer since she just made a thread about graduating."

I've known many people who went enlisted after they graduated college. I wouldn't, but I've known those who have

5/20/2008 4:58:07 PM

8 count body builders is what they made us do all through boot camp... start at the standing position


1 - crouch

2 - kick legs out behind you as you rock onto your palms so that your upper body is supported with arms extended so you are now in the push up ready position

3 - push your legs into the air, kinda bounce so that you can kick legs out to form a triangle as far as you can

4 - Bounce again and bring your legs back together for the normal push up position

5- bend your elbows to a ninety degree angle being sure to keep your back completely straight -- a lot of people tend to arch their backs during a push up. When I was in, these were considered a waste and not counted toward your total

6 - bring yourself back to the extended arm ready push up position

7 - bounce your legs back into the crouched position

8 - return to a standing position


If you can try to do about 20 of these per hour you will build up fast. We would do these sometimes for hours in what the CC's called cycling. Sometimes for extra torture they would make us put on everything in our lockers and cycle.

anyway... I am now just a slightly overweight married guy, but back in the day I was decent




[Edited on May 20, 2008 at 5:23 PM. Reason : asdf]

5/20/2008 5:20:22 PM

thanks for the advice guys

I'm applying to be an instructor at nuclear power school in Charleston. Haven't gotten accepted yet, first I have to pass the PFT!! It's an officer position.

I did 10 pushups today! I think my core is the weak link like Arab13 said. That's the area that gets most tired. Knee pushups don't seem to help b/c they're too easy

5/20/2008 5:55:55 PM

i dont understand how you can't do more

i can do more than that and havent done any in years

5/20/2008 6:56:40 PM

my advice is if you're having trouble doing 5 pushups then the army is not for you

5/20/2008 7:14:03 PM

Quote :

"i dont understand how you can't do more i can do more than that and havent done any in years"

HOLY SHIT

MEN CAN DO MORE PUSHUPS THAN WOMEN!!!

5/20/2008 7:22:45 PM

she's been working out and trying, it's not that simple.. but good job stating the obvious

5/20/2008 7:35:20 PM

I've always had a habit of doing push-ups randomly. That would really be tough to work up from 5. Maybe the bench presses if it would let you do more than 5, so you would actually get an exercise from it.

Remember, if you're not sore later, you didn't do them right.

5/20/2008 7:37:44 PM

HOLY SHIT

[USUALLY], MEN CAN DO MORE PUSHUPS THAN WOMEN EVEN IF THE MAN HASN'T WORKED OUT IN YEARS AND THE WOMAN HAS BEEN WORKING OUT

5/20/2008 7:37:52 PM

Quote :

"my advice is if you're having trouble doing 5 pushups then the army is not for you"

yeah, this is bullshit. Chances are, if you're going for it then you probably have some drive to change your body type, and that's really not hard in the long run.

I'm know you're perfectly capable of getting in there with a little work. Just don't worry about the rest! The military will have you doing push-ups to their heart's content in no time

5/20/2008 7:42:56 PM

Quote :

"i dont understand how you can't do more i can do more than that and havent done any in years"

dude, you're gonna be confused by a lot in life if this is throwing any sort of curve at you...

5/20/2008 8:11:23 PM

Bench presses and practice practice practice helped me to be able to do 30+ standard pushups consecutively. Try doing modified pushups with your five standard pushups and then do one more standard one ever day. If you can keep that up you should be ready in a few weeks.

5/20/2008 8:30:32 PM

^ good idea. TheBullDoza has a weight bench in the garage that I could be taking advantage of

and yes, I'm aware that I'm not good at pushups. That's why I'm trying to get better.

Also I have some good news! I just got back from a run and my 1.5 mile time was 15:33!!! It was my first timed run on a relatively flat course (Lake Johnson). It's encouraging to see myself improving. When I started I could barely run a twelve minute mile, and I'd be huffing and puffing like crazy. Now I run 3 miles most days and breathe with ease!

5/20/2008 8:54:39 PM

Awesome progress. Just keep at it and you'll be a real pro.

5/20/2008 9:08:30 PM

Just do it.

Practice each exercise (with appropriate stretching/calisthenics beforehand) until you reach the desired level.

HOOAH.

5/23/2008 1:06:43 AM

if you can't do a push-up, you might be able to bench press the bar, lol

5/23/2008 1:28:10 AM

Jesus, you're going to be an officer?

Now I can see where the enlisted guys get their attitude from.

In any case, you need to build your upper body strength so you can do push ups, maxing at 5 constantly won't be good for getting gains. You can train with girl push-ups to get endurance until you can do more regular push-ups with consistency and/or you can change your hand positioning. A regulation push-up is with your hands under your shoulders, or otherwise shoulder-width apart. Widening your hands past shoulder width could help completing push ups and let you build to higher number of regular push ups.

[Edited on May 23, 2008 at 2:08 AM. Reason : ;]

5/23/2008 2:02:49 AM

Quote :

"It was my first timed run on a relatively flat course (Lake Johnson)."

wait, what? Lake Johnson is not what I'd call "flat". At least not the back half of the east side (I've never done the west though).

5/23/2008 10:09:01 AM

I ran out to the 1 mile marker and back, that part of the trail is pretty flat.

and I just ran a 2 mile loop around my neighborhood and took a minute off my best time!

5/23/2008 11:49:40 AM

I just did 20 pushups!!!! not bad, considering when I started training I couldn't do one.

this week I've been doing about 100 a day, in increments of 12 every hour. I can do 61 situps in 2 minutes. Haven't timed my run yet.

6/11/2008 4:45:01 PM

Quote :

"I'm applying to be an instructor at nuclear power school in Charleston. Haven't gotten accepted yet, first I have to pass the PFT!! It's an officer position."

ha

i know a guy that just quit

6/11/2008 4:51:51 PM