|
U.S. Army Physical Training Regimen Before I begin, I'll have to comment on the title of this article right off the bat. I've joined the U.S. Army. I'll discuss briefly the reasons why and then get into how I prepared physically for the endeavor. I'll be gone as of 20 February 2003 so if you are reading this before that date and you have any comments, send them on. If you are reading this after that date, I'll be unable to field emails. Around January 2002, I was in my last semester of the Master's program at the University of Illinois in Exercise Physiology. I began thinking about the type of job I'd want after graduate school. I remembered talks with my undergrad mentor about jobs in the military. Exercise Physiologists are used to answer questions such as How long can a soldier/marine stay in the desert with full gear before he passes out? or How much water would one need to sustain 6 hours of time in the desert in full gear? or What is the best method of physical training to prepare a soldier? All these questions interested me. Plus, at that time, you'll notice it was very soon after the terrorist attacks on the U.S. I wanted to do something for my country. I had previously considered working in professional/NCAA strength and conditioning, but since the attacks, that didn't seem useful enough for me. I was also using a good deal of biochemistry and immunology for my thesis (it dealt with the effects of exhaustive exercise on immune function) so I had a lot of lab skill I could possibly use in jobs at the CDC (Centers for Disease Control). I found chemical and biological weapons defense interesting as well. I started looking into these jobs in January 2002. The more I began to look, the more I found that it's hard to get into these fields in the military. Many times, they use actual military biologists/chemists/immunologists/MDs to do these tasks and the CDC was very competitive and had little use for anyone below a PhD with lots of experience. It took a while, but then I decided to look into actually being employed by the Army or Navy. Again, civilian opportunities were limited. The next step was to decide to actually JOIN the Army or Navy. Real quick, I am between Army and Navy because I wasn't as interested in air combat and the Navy is very closely linked with the Marine Corps, so between Army and Navy, I'd cover all major aspects of the service and could focus on all ground warfare (Army and Marines). OK, so I start to look into AMEDD (Army Medical) and Navy medical branches. You can join these branches of the military, be an actual officer yet not have to go through all the normal procedures for joining such as basic training or officer training a combat or combat support officer would go through. You'd, of course, never see actual fighting. This is for MDs or PhDs who want to help the country yet don't have any desire to fight. I found out it's also very competitive and, again, MDs and PhDs (nurses too) make up the vast majority of these positions. I talked with the Navy about Aerospace Physiology, which did seem very interesting when I thought about it, but despite the recruiter telling me I could qualify despite it being one of the most challenging jobs to get, there weren't any openings. They take only a few people per year I was told. OK, now...what's left? Joining the military full force, actual Army or Marines (all I was interested in of the 4 branches). This may seem like it was my only choice and in a way it was if I wanted to be in the military field, but the more I got into the process of finding a military-type job, the more the idea of actually joining appealed to me. At first, it seems ridiculous almost, but then I did get psyched up for it and wanted to put myself out there 100%. How could I do any more, right? So I went in and joined up. I was failry evenly divided between the Army and Marine Corps, but due to a screw-up of huge proportions, the Corps took too many officer candidates earlier in 2002 (the applications rose after 9-11) and ended up filling all their classes for the whole year by the summer. I went in there in July or August and they weren't even taking applications for new officers. That made my decision really easy. U.S. Army. Overall, I prefer it because many times Marines are placed on Navy ships for extended periods of time and this didn't appeal to me at all. The Marines and the Army are similar in they are both ground warfare tactical forces, but the Marines are the fighting arm of the Navy really and they are more quickly deployed. The Army can't put as many people as fast on the ground, but in a large scale war, the Army would use more personnel (it is much larger than the Corps). I was also interested in NBC (nuclear, biological, and chemical) defense and the Marines doesn't offer as much potential for officers in this regard. The Army has a larger budget, more soldiers, and more opportunity in this regard. I got my final acceptance late in 2002 and signed my contract to leave in February 2003. I will spend 9 weeks at Fort Benning in Georgia for Basic Training (boot camp as it is often called), then 14 weeks at Officer Candidate School (OCS) also at Benning, then mid-way through OCS I will get assigned a branch of the Army to be an officer in. I then spend an additional few months learning how to be an officer in the particular branch to which I am assigned. So as of now, I do not know what my job will actually be other than I will be an officer. I will request branches and they will assign me one based on my background and skills as well as the needs of the Army. There are combat branches like Infantry, Artillery, Armor (tanks) and combat support branches like Chemical Corps (nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons) and Military Intelligence as well as many others. I am interested primarily in Chemical Corps and Intelligence right now with interest in any combat branch. I'd like to be heavily involved in the "action." The Army has many jobs in finance or journalism for example where people will never see combat. I'm interested in getting the full experience as it were. OK, so I'm in. Now, how I do I prepare physically for the challenge? First, I needed to assess how this changes my current program and goals. I have/had been training to be as muscular as possible with an emphasis on improving strength. I hadn't been seriously following a cardiovascular training regimen for many years. While being more muscular and strong are important to some degree, this isn't nearly ideal for military training, which I feel is athletic training really. You need to be able to do things fast, efficiently, and for long periods of time. None of these are accomplished with a bodybuilding-type program. Second, I know that there is a specific Army physical fitness test one has to pass. You must do over 15 push-ups, 20 sit-ups, and run 2 miles in under 17 minutes. While the push-ups and sit-ups are no problem, the running was. So, I need to begin a much more rigorous cardiovascular training routine. OK, got that. Now, I don't actually do push-ups or sit-ups, so if I am to do well on them, I should actually do them instead of just train the muscles that are involved. While a bench press is very similar to a push-up, you need much more body control to do a push-up. I'll need to do more core stability work (abs, lower back, and obliques) as well. Most importantly, I'll need to work on my muscular endurance a great deal. Being able to bench press 350 pounds would easily allow for 20-30 push-ups, but how about 80? The tests for push-ups and sit-ups are over a 2 minute period where you do as many as you can. I can bang out 30 easy, but after 40 I am D-U-N DONE. That'll I'll have to remedy. Remember, I don't just want to PASS the tests, I want to WIN them all and score in the 100th percentile. It's 75 or more push-ups in 2 minutes and 80 or more sit-ups in 2 minutes. Same with the run. Sub 7-min. miles is my goal, 6:30 miles or better for 2 miles is the 100th percentile. OK, my program has dramatically changed. I include movements such as cleans, push presses, snatches, sit-ups, push-ups, lots of hip flexor work, lots of speed work (faster repetition speed), and a lot of cardio. I have had lots of experience working with athletes and I implemented many of the techniques I used with them that previously weren't very useful for a bodybuilder. My goal is to be prepared for a World's Strongest Man competition (due to all the unconventional strength events they have to do) while at the same time being in marathon running shape (26 miles). Quite an endeavor. Here's what I do: I'll begin with my cardio routine. I began by just getting into shape. I needed to improve my fitness level to a good degree before I could expect good performance. I wanted to stay away from running as long as I could to alleviate any undue joint stress. Running, while probably the most beneficial cariovascular exercise, is also the most physically demanding on the knees, ankles, hips, and spine. I began with 30-45 minutes of treadmill walking, cycling, or the elliptical machine at 60%-75% of max heart rate 3 times a week average. I did this from August until December. This improved my fitness to a high degree. In there somewhere, I began wearing a backpack filled with books (30-50 lbs. worth) to simulate the gear I'd have to wear in the field. I wanted my body able to work at a challenging intensity for long periods of time while wearing a backpack. Then in January 2003 I began to train cardiovascularly much more rigorously. I began to do only running/fast walking. I increased my duration to 45 to 60 minutes per session and increased the frequency to 5-7 times a week. I implemented interval training (running at fast speed for one minute then walking briskly for one minute, repeat) and sprint training (max speed for very short distance). A typical cardio workout for me as of yesterday was 30 minutes of walking at an incline on the treadmill with a 50-lb. backpack at 60% of max heart rate, followed by 20 minutes of interval work of running for 1 minute followed by 1 minute of recovery walking repeated 10 times working from a 75% run to 100% run speed, followed by 10 minutes cool down at 60% for a total of 60 minutes. Other method of interval training would be to run for 2 minutes, rest for 1, or run at higher intensities but for only 30 seconds at a time. It is endlessly variable. The goal is to be able to sustain long marches which would be done at low intensity but for multiple hours wearing full gear as well as to be able to run shorter distance quickly (sub-7-min. miles), as well as be able to sprint faster and be able to repeat sprint performance over time (as would be needed on an obstacle course or on a battle field moving from position to position). I'd like to comment on using a treadmill versus regular road/track running a little further. First, it really quantifies everything much better in that you can actually know you speed whereas with running on a road, you have to estimate. Also, even on a road, if you find your max heart rate at a given speed, it's very difficult to maintain that exact speed. Varying by even a modest degree could change your heart beat 10 beats per minute, which is significant. On a treadmill, your heart rate changes with each increase or decrease in speed and/or grade (the angle of inclination). So once you find a heart rate you want to maintain, all you have to do is maintain this speed and grade on the treadmill. Even more useful is when running intervals. If, for example, I were to try and repeat my intervals on a road, I'd have to guess what feels like 75% and then maintain that for a full minute. Even harder would be to maintain a fixed higher intensity interval for 60 seconds. By the end, you surely fade, but on a treadmill, you have to maintain the identical speed. It leaves less up to guesswork. Even using a track and timing your intervals isn't as easy since you again have to guess where you are in the middle of the interval. Even if you know your ending time for an interval and can estimate intensity, it still leaves questions as to whether you started faster or ended faster. Although not as comfortable per se as running without being on a treadmill, I have found it to be very helpful. Being able to increase the grade and not have to run yet be able to raise my heart rate sufficient is also very useful at time and offers a new challenge when compared with continuous running on a low incline. Many people have a hard time switching from flat ground to any incline because their lower leg muscles are not used to this kind of stress. It is easier to switch from a higher incline to a lower one, however, so you are covered both ways if you train under this doctrine. Now, for my resistance training routine, I needed primarily to strengthen the supplemental muscle groups ignored during bodybuilding workouts like hip flexors, inner/outer thigh stabilizing muscles, and obliques, basically the center of the body. I needed to focus strongly on remaining strong for brief periods as in powerlifting, but also to be able to remain strong over long periods. For example, a powerlifter may be able to squat 500 lbs. once yet only be able to squat 400 lbs. 3 times in one minute whereas an athlete may only max out at 450 lbs. yet be able to squat 400 lbs. 8 times in one minues. I'd call this something like "strength endurance." This seems like an oxymoron in that it contradicts itself somehow. It isn't. Just getting stronger itself will max sub-max resistances feel lighter, but that doesn't mean you will be able to repeatedly perform a sub-max contractions at an elite level. Further, improving endurance itself would help partially as well, but using low intensity weights for repeated contractions will certainly not improve your ability to use a 90% max resistance well. To further illustrate this point between maximum ability and sub-max repeatability, I recall a story of 2 distance runners whose names I cannot recall. They were both elite runners and regularly fought for the winning spot in marathons and/or Olympic events. One man always seemed to prevail. After enough of these victories, exercise physiologists got a hold of these guys and did tests on them. What they found was a perfect portrayal of the kind of results I am training for. Man A had a VO2 max of something like 80 ml/mk/min and Man B had one of 76 ml/kg/min. These are awesome numbers if you have no idea how they compare to normal people. The problem was Man B was the one who won regularly. Hmmm. Then the measured them at a fixed intensity of their maxes. They put both men at 90% of the max VO2. They found Man B could maintain 90% much longer than Man A. Now, despite Man B having a lowering maximal oxygen uptake, he beat Man A repeatedly because Man B could maintain a higher speed/VO2 for longer periods of time. This is an example of a cardiovascular event, but the same kind of principle applies if you are interested in a repeated sub-max resistance event such as during a 2-min. push-up test or crawling on your knees for a very long distance wearing full gear. Basically, I needed to strengthen every area of my body in the ability to be able to be not just strong but strong repetitively. Further, I needed to develop my power, which is the ability to be strong quickly in terms of speed. Again, a powerlifter (this is a misnomer since powerlifting doesn't involve POWER almost at all) may be able to bench press 400 lbs. once but it takes him 5 seconds. I'd rather press no more than 300 but be able to do it in 1 second and be able to repeat it many times. This is accomplished by training for speed. I divided my routine up into phases and each has an explicit goal. Phase 1 is warm-up. I do 60 seconds each of bear crawls, squat thrusts, jumping jacks, and toe touches followed by contracting and relaxing every muscle in the body 10 times through each joint's full range of motion. I do the old school calisthenics movements because they are great and because I'll probably have to do them as part of military physical training. I perform 60 seconds of a 75% jog then 60 seconds of a moderate speed walk on a 5% inclined treadmill. I do this between each phase to keep my heart rate high and make the whole workout more physically challenging. Phase 2's goal is strength/power endurance. I do a movement probably none of you have ever seen or done. Check out this illustration of the movement and read the following explanation of its execution. I take a DB and hold it vertically so the side of the DB faces the ceiling. If you could imagine holding a DB in front of your body as in a front deltoid raise but with both hands, almost like you're holding a sword. Sounds weird, I know. I then swing the DB between my legs bending at the lower back and knees and then bring it back up again to my face/mid-chest level. It's like a powerful front raise building up as much momentum as possible with each "swing" as it's called. It's basically a total body contraction done very explosively. If you're still confused, don't ever try it and just know that it's hard. If you do it heavy (I use 75 lbs.) for 30 seconds, you'll be at maximum heart rate by the end. I got my HR well over 200 beats per minute just doing swings. I learned these from Pavel Tsatsouline's Kettlebell program. I use a DB instead of a Kettlebell. We do this at a gym where I worked in between grad school and the Army so I implemented them in my routine. Read more about Kettlebell if you want by doing a Google search. You'll find tons of stuff. OK - back to the program. I got to the point now where I do 1 swing, 1push-up, then 2 mountain climbers all in a row, the 2 swings, 2 push-ups, 4 mountain climbers in a row the 3, 3, and 6 all the way to 17 swings, 17 push-ups, then 34 mountain climbers (A mountain climber if you don't know is done from a sprinter's starting block stance. You bring one knee/foot forward, the other backwards alternating over and over.). I do it all in a row with no rest at any point. My heart rate gets over 200 beats per minute, I tax the whole system in terms of power, strength, and endurance. Why do I do 17 "steps?" Mainly because 17 is really, really hard. I used to do this up to 10 without the mountain climbers, but as I got in better shape, I stepped it up (no pun intended). I have had other people perform these and 10 absolutely kills them. I am looking to get to 20 steps before I leave for Basic, which would be well over 20 minutes of continuous work with having completed over 200 push-ups while heavily fatigued. It's easily the hardest thing I've ever regularly performed in any training regimen. And this is only Phase 2. 60 sec, running/60 sec. walking on treadmill again. Phase 3 is aimed at the pushing and pulling muscles and improving their endurance. I do 1-arm flat bench DB chest presses followed by 1-arm DB rows (same side of the body) followed by the other arm. So it's R press/R row/L press/L row with no rest in between any sets. Each interval (right-side chest press is an example of an interval) is 60 seconds of continual contraction whether it's quicker at points, slower at points, or holding static positions. The idea is to work for 60 seconds continuously. I choose to do 1 arm at a time because this is more challenging for the core of the body and the unbalance of weight on one side forces the body into an awkward position, which strengthens core (hips, abs, lower back region). I do this twice through. To reinforce, it's 60 seconds of right-arm chest press, right into 60 sec. of right-arm rowing, no rest, 60 sec. of left-arm pressing, 60 sec. of left-arm rowing, then repeat once more. It's rough too. 50 lbs. get pretty heavy. I have 25s, 50s, and 75s at home, and 50 is the only one I can complete this cycle with and make it challenging. 25 is too easy, 75 too hard. I choose to do a time and not a number of reps. It's a big difference. 60 sec, running/60 sec. walking on treadmill again. Phase 4 is aimed at improving lower body strength, stability, and endurance. I perform 4 total sets of walking lunges holding a DB at shoulder's height. I do 2 sets per leg meaning I put the same leg forward each lunge the entire set. A walking lunge is done when you are actually moving across a room versus a normal lunge in a gym where you lunge forward and then return to the same starting position. I actually walk across the room and keep turning around for the whole set. I do 60 seconds per set. I do a full 60 seconds with the first leg, take a 30-second break, then 60 seconds for the other leg, 30 seconds off, then 60 seconds for the first leg, 30 seconds off, then 60 seconds for the last leg. Keeping the DB at shoulder height the entire time is pretty tough in an of itself. The balance required for this is much more than a traditional lunge as well. Moving forward with each lunge adds a whole new dimension. Also, using only one DB and causing a slight imbalance of the body also causes more stability work and taxes the ancillary (supplemental) muscles much more than evenly balanced resistance. 60 sec, running/60 sec. walking on treadmill again. Phase 5 is a power phase. I do 2 sets (each arm gets 2 sets) of one arm DB cleans, 5 reps each set. Then 2 sets of one arm DB snatches, 3 reps each. I take a little time in between these sets due to the danger factor of these movements. 75 lbs. I use here although I could handle more. I wanted to get a 100, but it would have taken weeks to order it and I wasn't going to be around long enough to wait for it. 60 sec, running/60 sec. walking on treadmill again. Phase 6 is aimed at the arms and their strength endurance. I do a curl followed by a lying eblow extension. I use both my 25s, one in each hand obviously. I do the movement in a simultaneous alternating motion, which means I curl the right arm, then as I lower the right arm, I begin to curl the left arm so they meet in the middle and pass each other, pause, then repeat the other way (left down, right up together) so each arm is never resting. Many people do one arm curls where they do a right arm curl all the way up then all the way down, then they do the left up and down. This allows one arm to fully rest. I don't want that. I want contiuous motion. I choose to do it this way instead of both hands together at once in the same direction because it require more balance. So I do 60 seconds of curls (sometimes hammer curls) then immediately follow it with 60 seconds of lying eblow extensions (for the Triceps) done simultaneously alternating as well, follwed immediately by 60 seconds again of the curl, then 60 more seconds of the lying elbow extensions. I get a good pump from this as you can imagine, lots of aching too. I focus on the arms here for support in push-ups and chin-up-type movements. 60 sec, running/60 sec. walking on treadmill yet again. Phase 7 is for the core. I do 2 abdominal exercises followed by 3 body position holds. For example, last time I did 60 seconds of regular sit-ups, rested 30 seconds, then did 60 seconds of regular sit-ups (not crunches mind you but sit-ups), rested 30 seconds, then did a combination movement where I did a straight-legged raise (from lying flat on the ground to raising my legs straight up into the air to make a side-ways "L" with my body), lowered my legs, then went into a sit-up with my legs flat on the ground and making a normal "L" shape, lowering my upper body, and repeating. It focuses heavily on the hip flexors and the rectus abdominis. I did this one for 60 seconds, rested 30, then 60 seconds again, rested 30 then did body position holds. It is called an iron cross. You are on one hand and try to make your body straight through the core. I did a little drawing to explain here. I do this for each side of the body, 60 seconds each side (no rest of course) then 60 seconds of a hold to the center, which is basically a push-up-type position except you drop to your forearms and hold your body stiff as a board. See this drawing for the visual. These last 3 hold movements are excellent for the core (hips, abs, lower back), but in addition they are great for improving push-ups as they focus directly on the supplemental muscles of the push-up such as the shoulder stabilizing muscles, the quads, hams, calves, abs, back, and neck. I end with lots of stretching for the whole body. If I'm up to it, I try and get in a cardio workout right after just to punish myself a bit more. Some final program notes and comments:
These workouts are easily the hardest I've ever performed. The underlying theme here to ask your body to perform a multitude of tasks for longer periods of time and with as much effort as possible and to have my body ready for any challenge thrown at it and actually have the tasks thrown at me feel EASIER than what I throw at myself. Now all that's left is to see it work in the PT test and in the field. |
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
