Posted: 10/8/2007 8:42:50 AM EDT
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I am currently a senior in Highschool and I am planning to enter the military upon graduating (I only have one semester to take though because of extra classes I took over the summer so I can get off shithole Cape Cod faster). I am not in great shape, I can finish a mile run but its around 9 minutes. I can mabye do 25 good pushups if I bust my balls. I can do 30-50 situps with some effort. I used to be really out of shape but I few years ago I dieted and lost 40 pounds, but Ive put mabye 20 of that back on but thats with my growing and whatnot. I will stop drinking soda and other bad shit (I work at a starbucks after school and since I am the nightguy I probobly make myself about 15 dollars worth of free drinks every night (frappucinos and other stuff). No candy, cake or other posion. I cant stick to a super rigid diet but I will avoid super large portions and non wholesome foods. I am tall (6'4) and am mildy overweight (220 pounds). I cant work out several hours a day because I work at Starbucks a few hours after school gets out and I cant work out on wenesdays because I go to a community colledge after school for an extra class. My highschool has a really sweet fitness room with a wide variety of machines. I am looking to keep it around a 1 hour workout 4 days a week. I want to improve upon the following: Running (currently I am at a 9 minute mile) Pushups Situps Chin Ups and pull ups (I can wildy flail on the bar to get about one of each) I am thinking the following excersizes are best to improve. I am thinking of in addition to do the actual excersizes I will do things like bench press and lat pulls I want to do a two day system as in day 1, day 2, off (wenesday), day 1, day 2. This means I will work out 4 days a week. Please critique my plan which Ill be starting tomorrow. Day One: 1 Mile Run 3xSets of Pushups 3XSets of Bench press or brench press machine 3xSets Arnold Press 3xSets of Situps 3xSets of Abdominal machine (you sit in this chair and do curls against weights) 3xSets of leg pull ups (You hold onto the pull up bar and raise you knees up and down to work abs) Day Two: 1 Mile Run (attempt) 3x sets of Pullups 3x sets arm curl machine 3x Sets curls 3x Sets of Situps 3x Sets of Abdominal Machine 3x sets of leg pull ups. I suck at running at when I worked out for a period long ago it took weeks for me to work up to even being able to run a mile. When I hit a 7:30 mile (which wont be for a long time) I will increase the amount. I will report my progress here for people to comment on. |
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Increasing the distance you run will increase your speed in shorter distances, so don't wait till you run faster to run longer. As for push-ups, do them whenever you have a free minute in your day. Back in college, I would drop and do 25 whenever I was about to sit down and study/watch TV/read/etc... |
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To increase pushups you need to do this Two day rotation of pushups: 1) Do Regular pushups to max 2) Do Elevated Regular pushups to max and repeat, the number you can do will increase. Never accept a lower number than previous days, always go for the gusto. Also make sure you are doing pushups correctly, your body moves as a whole and your body goes below your shoulders, and back up. For situps just do the most you can do everyday. 80 will get you 100%. Also do flutter kicks to the max you can do, and do these everyday. In basic you will get smoked and these are always a favorite of Drill sergeants. |
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Let me see if I can help with the pull-ups. To do pull-ups you need to do pull-ups. Alternate days doing, pull-ups one day, and chin-ups the next. Work them 4 days a week. Do 3 sets of max number each day. Don't be alarmed if your max sets go down as you progress in the week. This happens. I would also suggest that you do overhead presses with a bar or dumbells to help with the antagonistic muscles involved in doing pull-ups. I like working pulling and pushing movements as super sets. You are going to find that your forearms and hands are going to be sore, along with your shoulders, back, abs, and lats. This is normal. These things are like doing squats for the upper body. They work just about everything. Persevere at these. It takes time to move your numbers up. Try to increase 1 rep per week. Once you get going on them, you will find that the number will go up fairly quickly. Let me know, if you have any other questions. |
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I am 85 percent sure that I want to enlist the USAF as a TACP. Here is my status report for the week. I could only work out 3 days because monday was Columbus day (no school), and wenesday I go to a community colledge right after school. My day two routine I have completed with time to spare. My running time (on treadmill right now) has improved and I am around an 830 mile. The only problem is pullups, my "sets" are more like flailing around on the bar but I do get bicep work. That coupeled with lat pulls and curls I should make progress eventually. Ab stuff is all good aswell, I am making progress. I have modified the list of excersizes I put up and I will update that monday. My day one routine is a mess. I suck at pushups even more than I did before. I can barely do 20 pushups, and they are shitty ones. I am restarting at trying to do good clean sets of 10-15. I used to be able to do 30-40. I only did the day one routine once this week and did not manage to finish everything, I did get some running (treadmill), situps, and shitty pushups in. Ive cleaned up my diet a little bit, I still take a sip from a mountain dew bottle in the fridge a few times a day, but not a huge amount. I have also eaten chinese food and a few slices of pizza over the course of the week. I am doing alright at regulating the volume of food I eat to a more sensible level. My goals withing the next 3 months are: being able to run a nonstop three miles. I want to be able to run 2 miles in under 15 minutes. 50 pushups 60 Situps 6 pull ups/ 6 chin ups Since this is the first week I am not sure if I can take the pushups and pull/chin ups that far realisticly. I feel confident my running and situps will be around my goal within that timespan. In a few weeks when I progress I have considered taking photos of my pushup/situp/pull up form for the .mil guys to critique. Thanks! |
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Here are a few links to various programs that I have used to get me in shape. Armstrong Pullup Program I have used this program to get me from 3 pullups to 12. If you do the morning portion it will also increase your pushups. Since you are having trouble doing more than one, do negatives. Get yourself a chair, place it under the bar and rest the top of your feet on the chair and slowly pull yourself up and slowly lower yourself back down. Do that 5 days a week and in no time will you get to a point where you can crank out enough pullups to start doing the Armstrong program. Get yourself a door mounted bar. You can do the pushups and pullups even if you cant make it to the gym. That way you have no excuse for not working out. It also shouldnt take more than 10-25 minutes a day. Dropping run time The idea behind this program is that you combine distance running as well as speed work to improve your running ability. More important than anything is to keep getting out there. If you miss a week dont let that get you down, get back out there. You can do it. Eat healthier, and keep at it you will succeed. Good luck James |
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Thanks for the tips! I just got home from working out. Eight minute mile on the treadmill. I am progressing well even after these two weeks. Pull ups definatly need more work, I will look into the info provided and thanks. If I have time when I get home from work I will post an update. |
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I think this is my third or fourth week since I started. I am doing well. I havent really run outside since its cold out and the gym class doesnt go outside this time of year. My mile is around 7:40 on the treadmill and I no longer feel like I am going to die when I finish. I estimate I will break 7:30 by the end of the week easy. Every day that I run on the treadmill I increase the speed by .1 mph, every time I do this it shaves a few seconds off my time and my body barely notices. This way I gradually take 10-15 seconds a week off. Pushups are getting better, I do sets of twenty now and sets of forty situps. Bench presses and other weighted ab excersizes help. Pull ups are getting better slowly, very slowly. I just found out that most military jobs require you to do pull ups with your hands facing outward and not in so I have alot of work to do since I cant even do two of those kind. My dieting is so so, but I avoid eating to the extreme. Progress is good, and I am hoping that within two weeks Ill break a seven minute mile on the treadmill. |
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you are running more than just 1 mile right if not instead of trying to run a 7min mile try to run 2 miles in 15min I know i didn't start seeing real gains in my runs until i started to do some distance running (5-6 miles at 715min pace) Trying running 3 miles at what every pace you can handle. The important thing is to get to the 3 mile mark and beyond |
Forget about what the pace is just get out there and run a good distance 2-3 miles. Focus less on time and more on running further. building up your endurance will allow you to run shorter distances quicker and not feel drained |