Workout Suggestions?

Hey everyone,
I wanted to start a thread just to see how everyone was preparing for Plebe Summer.
Just post your ideas!
Mine: 500 pushups a day, everyday for Christmas break. Doesnt have to be at once, go for sets of 25-50 (Goal: 10000 Pushups before school starts again)

sounds like a good plan- i will do that too
u should try running

from what i can gather... running, push ups, flutter kicks, and more running are all good exercises to concentrate on in your workouts.

lots of sit ups....a good core helps lead to a good upper and lower body.

There are a lot of good sources out there to help you prepare for plebe summer.

I don't know if you attended NASS but the SEAL who stopped by for PEP one morning is an amazing fitness expert. Most people have already seen his site but here it is again

http://www.stewsmith.com/

He has a lot of good stuff, even an ebook targeted for service academies.

From what I've read and seen, Crossfit (www.crossfit.com) is also a really, really good place to get your workouts from. It's real intense workouts in a short amount of time, a real kick in the butt. They have a workout of the day for each day of the week, so you're never really left out to dry. If you don't have access to a weight room, theres a lot of variations and exercises to choose from, and you can always taylor them to fit your needs. I mean, I can't speak from experience like I've done plebe summer, but I feel pretty confident in saying that if you consistently use these, while supplementing your workouts with what you know you need, I think you'll be good.

If you want to periodically test yourself between now and summer, take the PRT and see how you do. It's 2 min of situps, 2 min push ups, and a 1.5 mile run, please correct me if I'm wrong. Looking on the internet I found these as the maxes and minimums,

Females: Maximum(Minimum)
1.5 mile run: 9:35 (12:40)
Pushups: 85 (20)
Situps: 101 (65)

Males: Maximum (minimum)
1.5 mile run: 8:15 (10:30)
Pushups: 101 (45)
Situps: 101 (65)

hope this helped.

also, forgot to mention, USNA has a recommended exercise routine

http://www.usna.edu/PlebeSummer/docs/25 PTR 2014 Exercise Routine.pdf

Mena, it helps, and yes I did attend NASS.
I was just asking for any ideas; like a big pot for everyone to chip in their workout routines.

here is the work-out I just did:
6.25 miles @ 6:46 pace, 20 min elliptical, 3 sets of 20 pushups, 150 situps, 4 sets of 5 pullups
took the CFA at NASS but I am going to retake it in 3 weeks

jtoye said:

here is the work-out I just did:
6.25 miles @ 6:46 pace, 20 min elliptical, 3 sets of 20 pushups, 150 situps, 4 sets of 5 pullups
took the CFA at NASS but I am going to retake it in 3 weeks

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That's some intense running!

It seems to me that as long as you are adept in a few exercises you'll do fine at the academy:
pushups
pullups
obviously your core(sit-ups/flutterkicks/etc)
running

I think those are the main ones, but everyone probably already knew that. For anyone looking at this thread don't just limit yourself to these exercises though. By all means go ahead and do squats, cleans, bench, curls, dip, swim, etc.

Just a word of caution:

Be in the best condition of your life - but not more so.

What I mean is; don't over train and risk injury. A stress fracture, bad case of shin splints, or a pulled back muscle can set you back a lot farther than only being able to do 75 situps. Make sure they's rest/recovery time in your workout schedule.

try this http://www.usna.edu/PEdept/docs/Prepare for Plebe Summer.pdf

then try to relax some, enjoy your friends, and yes, your parents! You'll need their support too. See if you can find a friend up to the challenge to share the pain with.

Then stay out of trouble. Good luck in your preparations and remember during your plebe summer "the only easy day was yesterday".

If you're brand new to fitness, I'd recommend Stew Smith or extremely scaled down crossfit. Otherwise I'd recommend finding what fits best for your fitness goals, remember that the PRT isn't everything, and a lot would argue that it's not really a great test.

The internet is a great resource and currently crossfit is one of the main hubs of fitness on the internet. I have my personal opinions about crossfit, but I'd recommend starting on their message boards and searching around. Or you can check out sealfit or militaryathlete both of which are two of the more prominent online fitness centers.

I don't recommend the recommended training program given by the academy.

Fitness is more of a “whatever floats your boat” kind of thing in my eyes. I keep in shape by eating right, and being active. In the past I have never done any sort of work out besides sport related. I only am starting to do push-ups and flutter kicks recently because I want to be INCREDIBLE at them before I go to PJ/CRO training. I am also going to start using an elliptical for legs and cardio because I HATE running (especially in cold, icy conditions where it isn’t even safe). I just do push ups whenever I feel like it for however long I want, (hence “whatever floats your boat”).

This works for me well, just as a over a long time kind of thing. Not if there is a specific goal in a relatively short time period, in that case consult a personal trainer for a workout plan.

The whatever floats your boat thing works well with pullups. I hung a pullup bar on my door. I started at 0 and i am at 6-7 now with a PR of 9.

Got a suggestion from wrestling coach:
Every day, do 50 situps, rollover do 50 pushups. Then rollover and do 40 situps, then 40 pushups. All the way down to 10.
Then add 10 to your starting set every week.
That, and if you run, and do pullups regularly, I think I'll be in shape for Plebe Summer.

CandidateElias15 said:

Got a suggestion from wrestling coach:
Every day, do 50 situps, rollover do 50 pushups. Then rollover and do 40 situps, then 40 pushups. All the way down to 10.
Then add 10 to your starting set every week.
That, and if you run, and do pullups regularly, I think I'll be in shape for Plebe Summer.

Click to expand...

Those work well when you have a strict goal, and time to get it in. I just personally don’t like doing it. There is so much time ahead of you that as long as you are moving and doing some pushups pullups situps you’ll probably be fine.

usna candidate said:

It seems to me that as long as you are adept in a few exercises you'll do fine at the academy:
pushups
pullups
obviously your core(sit-ups/flutterkicks/etc)
running

I think those are the main ones, but everyone probably already knew that. For anyone looking at this thread don't just limit yourself to these exercises though. By all means go ahead and do squats, cleans, bench, curls, dip, swim, etc.

Click to expand...

Weight lifting may not dramatically increase the number of push-ups and pull-ups. The only way to get better with these body weight exercises is to practice them. I increased my max bench by 30 pounds, and my max push-ups has stilled remained the same.
Squat did seem to help me run with more explosiveness when sprinting.

navy2016 said:

Weight lifting may not dramatically increase the number of push-ups and pull-ups. The only way to get better with these body weight exercises is to practice them. I increased my max bench by 30 pounds, and my max push-ups has stilled remained the same.
Squat did seem to help me run with more explosiveness when sprinting.

Click to expand...

it is because doing low reps of heavy bench press you are working on a different kind of muscle than doing very high reps of pushups. If you want to increase max pushups, do pushups, simple as that.

I was digging through some older posts on here and came across a very detailed recount of plebe summer in 2006. Here is the description of PT.

"After, we had PT with the entire plebe regiment Monday, Tuesday, Thurs, Fri, Sat. Wednesday and Sundays were rest days. We did everything during PT as a regiment. Beginning with stretching, we would then do either group runs, regimental runs, or the dreaded intervals. At the beginning of the summer, we were split into one of six groups depending on our running ability. I was put in group 2, which is for those who run a 5:45-6:10 mile. During group runs, we usually ran around 2~3 miles. Regimental runs sucked. We ran as a regiment in platoon formations around 2.5 miles. Although the place was much slower, it sucked because you had the shorten your stride and the pace constantly changed. Finally, for intervals, we would run as a regiment 1.5 miles over to the big field at the other side of the campus and run around 8 x 400 meter sprints. Once we finished that and were dead, we would run the 1.5 miles back. Once running was finished, we would get to strength workouts. Usually 6 x 40 pushups or a ladder of 3-5-7-9-11-13-15 up and down a few times. Then, the same for sit-ups. After were usually some squats, lunges, and flutter kicks. We quickly got used to it. Ending the PT sessions were stretches again."

For those that are not accustomed to running that much, I would suggest doing some speed work along with those long runs. I've run track through high school and 400 interval workouts like the one described above are some of the worst.

Whatever you're doing, just be consistent with it. I maxed out pushups, situps, and the mile (almost pullups) on my CFA and I don't really use weights very often. I'm on track/ cross country so that helps, but I do pushups and situps just about every day. It only takes me a few minutes, but I've been consistent with it for a few years and it's really helped. I do one set of as many pushups as I can, roll over directly into 100 situps, and then back into the number of pushups needed to make it 100 total. Then I do 100 more situps. I get this done in 5 minutes pretty easily. So 1/2 hour a week on core if I don't add anything else, and this small amount each day rarely makes me sore at all, so I'm able to function well all the time yet I'm benefitting from it as well. This combined with my track workouts gives me plenty of cardio/ core work.
I've changed my approach a few times, but I've found just sticking to any schedule is the most important thing.