Transforming

JoeySwink

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Jan 14, 2016
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I have a few questions about life changes. Currently I am an 165 pound male. I can do the max push-ups and sit-ups in two minutes for AROTC, but I'm still about a minute off of the time for a two mile run to make it under 13 minutes. So I'm sitting at around 13:50. I have a self imposed strict diet and I'm trying to build lean muscle. I will be going into AROTC at UNCC in the fall under a 4 year scholarship. What should I change? Should I wourkout once a day or twice? Also, should I get bigger? How often does ROTC make you test?
 
Your thinking this too hard. Keep doing what you are doing and chill a little. When you get there in the fall you will have plenty of time to figure out what is expected. It sounds like you have the right level of commitment and motivation (and then some) and you will do fine. No need for two a days, or crazy workout regimes, or performance enhancing drugs. If your scores are where you say they are your fine
 
I will second Clarksonarmy on the fact you are thinking too hard. Just keep doing what you are doing, but do not over do it, there will become a point where doing too much, and restricting your diet too much can do more harm than good. I haven't been in the industry for about 3 1/2 years, but my graduate education and the majority of my career is in this area. I have trained/done nutrition plans for the average Joe, but also athletes and more than one person trying to pass their APFT or make weight, and trust me, just being consistent and reasonable overtime is your best strategy. Basically, living a fit lifestyle will make you fit, doing crazy stuff, just makes you crazy.

You say your strict diet is self imposed, but based on what? Just be careful with that, make sure you are getting enough food and try not to get to crazy with restricting any of the macro nutrients, your body needs balanced nutrition to function. And be careful when "trainers" call themselves "nutrition counselors" or pass themselves off as nutrition experts of any kind, don't just be careful, be very afraid! PM me if you have any specific questions, but keeping it simple is your best bet.
 
I get up at 5:30 every morning and am at the gym by 6:00. Me and my other friend who is joining the Army are doing minute rotations. One does the workout non stop for a minute, the other rests. You then switch out immediately after with no break. You only get a 2 minute water break once every 8 complete rotations. Do this for an hour/Hour and a half. At the end run 2 miles or a mile.

The key is having a partner while doing this. You constantly push each other, so there is no room for slacking off. Because of this, your workouts are exponentially more effective than working out on your own, as everyone starts to get lazy towards the end. We plan on doing this from now until Aug 17th. By then, I should be able to max the APFT.


Just giving you an idea of what my plans are. You may or may not want to do something similar.
 
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As a track/XC runner, I can't emphasize mileage enough if you're trying to get your run time down. Try to get out and run at least a couple miles a day, and it doesn't have to be hard. Lots of easy mileage with a one or two harder days a week will work wonders for your running, especially if you haven't been placing as much emphasis on that as the other parts of the PFT. You can maintain your strength in the other areas while running higher mileage as long as you keep up the strength work.

I would pick two days of the week, leaving at least one day between them, to do your hard running workouts. Maybe start with one day if you're still getting used to running more. The days in between should either be off or an easy 3-4 miles. Some good workouts for building endurance are:
1. 3x or 4x1 mile a little slower than 2-mile pace, so for you about 6:40-6:50;
2. 4x or 5x1 kilometer maybe just a tad quicker, like maybe 4:00-4:10ish
3. 2-mile tempo run (a tempo is supposed to be hard but not all-out, so maybe 14:00-14:10 for you);
4. 4x800m on a track at your 2-mile goal pace, so 3:15 or faster. This is a good one to do the week before your PFT because it sharpens up your system and gets you used to running the pace you need to hit.
(Make sure to jog a mile to warmup and at least a half mile to cool down after all of these. Stretch too.)

Another thing you might want to try is weekly long runs. Go out on a Saturday or Sunday morning and run 6-8 miles starting off easy and picking it up a little in the second half. If you can hit about 20 miles per week with 1-2 of those workouts and one long run, you should be good to go. Good luck!
 
As a track/XC runner, I can't emphasize mileage enough if you're trying to get your run time down. Try to get out and run at least a couple miles a day, and it doesn't have to be hard. Lots of easy mileage with a one or two harder days a week will work wonders for your running, especially if you haven't been placing as much emphasis on that as the other parts of the PFT. You can maintain your strength in the other areas while running higher mileage as long as you keep up the strength work.

I would pick two days of the week, leaving at least one day between them, to do your hard running workouts. Maybe start with one day if you're still getting used to running more. The days in between should either be off or an easy 3-4 miles. Some good workouts for building endurance are:
1. 3x or 4x1 mile a little slower than 2-mile pace, so for you about 6:40-6:50;
2. 4x or 5x1 kilometer maybe just a tad quicker, like maybe 4:00-4:10ish
3. 2-mile tempo run (a tempo is supposed to be hard but not all-out, so maybe 14:00-14:10 for you);
4. 4x800m on a track at your 2-mile goal pace, so 3:15 or faster. This is a good one to do the week before your PFT because it sharpens up your system and gets you used to running the pace you need to hit.
(Make sure to jog a mile to warmup and at least a half mile to cool down after all of these. Stretch too.)

Another thing you might want to try is weekly long runs. Go out on a Saturday or Sunday morning and run 6-8 miles starting off easy and picking it up a little in the second half. If you can hit about 20 miles per week with 1-2 of those workouts and one long run, you should be good to go. Good luck!
Be careful with your self-imposed diet. It can spiral out of control quickly. Food is fuel.

Thank you! I have been doing runs for a while now but I think the longer runs are really going to help with my endurance/ stamina! Thanks for all the responses. On my diet in still eating around 2400 calories for now to keep my weight around 165. I just want to be ready! Thanks again guys!
 
Good news for the running. I just caution you with the eating plan because I have personal experiences with eating disorders. What starts as a "healthy" diet can turn into an out of control spiral that takes a long time to recover from. A lot of people don't experience the spiral and do fine with a diet, but please be careful.
 
Massive weights, massive amounts of protein, and quality sleep. The key to the gainz

On a serious note, why do you feel 165 is too small? That's honestly probably a pretty accurate average weight of a soldier if you exclude the whales riding profiles. If you can put out nobody cares how much you weigh. I'm around 190-195 and it's not really an advantage and during sprints I wish I was 165.
 
Protein with lots of fiber also. Protein shakes can be very constipating. Can cause big problems.
 
I think the longer runs are really going to help with my endurance/ stamina!
Mileage = speed.

I cannot emphasis enough, of the golden words stated by usafa2022.

To add to that - especially regarding running - if you feel pain (not soreness), stop. It's your body's way of telling you something is wrong. Last thing you want to do is go on a run that puts you out for a couple days plus.

... though, us runners are terrible at listening to previously stated advice ... ask me how I know.

Good luck.
 
At 13:50, you're scoring a 291/300. (I think?)
You are fine as is tbh, just keep a consistent and testing workout in.
My personal recommendation to you would be to cut out the diet, and just make the healthy choices when presented to you.
That being said, find someone who is better at distance running than you and tag along with them. Training goes better when you're trying to beat someone.
 
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