Archive for Marine Fit
A good week’s work
Posted by: | CommentsSo as part of the new year, I’ve increased my effort to stick to my workout plan more strictly. This week I managed to hit the mark perfectly, completing six workouts this week.
I’ve picked up a couple of military style workouts that combine callisthenics and cardio in the form of body weight exercises followed by running. Now running is something I’ve always enjoyed and found quite easy but the callisthenics before hand make for a much tougher workout.
Running the numbers, I’ve put in some pretty hard work. So far this week I’ve done:
- 300 star jumps
- 255 press ups
- 180 sit ups
- 75 mountain climbers
- 75 eight count body builders
- 75 leg raises
- 30 Hindu push ups
- 75 flutter kicks
- 60 squat thrusts
- 75 bicycle abs
- 15 tricep dips
- 42 pull ups
- Run 28km
Not bad huh?
Need to cut out the slacking
Posted by: | CommentsSo it wasn’t that long ago I finished Rushfit and got myself into the best shape I’ve been in a long time. Then I started slacking, suddenly my exercise wasn’t as important as it should have been. I’d make a plan, then push it back a day, then another day and next thing you know I’m working out two days a week.
Then I got really slack and let it slip to the point where one week the only exercise I got was supervising students while they were ice skating. Sure I skated for two and a half hours, but the sheer number of students on the ice meant I didn’t really get my heart rate up.
This week I’ve put that slacking to rest with some hard workouts that have me feeling much better about myself. Monday and Tuesday of this week I spent my lunch break doing the Marine Fit workout I’ve previously mentioned, fortunately with little to no pain from the running.
Wednesday was a tough one as that was the day of our staff Christmas lunch. As luck would have it, I found a workout online that I thought looked really interesting. It’s the strength training segment from Navy Seal boot camp, I told you they were tough! After a good warm up, you do 15 press ups, 20 sit ups and 3 pull ups with no rest in between, then rest for two minutes and repeat three more times.
Thursday and Friday had me really finding my groove, getting up at 6am to fit in the Marine Fit workout before breakfast, followed by a nutritious breakfast of course. With the weather being nice and the sun coming up nice and early, it’s quite a pleasant way to start the day.
Tomorrow I’m planning something a little easier and giving myself Sunday off. I had previously used Friday as my rest day while doing Rushfit and found it worked quite well for me, going to have to tweak my schedule a bit so that I can get back to that too.
Ah, progressl
Posted by: | CommentsI must say, today I was pleasantly surprised when I put myself through the Marine PFT again I actually found it all easier and managed to improve on last week’s score of 141.
After getting some pain in my knee after last weekend’s runs, I took a few days off to heal up. I actually saw a physio during the week who said I have weak glutes and a tight IT band which pulls my kneecap off track. A few stretches and some proper rest days later and today’s run was almost completely pain free, well in the joints anyway.
So on to the meat of the matter, how did I do today? I saw improvements in all three activities and put together a final score of 167, putting me in the second class for a male of my age. I’m pleased to have seen some progress despite only getting in two workouts since the last PFT, but I do wonder if that had to do with having a target to aim for. Either way, I’m pleased and aiming to raise my score even higher.
I want to get to 200 before Christmas and there’s an obvious area for improvement: the pull ups. If I can move that up from a mere five to double figures, I can achieve that goal.
The Marine workout
Posted by: | CommentsSo the next stage of my workout routine has gotten off to a slightly shaky start. My intention was to start five days a week with the daily workout US Marines do but unfortunately an old running injury has flared up again so it looks like I’ll have to build up to five times a week.
The actual workout is tough. Very tough. But then again, I’d expect nothing less from the Marines. It starts out with about 20 minutes of callisthenics followed by a 30 minute run. This is actually a really good combination for weight loss as it combines cardio and resistance training into once simple package.
Here’s the actual workout:
- 50 jumping jacks
- 40 press ups
- 25 mountain climbers
- 25 eight count body builders
- 25 flutterkicks
- 10 Hindu pushups
- 25 leg raises
- 20 squat thrusts
- 25 bicycle abs
- max reps pull ups
- max reps dips
- 30 minute run at steady pace
Now as you can see, it’s got a lot of variety to it and it’s tough work. I’ve already found that the eight count body builders, which appears to be an exclusively military exercise, are really hard work and I haven’t been able to complete the full set without having to stop to catch my breath yet.
The other thing I notice is the callisthenics seem to completely empty my tank before the run, today I hit the wall (runner will know that feeling) just after 1.5km! Usually I have to run 10km to feel that.
The first time I did this workout was on Sunday and my old knee injury flared up so I have to give myself a few days to let it heal up. I did it again today and found that my knee was fine with it, and I even managed the run much better. Sunday was a real plod-a-thon and a very poor time, while today was fairly straight forward after the 2km mark and an acceptable time.
Friday, as always, is my designated day off and Saturday is another PFT day. Will my score improve? Doubt it, in fact I wouldn’t be surprised to see it go down but I’m not about to let a little adversity put me off here. I’m in the best shape I’ve been in for a long time, it’s time to push it and take it to the next level.
The next stage
Posted by: | CommentsSo now that I’ve completed Rushfit it’s on to the next stage in my fitness journey. One of the mistakes I made with Rushfit was not taking any sort of before and after measurements to get some hard data, so that’s obviously the first thing to fix. The second thing to fix is the play a little more to my strengths, which for me is long, steady cardio work.
To achieve this, I’m using the 100 plus years worth of accumulated fitness knowledge of the United States Marine Corps. I’m going to be doing a Marine style workout five mornings a week, plus additional workouts in the evenings including weights and Pilates. Each Saturday I’m going to run myself through a Marine physical fitness test or PFT.
This test is pretty simple: as many abdominal crunches as possible in 2 minutes, as many pull ups as possible then a three mile run. Each activity is given a score out of 100 giving a total out of a possible 300.
Today I had my first crack at it and I have to say, it’s pretty brutal but then again what would you expect from a test designed to tax Marines. I’m pleased to say that for a male my age, I passed (thanks Rushfit) with a score of 141 putting me at the top end of the bottom class but you know what? The only way is up from here.
Roll on my first crack at the callisthenics and cardio work out tomorrow, I’m sure that’ll be tough too but that’s kind of the point, right?