Reasonable Split for Military Prep

[S3Project]

Strong people,

My basic goal is to prepare for the military...lots of running, lots of rucksack marching (which requires strength and stability gained from squatting and deading)

Last November I was about 6'0 140. I'm currently 6'1 175-180, although my weight has remained consistent for about 2-3 months due to injury and illness.

Since November, I've been on a strength block, and am trying to establish basic strength levels (315 squat for 5, 405 for 5 DL, 225 for 5 bench) prior to enlistment. The squat is the most important; the bench is the least.

I've been on the Rip program, but feel my gains are beginning to wane; I've really only made +15 pounds of progress on my squat since Jan 1, but, that's due to resets/injuries/illness than genuine stalling. Nonetheless, my lifts are sufficiently heavy that I cannot make guaranteed progress every workout. I'd put my success rate at about 50%.

My currents lifts: 250 for 5 on the squat, 175 for 5 on the bench, 315 for 5 on the DL. the DL I believe I can still make linear progress with.

So, I'm going to stick with Rip for at least until the end of this month.

I plan to go to Boot around late August, perhaps September. Until then, prep time. My priorities: get strong. be able to run long distances. be able to ruck like a motherfucker.

Here is what I'm thinking about switching my plan to, come May 1st:

Day One: AM: Deadlift / Overhead Press / Pull - ups + heavy abs.

PM Long-slow distance run in PM. (4 - 12 miles)

Day Two: AM: Quick, Crossfit/Enamait style GPP, less than 20 minutes in duration. Plus extra calisthenics. Do everything at once so there is plenty of recovery time.

Day Three; Afternoon: Squat / Bench Press / Weighted Pulls.

Day Four: Afternoon: Ruck March.4 to 15 miles. Land nav alternating weeks.

Day Five: Rest.

Does this seem reasonable? Would you recommend any changes? For what it's worth, I'm about 19 years old.

Thank you gents and ladies.

- Derek

 

[takeahnase]

What's with days 6 and 7?

 

[S3Project]

I devised it as a 5 day split. Crossfit does the 3 on 1 off, well, this would be a 4 -1 . A weekly plan would be more convenient, but recovery and gains do not always allow for convenience.

This is more or less my life, not a recreational plan.

 

[erskine777]

I'm assuming that boot camp would utilize almost entirely bw exercises, so maybe you should have some added focus of that? Right now you only do it once every 5 days, and i doubt if that's going to give you the muscular endurance you're going to need.

Are you already familiar/capable of going on extended runs and "rucking"? Those distances are crazy and I'd imagine that they'd definitely screw with your recovery time.

 

[DEVILsSON]

That sounds reasonable. I would replace one of the weighted pull ups with bent over rows for some variety.

2 days of lifting sounds good. The military though is heavily into conditioning more than anything so doing a lot of aerobic and anaerobic conditioning should probably be your priority.

You can try alternating high intensity short duration conditioning days with moderate intensity days followed with low intensity and long duration

Day1: Tabata Protocol Burpees
Day2: 2-3 mile run at moderate pace
Day3: Off
Day4: 2-5 mile run at a moderate to fast pace
Day5: Escalating Density Protocol on an exercise of your choice: e.g. as many bodyweight squats in 5 minutes.
Day6: Off
Day7: 2-3 mile run at moderate pace

You can also try to find a weighted vest and do your runs with it because in the military you'll be running with extra 30-50lb of gear from what I was told. On some hikes you'll be carrying close to 80lb. Also try to push yourself in both distance and pace. Long runs condition and prepare you mentally for longer periods of time and teach you to pace yourself while short duration high intensity training gets you to learn to react faster and gets you more quick/explosive. (long distance vs short distance runners)

As much as it pains me to say it I would focus more on conditioning and any lifting you do should be with conditioning in mind. Like doing deadlifts/overhead squats/pull ups/etc for most reps in 5 minutes with X weight....ross's stuff is very good for conditioning purpose....try looking through conditioning forum for a lot of ideas.

 

[S3Project]

Boot camp isn't my concern, not as much as more advanced schools. The purpose of the heavy lifting is supplementary work for rucking. Moving 100 extra pounds on your back, I imagine, would be a lot easier with a 400 pounds squat than a 150 pound squat.

I figured intregrating muscular endurance centric GPP - ala Crossfit's Angie, Cindy, and Ross's ICT - would be a way of getting extra cal's work.

Day Four should also include cals.

That would be half of my days with cals work.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I've done Ross before, CF, Stew Smith, so on and so forth. Just looking for ways to get the best of both worlds. I fear losing my meager, meager strength gains. Runs upwards of 10 miles will be necessary.

erskine, I'd build up gradually on the LSD/ruck distances. Endurance stuff has always been more of my forte, thus the emphasis on heavy lifting recently.

Another template I built up a couple months ago looked as such:

Day One: (AM) Heavy, short CF workout. (PM) LSD
Day Two: Interval runs + calisthenics
Day Three: Ruck March + calisthenics.
Day Four: Rest.

 

[grrthetree]

Add more push-ups and pull-ups and you should be fine, you don't want to get into the Army big and buff, able to do only 20 push-ups.

 

[DEVILsSON]

Big squat/deadlift/etc wont help you very much because that's not what's being 'tested'. Being able to do 100 burpees nonstop in 5 minutes or doing 100 push ups, 20-30 pull ups, etc...is what will help.

My guess for the ideal dimensions would be low bw with low bodyfat and high endurance and gpp ....so 150-160 lb at 5% body fat would be something I would strive for if I were you....as well as be able to do a lot of volume of both aerobic and anaerobic conditioning with high intensity. Be able to get through 10 mile runs, be able to do hundreds of bodyweight exercises, etc...

 

[ronin0352]

What branch of service?

 

[S3Project]

Army.

Now I wonder.

Does it make sense to continue with Rip for the rest of the month? or would I be better served by stopping now and making an immediate transition to GPP-centric training to better take advantage of my time? (diminishing strength gains being as they are)

 

[ronin0352]

Army.

Now I wonder.

Does it make sense to continue with Rip for the rest of the month? or would I be better served by stopping now and making an immediate transition to GPP-centric training to better take advantage of my time? (diminishing strength gains being as they are)

I will resist the urge to give you shit!

<~~ Former Jarhead**

You mentioned more advanced schools being your concern. What are you planning on doing? Also, to answer your last question, when are you going?

 

[JonaJoyce]

other than your training do two things.

1. learn NOT to fuck up your feet and lower legs. OVERUSE injuries in the Corps ended my career just in time (12/12/00) ... research ACTIVE RELEASE THERAPY.

2. stretch- your shooting positions require flexible hips. trust me.

has far as your training goes.

12 count body builders. many of them. ready exercise. :icon_twis

 

[ronin0352]

other than your training do two things.

1. learn NOT to fuck up your feet and lower legs. OVERUSE injuries in the Corps ended my career just in time (12/12/00) ... research ACTIVE RELEASE THERAPY.

2. stretch- your shooting positions require flexible hips. trust me.

has far as your training goes.

12 count body builders. many of them. ready exercise. :icon_twis

Damn you, I just had flash backs, lol

 

[JonaJoyce]

I will resist the urge to give you shit!

<~~ Former Jarhead**

You mentioned more advanced schools being your concern. What are you planning on doing? Also, to answer your last question, when are you going?

Ronin - Semper fi leatherneck! Former devil dawg here. 1995-2000.

 

[flak]

I do a lot of GPP mixed in with my weight training, but I've got no personal experience with military PT, so please take all of this with a grain of salt.

It's April 12 today, you're going to bootcamp in late August, potentially. So that's roughly four months from now.

You sound like you are dead-set serious on being in really good shape for the bootcamp PT.

You didn't mention how much cardio/endurance/GPP stuff you've been doing thusfar, but I get the impression it hasn't been a major facet of your training. Running mile after mile is a very different thing from moving heavy weight for low reps.

With all of that in mind, I'd say shift your emphasis completely to cardio/endurance/GPP work now, and take advantage of the extra couple of weeks to ease into the new routine.

Also, find out as much as you can about the specific exercises/tasks/workouts you can expect at bootcamp, and work toward doing that exact stuff.

I'd pay particular attention to the idea that the exercise volume and intensity probably ratchets up from week to week at bootcamp. So if you arrive at bootcamp physically prepared to do the workouts typical of the final week of bootcamp, you'll be golden.

Also, thanks for your commitment, and stay safe.

 

[stewy37]

Army.

Now I wonder.

Does it make sense to continue with Rip for the rest of the month? or would I be better served by stopping now and making an immediate transition to GPP-centric training to better take advantage of my time? (diminishing strength gains being as they are)

Do enough strength work to maintain your strength, and make sure your conditioning is good. One thing that seems to work well for me is to do one heavy strength movement, rest 5min or so after finishing with it and than doing a conditioning session. This way I get frequent heavy lifting and also get conditioning work in.

 

[ronin0352]

I had to read through a couple of times, but I found it. End of August, early September. Ok, just ignore my earlier question. :redface: Dude, you've got 4 1/2 - 5 months. I wouldn't be in a panic at this point, you've got plenty of time. If you enjoy the strength training then by all means, continue for a while longer. I would definitely suggest you start upping the calisthenics and conditioning now though. If you like strength training then don't cut it out till about 6 - 8 weeks before you leave. Then focus entirely on conditioning/calisthenics/LSD/BW exercises. about 5 - 7 days before you leave, relax. Just rest for a few days before you go, seriously. I don't know how they welcome you at Army basic, but I know that the first 3 or 4 days of Marine boot camp, you might as well forget about getting more than an hour catnap, if any sleep at all. So, my last advice is just to show up well rested. Good luck and thank you for serving.

 

[IrishBeatDown****]

alright kid heres the deal.... your joining the army... this means that before or after your 8 hour duty day you will spend a few hours doing some kind of formation run, push ups, sit ups, ruck march, combatives or land nav course... not just in tech school but through your whole career...

marines... pretty much the same thing but longer runs and throw in some pull ups.

navy - play ultimate frisbee in civies

Air Force- well... we don't do PT... so unfortunatly i am completely on my own in the fitness department... fucking fat ass lazy LT... ahem... but this isnt about that....


got a question for ya, whats the best way to train for a fight? its to fight right?

the best way to train for military training... is to do military training.... it doesn't take alot of strength to go on a ruck run... it takes endurance and a well conditioned body. do you have a hiking back pack? if so pack it with 30 lbs of stuff... run a few miles a week with it, next week up the weight... until you hit 100lbs about 2 weeks before you leave for boot camp...

before and after that routine just do some push ups and sits ups... it might sound brutal... but any service member will tell you, you don't have to be an athlete to make it in the military... which is unfortunate. a young lean kid like you would do just fine without any preparation whatsoever.

oh and some advice, your instructors WILL BE some of the funniest people you have ever heard in your life... but DON'T LAUGH.

 

[Jesuban]

I was a US NAvy Diver for 9 years, so I have some experience in this case. Know that in boot camp, you're not going to be lifting weights. You'll only be doing body weight exercises and depending on your branch of service, doing a few sessions in the pool. The majority of exercises will consist of push ups, sit ups, chin ups/pull-ups, and something called 8-count body builders. If you really want to kick ass, focus on these exercises. Plus, don't forget your running. If you're going into the army, I would focus on running up to 6 miles with sneakers and then transition to running in combat boots. Doing so, will help condition your feet and get them used to running/hiking in them. You don't want to be the guy whose feet get covered in blisters on day 1. The main exercises you'll be performing will be push ups and sit ups. They're used for punishment and you'll be doing hundreds of these daily. Perform them...many, many, mnay sets of at least 40 reps.
Good luck

 

[DaveC]

From what I hear, the majority of people who lift before going to basic come back saying theyre more fit than ever, but have lost a lot of the strength they built up prior. I would focus on burpees, pullups of every variety, pushups. I would spend a lot of time with a jump rope also.

With that said I wouldn't neglect dead lifting, squatting, or benching. Might be a good idea to add some rows to the mix. Also vary the squats with overheads and front squats on top of the standard squat.