Jakub here you go, hope it helps you out.
Everyone else, use it to get in shape, might help you out in the virtual world too..
In my department we train everyday except saturday and sunday. PT sessions are usually in the early morning, and last about 90 minutes.
Of course, we begin with 10-15 minutes of stretching. Taking our time with each stretch definitely improves our workout potential. After stretching, we warm-up with 10 minutes of calisthenics. Every day we work on different muscle groups, and we run distances that vary from quick one-milers for time, and four-milers for endurance- not timed. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are arms and abs. Tuesday and Thursday are for back and lower body. Half our time is spent in the weight room and half on the track. There is also an obstacle course that I can only compare to the O-course at Parris Island, but on sand instead of grass (running on sand = a serious pain in the arse/feet, but it makes a difference in terms of endurance). Whenever we do PT in the weight room, whether it be arms/abs/legs or what have you, we do one set on each exercise and then alternate to another one. The trick is to get a med-high repetition set done, and then move to target a different muscle group. This way, your body is always working to build itself up, and you are resting the previous muscle group until you cycle back around. I apply this technique in my own workout at home, and it works absolute wonders for me.
EDIT: One important thing to remember- Make sure you have 2 days of rest built into your workout program, your body breaks muscle down when you are exerting yourself and builds it back up when you rest. Don't make the mistake of working out everyday thinking you are improving even more.
Department standards are high, but I prefer to know that I can handle more than the average operator. I do workout on my own time, as do many other members of my team (I can't think of one who doesn't). I follow the BUD/s workout published by Stew Smith. Smith, in my opinion, has designed what is likely the BEST workout program on the market. If you follow what he tells you, you will be amazed at how much you can accomplish that you never before thought possible. For my out of work PT sessions, I do 6 sets of 25 pushups, 6 sets of 25 situps, and 2 sets of 8 dead-hang pullups, alternating between exercises after each set. For my runs I go on a schedule for 11 miles a week: Monday - 2 miles, Tuesday - 3 miles, Thursday - 4 miles, Friday - 2 miles. I shoot for about 7 minutes per mile on my two mile runs, and 8-8:30 on my 3-4 mile runs. A fast pace is not the focus on longer runs, but building lung capacity and general endurance is.
With these workouts, I have gotten into great shape. I'm not very big by most standards: 5'9", 170 pounds. I'm actually sort of skinny, but I am very strong and I know it's because of the programs I follow.
Hope this helps Jakub. Now the rest of you, DROP AND KNOCK OUT 25!! :glasses:
SAS_PT_Merge
Man, I'm tired just after reading about that ^_^
I got a feeling this will be a long post so for those who aren’t interested thy should prob just skip it.
Ok well thanks Merge for the information. I am always very very interested in other peoples training, it’s the best way to learn and to improve your own.
It definitely sounds like you guys train pretty hard! And I hope you don’t mind me going over what you just told me and not criticising it but telling you my opinion, so hopefully as I have learnt from you, you may learn from me.
Firstly I look at the 90min and I think that it’s a pretty big chunk of time. If anyone told they were working out for 90min I would ask them what they were doing in that time, is any time wasted? But ill get back to this later.
Stretching before hand. I don’t know if you know the latest research but ill just summarise it anyway.
You were obviously correct when you said that training puts stress on your body and you need to recover to see those gains. Well its very similar with stretching.
In essence when you stretch especially when you stretch cold (before a warmup/workout) you create little micro tares in your muscle which would normally heal and improve your flexibility. These micro tears normally heal pretty fast so its recommended to stretch after every workout.
However it is not recommended to stretch before exercises because those tears can actually degrade your performance. Because in essence your muscles are weaker and it has been proven that you are more likely to injure yourself.
Personally I am very against split weight programs, well almost all weight programs really, ill explain that in a min.
Ok well let me just get right into it.
Training should be tuff, practical and yield solid results! It should be time efficient!
Many people go to the gym and work single muscles at a time through isolation exercises like your bicep curl or your chest fly or they hop on a bike for 30min… why? Why not work everything! Challenge yourself in as many different ways as possible in one session! Make it practical to daily life!
Take for example your pushups situps and pull-ups.
Pushups work the chest and triceps plus get the heart going and use your back and tummy to keep you stable. Situps (ill advise something better later) are for your core and pull-ups for your back and biceps. Almost the whole upper body there! And it’s practical, they are natural movements, pushing yourself of the floor, pulling yourself up a fence and core stability is used for everything!
Here is a build on that routine, something which will really work everything and also get your heart pumping.
26, 21, 16, 9 and 3 reps of
pull-ups
crunches
pushups
squats
For time!
Record your time then try and beat it another day!
That circuit uses all your main muscle groups and I guarantee it will get your heart pumping! So its also great cardio!
Plus it should take you somewhere around 20min and you should be smashed! Or else you could have done it faster!
My training consists of almost nothing but these challenges. This helps to challenge your body in many different practical ways, hit lots of aspects of fitness in one session and it’s practical!
Ok I guess ill stop going on about all this cause this is really getting long but I hope you see my point, agree with it or not I just wanted to share it.
If you’re interested in this type of training then go to http://www.crossfit.com, its pretty much the holly grail of this type of training and its what I base my training of in many ways.
They have put people attempting Special Forces selection on this type of training and they scored much higher on their fitness tests then conventionally training recruits.
Thanks again Merge, train hard mate!
Cheers
Jakub
PS: this is my current fav.
50 squats
40 pushups
30 box jumps (50inch box)
20lunges
10burpies
5 times through for time, my current record is just over 27min. what a fun day that was!
Train Hard - Fight Easy
Nice post Jakub,
I love the look of that CrossFit program. Looks like a great cardio workout like you said, I may have to substitute the WOD on their site for some of my PT at home. Thanks alot!
P.S. Maybe we could get that WOD to post on this site each day... I know I would like to be able to follow it, as I'm sure would some of our other physically fit members. For those of you who don't workout on a regular basis, now would be a good time to start. Who's game?
Thanks Merge, I'm really glad you like it and see the principles behind it!
Let us know how your training goes and set some of your fellow SWAT members a few challenges, this stuff can hammer even the fittest of the fit!
I think that that’s a great idea, I'm not sure if it will go down well though…
I don’t mind opening up a thread or even a small fitness section, something with all health and fitness stuff. From what you need to get started to different exercises, weekly or daily workouts or what ever really. It would certainly be different to any other clan hahahaha, “we aren’t just fit in the game, we are all insanely fit in real life”
I think it would be great fun even setting one training challenge for the week and getting members to post their times and how they went.
Anyway I'm guessing from the response to this thread that such a thing might be a little while off.
Keep up the training mate!
Cheers
Jakub
Train Hard - Fight Easy
I think I pulled a muscle reading this... better go get some ice-cream
[color=yellow][SAS] 22nd E.V.R. - SAS_VET_EN4CER /[color] Virtus Disciplina Unitas
:laugh: now that one made me laugh En4cer
"Godo godo!" Lazko and his typoes image size exceeded -- click to view
I just got back from my first workout session where I integrated Crossfit.
OW!!! :eek:
Man Jakub, I have to thank you and tell you to burn in hell at the same time, lol... This program is FANTASTIC!!! I did my Crossfit Warmup as it says to do in the site FAQ and threw in 3 sets of 15 burpees w/jumping jacks, and then my usual one-miler for time, and then did the stretching afterwards. I thought I was going to drop after those burpees, and my mile time is now 8:30 instead of the usual 7:30. Anyone who wants to get in shape, this is your thing. I'm introducing the idea to my Lieutenant first thing tomorrow morning, and then I can't wait to get home and do the next WOD.
Thanks alot Jakub (and I'll get you for this)...
Brilliant Merge!
You see how good it is, how really moving loads of muscles in a practical way is called training not stupid 2hour gym sessions.
The challenges out there are never ending! And it’s so easy to train with mates! Plus tracking your improvements is so easy, I grantee that run will go down Merge, in two weeks do just the run and see if you can beat your PB, I reckon you will.
Anyway I'm still in recovery after yesterday’s session.
pull-ups, pushups, squats
25, 15, 5
20, 15, 10
15, 15, 15
10, 15, 20
5, 15, 25
10, 15, 20
15, 15, 15
20, 15, 10
25, 15, 5
I did it in 24min. and boy was it fun!
Keep us up to date Merge, on how the training goes, we will set some challenges soon and compare our times!
Cheers
Sgt Jakub
Train Hard - Fight Easy
Today I did the WOD.
The prescribed measure was 30 muscle ups, but since I don't have rings to work on, I did the equivalent of 120 dips and 120 pullups with a false grip. All told it took me 24:38 to finish from warmup to last pullup. I even had to do negatives for the last 40 or so. I toned down the warm up a little as well, focusing more on my cardio, squats, and situps, making sure to save my upper body for the WOD.
I have ice on my shoulders right now, and I'm having a beer. I feel strange after my workout though, I've noticed that I have MORE energy instead of less about 20 minutes after I am done- I wonder if it's more endorphins being released or if the workout is just that damn good. Either way, I love it. I hate that tomorrow is a day of rest, but I am thankful at the same time!!!
Keep with it Jakub, I'll be damned if I'm the only one on these servers who's going to suffer through this!!! :glasses: :laugh:
Today I did the WOD.
The prescribed measure was 30 muscle ups, but since I don't have rings to work on, I did the equivalent of 120 dips and 120 pullups with a false grip. All told it took me 24:38 to finish from warmup to last pullup. I even had to do negatives for the last 40 or so. I toned down the warm up a little as well, focusing more on my cardio, squats, and situps, making sure to save my upper body for the WOD.
I have ice on my shoulders right now, and I'm having a beer. I feel strange after my workout though, I've got the feeling that I have MORE energy instead of less about 20 minutes after I am done- I wonder if it's more endorphins being released or if the workout is just that damn good. Either way, I love it. I hate that tomorrow is a day of rest, but I am thankful at the same time!!!
Keep with it Jakub, I'll be damned if I'm the only one on these servers who's going to suffer through this!!! :glasses: :laugh:
Hmmm.. What exactly is a "squat"?
SAS_Rouge
Well done Merge!
Its dam fine training and you can believe me, I will be right there with you training hard!
I have written up a few of my own personal challenges which I can email you if you’d like.
I didn’t get to do today’s WOD because of time but tomorrow I will be one borrowed from the SASR training program itself.
10 wide grip pull-ups
25 pushups
10 close grip pull-ups
10 drips
30 squats
20crunches
1min row
X5 for time
I rather do this workout rather then catch up on the 120 one because it targets your whole body.
Ill let you know how I go tomorrow, I'm aiming around the 25min mark.
Rouge, squats are basically a sitting down/picking something up movement. Here is a demo http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/air2boxsquat.wmv .
Cheers
Jakub
Train Hard - Fight Easy
By 25min i meant 35 and i got just over 40min
40:10, dam those dips stuffed me up!
Cheers
Jakub
Train Hard - Fight Easy