For the past year and a bit, I have been attending the Royal Military College of Canada, and while I'm aware that this is the perfect opportunity to drop the "Canada has a military?!?!lolololol" bomb, that is not the purpose of this blog post.
Every few months, members of RMC are required to perform a fitness evaluation over 5 exercises, with a specific pointage assigned to each one. I can't find the score sheet online, if I do at some point, I'll link it.
The exercises in question are push-ups, sit-ups, standing long jump, an agility run, and a shuttle run (the beep test, if that rings a bell).
The way that the test works is that your result for each exercise nets you a point value out of 100; if you score above 400, you become a member of the '400 Club', which really grants you nothing more than bragging rights and a t-shirt.
Currently, my score is 339 points, and I want to have 400 by the next one in January. I am here today to beg of you, Teamliquid, to grant me advice in order to achieve this goal, in terms of working out and exercise-specific training.
Push-ups: With the proper invigilated form, I can do 48. There is a standard (thumbs can't be visible, must be under your shoulders, must go down to 90 degrees at the elbows, up to full lockout), so don't give me your "I can do 100 ez thx", unless you happen to be iNcontroL and can bench press the planet with one hand.
My goal for push-ups is to reach at least 60 for the next test. One of the PSP staff, sortof a CF personal trainer, recommended weighted push-ups as the best way to increase your numbers. Are there any other concurrent exercises I could do? I already bench/fly/DB press/dips/etc. regularly, but is there something more specific?
I should mention that the test is just as many consecutive push-ups as you can do, no time limit, but if you stop, wtfggpwnt.
Sit-ups: I'm not too worried about these, I can do around 86 proper form (the form is really dumb) in two minutes, the allotted time. The max-out score for sit-ups is 100, which isn't that hard to reach at all; I've been doing weighted ab training, again, at the recommendation of the PSP guy. Any comments?
Standing Long Jump: This shit is a bitch. I jumped only 238cm, and I'm not exactly short, so I should do waaay better. Obviously deadlifts and squats are key, so maybe I just need to work on my technique.
Agility Run: Man, fuck this one. You have to run to a line, back, zigzag through chairs there and back, and then to the line and back again. It's a bit hard to explain, but it's basically about lateral movement and being faster than a cheetah in heat. I suppose developing leg power would help for this sort of thing too? I'm running it in about 16 seconds, but I can't remember exactly. I want to cut my time down by a second or two, in any case.
Beep Test/Shuttle Run: Run back and forth and back and forth and back and forth blaaaaah. If you know the levels, I got to level 10 before getting bored. I know I could do at least 11, so I'm shooting for 11.5 next time. Cardio and whatnot, it's simple enough to improve, although I'm doing the odd HIIT as a concurrent workout to going for runs and doing leg work.
I can't give you very specific advice, and I'm sure you already know this, but you should probably improve your performance in those activities but doing the same exact activity... sort of like how weight lifting with your legs is not a great way to train for running... running is (there are exceptions of course).
Regardless, it was interesting to read about what you have been up to and how your school works.
This is just the athletic portion, I'll probably churn out a full-fledged entry about the military aspect and whatnot when I have the time.
I know that it's best to train for an exercise by doing the exercise itself, but I'm looking for something with a bit more..pizazz..than doing endless sets of sit-ups in my room :p
On October 24 2009 11:20 ShaLLoW[baY] wrote: This is just the athletic portion, I'll probably churn out a full-fledged entry about the military aspect and whatnot when I have the time.
I know that it's best to train for an exercise by doing the exercise itself, but I'm looking for something with a bit more..pizazz..than doing endless sets of sit-ups in my room :p
For the shuttle run: if you're doing it on a hardwood (gym) floor, wipe the soles of your shoes down with a damp cloth and then take your hands and rub them violently over the soles. This removes all the dust from your sneakers and warms the soles to give you insane grip when you change directions. This could also help for the agility run if it's done on hardwood.
It may sound strange but I could never even come close to the goals for the shuttle run for the President's Fitness Test or whatever we had to do until I tried this and it resulted in me immediately shattering the time simply because I wasn't sliding 3 feet past the line in either direction each time.
Also, do calf exercises for the standing long jump. For calves it is generally advised to lift very heavy since they support your entire weight all day every day and thus are notoriously difficult to train/slow to grow.
I can't believe I haven't thought of just cleaning my shoes before I do it, I tend to slip like a mofucka so that's probably going to help tons. Thanks!
On October 24 2009 11:27 ShaLLoW[baY] wrote: I can't believe I haven't thought of just cleaning my shoes before I do it, I tend to slip like a mofucka so that's probably going to help tons. Thanks!
Oh man it's going to blow your mind. I would do it before each heat of the shuttle run and it's ridiculous what a difference it makes.
Well for push ups, the best way to improve is push ups. I always do inclined push ups, adds more resistance and harder obviously. But do them slow. Dont worry bout doing it fast or how much. The slower you do them the more its gonna work.
For the other shit, im not too sure. P90X will definetely build u up :D
I did the "initial test" and I can do 41 pushups with good form non stop. So people like you and me are supposed to skip the first two weeks and start with the week 3 workout. You might be able to hit 100 pushups in 4 weeks if this program actually works. I'm going to do my first workout tomorrow (I'm too sore to start today)...
On October 24 2009 11:41 Kennigit wrote: Kid wtf are you asking teamliquid for. Go find Nick Villa, i think he was a fyop cfl. He's my home boy. He will get you jacked.
On October 24 2009 13:14 resonance wrote: On another note, would you recommend attending military college? How is it?
Depending on what you decide to study, you need to be good at balancing time between the military aspect/training, academics, and athletics. You also need to be bilingual by the end of the four years, but don't worry, they drown you in French classes if you don't already speak it :p
It's definitely something to look into if you like a challenge, feel free to ask me (or Kennigit) any questions about it you may have.
5 years of service for an all-expenses-paid degree isn't too bad, really :p
On October 24 2009 13:14 resonance wrote: On another note, would you recommend attending military college? How is it?
Depending on what you decide to study, you need to be good at balancing time between the military aspect/training, academics, and athletics. You also need to be bilingual by the end of the four years, but don't worry, they drown you in French classes if you don't already speak it :p
It's definitely something to look into if you like a challenge, feel free to ask me (or Kennigit) any questions about it you may have.
5 years of service for an all-expenses-paid degree isn't too bad, really :p
Sounds not too bad actually. I like the military aspect, think that's just a good thing to have. I am in Vancouver btw, were is it that you are going?
On October 24 2009 13:14 resonance wrote: On another note, would you recommend attending military college? How is it?
Depending on what you decide to study, you need to be good at balancing time between the military aspect/training, academics, and athletics. You also need to be bilingual by the end of the four years, but don't worry, they drown you in French classes if you don't already speak it :p
It's definitely something to look into if you like a challenge, feel free to ask me (or Kennigit) any questions about it you may have.
5 years of service for an all-expenses-paid degree isn't too bad, really :p
Sounds not too bad actually. I like the military aspect, think that's just a good thing to have. I am in Vancouver btw, were is it that you are going?
RMC is in Kingston, Ontario.
I actually go to Queen's btw. *waves hand @ shallow[bay]*
About pushups and situps - the best help for that in my personal experience was just repetition. For me it was doing them every other day. Pushups until I dropped, and as many situps as I could in a minute.
Pushups, under the form you're describing, I began at ~15 until I'd collapse. ~11 weeks later of doing this every other day until I dropped, I reached a peak of 38 (Freshman year of high school is my gauge for the record. But that was when I had the greatest increase per se. Got to about 50-55 by the end of my senior year). As for situps, our form was heels touching your ass (knees at an acute angle), arms crossed over your chest reaching opposite shoulder, someone sitting on your knees to stabilize you. You went until your elbows touched your thigh and then down as far as the small of your back touching the ground. I started being able to do 42 in a minute, got as high as 60 that year in a minute. It all depends on form, but still - doing as many as possible in a short period of time should allow you to do more. As for the other three, a broad jump might improve with weights and form, a shuttle run and "agility run" I have no clue - I was a distance guy GL! (Sorry, my enter keys are broken for whatever fucking reason right now. >_<)
On October 24 2009 13:14 resonance wrote: On another note, would you recommend attending military college? How is it?
Depending on what you decide to study, you need to be good at balancing time between the military aspect/training, academics, and athletics. You also need to be bilingual by the end of the four years, but don't worry, they drown you in French classes if you don't already speak it :p
It's definitely something to look into if you like a challenge, feel free to ask me (or Kennigit) any questions about it you may have.
5 years of service for an all-expenses-paid degree isn't too bad, really :p
Sounds not too bad actually. I like the military aspect, think that's just a good thing to have. I am in Vancouver btw, were is it that you are going?
RMC is in Kingston, Ontario.
I actually go to Queen's btw. *waves hand @ shallow[bay]*
We should definitely have some sort of meeting involving Queen's students and the TL RMC community. (me).
Yeah, resonance, RMC is in Ontario, but I used to live in Vancouver! (or at least, I lived in Delta, but I tell people I'm from Vancouver because they actually know where it is)
EPT
GL! (Sorry, my enter keys are broken for whatever fucking reason right now. >_<)
