Another 'beginner' post, with an assortment of questions

[DanAus1983]

Hey guys, just came across the forum a couple of days ago. I've been reading lots of posts, but still have some questions.

I'm 26 years old, male, 6' tall, and around 84 kg.
Until about two months ago, I did no exercise whatsoever, smoked a pack a day, and ate a diet consisting mostly of pizza, beer and maccas.

I was incredibly unfit, yet have always had a decent enough body in most regards - good genes I guess
However my flexibility was absolutely appalling, and I've had lower back problems in the past. I was also tired and lethargic all the time.


A couple of months ago I decided I'd had enough, and made the decision to change my life and get active. I've been going to the gym for around two months (or a little less) now, seeing a PT. Only going around twice a week at the moment, and doing mainly weights and stretching.

I have an appointment with Defence Force Recruiting next Monday, and will hopefully be joining the army soon. I've been training for my commercial pilots license, but have sort of run out of money, and am currently not working or studying.

Basically I'm ready to step it up a gear or two - I've made a start, and I'm loving my new muscles (still a long, long way to go), but I'm totally prepared to make a radical lifestyle change, right now. As I'm currently not working or studying, I can afford to devote my full attention and effort to it.

My goals are:
To quit smoking. It'll be tough, but I could do it tomorrow.
To change my diet.
To improve my fitness (I've done a little cardio at the gym, but I'd still struggle to jog 500m).
To improve my core strength and flexibility.
To build a heap of muscle (I don't want to be the next Arnie, but I've realised I do want to be big, and cut - and that it's not impossible for me to do it).
Eventually, a long way down the track, to be in superb shape and try out for SAS / Commandos.

Somewhere in there I'd like to lose my gut as well - I don't have a lot of fat on me apart from that, but it's getting to be a fair old size when I let it hang out.


The first thing I'm not sure about, is diet. I've pieced together enough info from the nutrition sub forum to have an idea of what and how much I should be eating (I think) - but do I need to start hitting the gym harder first to avoid putting on weight (fat)? Will my gut go away if I'm training hard, even if I'm eating a lot?

The second thing is cardio. I am absolutely terrible with it at the moment. If I ran from here to my front door I'd be out of breath. When I try to run, I end up gasping for breath, my chest and throat burning. Do I just need to push through it (and work my way up to it) by mixing in walking with jogging? I'm hoping when I quit smoking it will help.

Flexibility - I'm going to start stretching before bed every night. A couple of months ago if I tried to touch my toes, I'd get to about my knees. Now I'm much closer. However when I try and touch my hands behind my back (one elbow down, one above my head) there is a massive difference in how close my hands are depending on which arm is up and which is down. Is this something that will go away in time if I keep stretching?

As far as muscle goes, I'll keep seeing a trainer for now. I'll be able to afford to with the money I save from quitting smoking. The problem is that I currently have no idea what most of the things I'm doing are called, or how much weight I'm lifting. I guess I can start getting him to tell me, and record the weights though. When I have more of an idea of what I'm doing, I'll start seeing him less frequently (so I don't go broke) and start a journal on the forum here.

If I'm going to really throw myself into it, how many weights sessions should I be aiming to do each week? I'd like to do as many as possible, while I have the chance. I'm going to do the stretching every day, and walk/run most days.

As far as supplements go, I'm totally confused. Do I need them? Protein stuff I do, as I'd struggle to get enough otherwise, and I've read up on Creatine / Glutamine etc and it seems to make sense scientifically speaking. However there is so much different stuff out there, and so many different brands that all claim to be better than the others, that I really don't know where to start. Can anyone recommend a good brand and a basic combination of what I should look at taking, if anything?

I'm about to head back to the nutrition page to have another look at diet.


I'm sorry about all the questions guys, I'm sure they've all been asked before, although I did try and search older topics first.

I would really appreciate any advice you could give me - I'm very, very excited about what will be a major lifestyle change for me, but still confused about a lot of things


Regards, Dan.

 

[Kyle Aaron]

My first thought is to counsel you against signing up for Army, but that's not what this forum is about and anyway it's your business.

Secondly, if that's what you want then your focus ought to be on passing the entry fitness test. For that you don't need a gym membership at all.

Army has kindly put up a guide about passing the test here.

I advise you to put off your goals of gaining muscle until after your first year of service. During Recruit Course and IET (initial employment training) you will not have the opportunity to do your own training. At Kapooka your day is accounted for from 0600 to 2230. After the several months of training everyone has the same physique, since they all eat the same and do the same physical stuff (unless they're injured or sick and held back).

If you want to join Army, focus on that fitness test. The requirements are,

Pushups, 15
Situps, 45 - these are actually crunches
Beep, 7.5 - as you can see from here, this is equivalent to running 1,340m in 8'00", but of course is harder than that because you have to keep turning around.

Rather than looking at the minimum, I would also consider the other demands put on the body during the first few months - you don't want to be the Minimum Guy in the platoon, nor do you want to be the top, but somewhere in the middle. So I would aim at,

Pushups, 50
Situps, 60
Heaves, 10 - that is, use whatever grip you like to chin/pull yourself up
Squats, 50
be able to touch your toes
Run - 400m in under 1'00"
- 2.4km in under 12'30"
- 5km in under 25'00"
and achieve all of these when you have been awake for 24 hours​

If you can do all that, then Recruit Course will not be physically difficult for you. It may still be emotionally difficult, of course.

 

[DanAus1983]

Thanks for the reply Kyle. I'd be interested to know your thoughts on the army. Perhaps you could PM me. Every one I know who has joined absolutely loves it.

If I do join, I'll be going to Duntroon for 18 months rather than Kapooka. I'd be living off base in married quarters, and I think it's probably a bit different from basic training at Kapooka in that you (usually) have weekends off etc. and there's a gym on base. Still, won't know until I go

Thanks for putting up the list of recommendations - that will give me something to work towards. I guess the first thing is to get my cardio up to scratch. As for general strength, if I was going for say 50 push ups, would I be better off to try and reach that goal through simply doing push ups or by mixing that in with weights?

I guess what I'm asking is if I make general fitness and meeting those standards my first priority, will I be right to keep lifting weights as well.

As far as the diet goes, replacing pizza with chicken breast and vegies won't kill me! I guess the first step there is to simply start eating healthier, and then worry about how much I'm eating down the track?

 

[Kyle Aaron]

Ah, Duntroon or ADFA is a very different thing, one I can't comment on from personal experience. All I can say is that life looks very different depending on whether you're sitting behind the desk or standing in front of it.

The best way to learn to do lots of pushups is to do lots of pushups. When I joined, there were only medical standards when you joined, you only had the physical standards to pass the course. I saw people go from 10 to 50 pushups in a few weeks.

In the first week (of Recruit Course, which as you say you won't do, but presumably something similar will apply), in most cases 10 pushups are given as a punishment, in the second week, 20, and so on. So that 10-30 times a day you do sets of pushups.

Are weights helpful for this? Yes and no. There are five basic aspects to fitness,

• cardio - built up by running the 2.4 and 5km
• muscular strength - built by the first 20 or so pushups, etc
• muscular endurance - built up by 20+ pushups, etc
• flexibility
• body composition - ie how much fat you have

Army focuses mainly on the first three. Being able to walk all day with a pack on your back is basically cardio, with a bit of muscular strength (for lifting the pack and being able to walk with it) and muscular endurance (one foot in front of the other, crouch and get up, etc for hours).

With pushups and situps, the first 20 or so are a test of your muscular strength. After that it's muscular endurance. You can have one but not the other; there are world record guys who did 1,000 pushups in an hour, but they couldn't necessarily bench their own bodyweight.

A guy who can bench his own bodyweight (strength) can certainly do up to 20 pushups. But a guy who can only do 20 pushups probably can't bench his own bodyweight.

Obviously the two go together somewhat. But not perfectly. So you do the weights for their own sake. To get better at pushups, situps, squats and heaves, you ought to do pushups, situps, squats and heaves. It's boring but there you go. It will be less boring when the CSM is screaming at you

Oh and yes, of course you must ditch the smokes and eat healthier now

 

[katie]

In the first week (of Recruit Course, which as you say you won't do, but presumably something similar will apply), in most cases 10 pushups are given as a punishment, in the second week, 20, and so on. So that 10-30 times a day you do sets of pushups.

You got punished often, Kyle!!

What kind of things do you get punished for??

 

[PTC]

I recently had a guy from Adelaide stationed at Cerberus in Victoria, he was doing Navy shit there. I live across the road from an MP from Cerberus, what a coincidense.

Anyway, this guy trained VERY hard at my gym and excelled at everything physical that the Navy required. He ignored their standards and set his own.

Tom is planning to come to PTC to compete in September. He is in contact with me and HATES the Navy. He is trying to get into the Airforce. Already.

 

[Kyle Aaron]

You got punished often, Kyle!!

What kind of things do you get punished for??

Everything.

You get off the bus. "Line up! Last one to fall in does 20 pushups!"

"Look straight ahead! Don't look at your mate's arse while he's pumping up and down, are you imagining him pumping you tonight? Drop and give me 20!"

"Okay, gear in the lockers, lock them up tight.... done? Alright, now I inspect, any lockers not locked? Why yours is. It's because of useless bastards like you we have thieves! Give me 25!"

"You learned yesterday, what's the muzzle velocity of the M79 grenade launcher? Yes that's right, Recruit, it is faster than you can run, but that's not the answer I was looking for, 30!"

"Alright inspection time... what's this? Railway tracks on your sleeves? Did I ask for railway tracks? No! Creases we want, ironed creases! Speaking of creases look at these trousers did you use them as pyjamas and toss the night away? Is that why the bedsheets are so tight, they're stuck together? Give me 50!"

"Recruit Smith has ****ed up, but Recruit Smith is on light duties and cannot do pushups. Who will do Recruit Smith's pushups for her? It's only 50. Any takers? One of you can do 50 or all of you can do 75, it's up to you."

"Are you looking at me, Recruit? Don't look at me, Recruit, looking leads to liking, liking leads to loving, and there is no way I am ever going to love you. Look at the ground for a bit instead. 50!"

"Goddamnit Recruit, I have told you eleven thousand and sixty four times to always keep the weapon pointed downrange, and here you are swinging it about like a horse-cocked fag at a sauna! Give me 100! You will understand weapon safety, or you will end up with a chest like Arnold ****ing Squashenegger!"

Everything.

If your mate hates the Navy, Markos, I don't see why he'd like the Airforce any better. It's all the same, really. Join the military and get ****ed around by experts

 

[katie]

Geez... I suppose it's character building though!

 

[Kyle Aaron]

Not really character building... but it does teach you to let crap slide off you like water off a duck's back. The reasoning is that if some rude words and pushups offend you, how will you react when someone shoots at you? After all, trying to shoot you is rather ill-mannered.

Being able to react with indifference to general misery, hostility, horrible physical conditions and boredom is, they reason, excellent preparation for warfare.

A few pushups are just part of that