Back in January I declared that I wanted to get into good enough physical condition that I could pass the physical fitness testing for the army. I did the research, figured out what I’d need to do, started down that path, and then got derailed by an injury. Eesh.
The injury, falling hard on my right knee, is still a bit of an issue, but it’s not keeping me from moving around and being active. But at the time it happened, I made it a convenient excuse to not exercise and frankly, I’ve milked it for long enough.
I was visiting with a friend last night who is an army recruiter and he told me about the PT test he’d just had to take that morning. Apparently there’s a little more too it than I had realized:
- You start out doing push-ups for 2 minutes
- Then you almost immediately switch to sit-ups with a partner, one of you holding down the feet, the other doing the sit-ups, for 2 minutes.
- When you do the sit-ups, you interlock your fingers behind your neck and your arms get fatigued from holding this position as you sit-up.
- The person who is holding down the feet is also fatiguing their arms due to the pressure they’re applying to keep the feet grounded. AND because of the way they sit when holding the feet, kneeling, but sitting back on their heels, their legs also become fatigued.
- Then they all hop up and run 2 miles with fatigued arms and fatigued legs.
Apparently I’m just strange, but the idea of being able to overcome my fatigue and pass these tests makes something in me sit up and grunt with excitement over the challenge. So I’m getting off my ass and picking up with the army strong challenge again.
I tested today to see what my starting points were for push-ups and sit-ups:
- Push-ups = 16 (only 1 regular, the rest were girly push-ups on my knees)
- Sit-ups = 16 (with my feet pinned under a big chair and using my arms for momentum to get myself set-up).
So there’s a starting place in that regard. I’ll figure out the 2-mile run later . . . I’m pretty sure I can count on it taking me about 35 minutes alternating walking/running. It’ll be a while before I’m up to running even a mile.
But I’m going to get there. Army strong, here we go.
June 20, 2009 at 12:31 pm
hi!
good to see you aiming for achievable goals
.
just thought i’d drop my 5 cents worth.
you might find high intensity interval training really helpful. it’s done wonders for me personally, so i’m a huge fan. google it if you haven’t heard of it.
i recommend against the high protein low carb diet. if you’re low on carbs and you exercise, your glycogen stores will run dry in no time at all, and the body will turn to burning muscle for fuel (as opposed to fat). that leaves you with less muscle mass, which leads to a lower metabolic rate, which means you gain weight in the form of fat easier.
as i said, just my 5 cents. i tried the diet you’re on, and i tried eating a ‘normal sensible’ diet. the later one worked out for me because it gave me everything i needed for my weights / cardio session.
regardless, all the best!
June 20, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Thanks for contributing your 5 cents. I have heard of HIIT and have flirted with a bit but never really jumped into it whole-heartedly. Need to give it another go.
I’ve really been enjoying low-carb so far and will see how I feel as I start adding in more exercise. Something I really like about it is that I don’t get ravenously hungry anymore. I love not being desperate for food. But I’ll make adjustments as necessary if I’m not seeing results or energy lags.
Thanks again!