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Anonymous
So... I'm assuming that at least a few members of /fit/ are members in the armed forces. I want to join the Army but I need to both lose weight and get in better shape before I can do so.

My main concern right now is being able to do all of the pre-requisites, since I've already vastly dropped my calorie intake and started to lose weight by coupling that with regular exercise.

All I've done at the moment is bench presses, crunches, and worked out on an elliptical trainer.

Really I haven't worked on my arms heavily yet and I'm still at the point where I can't do push-ups, though as I do need to lose a good bit of weight I think it might become easier over time.

I really only kicked my ass into gear about a week ago, though I've worked up from about two and a half minutes on the trainer before my legs gave out to 40 minutes today non-stop with it at 30 degrees and on resistance 6/10.

Anyhow, my main concern was what any people in the military would recommend focusing on if I want to be able to get through BCT without a whole lot of hurt.

Any tips on burning off a good bit of weight quickly would be appreciated as well. I'm not against working out to do so at all, either. Currently I'm staying between 2500 and 2000 calories and burning over 800 off daily.
>> Anonymous
Walk forever without needing to stop.
'Run' an 8 minute mile.
Do 30 pushups in a row, good form, chest touching the floor at the bottom.
Do 60 crunches in a row.

Those should be basic goals. Work on those techniques until you can do them.
>> Anonymous
>>48996

Thanks. Looks like the main thing I need to work on is my push-ups. I've built up a shit-ton of endurance as far as walking and running goes and I can easily do over a hundred crunches in a row.

Basically repetition is what I should focus on, then?
>> Anonymous
>>49029
do varitions of pushups, pushups can be imroved very quickly. Try doing a few sets throughout the day. Do some just regular pushups, do some where you hold at the top and bottom for 2 seconds each, do clap pushups, do 1 handed pushups with a medicine ball supporting the other hand.

Of course your reps will go down with a lot of those variations, but just keep with it and in no time you'll be a pushup machine
>> Anonymous
>Try doing a few sets throughout the day.
yea what he said. I was doing 5 every 10min (or as often as i could work permitting) all day. Wasn't long before I could do 50 at a time with added weight.

Whenever you get a breather, do a push up.
>> Anonymous
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>>48990
none of this is true
they only care about warm bodies these days
if you're out of shape they will whip you into it (and have you permanently crippled soon thereafter).
if you cant qualify for the army it probably means you tested positive for aids or are legally retarded.
in that case the marines will still take you
>> Anonymous
>>49121
or, as in my case, you are 60 pounds over their max weight for your height.
>> Anonymous
>>49121

Marines have higher standards than the Army, and you need to have at least a reasonably clean criminal record and have to be in moderate physical shape to join the Army, so that whole "warm body" crap isn't true by a long shot (they currently do have the most "flexible" standards out of all the armed forces though).
>> Anonymous
>>48990

The Marine Corps has something called the PCP (physical conditioning platoon), wherein they accept you and ship you off while you're still in horrid shape (that way you don't get in shape on your own, get a girlfriend and realize you don't want to join the military) and basically put you on an approved diet, and make you work until you can pass the minimum requirements.

I've never actually talked to anyone who's done it, but you might want to ask a recruiter about the pork chop platoon; provided you're absolutely certain you want to join the military.
>> Anonymous
>>49558

If you're overweight or can't even do a push-up, they usually won't even consider you. I know the docs at MEPS (the place where you get a physical to join the military) turned down guys who were 10-15 pounds overweight for their height, but they also do a body fat check if you're a little bit overweight in case the extra weight is just muscle (but that's not normally the case).

But anyway, if you're extremely out of shape and fail the physical fitness test in all areas when you ship, they'll usually turn you down and delay your ship date until you're in better shape. Sometimes they give you a set of goals and check your progress. The PCP is usually just for guys who have problems with one or two given areas.