I need your input.

[milkman]

For the past two years i've been considering joining up. I've finally come to the decision to do so, my ultimate dream would be to become a Canadian peacekeeper overseas.
My familly is 110% behind me, strange because they are so liberal, we only have one menber of the familly who served (with the French paratroopers.)
But i've got a nagging question on the back of my mind, i weigh about 180 pounds (heh not the muscular type) and im not in shape anymore. When i look at army pics i always see men and women that are 3 times my size. I guess the question is, how many of you were out of shape when you joined up?
I believe i am mentally prepared and posess enough responsibility. I have a small idea of the challenge ahead, but i keep questioning myself on wether or not i am there physically.
 

I've got lots more questions, for now let me know your opinions

thanks

 

[Lost_Warrior]

Well, like the saying goes.  Its 90% mental and 10% physical.

If you can weed through the head games, you will do fine.

Believe it or not, in the reserves now, physical fitness is NOT required to pass your BMQ like it once was.

There were people on my BMQ who would almost keel over during the morning runs during PT, or fall on their face after a few push ups....a sad sight indeed.

All who were able to overcome the stress, despite being grossly out of shape, passed their BMQ...

I'm sure you will do fine.

The trick is to NOT wait....go run RIGHT NOW.....then do a few push ups and sit ups...and DO IT EVERY DAY!

Good luck!

 

[brin11]

Whether physical fitness is required on courses is not the issue.  People need to have some pride in the uniform and the CF and become/remain physically fit on their own time.  If you have any aspirations about doing a tour you had better get in shape, stay in shape and become an excellent soldier.  If some bags have passed their basic training, etc. without any drive to become physically fit it is a sad day.  Start training now.

 

[Lost_Warrior]

Agreed.

Being out of shape and slow, not only slows down yourself, but your platoon as well.

 

[Ex Ranger Instructor]

The standard for physical fitness within the CF is the expres test.   If you're male and under 35, then you need to do a minimum of 19 push ups and 19 sit ups.   You'll also have a hand grip strength test, and you'll need to run to at least level 6 on the 20 MSR, which is a timed shuttle run which requires you to keep running faster and faster in order to continue.   To be honest, it isn't at all difficult.

The ARMY currently uses the Battle Fitness Test as its measure of fitness, in conjunction with the CF Expres test.   The BFT consists of a 13 Km march carrying approx 25KG of weight, which you must complete in under 2 hours 20 min, IIRC.   You then have to drop your backpack, pick up another troop about the same size as you, and carry him, his weapon, and your weapon 100M.   The BFT usually leaves me feeling a bit sore the next day, but it too is quite easily accomplished.

As the above posts mentioned, it pays to be "above standard" in terms of PT, but to be honest, given current standards, as long as you aren't Jabba the Hutt, you won't be out of place.

 

[Freight_Train]

The info in the above posts is somewhat disturbing to me.  Since I decided to join the reserves, I have been busting my butt to ensure my success at BMQ.  I thought it would be a challenge.  When I did my fitness test a couple of weeks ago, I did 61 sit ups, 69 pushups, my grip was 50 pounds with each hand and my VO2 was 42.4 oh yeah, and I'm 38.  Now it sounds like BMQ will be a breeze for those that are prepared.  I will be disappointed if the rest of the recruits show up lazy and out of shape.  Cheapens the experience somewhat.

 

[Ex Ranger Instructor]

I agree with you wholeheartedly, Freight_Train.  I've worked with soldiers from many of our allied nations, and it's unfortunate, but Canadian troops are, from what I've seen, the fattest in NATO.

Even our fairly lax standards aren't applied properly.  There are plenty of CF members who couldn't pass a PT test if you promised them all the doughnuts in the world.  It sounds like you're in excellent shape.  Not everyone needs to be able to do 69 push ups (I'll admit that that's a few more than I can pump off), but it would be nice if a reasonable standard was set and enforced.  The thing is, that on your basic training, you will find that you have a much easier time of things if you are fit than if you're a block of crisco: even if the lazy troops do end up passing the course, it won't be because the instructors want them to, and they will most likely be in for a much less pleasant BMQ than everyone else.

 

[Lost_Warrior]

Now it sounds like BMQ will be a breeze for those that are prepared.

The physical part will be.  That doesn;t mean you still won;t take the walk down wash out lane....

You have to understand.....physical fitness is only one part of BMQ.
A lot of it is mental stress.  There may be times when you get only 2 hours of sleep in 2 days.  That can play havoc on a recruit who has lectures the next day and exams on those lectures..

And then on top of that, there's the head games the instructors will play on you and your fellow recruits.

Most people from my BMQ who quit were physically fit, but just couldn;t hack the stress that comes with the military lifestyle.

 

[chrisf]

To reinforce what Lost Warrior said, there was a fellow on my BMQ course. He was in excellent shape, got along well with everyone else, did pretty well in the classroom aspect, but neglected to shave one day, and they charged him for it (For reference purposes, a "charge" in this case means they fined him for it, I think it was a days pay), but that was it, and he quit because of it.

 

[jswift872]

I'll admit i ain't to fit like Arnold or Sylvester, but i can do the requirements, and when i get yelled at or dumped on, i just let it go through one ear out the other, i don't get stressed, its not me, i think i will do good, except the running part, i am not to great at running, but i will push myself to get good

 

[bossi]

A couple of points:
Remember Norm in Cheers?  "Norm - what are you up to?  My ideal weight ... if I was eight feet tall ...".
180 lbs doesn't say much, without height and perhaps some indication of physical fitness ...

And, let's please keep in mind:  Several of the "standards" mentioned here are the MINIMUM!!!
If you're content to be in last place, then go ahead and aim for the bottom.
However, since there's no prize for second place in war ... we all should be aimiing for our best.

There was some interesting health news this week - mentioned that obesity is linked to the amount of time we spend driving around instead of walking (thus, ironically, people who live "downtown" and who take advantage of walking to the store are often less obese than "Bubba" out in the sticks who has to drive everywhere ... ironic, eh?)
So, the weather is good enough now - start walking more often, running or bicycling when you can, too.
It's also a good way to deal with the high price of gasoline (i.e. use less of it).

Nations have passed away and left no traces,
And history gives the naked cause of it -
One single, simple reason in all cases,
They fell because their peoples were not fit.
--- Rudyard Kipling:  Land and Sea Tales for Scouts and Guides, 1923

 

[Art Johnson]

No fat guys here. Two of the three MM winners in 9 Platoon are in this picture.

<img src=http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v96/1bn48th/Platoonphoto1951.jpg>

 

[Bert]

Wait a minute there Mr. Johnston, the Sgt looks a bit portly and the guy in the second row, third from the left, needs more protein in his diet.   Top row,
on the left, I swear he has only one eye.   And lastly, the guy in the third row, 4th from the left is smiliing way to much.   I put down good money they were drinking
BEER the night before!

milkman

If you can meet and exceed the minimum physical requirements, you will be OK physically in BMQ.   As many have mentioned, as you continue a career in
the Forces your fitness level is important and you have will to maintain or improve you physical condition.   The taskings given to you or the state of readiness
your unit may have to be in will demand a physical resiliency and perseverence.   You might be enjoying a good cup of coffee one day and be sent
out into the bush the next.

Also as mentioned, BMQ is not just about physical fitness.   It is stressful to a new recruit; lack of sleep, difficult timings, working with others, interacting with others,
maintain state of mind, pushing your limits, and testing your ability to maintain a sense of humour.    BMQ may not be the most difficult course one may be on but it will be very memorable.

Heres a story from BMQ:

Drill classes in BMQ are interesting becuase you may get yelled at alot yet also invigorating and gets the blood flowing.   Week after week the fatigue factor
sets in and everyone begins to screw up more and more.   Our course had a little competition arranged by the staff of course.   The staff would yell a command
and everyone would have to perform the drill move exactly.   Anyone who screwed up got tossed out of the group and had to wait by the wall.   It came down to two
recruits at the end (Moriarity and Vienotte).   The staff couldn't make them falter dispite some rather amusing attempts.   The reward given to these guys   was they
did not have to perform fire-picket or sentry duty during the Farnham field exercises.

Once the platoon entered Farnham field exercises, we were pretty exhausted from the prior weeks of the course.   We did our stuff and by the end of the it all,
we were extremely tired, bunged up, sore, wet, and cold.   During it all, everyone had to perform sentry and fire-picket duties at various times of the night.
As a civilian, rarely do you entertain this kind of fatigue.   With all the fatigue, marching, training, playing silly b@st@rd in the bush, walking thru 3 feet of snow, these two guys insisted on doing their shifts of fire-picket and sentry duty.   Most of us were so tired, we forgot they were exempt from it.   I don't know if anyone had the presence of mind to thank "Mori" and "Veno" later for pulling shifts to allow others to get some sleep.   To me, what these guys did represents most of what BMQ is about.  

Yes it takes physical fitness.   It takes alot of mental and emotional fitness, perseverence, and teamwork to really make it and get something from the course.

 

[milkman]

Thank you everyone for the comments.
I guess im lucky in the way that i dont actually have to lose weight, i think i just need to bulk up a little and get my cardio to a good level.
Im starting a work out regime this week and getting back into running again (something i used to do alot.) Hopefully the recruiter will take into consideration that im trying to effect some positive change and take that into consideration for the application.

Anyone know how long it usually takes to get from the application stage to the physicall testing?

thanks again

 

[Lost_Warrior]

It depends.  I had my physical 2 days after I handed in my application, and my medical a week after that.  Then had my CFAT 2 days after my medical.

A friend of mine didn;t get scheduled for a physical until a month and a half after he handed in his application.

 

[rdschultz]

Yeah, just to add my timeline, I handed in my application in  late January, in Saskatoon, got a phone call about a week later, and had all my processing (CFAT, Medical, PT, Interview)  done on Feb. 11.  A friend of mine handed in his application about the same time, in Edmonton, and didn't even get called until mid-April. 

 

[Art Johnson]

Bert I'm going to be nice to you mainly because Mike has allready warned me about some of my caustic replies to you neophytes. 1st take a look at the man you refer to as the 3rd man second row. He does't have much of a neck the slope of his shoulders goes almost up to his jaw line. Look at his waist, you don't see any pot belly, his battledress bouses properly over his waist belt he is what we describe as a BRICK S-H-I-T HOUSE.
Sergeant Martin may appear to be a bit portly but I don't see any pot belly his battledress blouses properly and you really would not want to run into him in a dark alley.
So woods has got a smile on his face, what is wrong with that?

 

[Army_Deej]

???What ways did everyone do their push-ups??  I saw some people say that they had to have their arms right by their ribs, but then I saw this t.v. show (Truth Duty Valour) and they had their arms out away from their sides, just 90o away.  I'm just just confused!!!! :-[  If anyone did their physical testing in Vancouver, or somewhere down there, so I can know, please tell me!!!!  Thanx