Reserve Physical Fitness

[SHARP WO]

This is a question about a complaint that I have seen and heard of in the Reserves.

If a Reserve soldier cant afford to belong to a gym and wants to improve his physical fitness how does he do it? While working fulltime B,B/A(reduced access fee's),C class members of the Canadian Forces have access to a gym, to workout and improve physical fitness, so why doesn't the A class soldier get the same options.

I understand that running and route marching are part of PT and that you dont need a gym to do so, I am concentrating on upper body and muscle strength, something that is lacking in many Infantry soldiers.(I am no exception)

 

[foerestedwarrior]

go to Wla-Mart, buy a pilates resistance band(like surgical chord with handles on the end) you can do almost any exercise that you can think of. It only costs $10, less than a third of a Pte(0) half day. Complement it with something like running, biking, ruckmarches, or something lowerbodyand anerobic

 

[rw4th]

Some reserve units have their own in house gym. Mine did (it was small, but had the necessary weights). If yours doesn't, you might consider sending up a memo suggesting it. It's a one time investment, and they could buy used equipment.

Conversly, you can do everything you need to do using runnning/walking/rucking and calisthenics. Hell, go buy one of those Navy SEAL Workout Challenge videos, or a for the ladies, a Taebo video   ;D

 

[IPC10]

If you are looking for fitness on a budget and specific to our job I recommend the following website:

www.crossfit.com

I have been doing the WOD for the past month and it sucks....but it isn't really equipment intensive.   I recommend it to all, regular and reserve.  Wish I had it back in Bn - they even put out stuff for group training (they have a six week plan that works really well, it was set up with one of the goals to be "ultimately taxing of elite and novice athletes")

Everyone should check it out (my opinion).

Another thing is ask your RegF staff where they go.   Ususally they have a deal with a local gym for free access.   I know in Calgary its at the Tailsman Centre.   You have to sign in of course (at the gym)so check to see if its okay first.

 

[foerestedwarrior]

Or check the local universities/colleges. I know at Georgian college in Barrie, the gym is pretty cheap compared to so gym that is equally fitted out.

 

[pbi]

See if your unit Training Office has a copy of the new Army Fitnes Manual. This is an excellent book: I have used it myself for the last two years and it has produced good results. It has alot of ideas for fitness, for different kinds of programs, etc. Check it out. Cheers.

 

[fleeingjam]

How exactly would you ruck, I mean like if you still dont have your kit, would you just stuff a large bag to the point that it resembles the weight of a rucksack. Also would you just do this in like public or on a trail (if you live in a urban commnity).

 

[ArmyRick]

Reserves fitness? I am being serious..
(1) go to dragondoor.com and check out Pavel T. material, he is insanely fit and former red army. He offers alot of sound advice and can also help with injury prevention...
(2) Many infantry lacking upper body ? Give me a break.. If you can knock off 30-40 strict push ups and get up 12-15 strict chin ups, your good in the upper body..
(3) Most guys consider upper body and "bodybuilding" same thing the same, its not..
(4) Cardio is important , hence running, work on both endurance and anaerobic (sprints)
(5) Heavy ruck marches for time (2-4 hours are important) take your dog or your family for a long walk on say the weekend with heavy ruck. It will benefit both of you.
(6) Circuit training rocks too and can improve your fitness in the quickest amount of time (Not wussy circuit trg but the stuff we use to do in the 2VP years back rocked !!!)

Most important of all. DO IT !!!

 

[pbi]

Most important of all. DO IT !!!

Roger that. Get fit or get fat. Cheers!

 

[Fusaki]

All you need is to make a habit of running, push ups, sit ups, and pull ups. Learning to make the lifestyle change is far more important then buying fancy equipment. Its all in you head, after all.

Check out the Navy SEALs workout at
http://www.navyseals.com/community/navyseals/navysealworkout_main.cfm

Its designed by the US Navy to prepare potential candidates for BUD/S training. In 16 weeks it'll take you from couch potato to athlete... if you can stick to the program of course. Best of all, it doesn't cost a thing. One change I'd make though: run in pt gear and running shoes as opposed to the combat boots and pants it suggests.

(1) go to dragondoor.com and check out Pavel T. material, he is insanely fit and former red army.

ArmyRick, have you tried Pavel's Kettlebells? I have a friend back home who's brother is the only guy licenced to sell them in Canada. I've always been curious if they've been all hype, or some real substance to what he's preaching... "EXTREME FITNESS FOR HARD LIVING COMRADES!!!"..... riiiiiiiiiiiiiight...

 

[NavyGrunt]

This is a question about a complaint that I have seen and heard of in the Reserves.

If a Reserve soldier cant afford to belong to a gym and wants to improve his physical fitness how does he do it? While working fulltime B,B/A(reduced access fee's),C class members of the Canadian Forces have access to a gym, to workout and improve physical fitness, so why doesn't the A class soldier get the same options.

I understand that running and route marching are part of PT and that you dont need a gym to do so, I am concentrating on upper body and muscle strength, something that is lacking in many Infantry soldiers.(I am no exception)

Wait- Im supposed to pay to use the gym on the army base near me? I just show my ID.....

 

[pbi]

Fitness is either part of your personal lifestyle, or it isn't. A Res soldier has to make fitness a routine part of their life. Banging on about "liability" and "pay issues" etc are IMHO just dodges for people who really don't want to make fitness part of their   civilian life. They want to blame their lack of fitness on the Army, then complain when they get sent home from Gagetown because they are too unfit to perform. Compared to some land combat forces, we demand very little in the way of fitness: it is within anybody's grasp if they want to be fit. Cheers.

 

[Farmboy]

  Who needs a gym??

Using your own body wieght works alot better and costs nothing.

Push-ups (regular, tri-cept and wide) and then move into hand stands push-ups, you have a wall right.

Dips are easily done with two dinning room chairs back to back 

Sit-ups and crunches but don't stick your feet under somthing

Hindu squats then go to one leg

Wind sprints run full out for 30 seconds up-hill do alot of these

Like said above DO IT!!!!

 

[rifleman]

But there are a lot of cuties at the gym (motivation)

 

[CARROW]

One of my biggest bones of contention, heres my two cents worth.  PT is a personal responsibility for reservists (I have been a member of the Primary Reserve Infantry for 20 years) and something that every professional soldier knows is that you have to be "fit to fight".  It must be built into their own off duty daily routine.  This country fought and successfully won three wars (remember they were dismounted non-mech conflicts for the Infantry) without the benefit of stair climbers, nautilus machines, Pilate's, yoga and health clubs.  They achieved a physical standard by normal resistance exercises that we all learned in school (push ups, sit ups etc.) and gradually increasing ruck marches both in terms of duration and terrain complexity.  Ever soldier has the ability to do this type of training without the requirement of fancy machines. 

For guidance as PBI mentioned the Army Fitness Manual has a wide variety of programs to assist leaders and members in implementing PT within their personal and collective training.  I can only speak for our Unit but we ended up getting about 4  dozen of the manuals sent to the unit and we have dispersed them down to the section comd level.  We are brining in a civilian PARI (wrong spelling) contracted by DND to do testing in the new year. 

Poor physical fitness in a Unit is a sign of poor leadership as far as I am concerned.  A soldier doesn't have to be a tri-athlete but they must be able to carry full basic load, marching order for the 13.5 km and beyond at the very least.  The biggest injustice that leaders can do is send their soldiers off on tasking unfit.  If you want a operational perspective Major Ken Sabtier of the 38 CBG who was the Roto 12 CRIC OC recently published an article on physical fitness of reservists an article worth reading as it points out the challenges faced by those who arrived unfit.  In addition the article goes onto to talk about the impact of the time it took on the Coy as a whole to get those members in shape.  Time which could have been spent on additional mission specific training.

Professional soldiers want a challenge and they want to learn new skills, a Unit is not able to progress in its level of training if the the members are unfit.  How can you build in more complex training such as rappelling, long distance recces over complex terrain and or live fire training if the majority of the troops are unfit.  If you have members doing the run down on the PWT who are huffing and puffing this is
also a concern for safety.

Just a note on how to improve fitness levels.  Within the average Reserve Unit I bet that there is someone who has professional knowledge, students in Education at University taking Phys Ed, someone who works at a local gym, someone who is a life guard part time.  Find that member who has knowledge and is obviously disciplined in their own personal  PT and give them the task of building the Unit PT training plan for the year.  This is a good leadership development task for Jr/Sr NCO or Jr Officers  that is not to suggest that Senior Officers should not be fit.  Getting old is a lousy fact of life but it is not excuse for being unfit and the reality is if you are active you better able to fend off the ravages of jumping out of to many MLVWs.  In addition each Reserve Unit gets a Public Funds "Sports Grant" each year that can be used to buy sports equipment that benefits all members.  It is not a lot of money but by putting together a Unit PT plan overtime you can buy the equipment that will be of benefit.

Sorry for the rant just my thoughts.


Regards


CArrow

 

[ArmyRick]

Ghostwalk, I have Pavel's book on kettlebell lifting and I can't afford to swing extra $$$ for a real kettle bell. I have tried the swing, one arm snatch and one arm clean and press using a 45 Lbs dumbell here at home. It does knock the tar out of you. I also know some MMA buddies of mine in civie life who liked using kettlebells/dumbells (KB drills) and they find it helps with explosiveness. IMO, you can not rely solely on KB drills for fitness.
Good stuff for really shitty winter days though.
Pavel T also has the naked warrior (1 arm strict push ups and 1 leg strict squats), his power to the people program and of course his Kettle bell program.
He has done some insane strength feats in the past (Pro arm wresting, 1 arm chin up contest, inflates water bottles until they explode, etc) I really respect his opinion because he used to be a troop..