Each year tens of thousands of young men and women will go off to bootcamp and join a branch of our military. Basic training involves a large amount of fitness and depending on what branch you join, it might be extremely physically demanding.
It’s important that you prepare for basic training if you want a good chance of passing, you’ll have enough on your mind that you don’t want to be worrying about your fitness too.
There are three main things you want to focus on:
Cardio
Strength
Willpower
Regardless of where in the world you live, every basic training will involve a lot of running, that’s the nature of the job. Cardio is the most important part of your preparation and will make the biggest difference between you passing or you failing.
Strength training is far less important for most people but if you’re joining a branch like the Marines where there is a large strength component, you’ll want to focus on it more.
Finally, you want to learn how to push your body to the absolute limit so that you can access that power when you need to.
Cardio: How to improve your endurance
Whilst running is the large majority of the cardio that you’ll be doing in basic training, it can be harsh on your body and so it’s good to change up your routine.
Before we go on, the name of the game is progression. Whether you’re running, swimming or lifting weights , if you want to get better at it then you need to be progressing every week.
That means that each week you need to run faster, swim longer or lift heavier weights.
Your body builds muscle and improves cardiovascular performance as a response to stress, so, to keep seeing improvements you need to keep supplying increasing stress to your body.
The two forms of cardio that we would most recommend are running and swimming.
In basic training a lot of the tests are done on shorter one and two-mile runs, but the day to day training is often much longer. Therefore, we’d recommend splitting your running into long and short days.
This should also give your body a chance to recover.
You’ll also be expected to pass a swimming test, so, if you can’t swim, you need to get lessons.
The reason that we recommend swimming as a form of cardio is because it is zero-impact. Running puts a lot of stress on your knees and hips, so, swimming is a good way to get your cardio in whilst also giving your joints a rest.
How to progress each week
Starting at your current cardio level you want to build up and be able to run two-miles in under 18-minutes. You’ll be doing this on a shorter run day, continually running two-miles at 90% of your maximum, slowly improving each week.
On your longer run day you should be aiming for distance rather than speed. Many of you might only be able to run a few miles right now, even at a slow pace. The goal is to build up to being able to run 10-miles at a steady pace.
You’ll be aiming to go a little further each week, maintaining the same pace each time.
Finally, you’ll have one swimming session each week where you should swim for one-hour and cover as much distance as possible during that hour.
Strength Training: Becoming stronger
Time after time you’ll see guys preparing for basic training by lifting a bunch of weight around and trying to improve their squat.
I love lifting as much as the next guy, but these exercises don’t translate well into the demands of the military.
You’re better of focussing on the exercises that you’ll need to perform in basic training.
Sample routine
Here’s a sample program that you can do with almost no equipment:
Press-ups: 4 sets of max reps.
Sit-ups:
4 sets of 1-minute (i.e. do the most you can in 1-minute, 4 times)
Pull-ups:
3 sets of max reps
Tricep Dips:
3 sets of max reps
Burpees: 3 sets of max reps
A routine like this shouldn’t take you more than 45-minutes and you can do it in most outdoor parks.
Overall 'Get Fit' Routine:
Monday - Fast Run
Tuesday - Strength Training
Wednesday- Swimming
Thursday - Strength Training
Friday - Long Run
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - Rest
Diet: Feeding the beast
As with preparing for any fitness event, a large component is going to be the diet that you’re fueling your body with.
You’ll know from looking at yourself in the mirror whether you need to lose, gain or maintain weight in preparation for basic training.
Losing weight
If you need to lose weight then there’s no getting around it, you need to make sure that you’re consuming less calories than your body uses each day. This is the only way to lose weight.
Starting this exercise routine will help, but your diet will also play a key component. Firstly, you should focus on removing all junk food and limiting sugar in your diet.
Secondly, you should ensure that you’re getting enough fruit and vegetables in your meals. If you’re not, swap out some of the extra bread or rice for some more vegetables. You should be eating at least 5-portions of fruit or veg each day.
Finally, make sure that you’re consuming a decent amount of protein each day. Protein is found very readily in meat, fish, nuts and milk.
Gaining weight
On the other hand, if you need to gain weight, you need to add more healthy proteins and carbs into your diet to ensure that you’re consuming more calories than you need. Start slowly and add a small amount each week until you’re gaining 0.5lb - 1lb per week.
