Physical Fitness (Jogging, Diet, Cardiovascular, and Strength )

[Playa69]

[

hrmm interesting calorie calculator. I have no idea what these numbers mean?

what does it help you do? come up with a diet or what?

Its by no means exact numbers, but its a close estimate. It only benefits those that are calorie conscious. First of all you have to keep a log of what you eat(how many total calories you digest) and exercise (burn calories).

Its easy for us to say "Eat more to gain muscle" and "Eat less to lose fat." That still leaves you with a big question: more or less than what? You need a basline number to start with.

Step 1: Your weight in pounds ___ x 11 = ___ Your basic calorie needs

This calculation tells you the amount of energy you'd burn without eating or exercising. In other words -- the caloric cost of being you.

Step 2 : Your basic calorie needs (step 1) ___ x Caloric cost of your activity level ___% (From following chart) = ___Your metabolic rate

Activity Level                                          Age
                                              <30        30-40        >40
Mostly sedentary                      30%      25%          20%
Moderately active                        40%      35%          30%
Dedicated exerciser or athlete      50%      45%          40%

Since you do eat and exercise, the total number of calories your body burns in a day is higher than your basic calorie needs. How much higher depends on your age, the amount of muscle you have, and the intensity at which you make that muscle work.

Step 3 : Your Basic Calorie needs(step 1) ___ + Your Metabolic Rate(step 2) ___ = Your maintenance total

This sum reveals how many calories you need just to maintain your current body composition, without growing muscle or shedding fat.

Step 4: Your maintenance total(step 3) ___ + 500 = ____ to gain muscle

To build muscle, increase your daily calorie intake by 500 calories.

Step 5: Your maintenance total(step 3) ___ - 500 = ____ to lose fat

To lose weight , subtract 500 calories a day.

The amount of energy in a pound of fat equals 3,500 calories, so in a perfect world, creating a daily surplus of deficit of 500 calories would allow weight gain or weight loss of 1 pound a week. Muscle gain is less predictable than fat loss, because adding calores and moving a heavier body both speed up your metabolism.

I'm almost certain people are going to ask me how to sum up this equation, so I'm going to run an example. Say you weight 165 pounds, you're under 30, and you're extremely active, lifting 3 days a week and playing sports or doing some other type of intense exercise on other days. You want to gain some solid muscle mass.

Step 1: 165 x 11 = 1,815
Step 2: 1,815 x 0.5 = 907.5
Step 3: 1,815 + 907.5 = 2,722.5
Step 4: 2,722 + 500 = 3,222.5

In other words, you need to eat more than 3,200 calories a day to gain muscle mass.

Now, with the online calorie calculator it will further help you plan out your diet and training program.

Hope this helps.

edit: Sorry about the chart. I don't know how to use the table function. Anyone that does, please pm me. thanks :bullet:

 

[Playa69]

so does this mean to make this work i gotta look at all the fine print of the health info whenever i eat?...

Yes.  It's not that hard when you get the hang of it. Sooner or later you will not even have to look at the labels!

Here is a site that counts Food Calories & Nutrition http://www.caloriesperhour.com/

It also has Diet and Weight Loss Information & Tips; Calories Burned, BMI, BMR & RMR Calculator.

I'd recommend to look at the site, their calculators are pretty good.

Also, you have this one for Calorie Charts and Tables http://www.annecollins.com/calories/

 

[NavyGrunt]

Yall are being absolutely silly worrying about these things- unless you're cutting for a competition.  Eat right, sleep and lift(and run). Eating right is easy- we did it without "calorie" calculators for thousands of years. Its common damn cents. Avoid sugary foods. Eat 6-8 smaller meals. Why are we so fat and we are overexposed to nutrition and health info? Because we over complicate a very simple issue.

Heres a good tip- if the food you are eating comes in a package covered in writing its probably no good for you. The brighter the package- the less good it is for you. Low fat? High carbs. No fat? HIGH carbs. Even if you dont eat "no carb" you should be aiming to control your carb intake- refined sugars will rob you of any progress. Eat when you are hungry and exercise- your body will naturaly adapt.

If you are "dieting" you are setting yourself up for heartbreak. Its a lifestyle change not something you do for "swimsuit" season. And as soldiers, airmen, and sailors(now or aspiring) you should be fueling and training your body correctly. Dieting makes you moody and less aware. Not to mention weaker. Not the state you want to be in.

Train and eat right. The "bod" falls in place.

 

[Playa69]

I'm always in competitions and my father is a physical trainer -- hes been putting this in my head ever since i was a little kid.

Before i go on with my post---so we get no misunderstandings--- i would like to say, the term "Dieting" should not be referred to 'eating less"--lose weight . Proper term for diet: What we eat to fuel our bodies.

Yes it is true that "we did it without "calorie" calculators for thousands of years", but then again food was scare in those times. Now, people worldwide have the luxury of bombarding themselves with nutrient-deficient, high-calorie food, often called empty-calorie or junk food. So it is the combination of food choices, inactivity, and genetics that determines if you have fat around your body. There are no magic pills or effortless gimmick for use to lose weight. We have to use common sense of course, but when companies that specifically market junk food,  "eat this, eat this, drink this, drink this, it's yummy - you'll love it", its pretty damn hard to NOT eat it.

Eating right (5-6 small healthy meals) is easy to say. But for some its "eating more or less what?" Many people in our society do not have that vast amount of knowledge to know what to eat, and eat right when all we see on television is junk food. Twenty-five years ago, the government tried to get junk food advertising off of children's television, but they were stopped by the toy industry, the food industry, the broadcasting industry and the advertising industry. It's time to take another crack at that.

Now with the use of these calculators it helps the person setting a goal, and achieving it by monitoring themselves. Yes we can achieve our goals(losing overall fat, gaining muscle mass...etc) without calculators using common sense, but the use of them will help you closely knit our plans effectively (without signifcant fat accumulation or muscle loss). Why do you think body builders of today are much bigger, leaner, and much more defined than what they used to be 10-20 years ago? Then again were not bodybuilders :-X, were soldiers! But that doesn't mean we cannot benefit from modern knowledge!

For example(we have to explain to people when, what, and how to eat):

If you're a lean, very active guy trying to pack on muscle, you should hedge your bets with more than a gram of protein per pound, since extra dietary protein increases protein synthesis in the body. At the same time, you need plenty of easily available fuel in the form of carbohydrate.(The more intense the activity, the more carbohydrate your body uses for energy.) Without a lot of carbs, you run the risk that your body will dip into your protein reserves for the energy it needs. Those protein reserves are in your muscles---the last place from which you want to donate energy. Finally, you need enough fat to help prodcue testerone and other anabolic hormone. And the fat can be used for energy, too, especially any low-intensity activities---shooting hoops, playing golf, riding a bike.

When trying to shed fat, you have a slightly different set of concerns. You need protein to maintain your muscle even though you can't expect to gain muscle mass while trying to lose 2 pounds a week. You want those pounds to come entirely from your fat stores, so you shouldn't eat a lot of carbohydrate. Eating carbs signals your body to burn carbs. Eat fat, though, and your body will be more willing to use fat for energy. However, you shouldn't completely forgo carbohydrate. You need some for energy during exercise; you need fruits, vegetables, and whole grains for health reasons; and you don't want to feel deprived of the foods that comprise the vast majority of the available calories in the food chain. You're already cutting out a large chunk of your daily calories---don't pile on needless suffering by eating like a freak.

Now, does all this mean you have to follow a formal diet, counting every calorie? I think the answer is yes. If you're trying---and failing--to grow muscle or lose fat, you probably do need to follow a carefully calculated diet, at least for a while. Start by determining your actual food intake: Keep a 3-day food diary, making a list of everything you eat during that 72-hour period. Use a good calorie-counting Web site, such as those that Ive posted earlier or even  www.usda.gov, to figure out your average daily calorie intake. Then you'll be able cut or add calories as necessary to reach the total you calculated in the equations that Ive posted earlier.

OR, a simpler strategy is to examine your diet for less healthful foods and replace those with better ones. Thats what Aaron White was trying to say.

The benefits of eating the right foods diminish if you don't get the frequency and timing right. These two factors can be summed up pretty easily: Eat five or six small meals throughout the day, whether your goal is pure muscle growth (without significant fat accumulation) or pure fat depletion (without significant muscle loss). Think of our body as a fireplace. Would you expect a fireplace to burn consistently throughtout the day, keeping your living room at a steady temperature, if you threw logs into it two or three times a day and left it alone the rest of the time? Hell, no. If you wanted the room to remain at a consistent, comfortable temperature, you'd replenish the tinder every couple of hours. And you'd never throw a huge stack of wood on the fire at any one time--the room would get hot hot.

Now you know why it seems that lean, muscular people are always eating. When you're trying to build muscle, frequent small feedings allow you to get enough calories throughout the day without ever wolfing down 1,000-calorie meals. When you're trying to lose fat while sparing muscle, five or six small meals and snacks at regular intervals let you eat less overall without feeling ravenous and deprived.

Here's the best, simplest way to schedule your meals:

Eat your first meal as soon as you can after gettin up in the morning---you want your fire to start burning as quickly as possible.

Try to eat every 3 hours after that.

Have a pre-workout snack or drink about an hour prior to exercise and a post-workout snack or drink within 1 hour of completing your exercise. ( 2-to-1 carbohydrate-protein ration, with just enough fat to provide some flavor and texture). My favorite: The basic (187 calories) 1 teaspoon protein powder in the flavor of your choice, 1 cup 1% milk, and one banana --- blend...serve and drink before and after---yummy.

I guess i made my point pretty damn clear. Its up to you if you want to follow a closely knit plan, or just use common sense eliminating the not so good foods you can live without. Both will work, but with more attention to your diet, you will achieve greater results in less time.

Its up to you.

DONT FORGET TO EXERCISE.

and have FUN.

 

[NavyGrunt]

?
so what are you are saying about IMPs?

Dont eat them when your arent in the field.  They are designed that way for a reason. Lots of energy. Quick. They arent designed to be eaten all day long by normal everyday people.

Ghostraven what I am saying is before these people who have never eaten properly or exercised before(no matter what they are telling us on the internet-if they did they wouldnt have these types of questions) by using "equations" they are doing too much to soon. The first thing they need to do is to cut out all the crap and exercise, too much to soon and they see it as too complicated- what you saidd in your post was true. But its TOO LARGE of an adjustment at once. They'll never keep it up....

 

[cihmitb]

Hey all, I want to get in good shape before I go to apply or do my physical, so I was just wondering if this is a good work out and if anyone could give me any other exercises to do that they do in basic trainging that I should know about. any info is greatly appreciated thanks.
(I hope all the names of the exercises are right)

3 sets of

1.push ups-30
2.sit ups- 30
3.running- 2 k
4.bench press- 15
5.dumb bell curls- 20
6.biking- 3 k
7.chin ups- 5
8.leg lifts â “ 20
9.butterfly curls- 15
10. bicep curls- 15
11. skipping- 3 mins
12 .boxing (60 lbs bag) 5 mins

 

[Jungle]

Is this a daily schedule ? ...weekly... monthly... ??  
In any case, you need to run longer distances. 2km is not enough...

 

[cihmitb]

I try and do it dailly but I might miss a day here and there, and I run 3 sets o 2 k but if thats still not long enough then I can put it up to 3 or 4 k I guess, I'm trying to combine cardio with weight lifting.

 

[Jungle]

For the cardio, you should probably run once a day. You should aim for 30 min runs as a minimum, resulting in 5 to 6 kms. Once a week, run for 60 min; this way, you'll improve endurance.

 

[Zhuge Liang]

it seems obvious in retrospect, looking at the army site for workout help cause you want to join the army.   So many good ideas (and some not so good ones, but its the thought that counts).

I joined the Family Fitness gym if you know the chain (not the exclusively women's gym obviously, although it sounds like the premise for a zany adventure).

I'm not terribly concerned about the physical entry requirements, its basic and on i'm worried about.   I used to be a big sports nut but let it slide for the last 5 or 6 years and started smoking to boot.   I'm on my way to quitting now.

I've read that the physical entrance requirements don't properly prepare you for the demands of basic.   If so, then which ones are inadequate and to what degree?

If i had to guess off the top of my head i'd probably say the running (in boots) and the pushups.

As a final note would you say regular jogging is better than the eliptical?   My parents have a pool, but my timing sucks and its closed during the summer.

I want to learn things properly the first time.

Also i saw alot of workout routines, maybe people could post some sample diets as well?

thanks again for the help

 

[Bert]

As mentioned before, if you need a good fitness program suited for you then its best to
get professional training advice.   You can't go wrong.

A good way to assess yourself is to take the "Self-Test" available on the CF Recruiting site
or in the application package and judge where your strengths and weakness are.    Can you
perform the number of push-ups, the number of sit-ups, and run the required distance in the
time allotted?   Are you able to achieve more?   If so, then the physical demands of BMQ will
not be a problem.   If not, you may want to talk to a fitness trainer.

BMQ, and life in the military, may challenge you physically.   One may have to climb obstacles,
march distances carrying a load at a fast pace, jog distances, carry relative heavy loads,
crawl in confined spaces, work with little sleep, and maintain a sense of humor in times of
stress.   To be physically able, its best to develop all-around body strength, maintain
muscle flexibility, and develop good cardio/endurnace from jogging and running.   Just
training for sit-ups or push-ups isn't the point of military or combat fitness.

Having wrote that, those that have attended BMQ may agree mental and emotional
fitness are just as important.   You become part of a platoon and BMQ focuses on
teamwork, perseverence, sense of pride, endurance, and teamwork.   If you meet or
exceed the CF fitness specifications, you'll won't falter in BMQ.   If you maintain a
positive attitude, maintain a sense of humor, help your buddies, let them help
you when you need it, and remember you and your platoon are all there together facing
the same challenges and strive to overcome them, then you'll succeed.

Eat a well-balanced diet with lots of protien ources.  I'd recommend not running in boots.  
Many people get carried away with pre-BMQ raining then go an injure themselves unnecessarily
and that sucks.   Run with a good pair of running shoes and don't do anything silly.

Good luck.

 

[Gilligan]

  I'm in the comm reserve, and although it's not a combat arms trade....since the linemen are, we often get placed in PT with them (at least that's been the case with my 3's course on a regular basis).  We started off with small distances, doing about 5km everyday for week 1, then that friday we did circuit training, week 2 was 7km, circuit training friday, and then week 3 was 9km, same circuit training (although intensifying week by week) by week 4 we were running 12km in just over an hour.  By the end of the summer (8 weeks), we were doing 12km (add in all the frickin turnbacks to pickup those who couldn't keep up) in about 45 minutes.  Also, at the start of the summer, I weighed 155lbs, and size 30, by the end of the summer I had only "lost" 5lbs, but was down to a size 26.  Of course, I did lose a lot of weight, and gained it back with muscle mass, but toned muscle mass. 
  I found that workout plan to work, and when I got pregnant I could do very little, but once I had my baby, I waited a few months, and went back to the routine that my instructors started me on on my 3s, and it's been great.  Food in moderation, breakfast/lunch/dinner, fruit or veggie snacks during the day on breaks, and no junk food. 
  Anyway, I didn't find I had to use any fancy machines because I didn't have to go to a gym (although should be wanting more of a weight training regime, then a gym would be a good start), and although at first it seems a little daunting, I just remembered that it isn't always about losing weight (at least that's what I was told).  If your clothes are getting baggier, and your skin is tighter to your muscle, then you're good to go.  Besides, if you plan on joining the military, any extra muscle will help.

 

[bhobson]

I have used protein powders, but it not really necessary. All that they do is replace any protein sources like meats or legumes. if you get organized and cook a bunch of food ahead of time those 5-6 small meals per day diets aren't as daunting as they appear. Powders just make it easier, but certainly not necessary.

 

[Mischiefz]

from the little I know about protein supplements is that they are designed in no way to replace meals..meat sources etc. Protein is used by the body to produce amino acids ( found in meat and some vegatables ie: beans)  that not only fuel muscles but also help repair ( muscles are built by first tearing, microscopic tears..., then repairing the muscle). As far as I know the worst thing is you leak out the extra protein ( correct me if Im wrong ) but having to little equals muscles looking for alternative fuel sources, ie other muscle cells, muscle itself etc.

 

[foerestedwarrior]

Check this out, lots of knowlegable people at PSP

http://www.psphalifax.ns.ca/fleetfitness/default.asp

 

[putz]

maybe its just the people at your GNC the ones here in Edmonton are great.  I only use triflex(glucosamine, chondroitin and MSM) for running and they helped me out.

 

[Spr.Earl]

Hey plain and simple !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

You wish to join you already know the Military expects a said standard.
You have been given the criteria.

Work on it!

STOP ASKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just get your Arse in gear and do it if you want it that bad.

Plain and simple.

 

[Jungle]

One more thing, if you need all that crap you guys are talking about to meet the CF EXPRES standard, you have a serious problem...

 

[Island Ryhno]

There have been some crazy statements on this thread, about 10 pages back someone was claiming a 4 min 20 sec mile..wtf, the fastest 10k runners in the world don't do that, I'm sorry but there is some bad stuff on this thread. Workout every day? Your muscles grow during recovery phase, that means days off. If you work out 7 days a week you'll just end up hurting yourself. You want to get abs, you can do crunches until your head comes off, it doesn't mean jack, you can't iso define a muscle. 6 pack of abs = no 6 packs of beer or nachos or hamburgers or wings or any other tasty treats, you show them through diet. Anyways I thought that people should take this topic with a grain of salt as someone who is trying to join will probably try to do one of the superman workouts mentioned and hurt themselves causing a set back. Here is some good advice, join a YM_YWCA and get sessions with a CERTIFIED fitness instructor who will set up a routine SPECIFICALLY FOR YOU, as we are all different. It's free of charge with the membership. Just my rant..out

 

[Manny]

Lose weight - I love to drink pop. So what? When I had to trim down, I stopped having my two to three cokes a day and within weeks there was a noticeable difference. That alone won't do it. The PT programme is just as important. Once you do the calorie check (how much you consume and how much you use on a daily basis) you should be able to identify where you can cut the calories without affecting your culinary lifestyle. Dido for donuts and pizza. Identify the high calorie foods and reduce consumption. Having said that, don't deprive yourself completely, or you will rebound. Treat yourself to your favourite food once a week, in moderation of course.

Running - I recommend a popular running magazine. They normally have routines to improve your running times.