Hi I’m a 19yr old college freshman. I am 6’3" at 295lbs. I’ve decided to join the Navy, hopefully under the SEAL Challenge Contract, but I need to lose a ton of weight. At my present bodyweight I can do 2 chins and roughly 50 pushups. To make it as a SEAL I need to do 100pushups in 2 minutes, 20pullups, and run a 1.5 miles in 9 minutes (in combat boots and BDUs). According to the recruiter I shouldn’t lift weights as weightlifters are usually the first to fail BUD/S. My question for everyone is: does anyone know of a diet I can lose 60lbs in 5 months, yet still have the energy for calisthetics, running, and swimming, all so taking into the account that I’m at college and can’t afford supplements and that the cafeteria sucks? All so, I have a program I’m looking at but if anyone has a program that worked for them in giving them massive endurance please let me know. Thanks in advance.
For endurance/bodyweight exercise proficiency, I would suggest a book called Solitary Fitness, by Charles Bronson.
No, not Charles Bronson of movie fame. Charles Bronson, who has been in solitary confinement in the British penal system for the past 24 or so years.
He also holds the record for most pushups and situps in a minute there, as I remember. The book revolves around various body weight exercises and isometrics. There are also a bunch of various odds and ends tossed in that are a bit hit or miss, but the fitness plan itself is solid as far as I’m concerned.
I would use his plan as a warmup, or, a second workout(for the morning, while later on in the day you lift). Choose low volume, wholebody workouts, 2-3 times a week. On none lifting days, run as your second workout. You’re going to have to eat plenty for all of this, but if you eat clean, the weight will come off. Take Sunday, and maybe Saterday, completely off.
If you realy want to be a SEAL, like nothing else you have ever wanted, you might make it. Anything less and you might as well not bother. I started trianing for BUDS when I was 13 years old. I was also on the wrestling team since 4th grade through 12th. The recruiters said this would give me an edge, but nothing will prepare you for Hell Week. The physical preparation is only of moderate importance if you consider that they are realy testing your psychological resolve by physical means.
Sorry I can’t give any experiential details about BUDS, I had a terrible accident about a week before my shipping date that disqualified me from service.
Good Luck!
You can take this comment any way you want. If you can only do 2 chin ups, a minimal amount of pushups and need to lose 65lbs, well I would suggest you set a more realistic goal. In my class 37 were there on the first day and only 4 of us completed.
Here is my advice:
Forget about weights unless it is a kettlebell.
Buy a chin up bar and do as many chins as you can when you can.
Do as many push ups as you can when you can and start doing hindu push ups/ dive bombers.
Buy a pair of comfortable boots and start running in them. If you live in a cold part of the US run with only combat pants and a T shirt.
Lastly explain your situation to your local pool and see if you can get permission to swim with combat pants and fins. Swim non stop - side stroke for about an hour a day. Once you get accustom to this bring a friend along and pull him while you do the side stroke.
Here is the secret becoming a Seal is 5% Physical and 95% Mental.
Good Luck
Here’s my two cents.
You first need to get a solid training program and diet down. They (the recruiter) should have given you one of those quickseries booklets that they have for all the services to prepare for boot camp. They’re actually pretty good since they’re for general conditioning and that’s what you’ll need as a service member.
If not, ask for one or go to quickseries.com. In any case, here’s the jist.
Start off with a simple full body lifting program,one exercise per bodypart. I don’t know what you’re training history is, so I can only give generalizations. Start with one set three times a week, then two the next. Do reps of 8-10. From you’re third week on, do three sets of each exercise. I would just use 50% for your first set, 75 for your second, and your third set is the work set. Every week try to add weight or reps. Do this three times a week, preferably in the afternoon. Should only take 30-40 minutes.
Three times a week you will need to run, and I’d do those sessions as a full blown PT session (warm up, calisthenics, run, cool down) Obviously you’re weight is gonna hurt you when you run, so start slow. That hand out from your recruiter has a decent program or you can go to runnersworld.com and look up beginner running programs like run/walk and such.
I left diet for last, even though it’s the first thing you’ll have to work on. I’d just start making adjustments, watch what you eat, know how much you’re eating and take it from there. I dropped 70lbs in six months doing fat fast and T-dawg before I shipped off to boot camp. Take it slow, you’ll get to where you need to be. IF you don’t do it in time, you can extend your DEP.
ONe final note, these straight to special forces programs are counting on you failing. That way, they can give you the shit jobs. Just know that you have a very large task ahead of you. If you want to join the Navy, do it, but know that if you go for this, you may very well get screwed.
Good luck with everything.
Thanks for the replies. I thought my post didn’t work, till today. I’ll check Charles Bronson out.
[quote]Nu-Naiy wrote:
Thanks for the replies. I thought my post didn’t work, till today. I’ll check Charles Bronson out.[/quote]
You posted that 4 months ago claiming that you only had 5 months to lose 60lbs. Have you lost the weight? Why didn’t you check the post for 4 months and isn’t your deadline a little too close to effectively use the advice in this thread?
Good Luck sir, it’s gonna hurt to reach your desired outcome.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
You posted that 4 months ago claiming that you only had 5 months to lose 60lbs. Have you lost the weight? Why didn’t you check the post for 4 months and isn’t your deadline a little too close to effectively use the advice in this thread?[/quote]
It’s only recently that logging has actually worked consistently for me, so I didn’t check my posts. I thought my post hadn’t worked at first since I’m used to forums were it’s posted immediately, not the delay on here.
In regard to my goal, it was a lofty goal and I didn’t make it. I’m a college student and have access to pretty much nothing but crappy food. I was going out and buying food but then my car got wrecked, got it fixed, then the brakes had to be replaced, and so on. I had to get a loan to fix my car both times, I’m paying for school, and I just didn’t have any money to spend on supplements and/or quality food. Beyond that I have stress fractures in both of my feet. So as soon as I heal up and get a better job I’ll be back to training hard.