Im going off to Marine Boot Camp in about 6 months. I was just wondering if anyone could give me some advice, tips, or a workout that would help. I was thinking strength training along with pull ups, sit ups, crunches and runs. Later on weighted runs. Any advice guys?
Look at some of the books by get fit now, namely the Marine Corps Workout. I have the navy seal one and it seems to be quite good, granted I’m not going to BUDS.
You have already hit the nail on the head with the four exercises you listed, especially the running.
Do not get bs’ed into some heavy weightlifting nonsense. You are on the right track, do not very at all. And run your ass off. You can never run far enough or fast enough to make a Sgt happy, at least be over prepared. When you get there you will discover you did not prepare enough. Surviving basic will be a lot easier, and learn to love pull ups, sit ups and push ups. Good luck to you, most of us lived through it.
sprint intervals, pullups, take your pullup max and subtract30% of that. do 4-5 sets of whetever number you get. you going to parris island or san diego? i’m currently working at PI so let me know
Here are your Marine boot camp tips:
Do pull ups/chin ups every other day. Find out which grip you are strongest at and focus on it and develop only that grip. Once you can do about 25 you’re set.
Get some good running shoes and run. All the fucking time. I wasn’t prepared when I went and I went through boot camp with softball sized ankles. Noone cared. I couldn’t walk but I could march and run.
When you are there, do exactly what your drill instructor says when he says it and then start making the people around you do that stuff without the drill instructor having to say it. Assume a “leader” role as soon as possible. You’ll think that you shouldn’t be vocal but do it. Yell at a chump who isn’t doing what he’s supposed to be doing.
Never think about pain or weakness. It will always be there. Always think about strength and progress.
In boot camp get pissed and stay pissed from the time you open your eyes in the morning until your drill instructor says you can shut them.
At the chow hall eat as much protein as possible and fuck all that pasta.
There is nothing in the world as hard as Marine Corps boot camp but when you make it through you will reallize that you are capable of anything.
P.S.
If you score high on the PFT you will establish yourself in not only your platoon’s eyes but in the entire Marine Corps. 20 pull ups, a 3 mile run (as fast as you can do it,) and crunches. If your reading T-Nation then the crunches should be a joke but the run and the pull ups will make you a hero.
There’s also a lot of studying and book work. Become familiar with Marine Corps history now. Chesty Puller and Archibald Henderson should become familiar names.
Don’t worry too much that the better you are the more likely you will be leading others into actual battle. Imagine killing as being your job because that’s what we are. Hired killers.
When you’re at the firing range, make sure to zig zag as that makes you far less of a target. Also, curl up in a ball and use good cover at the hand grenade range (use good hearing protection, too) when the the DIs start throwing live grenades at you. Make sure your buddies bayonet is rust free to avoid infection.
[quote]rburckhardt wrote:
Here are your Marine boot camp tips:
Do pull ups/chin ups every other day. Find out which grip you are strongest at and focus on it and develop only that grip. Once you can do about 25 you’re set.
Get some good running shoes and run. All the fucking time. I wasn’t prepared when I went and I went through boot camp with softball sized ankles. Noone cared. I couldn’t walk but I could march and run.
When you are there, do exactly what your drill instructor says when he says it and then start making the people around you do that stuff without the drill instructor having to say it. Assume a “leader” role as soon as possible. You’ll think that you shouldn’t be vocal but do it. Yell at a chump who isn’t doing what he’s supposed to be doing.
Never think about pain or weakness. It will always be there. Always think about strength and progress.
In boot camp get pissed and stay pissed from the time you open your eyes in the morning until your drill instructor says you can shut them.
At the chow hall eat as much protein as possible and fuck all that pasta.
There is nothing in the world as hard as Marine Corps boot camp but when you make it through you will reallize that you are capable of anything.
[/quote]
man marine camp isn’t that bad ass, I had a friend who was an average skinny guy who was average track athlete and said the physical stuff was not that hard. More then anything you have to get used to the mental crap they do to you. BASIC marine boot camp is not that hard, but now if your going to go special forces well good luck with that.
Also if you are in great shape don’t try to act like a bad ass, this is bad idea. You want to remain average to a degree don’t try and single yourself out for the drill instructors.
being average is no fun man!.. if you dont feel challenged, feel free to let your DIs know, they’ll take care of you
My friend went to Boot Camp in late December and has written back. After the first two weeks it was something like “I am a dumbass, this is fucking hell, I hate my life and I’m quitting the Marines as soon as I can. Fuck this.” About 2 weeks later he wrote “It’s not as bad as I thought it would be anymore. I’m making friends, I’m pushing myself, the instructors are cooling down.”
You’ll make it no sweat. Good luck to you! Are you going to San Diego or out east?
#1 its mental
#2 if you could not fail what would you do.
#3 they know you arent as vet as them.
#4 so? what will you do in the face of vets?
#5 make them smile or not. it is your choice.
on another note… once you sign the contract(before u ship out) there’s no quitting so if you feel in the dumps you just gotta suck it up and wait for chow time to roll around, because no matter how shitty your day is, it’ll be over by 20:00
It’s pretty simple to prepare for boot camp. Pretty much be prepared to get smoked everyday. I’m not in the Marines I’m in the Army (West Point, didn’t go through BCT, went through CBT–Cadet Basic Training), by the way.
You’ve heard it, pull-ups, running, push-ups, sit-ups/crunches.
For running, I think there’s 3 types you should do.
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various types of sprints – 50m, 100m, 400m. Get 15-20 minutes of this sprinting in for a workout.
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2 mile runs (8 laps on 400m track). I don’t know how good of a runner you are, but at first I’d shoot for 2 miles in 14-14:30 minutes. Try to decrease the time each run.
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Endurance runs… 3 miles up to 6-7 miles. Just go at a decent pace and try to complete the distance. Try to decrease time each run.
Jumping jacks/burpees/walking lunges/etc are all good
For pull-ups, this is what I did:
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Weighted pull-ups/chin-ups around 2x a week (focus on pull-ups) for 3-5 reps.
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Then try to do sets of BW pull-ups for max. reps once a week (play around with it… more reps, slow eccentrics, forced reps, etc).
For push-ups/ab stuff:
- Around 3x a week, just blast yourself on push-ups with sets of max reps (feet elevated, normal/wide grip, diamond). After each set of push-ups, throw in a set of abs for max reps: flutter kicks, leg raises, crunches, sit-ups, etc. Go back and forth between push-ups/abs. End with planks.
- Try to get weighted push-ups in once a week.
If you could somehow find an obstacle course, run it.
If you can, try to get some kind of heavy back pack, a good pair of boots, and start rucking (hiking pretty much) for 6-15 miles. Walk on uneven terrain, uphill/downhill, etc etc. For the 6 miler, take a break for about 10 minutes, have a healthy snack, put some foot powder/new socks on, and get back to it. Take around 3 breaks for the 12-15 mile rucks.
Boot camp is more mental than anything. You have to learn how to accomplish tasks with little sleep, with one thousand things on your mind, and with someone always in your face. Rely on your fellow recruits that are with you in boot camp. Without them you cannot get anything done. Try to act as a leader, do as your drill instructor says and nothing more.
There’s not much else I can say, everyone is always unprepared for boot camp. It will be the most sucky time of your life but at the same time, most rewarding. The first few days are hell, but once you get into the grind of things, your mind will become more complacent with the whole situation.
One word of caution though: Do not let boot camp take away your individuality. Do not become a drone/robot. Take everything with a grain of salt. The first thing they do in boot camp is take away your individuality, I know that, but once your done, remember that you have a life outside of the Marines. Remember how to be social. take care and good luck.
Run,pull-ups and pushups, lots of them . There are no fancy programs. Any workouts that are being posted are going to work. I would go to any bookstore and get “Marine Corps Workout”. That book was a good buy for me 9 years ago. Stay in contact with your recruiter and your RSS (recruiting substation)as much as you can, go to every poolee function. Hopefully your recuiter or the head SNCO has a weekly PFT meet. BTW what is your MOS?
[quote]rburckhardt wrote:
Here are your Marine boot camp tips:
Do pull ups/chin ups every other day. Find out which grip you are strongest at and focus on it and develop only that grip. Once you can do about 25 you’re set.
Get some good running shoes and run. All the fucking time. I wasn’t prepared when I went and I went through boot camp with softball sized ankles. Noone cared. I couldn’t walk but I could march and run.
When you are there, do exactly what your drill instructor says when he says it and then start making the people around you do that stuff without the drill instructor having to say it. Assume a “leader” role as soon as possible. You’ll think that you shouldn’t be vocal but do it. Yell at a chump who isn’t doing what he’s supposed to be doing.
Never think about pain or weakness. It will always be there. Always think about strength and progress.
In boot camp get pissed and stay pissed from the time you open your eyes in the morning until your drill instructor says you can shut them.
At the chow hall eat as much protein as possible and fuck all that pasta.
There is nothing in the world as hard as Marine Corps boot camp but when you make it through you will reallize that you are capable of anything.
[/quote]
there is nothing in the world as hard as Marine Corps boot camp?! dude you sound like youre a walking Marines brochure. you might want to cool it down a bit before your head explodes and ruins that haircut of yours, which isnt exactly a high+tight…
oh boot camp is not the hard part.
Life as a Marine can be harder than anyone can imagine, deployments, bullets, long hours+no sleep, cold korea snow, long trips on the HSV, watchin a french rocket blow up your buddies, i feel for you if you have a family as i do… i wouldnt trade it for the world though
yea, Marine Corps boot camp being the hardest thing in the world is one of the dumbest things ive ever heard, on this board or elsewhere. only because if you thought about it, for even just as long as it takes you to type it, youd find that the statement couldnt be true.
example: do you think a US Marine coming back from Iraq would say that Iraq was harder, or boot was harder? id imagine theyd say Iraq was harder, no contest.
The thread is going off topic it so ill rant . The Kid/young man wants to be a Marine, boot camp might be hard it might not.
The initial impression of the marine corps lifestyle can be hard for some individuals and yet easy for some, that applies to anyone big or small, fat or skinny and any jarheads past or present know that.
To say Boot camp or any other indoc/school thats is offered in the military is hard or mildly hard ( BUDS,Ranger school,Army special forces,AFSOC pipeline,Recon indoc, Scout sniper school, wtfever ) is varied
from individual to individual that had actually been there to experience it. For anyone to say that any of these are easy is obviously not on planet earth.
Dez your absolutely right bro.
i actually found it hilarious at times, watching the little nutcases freak out…seriously though… if you can run 5-6 miles nonstop(doesnt have to be fast), do 25 pushups, rep out some pullups, and not take stuff personally, you’ll do fine.