[quote]De sleeplijn wrote:
Enjoyed it while it lasted but I got fired for too much Internet use.
[/quote]
Who’s going to unblock the drains at the chimpanzee enclosure now?
[quote]rawda wrote:
Truet wrote:
As with any form of exercises the body has not adapted to will cause some form of positive muscle cell transformation, growth. But once that muscle cell gets accustomed to the same movement pattern, repetition speed, frequencey of the movement, the more endurance properties it will enhance. Body weight movements can cause you to get stronger and slightly more muscular, granted you have minimal body fat to see the new muscle.
Bodyweight exercises, or calisthenics, are used in the military primarily to teach a recruit to have control of his body and to improve usable strength for combat situations. It doesn,t make sense for a military combatant to be able to bench press 85-100% of his 1RM for 2-5 repetitions or have all three heads of his deltoids popping out from his shirt if his job is to carry a seventy pound ALICE pack, 2 ammo cans of 6.62 ball round ammunition, an M-16A2 service rifle, and an extra M-60 barrel for the machine gunner humping 10 klicks (kilometers)an hour. To me, max strength and “show” muscle has no place in combat applications unless you want to look good in your Dress Blue Alphas while on embassy duty!
i really hope you’re not actually in the military since you don’t even know what caliber ammo the M-16 fires (it’s 5.56x45, in case you were wondering).
it’s ridiculous for you to say that bodyweight exercises are the best way to train for the military, not only because it’s untrue, but also because you contradict yourself later on by stating that the combatant needs to be able to carry quite a bit of gear in addition to his bodyweight.
it’s too bad that you added the second paragraph, since the first paragraph was right on. the second, with few exceptions, was riddled with incorrect information.
by the way, everyone (with extremely rare exceptions) can rep 2-5 reps of 85-100% 1RM.[/quote]
He probably meant “7.62” ammo which would be for the M60, although he definitly dates himself with that statement considering the Marines is on the M16A4 and the M240G.
As far as all the other statements, being strong IS important, but endurance is as well. Running through the streets of Iraq, up and down stairs, kicking in gates, and climbing over walls with all of your gear on are all very real scenarios and require a good mixture of strength and endurance. I lifted when I was in Iraq and a lot of other Marines did as well. Sure, you’re not going to build an amazing physique, but that’s no surprise considering the quality of food, amount and quality of sleep, and elevated stress levels.
DD
Wow, just found this thread. Interesting stuff.
The military uses pushup and ground drills because they are very cheap, equipment wise, and do okay at establishing baseline fitness along with running for most soldiers, especially support types. Kind of like the tape test for body fat; not the best, but it’s cheap and close enough.
All of the units I have worked with above leg infantry (including mostof the leg infantry) level are heavily involved in weight training. Push ups won’t help you push a 250 pound soldier with kit over a high wall, won’t help you climb over that high wall. Won’t help you hand a fresh box of 50 cal to they gunner in the turret, won’t help your grip on a fast rope when you and your kit weighs 250lbs, etc. I could go on, but I’ll stop there.
We have some big dudes in our unit that I would rather have with me in a firefight than a guy who can do 100 push ups in 2 minutes but cant bench press over his own bodyweight. These guys aren’t Ronnie Coleman size,but I am sure they could compete in some local competitions and place well, if not win. They only do push ups twice a year, for PT tests.
Anyway, do this. Do nothing but push ups for one year, don’t post until then, then check back in and let us see some pics. I’d like to see them.
i lifted before i enlisted and i got pretty big. in boot camp, we did countless (seriously) numbers of pushups, crunches, and pullups, and we ran what seemed like forever. now i gotta say, after those 3 months, i was definately cut, but i had actually lost alot of my lean mass. since then i’ve been going to the gym, and not focusing so much on the stereotypical “ooh-rah” type workouts and i’ve gotten alot bigger. plus if you do get big and you have to do alot of these exercises, it really takes a toll on your body. we run all the time (i HATE to run!) and i have bad knees, feet, and hips because of it. if you DO do nothing but push-ups, however many of them, you likely won’t gain much size, but you will probably get some strength and endurance.
have you actually seen the majority of the marine corps? it’s kinda pathetic. alot of runners, sure, but if they have to lift anything… you’re outta luck. everyone in my shop is amazed that i can lift more than one plate on each side of the bar. if you really want to get big, get to a unit that lets you PT on your own. otherwise, you’ll be running early in the morning, and probably tired later in the day, so your gym motivation will be a little wan.
Pushups will give you a big chest and endurance for passing the pushups tests. They won’t necessarily make your bench sky rocket. They won’t make your legs bigger. They won’t make you gain 20 lbs. They’ll make your chest stick out two more inches and you’ll be able to do 80 pushups and call yourself and elite fighting force like a Marine does just don’t challenge somebody to a lifting challenge because you are doing pushups and situps like a marine you’ll probably loose because your stabalizers won’t be used to the bar.