Sadly no. Even though the plates were smooth and quite thick (bumper plates) an average person should not struggle with holding 45 pounds for a couple of minutes
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That is appalling… Before I make any rash comments I will test this out myself, if I don’t get at least 2min I will post of video of me eating a hat. Lol
EDIT: Goddamn that was a rash comment…
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OK, so where’s the video of you chomping an Akubra?
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I too like to live dangerously
I should probably try it out myself too - I didn’t attend the contest and I’d like to see how I stack up
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*** 1 hour later still holding the plates haha.
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Akubra’s are a little… leathery. I’m thinking a small straw hat with some dip 
I haven’t tried it yet though, I want to simulate it with bumper (shit I realised neither of my gyms have bumper) plates.
Does stacking 2 10kgs in one hand count?
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Or you could just eat one of these edible nacho hats lol , no one specified the sort of hat
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Yes please, I vote @duketheslaya hat!
On a completely unrelated topic, I found some bumper plates and could only hit 12 seconds… Can you send me the nacho hat so I can do this video plz Duke 
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I will see how long i can do it for next week lol
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Seems like the “Are you tougher than a Finnish grandma”- competition has begun
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I should be good at this!, iv been working on forearms since i was 10 lol… 
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General life update - A bad day
So, today was the day that my shin splints got out of hand. I’ve been having some discomfort and pain in my lower legs since we began to run first thing in the morning (practically straight out of bed). Now the condition has gotten to another level. Running feels like dying, squatting and deadlifting make my legs feel horrible and even walking hurts.
So yeah, I’ll need to figure out a way to get rid of the pain. Until then I can’t really do anything heavy - things such as squats, deadlifts and barbell/T-Bar rows are out of the question.
A bad day, for sure, but it’s not the end of the world. Still, I’ve got to say that in my opinion this is not the optimal way to train soldiers - but I’m no expert in that field.
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This is an opinion I keep coming across, especially now that soldiers have to carry way more kit.
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I’m rather sure that soldiers would be in a lot better condition if they were trained with weights and other means of resistance.
I feel that the army has three main reasons to keep their physical training the way it is (aka. Morning runs, pushups and situps)
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Everybody knows how to do those movements
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Running and bodyweight stuff is fast to get through with
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It has always been that way - civilians think you run and do push-ups in the army so we want to meet their expectations
But this kind of physical training does no good for you - my running capability has actually decreased (especially now that I can’t really run at all) during the time I’ve spent in the army. Push-up and sit up numbers have been pretty consistent but I’d avard that more to the training I do in my free time than to that of the army’s.
And honestly, it’s not that hard to teach someone how to do squats, deadlifts, overhead presses and chin-ups, so why not focus on those instead of using suboptimal training techniques?
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Shit mate, I feel for ya. Shin splints are not nice and really the only way to get em to chill is to have a week or 2 off running which is obviously not viable for you.
You do a lot of Calf work no?
Have you been strengthening the anterior side of your shins as well? Toe raises with 8-10kg were a bit of a game changer for me. They didn’t work miracles but they did relieve them to some degree.
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the push up does not have to be sub-optimal. imo its one of the best exercises for pressing and full body control with carry over to a broad range of more advanced exercises, such as abs roll out and planche to name a few. done properly that is. but cranking out lots of poor push ups with high frequency might do more harm than good.
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Yeah, I’ve always done quite a bit of calf work, but I’m not the lightest dude around so the impact from running is rather hard
I’ve been doing that too - I’ll need to look into something else
Rest would be the best way to deal with this but as you said, that’s not viable at the moment.
Done properly, absolutely
But the army version of the push-up is just doing half-reps as fast as you can with no real intention - but saying that the soldiers are able to do 80 pushups in a minute sounds a lot better even though 40 proper pushups would do a lot more for their physical fitness.
By using the term “suboptimal” I was referring to the training as a whole; you won’t build a well-rounded soldier who is at his physical peak just by doing push-ups, sit ups and running - especially when running is done straight out of bed and push-ups and sit ups are just cranked for as many reps as possible in a minute or so - with poor form.
So there is definitely a lot to improve regarding physical training in the army, but the problem is that is anybody willing to open their mouth about these problems, and even if someone says something, are there enough resources to even do anything?
So I guess this is what we are sticking with
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Ok so in defence of military training…
Push-ups and Sit-ups are easy on-the-spot things to do. They are relatively quick to fatigue on (as opposed to planks, BW squats etc) and they are basic exercises every recruit can do, and every recruit can get better at them. They are also movements you can grind through when you are fatigued. This makes it easy for the officers to gauge the recruits mental fortitude
Running is high impact and another highly mental game. The gait movement is highly used in military service (including rucking and sprinting) and must be trained. Lower body must be acclimatised to this through high volume training. As stated running is another exercise that can be done under fatigue and tests the recruits mental fortitude.
Keep in mind that this basic training is exactly that - Basic Training. When the basics are learnt, more specific training is than implemented.
I will end with agreeing that the military would benefit from more resistance based exercises such as sumo deads, weighted Lunges, OH Pressing and Curls (for the military gurls )
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Ahh shin splints , the devil of running training.
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That’s definitely true, and even if we did change the physical training in the army, push-ups and sit ups (both done with proper form) would still have a place in there.
The fact that they are easy to perform anywhere is a big plus, but on other hand it’s never implemented properly - at least here.
Now this is where you go wrong - kind of. The only reason for soldiers to run during their training would be that their feet and legs need to get used to the impact running places on them. (That’s why I ran a lot before army)
I don’t rememeber if I’ve said it here, but I was a runner (kind of - never competed, just wanted to see how good I can get on my own) before I got really into lifting. When I was in my peak shape for running (both sprinting and distance) I actually ran only twice a month (one session of sprinting and one session of distance). What I did was bodyweight stuff - burpees, jumps, jump squats, jump lunges, an work and in addition to that I did some kettlebell work, squats and deadlifts. A lot of times I would do these in a circuit fashion. (3-5 movements in a circuit)
And even today I’ve noticed that when people get stronger they get faster and when people get good at burpees and jumps of different kinds, they build a hell of a lot of stamina.
So, in my opinion running is actually not all that important
Marching and sprinting in full gear should be practiced, because of the external load that is placed on your body (and the fact that being in full gear makes you bigger, and clumsy.)
Really almost any exercise can be used to test mental fortitude, but running is, in fact a very easy way to do so.
That’s true
Maybe I’m so worked up about this because I though my days of running and bodyweight stuff were long gone…
Oh you 
Bu honestly man, I only do curls for them sweet bicep gains
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