Preparing for Boot Camp

Training Bodybuilding
1

I leave for Paris Island on July 27th; right now I’m pretty average in regards to physical capabilities, i.e., athletic, without really pushing myself. I’m done with school come the twelfth of May, meaning I’ve got roughly two and a half months to go from average to, well, probably just moderately above average, given that it’s only ten weeks before I ship out.

Where I stand now: I’ve only worked-out with weights for about half a year, now; before that, for several years, it was bodyweight exercises. I’m stronger than most people who don’t work out - and I doubt that counts for a whole lot - but most people here could out-lift me pretty easily. I went through a cycle of Total Body Training, and I’m starting Phase V of HFT tomorrow.

I’ve decided that I want to do several hours worth of training a day - other than that, I’m at your mercy when it comes to ideas of how best to prepare. I can sleep however much I need to. I can eat however much I need to. I’ve read most of the article archives, and almost all of the commonly-cited articles here, and most of them probably a half-dozen times. I figure I’ll eat pretty much everything in sight, but I could use some advice on timing and perhaps macronutrient breakdown - after all, I’m not sure long-distance running right after a meal is necessarily a good idea. I used to do the whole six or seven meals a day thing, but right now I basically follow the Warrior Diet - it was more an instinctual thing than a conscious decision, and I’m more than open to changing it; it’s neither really helping nor hurting me right now, but I question its ability to see me through four or five hours of exercise a day, seven days a week, even if I’m eating six or seven thousand calories in the big meal.

I know this doesn’t fall into the basic scope of bodybuilding, nor does it fall under the category of powerlifting, but you all do seem pretty knowledgable in regards to just plain ass-kicking, so please forgive me. As it stands, I’m thinking probably two or three hours of endurance training - spread across jogging, swimming, and biking - plus maybe an hour of PT movements - push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, with a little (and I stress: a little) sprint work thrown in just to attempt to balance out the extreme long-distance nature of my earlier lower-body work - and hopefully an hour of squats, deads, overhead presses, rows, etc. As asinine as it sounds, I’d like to do all of this, every day, and hope that extreme caloric intake and rest will prevent over-training, but the reasonable part of my mind says that I’ll probably have to cycle things.

If I gain some fat, as impossible as it may sound given five hours a day of exercise, it doesn’t really bother me that much, if at all - I can’t see my abs extremely clearly right now anyway, so it’s not like I’ll be losing all that much by not seing them a couple months from now. I’m more concerned with simply being able to work as efficiently as possible for as long as I need to, both upper and lower body, while retaining the ability to exert some level of strength - i.e., I don’t want to be a marathon runner. I realize that too much excess fat will get in the way of this goal, but I honestly don’t know that dieting down to previously unseen levels - for me - will help me that much than simply sitting tight at what appears to be my baseline.

As to supplements… I’d rather spend money on the food I’ll be devouring by the ton, but I’m open to suggestions. I’m sure Grow’ll come in handy, along with a multi-vitamin and fish oil, but other than that…

So, five or six hours a day, seven days a week: completely insane? Completely retarded? Completely brilliant? Is it at all possible barring chemical aid? I need all the help I can get, so please, tear me apart.

2

umm let me now how that works for you

3

This week, a typical email crossed my desk and I realized that I have not devoted an article to answering this question fully. There are several articles in the Article Archive that will help you with running speed, endurance, pushups, situps, and pullups but here is a comprehensive answer to the age-old question � �What do I need to do to prepare for Bootcamp?� This article will be a one-stop shop for people to find links on training and techniques on many of the physical events that occur during Bootcamp. Here is the question:

I am currently planning on enlisting with the Army National Guard here in a matter of weeks. I will not attend basic until next year because I am still in school (Age 17, Junior.) Do you have any tips that I can use to increase my run endurance, time, etc. along with upper body strength to better my PFT score?

To properly answer this broad question, the answers needs to break down your question into several different workouts as well as circuit training tips to combine the entire PFT.

Mastering the PFT is really the first step to getting prepared for Bootcamp. For the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard, the physical fitness test will consists of

Pushups � Proper pushups are the key to more pushups. Placement of the hands should be just greater than shoulder width directly under your shoulder when in the UP pushup position. This will better distribute the muscular involvement between the arms (triceps), chest, and shoulders. Wider hand placement works more chest while close placement works the triceps and shoulders more. Touch your chest to your counter�s fist, which is usually about 2 inches off the floor. To score higher on this test, try to do your pushups non-stop without rest and always practice them fast to get used to multiple reps of pushups workouts. See the Pushup articles for more workout ideas:

Pushup Push Workout

More Pushups

Situps � Situps or curl-ups will be tested with someone holding your feet with your knees bent. Sit up by flexing your stomach muscles with your hands crossed over your chest and touch your elbows to your knees. Drop your torso to the floor by relaxing your abs and let gravity take you down. Do not waste your energy letting yourself down slowly.

This is an exercise you need to pace. Most people burn out in the first 30 seconds with 30 curl-ups accomplished, only able to perform another 20 or so curl-ups within the next 1:30. By setting a pace at, for instance, 20 sit-ups every 30 seconds, you can turn your score of 50-60 to 80 with very little effort. The best way to get better at situps is to practice situps with timed sets of the above and a goal pace for 1:00 or 2:00 test periods.

1.5 or 2 mile timed run (Army) � Running is another pacing exercise that requires practice up to five or six days a week in order to become an above average runner. To pass the PFT runs on an average score, you still need to train at least three days a week. Some ways to train can be found in the article below:

Interval Training for Timed Runs

Proper Tips for running should include deep inhales and exhales (no shallow breathing), heel-toe rolling strike, and a straight arm swings. See the Article on proper running techniques:

If you are entering the Army or Marine Corps, practicing running in boots is also a good idea about two months from Bootcamp. Only practice about 1-2 times a week in boot prior to Bootcamp. Wear two pair of socks to prevent blisters. One thin polyester pair against the skin and one, thick, cotton sock on the outside.

The Marine Corps adds pullups to the PFT list, but does not test in pushups and adds an extra mile to the Army�s two-mile run. So for the Marine Corps you need to be able to master the following:

Pullups � This is the ultimate exercise to test upper body strength. It requires grip strength from your hand and forearms and pulling power from your biceps and back muscles. The proper pull-up requires your palms to be facing away from you and your hands just greater than shoulder width. Pull you chin over the bar and simply drop back to the starting position with your arms straight and biceps relaxed.

More Pullups

3 mile timed run � This run is twice as long as most Bootcamp tests and requires more endurance training. The article below will help you train for the longer timed run. If properly prepared, you can complete this run on the same pace of the 1.5 mile timed runners of the Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard. It is not uncommon for Marines to run the 3 mile run in 18:00.

Run Even Faster

Depending on your service Bootcamp, the training programs have an obstacle course, rope climb, swimming, ruck marches, and use the pushup as a �punishment exercise�. So prepare yourself properly for your service�s standards at least 4-6 months prior to departing for the military.

If you have any questions about the training programs at the Military.com Fitness eBook store (www.militaryfitnessebooks.com) please let me know at stew@stewsmith.com. Keep the emails coming.
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About the Author

Stew Smith is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, a former Navy SEAL, and author of several fitness and self defense books such as The Complete Guide to Navy SEAL Fitness, and Maximum Fitness. As a military fitness trainer, Stew has trained hundreds of students for Navy SEAL, Special Forces, Air Force PJ, Ranger Training, and other physical law enforcement professions. His eBooks at Military.com can help you achieve your fitness goals, whether you’re a beginner or an expert.

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Ever since I wrote The Grinder PT – Key to Mental Toughness eBook, I have noticed that the majority of people who attempt one of the toughest workouts I have ever created do quite well on pushups tests upon finishing. This eBook is modeled after the first month of SEAL training, where pushups are done five days a week in the magnitude of several hundred a day. Improvment surprised me – I assumed the workout would border on over-training.

This went against all the physiology I had studied in the past. What was meant to give SEAL candidates a taste of SEAL training on paper, turned out to build muscle and increase pushup maximum scores. Typically, you give the body 48 hours of rest before doing similar resistance exercises or weight training, so the body has time to recover and grow stronger. That is why many workout routines offer upper body exercises on Monday-Wednesday-Friday and lower body exercises Tuesday-Thursday. Some workouts even give up to 72 hours of rest before repeating the same exercises. But Bootcamp in every branch has used pushups as a daily exercise either in organized PT or punishment for not conforming to regulations, usually improving results. Throughout the years of experiencing military training either as a student or instructor, I noticed people were typically stronger in pushups by the end of training.

So, I started experimenting mostly with younger people from 18-30 years of age with similar goals of increasing their pushups scores on the PFT. The program is a ten-day pushup plan that requires pushups daily, but still has some sound physiological rules that incorporate ?some? rest but not much. Below is the program that has helped people go from 50 pushups to 80 pushups in two weeks.

On ODD days: Do 200 pushups in as few sets as possible in addition to your regularly scheduled workout of cardio exercises. You can still do upper body workouts on these days if you are already on a program. This is a supplemental 200 pushups using maximum repetition sets (4 x 50, 8 x 25 … it’s your choice how you get to 200).

On EVEN days: Do 200 pushups throughout the day. This can be little sets of ten done every half hour or fifty pushups done four times throughout the day.

RULE: If your maximum is under 50 pushups, do 200 a day. If your maximum is above 75, do 300 pushups a day.

Repeat the ODD/EVEN routine for a total of 10 days. Then take three days off and do NO upper body pushing exercises that work the chest, triceps, and shoulders. Then on day 14, give yourself the pushup test (one or two minutes depending on your PFT). I would not recommend this workout more than once every six months, since it rather challenging on the same muscle groups repeatedly.

Here are pictures of the three main types of pushups you can do to break up the monotony:

Regular Push-Ups

Wide Push-Ups

Triceps Push-Ups

As you can see, the only difference in these three pushups is the placement of the hands. Regular pushups distribute your body weight proportionately between your chest, shoulders and triceps, whereas the wide pushups will work the chest more, and the Triceps or Close Pushups will work the triceps and shoulders more.

If you are using a program like the ones featured on the Military.com eBook Fitness Store, continue and add this supplemental program to your training. If you are not on a program, you can try to add this with a one of the free running programs to help your PFT running. See the “Running Plan” article at the Military.com Article Archives.

Thanks for the emails – they really do inspire me to develop articles, so keep them coming at stew@stewsmith.com.

This workout is an opinion of the author. Should you proceed with this plan or any derivation, you do so at your own risk and should be cautious.

just go to that website gives you everything you know about boot camp

4

[quote]Isaac 117 wrote:
I leave for Paris Island on July 27th; right now I’m pretty average in regards to physical capabilities, i.e., athletic, without really pushing myself. I’m done with school come the twelfth of May, meaning I’ve got roughly two and a half months to go from average to, well, probably just moderately above average, given that it’s only ten weeks before I ship out.

Where I stand now: I’ve only worked-out with weights for about half a year, now; before that, for several years, it was bodyweight exercises. I’m stronger than most people who don’t work out - and I doubt that counts for a whole lot - but most people here could out-lift me pretty easily. I went through a cycle of Total Body Training, and I’m starting Phase V of HFT tomorrow.

I’ve decided that I want to do several hours worth of training a day - other than that, I’m at your mercy when it comes to ideas of how best to prepare. I can sleep however much I need to. I can eat however much I need to. I’ve read most of the article archives, and almost all of the commonly-cited articles here, and most of them probably a half-dozen times. I figure I’ll eat pretty much everything in sight, but I could use some advice on timing and perhaps macronutrient breakdown - after all, I’m not sure long-distance running right after a meal is necessarily a good idea. I used to do the whole six or seven meals a day thing, but right now I basically follow the Warrior Diet - it was more an instinctual thing than a conscious decision, and I’m more than open to changing it; it’s neither really helping nor hurting me right now, but I question its ability to see me through four or five hours of exercise a day, seven days a week, even if I’m eating six or seven thousand calories in the big meal.

I know this doesn’t fall into the basic scope of bodybuilding, nor does it fall under the category of powerlifting, but you all do seem pretty knowledgable in regards to just plain ass-kicking, so please forgive me. As it stands, I’m thinking probably two or three hours of endurance training - spread across jogging, swimming, and biking - plus maybe an hour of PT movements - push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, with a little (and I stress: a little) sprint work thrown in just to attempt to balance out the extreme long-distance nature of my earlier lower-body work - and hopefully an hour of squats, deads, overhead presses, rows, etc. As asinine as it sounds, I’d like to do all of this, every day, and hope that extreme caloric intake and rest will prevent over-training, but the reasonable part of my mind says that I’ll probably have to cycle things.

If I gain some fat, as impossible as it may sound given five hours a day of exercise, it doesn’t really bother me that much, if at all - I can’t see my abs extremely clearly right now anyway, so it’s not like I’ll be losing all that much by not seing them a couple months from now. I’m more concerned with simply being able to work as efficiently as possible for as long as I need to, both upper and lower body, while retaining the ability to exert some level of strength - i.e., I don’t want to be a marathon runner. I realize that too much excess fat will get in the way of this goal, but I honestly don’t know that dieting down to previously unseen levels - for me - will help me that much than simply sitting tight at what appears to be my baseline.

As to supplements… I’d rather spend money on the food I’ll be devouring by the ton, but I’m open to suggestions. I’m sure Grow’ll come in handy, along with a multi-vitamin and fish oil, but other than that…

So, five or six hours a day, seven days a week: completely insane? Completely retarded? Completely brilliant? Is it at all possible barring chemical aid? I need all the help I can get, so please, tear me apart.[/quote]

While I am quite sure you are sincere I am basically just going to wish you luck your ship date is relatively just around the corner.

I would have advised you to start training alot farther out, Parris Island is extremely hot and humid in the summer you will need a high tolerance to heat while under duress as well as very good cardiovascular endurance, not to mention upper body strength.

When you get there keep your mouth shut pay attention to details keep your damn canteens filled at all times.

Maintain your hygiene, eat everything you can get your hands on you will expend a extraordinary amount of calories. Keep your self well hydrated.

Again good luck and remember Paris Island is God’s country. “The Devil didn’t want it!”

P.S. During processing everyone will be dissoriented and sleep deprived do not make the mistake of raising your hand to ask a question of the Drill Instructors as you will soon find out this may be construed by the Drill Instructor as you literally raising a hand to them also do not refer to them as DIs as they will tell you that stands for Dumb Idiot.

5

If I had to do the Island over again…priority one is running and calisthenics. Become a pullup/pushup/ situp/dip machine. Yes to swimming, wish I’d have done it. Forget the bike, you won’t have one on P.I. and with only a few months to go you need to work the specific stuff you will be doing. Toughen your feet up, hike at a super fast pace with a pack. Work up gradually to several hours a day of strenous activity, but DO NOT overtrain, the Island will do that for you.

It is a very good idea to get to point where you can work out several hours a day. I had been working up to 10 hours a day in a feedmill in addition to jogging and lifting and it helped A LOT. You want to have the highest level of overall fitness you can get without being overtrained when you get off the bus. For me the Island was 88 days of stress hormone h*ll, losing the little bit of “show” muscle I had built in four years of solid training. I dropped most all lifting but maintenance stuff a few months before and was glad I did. Functional strength will become the ability to function at all in the extreme stress situations you will encounter in training. Semper Fi

6

Now that some of the physical stuff has been talked about do yourself a favor and prepare for all that your going to face at boot camp. Boot camp is 15% physical and 85% mental. It is the Drill Sgt. job to get inside your head, it is not that he hates you (but remember, he really doesn’t like you either) but that is his job, to try to see if he can get you to crack NOW in training, before it really counts when your out there in the field.

So what you need to do is prepare your body for not just the endless, mind numbing push-ups, the abdominal cramp inducing sit-ups, or the making you vomit multi-mile runs…but all the rest the crap they throw your way.

You say you got two to two and half months. You need to start eating three square meals a day (hear me out). I know this goes against what everyone here at T-Nation endorses (even me) but that is what your going to get at boot camp, get your body used to it, get your body used to working out on that kind of fuel and on that kind of eating schedule. Don’t play the adjustment game when your in boot camp and your actually dealing the crap first hand, get it done now! Once boot camp is over and you have your duty station then you can make whatever changes you want.

Oh yeah, go to an army navy surplus store and buy a couple of MRE’s just so you have the experience before you go on your first FTX (field training exercise). Yummy cardboard.

Next, about a month before you leave take two to three weeks and screw with your sleep! If you can’t be disciplined enough to do it have a friend or a parent or even a recruiter help you out. Get three to four hours sleep a night and get up in the middle of the night some night and keep yourself awake staring at a door for “guard duty”. And if you fall asleep…when you wake, kick your ass and try again the next night. And NO naps during the day, that’s cheating. Come on its only two to three weeks and it will give you an idea of what “Hell Week” will kind of be like when they screw with your sleep. Trust me when I say mine was much, much worse. (shuddering and hugging myself…)

Third, If you have never broken in a pair of hard leather boots, or hiked, or marched in leather boots…DO IT NOW! Foot problems are one of the biggest problems for new recruits. Blisters, sores, and just general pain from their feet not being used to the punishment. Go to Walmart or Payless or where ever (the boots only need to last two months) and wear them every day if you can. Change your socks to make sure your feet stay dry, but wear them. Walk around your neighborhood with them, lightly jog in them, but get your feet used to breaking in a pair of leather boots. Build some good callouses. And a backpack full of sand or books works great to simulate a ruck sack full of gear.

These are just little things man, but they can make a huge difference in making sure your head is in the game. If your head is there the physical stuff will come a lot easier. Nothing is personal in boot camp.

And as a veteran, let me say thanks for signing up! Just doing that says alot about your character. Too many young adults today just look the other way…so thanks man for taking the baton and running with it!

7

Good luck, seems interesting, be sure to write a log on what you?re doing and post it here later =)

And, Drink lots of water, add alitle bit of salt in the water to, just a litle =)

8

Isaac, theres not much that will prepare you for boot. Theres many ways you can approach this as a whole. Ask yourself what are your strengths, besides the physical? is your recuiter(s) or any marines that are on recruiters assistance helping you out.

-Start running 3-4 times a week starting 2 miles and eventually going to 4 miles. The pace needs to be consitent no slowing down or hurring up at anytime.

-Got a pull up bar ? get up on the bar do as many as you can if you need help get it. get up on a bar as quickly as you can after runs. You can either use your biceps or your back for pull-ups, get up to 18 if you can, if your lagging on p-ups you might need to lose weight, or get the muscle memory kicked in.NO KIPPING-anytime you have access to do p-ups do them, if the recuiters office has a bar do as many as you can each time you visit the office.

  • Do as many pusups as you can a day. max out to failure when you get up, or when you go to bed, or after your run. Every hour do 25-30 pushups.

-Situps. do around 150-200 every day as quick as you can, can do this many try to whip out as many as you can in 3:00 minutes, hopefully its more than 50.

If you still want to hit the gym and do weights go right ahead, I would focus on full body workouts 2-3 times a week.
Supplements are not needed. Your not going to get any kind of supplements in boot, just alot of food. i dont know your weight if your overweight/underweight? however if you do need a boost right i recomend
-Protein powders, I like whey isolates it has a high BCAA content. 40-160 grams per day.
-Spike, this might help to give that initial motivation especially when running however dont use as a crutch if you dont feel like running.
-FISH oils or a EFA supp. Flameout come on its fat you need it, look at all the good things this stuff does for you.
-Multivitamin
-folic acid

I hope you read this and use some of the stuff I have posted. Remember isaac lifting weights and gettng strong is fun and good for you. The recruit depots san diego and P.I. are there to make marines and you will be responsible for carrying on a tradition that has been around for 231 years. By the way what is your MOS

9

[quote]http://www.military.com/...h_Index,00.html

just go to that website gives you everything you know about boot camp[/quote]

Thanks for the website, although now I’m wondering what it says about my level of common sense that I didn’t think to look-up military.com in the first place. I read through most of the articles there just now, and it looks like I’ll be doing so again as July gets closer.

[quote]I would have advised you to start training alot farther out, Parris Island is extremely hot and humid in the summer you will need a high tolerance to heat while under duress as well as very good cardiovascular endurance, not to mention upper body strength.
…
P.S. During processing everyone will be dissoriented and sleep deprived do not make the mistake of raising your hand to ask a question of the Drill Instructors as you will soon find out this may be construed by the Drill Instructor as you literally raising a hand to them also do not refer to them as DIs as they will tell you that stands for Dumb Idiot.[/quote]

Yeah, I’m starting to see that it’s unfortunate that I’m only realizing now to train specifically for PI. I do hope that I can go from just surviving to surviving comfortably - or at least more comfortably than everybody else. Thanks for the advice.

I’m only 160 lbs at nearly six feet tall - I don’t think I have any show muscle, so hopefully this won’t be an issue. Hah.

But yeah, I’m going to spend a lot of this summer swimming. Hopefully it’ll help. The bike’s also serving as a means of transportation - no car but needing to get places twenty or thirty miles away - so I’m hoping that while it won’t help me, it also won’t hurt me, or at least too much.

Hah, sleep. That’s one thing I don’t think I’ll need to worry about - I don’t drink so I’m always the person that gets assigned to stay up and make sure everybody else doesn’t choke to death on their binge-drinking induced vomit in their sleep.

Yeah, actually, it’s always just been more a fact of life - “You mean there are people who don’t sign up? What the Hell?” - than anything else, because most of my family was in the military at one point. They were all AF, though, so to up and join the Marines was kind of a shock to them.

[quote]Good luck, seems interesting, be sure to write a log on what you?re doing and post it here later =)

And, Drink lots of water, add alitle bit of salt in the water to, just a litle =) [/quote]

Oh, trust me, I plan on drinking every ounce of water they give me. As it is, I drink probably three or four gallons a day, and while I doubt they’ll give me that much, I hope it won’t impair things too much.

Ah, my recruiters. They’re… they’re good guys, but while I’ve got no frame of reference, they don’t really seem like good recruiters. I’ve been kind of going it alone because of that. I do have a pull-up bar at home, and I do a set every time I leave my room; so by the end of the day I’m probably totalling over a hundred. I suppose I should start doing the same with push-ups and sit-ups; maybe cycle them. I’m not sure.

It was Intel - I’d decided way back in like September, immediately after taking the ASVAB; it seems like my recruiter didn’t get around to putting in the paperwork until like February or March, though, and he calls and he says that there are no positions available in Intel, so I’m thinking Legal/Admin or Crypto-linguist; the RSS went through a change in management a couple weeks back, and I really need to get in contact with the new SSGT there to see about taking the DLAB.

10

go luck bro and semper fidelis

11

Isaac, I was a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne, and I can give you two pieces of advice.

  1. Boot camp can be made easier by some training, but it is designed for you to succeed. They will make you into a Marine, if you are a fat piece of shit, or if you are stacked. And no matter what they will still make it hard for you. The really fast runners in my basic (Army) class had to run with the DI that was the marathon runner.

(note: other schools such as Airborne, SCUBA, Ranger, Special Forces, etcetera are the opposite. These require more careful training, because they WANT a large number to be weeded out. Over a third of my Airborne school class did not pass; about half of those voluntarily, the other half just failed out. There is no “quitting” boot camp unless you go postal or something)

  1. This is off topic, but you mentioned you might go MI (I did - the Marines trained with us at Fort Huachuca, AZ). Don’t lie on your security clearance forms. You can be an ex-crack dealer, as long as you tell the truth you will get your clearance. If you lie, they will find out. Then you will be fucked. If you ever did something so bad you can’t reveal it (like raped little boys or something) don’t try go into MI, because they will polygraph you eventually.

Being an ex-crack dealer may be beneficial some times. I hear the CIA looks for them. A good friend of mine was recruited to be an operative for the CIA. He used to sell coke in college to other students and he got his clearance no problem. He was italian, but could pass for Spanish (and was a Spanish linguist in my battalion, he passed DLI at Monterey).

After they recruited him, he left our battaion and got sent to Brigham Young University to pretend to be a grad student (and perfect his Spanish to work in South America - B.Y. has the best Spanish program in the country because of all the Mormon missionaries…and of course there are rumors that they’re in cahoots with the government, but I won’t confirm or deny that). He passed that run, then went to Guatamala to pretend to be a missionary and conduct some low level spying. Really just a test run, Uncle Sam didn’t give too much of a shit what was going on in Guatamala.

Unfortunately they fucked up on their personality test somewhere. I’m sure he would have no problem killing people or whatever, but he was a fucking maniac, drank like a fish, loved prostitutes, drugs, fighting, cursing, and such, and he got arrested in Guatamala. This really didn’t fit well with his CIA training (especially since he was pretending to be a missionary), so they bailed his ass out, and three weeks later he was back at Fort Bragg, a failed assassin with lots of tall tales to tell.

Good luck Marine. Make sure you get your gold wings ASAP.

12

Servive to this country is one of the most rewarding things someone can do. For all of us, and for yourself.

I trained a few people for OCS and BCT. Army, but the same idea. Main thing I can tell you is always keep your head up, work your ass off, and drink plenty of water. The last thing the service wants to do is wash someone out, especially with these times in the world.

Best of luck to you. Let me thank you in advance for your service.

13

AHHHH the good old Marine Corps brings back memories. Boot Camp can’t be described it is very difficult not because of the physical training but, because of the depersonalization of oneself. To prepare I’d suggest running, doing pulls ups, and sit ups everyday. I scored a perfect 300 upon arrival to MCRD just by doing the 3 things I told you to do. Good luck shit bird bwahaha when you get back from boot camp I will call you a Marine.

14

First, Let me congratulate you on your choice to serve in America’s military during a time of war.

In the next several months before you go to boot camp, I can not stress other poster’s advice enough about doing pushups/pullups/dips/situps and above all running. You will be on your feet 15-20 hours a day, in boots for most of that. Get your feet toughened up, go for hikes, walk long distances, and above all else run. Long slow distance, fartlek, and intervals are all good. Run a mile or two to a park, run sprints for 10-20 minutes, and jog home.

Again as most posters say, basic training is 85% mental. Developing the never quit attitude will be instilled in you through group physical punishment(In the Army lots of puhups and flutter kicks). Just remember, nothing last forever, and the pain with time shall pass. You will get plenty of sleep in Basic, though it might not feel like it. Its nothing like the operational sleep tempo, but worry about that later. Eat at every meal, you will need all the fats, proteins, and complex carbs you can get. The only weight you will gain will be lean muscle.

Throughout your pre-deployment training keep taking your multivitamins, fish oils, and protein. I would be weary of any creatine or fat burner use in the weeks prior to shipping out. if you are using these stop two weeks before you ship out.

In the Army, TRADOC has a rule of no creatine supplements during training, mainly due to dehydration. Last year at Ft Benning in ABN school, a ROTC cadet died from dehydration with a core temp of 108 who was foolishly taking creatine during training. If you’ve been to FT Benning in the summer, you know what Im talking about.

Never Quit and Semper Fi
dropkick

15

Good luck dude!

I would just party and have fun now while you still can. nothing you do will prepare you for boot camp, whatever you think it will be like it will not. Your “old” life will be gone forever so enjoy it now…

If you are in any kind of shape you will do fine physically.

Remember, do not volunteer for anything…

Semper Fi

16

20 years ago I was doing exactly as you are now. :sunglasses: I’m not sure how\if things have changed, but here it is plain and simple. I went to PI in July. It was hot. No, make that stinkin’ hot. So hot as a matter of fact, even the sand fleas looked for shelter from the afternoon sun.

In a nutshell. Run. Do some situps, a few hundred will do, do some chinups\pullups and then run some more. When you are done, rinse and repeat. Everything else will fall together. Endurance is the name of the game, at least when I was there. Both physical and mental. In all seriousness, weight training is great and all, but with such a short time to prep, once again, run, situp, chin up, oh yeah, throw in some push ups, and just keep practicing.

Oh, and congratulations, and thank you for serving.

17

Forget all of the previous advice. If I were to do it again I would get drunk and get laid as much as I can because in a few months life as you know it will be over! It is a life changing experience. To build a Marine is a work of art! Oooooo Rah!
Semper Fi and God Speed my friend!

18

[quote]devildog88 wrote:
Forget all of the previous advice. If I were to do it again I would get drunk and get laid as much as I can because in a few months life as you know it will be over! It is a life changing experience. To build a Marine is a work of art! Oooooo Rah!
Semper Fi and God Speed my friend![/quote]

Well said! I spent Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Years Eve, while getting adjusted to life on the Island.

 I agree to prepare yourself as best as possible, as you will be embarrassed for other guys in there with you that didn't f'n bother. You will all be miserable at times, but they will be miserable all the time. If the Drill Instructor, otherwise known as "SIR!", thinks that you are too well prepared he will make sure to give you extra attention to wear your ass out, have no fear in that.

 Best advice: Keep your mouth shut and never quit no matter how bad you think it is.

 As far as getting in shape it sounds like it's been well addressed in previous posts, but one easy thing is to put a pullup bar in your most travelled area of your house and do a max effort set of body weight pullups without kips every time you walk through the door. You'd be surprised how many times you will be doing pullups.
 Good luck and Semper Fi!
19

While all the other advise is good, here is one everyone missed: Work on your lower body flexibility. You need to be able to sit crosslegged, or sit down front to back with other recruits for long periods of time. This can be intensely painful if you’re all tight.

20

i forgot these as well.
1)practice not scratching, those f’n sand fleas will be on you like stink on shite.

2)start getting used to open handed slaps on the back or your head. that will be from your squad mates when you all start falling asleep during a class. don’t worry though because afterwards everyone does and about face and you get to pay them back!

3)do not go to the Island with a pre-shaved head. the drill intructors will think you are a smart ass and besides, everyone should have to experience the fastest haircut with the dullest hair clippers ever. i think those guys still use the clippers from the opening of the Island and never once sharpened them. pray you don’t have moles or warts on your head. it’s amazing the amount of blood that come out when they cut them off!