Another thread from me (sorry)...
 

... Ok so I've been thinking for a while now about joining the British Army (only make that distinction as realise a lot of you are in US/Canada etc). Yes, I'm still overweight and I'm still working on my fitness (gotta get a run for selection under 12mins 30secs for 1.5 miles, do 150m with 2x20kg jerry cans course without dropping them, dead lift (think) and some situps/pressups/pullups)

Therein lies my problem. Situps - gettin there.

Pressups/pullups oh dear lord help me. I can't do them. I can do the 'half' version of a pressup but the full one? I just cant get my arms to not collapse! I can lower a little but not the required 'to within an inch of the floor' malarky.

Any suggestions/advice?

I also have the issue of excess skin/surgery to remove it (in near future once hit target) and whether that'll affect my chances but going to query that on a british army specific forum

Ideas :(??

I'm not a personal trainer, and I have no expertise in this subject. Having said that, I have one thing to offer from my personal experience.

When my son (now grown and married) was in Jr. High school he had a Physical Education teacher who stressed doing what you are able to do, not what would be ideal to do. Instead of saying "touch your toes" he would say "reach toward your toes". It made all the difference for the children, and subsequently, for me.

Instead of not exercising because I couldn't do what others did, I learned to do what I could, and slowly I improved. I couldn't walk 4 miles, so I walked half a mile. Now I can walk a loooooong way. I couldn't do "real" push-ups, so I did little "girlie" push ups...as much as I was able. If I was supposed to to 10, but could only do two, I did two, then rested, then did two more, then rested... you get the idea.

So my advice, for what it is worth, is to do what you can, celebrate it, and aim for more.

Aye I think that's the way to go... just keep doing what I can and keep pushing and improvements are sure to follow (I hope!)

Did the 1.5 miler this morning. 13 mins 37 seconds. Nearly killed me lol.
Will be doing it again tomorrow!

As a runner can I advise NOT trying to hit the 1.5 mile in 12:30 target every time? You are less likely to get faster and MORE likely to injure yourself this way. It sounds like you have plenty of time before you are planning this test.

So you can run 1.5 now. You have your baseline 9:04 mm (pretty good btw).

Run slower now. Run 10-11 mm or slower. Make one of your runs 2 miles (and the rest 1.5). Next week make your longest run 2.5 etc. Work up to a long run of 3.5-4 miles sloooowwwwwww. If you want then extend your shorter runs out. (run 3-5 days a week, rest at least 2 days - and depending on what you are used to build extra days slowly)

Once a week NOT on your longest run 1 mile slow, 0.25 mile at a harder but not all out effort (aim for 2:15-2:20) and 0.25 mile cooldown (if you are planning a longer run you can do a second interval but leave cooldown time)

Once a month you can warmup first and then do your time trial of 1.5 miles hard to see where you are.

Long slow miles give you the endurance to go fast longer. They will do more for you than sprinting yourself in to the ground every time.

As for the rest...if girly pushups are what you can do, then do those, they will build strength. Pullups, if you dont have a gym with an assisted pull up machine, then do reclined pullups. (Lying under a bar like a bench press bar, heels stay on floor, keep body in a line, pull body up to bar. The higher the bar, the harder the work).

ah thanks for the advice ennay :)

Yeah I'm not into the whole 'lets do this 1.5er every day until I crumple and die' method. I generally run (at a slower pace) 3 miles about five times a week already. Figured I'd throw some fartleg in there and every couple of weeks do the timing thing.

Thanks for suggestion on pullups I was at a loss what to do about those! Been looking for tree branches/some swings I can try on (anything!) lol

What an exciting goal, good luck! It sounds like you'e got a decent plan to get you there!

thanks :o

I know it sounds silly and I still have a long way to go in the grand scheme of things but it's like a lightbulb has gone off... I really truly know what I want to do :)

OH! ok so you have a pretty good starting base. So nix what I said, except work on getting 1 day a week up to 4-5 miles and on 1 day instead of 3 slow miles do 1 mile warmup, then 3 - 4 fartleks or intervals and cool down. Good luck!

Excellent advice.

You should be able to handle a weekly speedwork session--shouldn't need to space them out every few weeks. Note that the speed session is a much shorter distance than your usual runs.

I want to join the army too. The college course I'm on finishes in a year and a bit so I'm hoping to aim for then to be fit and healthy.
Good luck :D

hey lupin... not only a fellow brit but leicester! I went to uni there :D

Oh and re: the speedwork runs should I be looking at doing just a couple of miles of that then?

Timed myself this morning doing the 1.5 miler (couldn't help it was interested to see). Got it done in 13 mins 8 seconds so down by 29 seconds. Realise It's not going to keep dropping THAT dramatically week on week but I'll keep working on it :)