So since I am training for PFT standards and for the academy US Customs, I decided to stay away from the gym and focus on a more military PFT style preparation…
That said, this would be chinups, pushups, situps, and running.
I was wondering if this change, would any strength be lost outside of the gym? Should I go to the gym 1 day a week at least?
Reason I am not going to gym is to train for what will be expected and to build some endurance.
My gym routine currently is:
3 x 6-8 reps
Bench
Chin ups
Leg press
Shoulder press
Dips.
I also opted out of the gym to avoid any chance for injuries even though I am confident with my form and how much to push myself.
Anyone else here have experience prepping for military/law enforcement??
I am literally on the last legs of the process and just looking more to prepare towards the academy at this point.
Just don’t want to lose any strength being away from the gym setting and also want to maintain or continue getting stronger while training (bodyweight).
Don’t know your background, but when I have prepped for different training courses I continued lifting while adding bodyweight stuff. Depends on your schedule, as well as your personal recovery abilities - I’ve been blessed in that department in that I can recover quickly from training to train again. When I was prepping for SWCC school years ago, I was training 2-3 times per day without crushing myself. Weights weren’t super heavy, and load/volume was semi-balanced with calisthenics volume.
I would look into combining both approaches to give yourself more of an all-around program.
I’ve been out of the gym 2 weeks now. My mentality getting closer to the end is to focus on bodyweight training that I’d be tested on as well as what would be expected once at the academy.
I do miss the gym. I figured I’d keep away to eliminate any risk for injury or soreness that might last longer than expected depending on how hard I hit it that day.
I work out in the mornings before work. I get off work by 8 pm, then either try to relax after eating dinner by 9 or I do some school work…
For pushups I recover pretty quickly. i’m actually looking to start doing them daily now, slightly changing the intensity so that I can do them daily in hopes to progress my max count and endurance.
Running this week so far I did 2 rounds of sprints after my 1.5 miles run in 13 minutes. That actually gave me a good amount of soreness in my pelvic region, so that took 2 days to recover from… Now I know I have to go about incorporating sprints differently.
During my initial test I hit 47 pushups within 1 minute. I notice now I went from doing 44 max first set to today 35… Kind of bothered me. Maybe I was a bit more tired, not too sure but hitting my max is a bit challenging again…
My goal is to work up to 50+ max in 1 minutes. I have a lot of work to do ab wise to continue strengthening and gaining endurance. I can hit 29-30 in 1 minute right now.
My next test is the following:
220 yard sprint
pushups
situps
1.5 mile run
So I’m focusing on this right now not knowing when I will get that email advising me to schedule this. Could happen any day now…
I was thinking for pushups doing 150 a day, 15 sets of 10 something along those lines… I did that Monday and recovered fine. Wasn’t too difficult to hit. OR doing pyramids 10 down to 1 and maybe in reverse as well. .
When I had to train pushups for a screen test (never gave a shit about the semi-annual PRT), I would do pyramids as a good way to create some training density - 1 up to 10 and back down is 100 pushups. I would try each time to do it in a shorter time than the previous one.
If your first set max number is going down, you may be training too close together. I hate to say overtraining, since it is actually rather difficult to reach that point (moreso than most people realize - unless the person is simply undertrained to begin with). I would also advise, don’t try to max out too often. Find a way to get volume in without hitting failure or even close to it. I never tried the ‘grease the groove’ thing that Pavel T recommends, but I know people who have had good success with it.
Yeah when I was doing only body weight training before getting back to the gym, I would do expolosive pushups, pause at the bottom explode up, pyramids, diamonds, regular, wide, I’d go for volume in as little sets possible, max out, a whole bunch of variations.
This morning I did the pyramid 1-10 2x. I gave myself a 3 minute rest before doing the second round. Total -110 pushups.
I feel good, wasn’t too tough to accomplish this. Between each count I rested only for 10 seconds.So I would do 10 reps, rest 10 seconds, then 9 reps, rest 10 seconds, and so on.
Might do this for awhile, then change things up a bit. Either go for more volume or pick a number and get it done in as little sets as possible.
I don’t like to max out each time because it’s not good for progression and it’s not good mentally if you find yourself decreasing or tired that specific day.
I’m not too worried about hitting my max again at 47 once the second test comes… Right now my main focus is to build endurance for the academy and maintain my max at 40 reps + within a minute when I do test myself.