Here’s the deal, I’ve gotta drop weight and burn fat cuz I want to enlist into the marine corps. This was a lifelong dream for me and this could be my last chance.I currently weigh 265lbs @ 30% bodyfat(HOLY HELL!!). On the positive side I’ve managed to lose 10lbs already. I have to get down to 215lbs or 18% bodyfat by 10-15-2004 if I want to enlist. I’ve been running for a half an hour four days a week and doing pullups and pushups ( by the way I can only do TWO pullups!) I’m gonna keep running and walking on the treadmill, but should I start hitting the weights any harder? And lastly, is the idea of trying to lose this much weight in such a short amount of time realistic at all?
I sure would appreciate any replies, especially from any Marines.
Thanx
Try Meltdown Training or Poliquin’s German Body Comp Training he now has this book available on his website and it is excellant for losing fat and preserving muscle! Good luck! Sempe Fi
I can’t comment on the workout suggestions, but I would like you to consider the alternative.
Join the paratroopers. Go Airborne! There’s nothing like falling from the sky when there’s hell to pay below.
Death From Above!
Airborne Heel 5, 2-325 Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division (1998-present)
It’s absolutely doable, and in my opinion, doable with only moderate energy systems work at that.
The key will of course be DIET…you have to get it nailed down and stay on target with your diet! Furthermore, I don’t think it matters much which weight training program you follow, just use big movements and try to hold onto your strength in these drills.
Best of luck…
thanx for the advice, and i have alot of respect for airborne units. A good buddy of mine enlisted into the army and went int cav scouts. However I intend to enlist into the reserves, and I can’t go airborne in the reserves ( or can I?)
As far as jump school goes, it’s easier to get a slot in the Army. The Marine Corps won’t send you unless the unit that you’re in has a quota for it. The only other way to do it as a Marine is as a reenlistment bonus but that’s for first-term Marines reenlisting. Again anything is posssible but this is what I was told when I talked to the monitor for jump school in the Marine Corps when I and another Marine tried to get a slot. As far as the weight thing, try to drop as much fat as possible and then if you’re still over try to get a waiver. If you go on a waiver you will lose the rest of it in boot camp but you better be motivated because it’s harder on those who are overweight going in (seen FMJ).
Does anyone think I should get on Hot-Rox? Maybe it couldn’t hurt huh.
Cezar–It is funny isn’t it? Women cooks in the army can go airborne, but a grunt in the corps has to damn near offer up his first born son to get some jump wings.
Far as the weight goes, I’d suggest you get in a decent weight before you ship off to boot camp not just fit the weight requirements. Nothing could suck as bad as getting starved in PCP. Hell, for most guys it was mail call that got them through, for me it was keeping my spirit up until the next meal.
mikeyali
It took me about a year to get down from 310 to 240, and I did it with HIIT two times a week with Christian’s progression chart and eating every two hours. I followed the T-Dawg 2.0 guidlines with carbs. I mostly ate tuna, chicken, steak, brocoli, eggs, cheese, and the like. I also did the Fat Fast for the first week to jumpstart everything and pulled a decent amount off although I can’t remember how much it was. I think I trained 3 times a week with a chest,tris./back,bis./legs,shoulders split. I tried to lose around 2 pounds a week after the Fat Fast as well. I think you can most definitly meet your goal.
Hey dude, I know where you’re coming from. You can see my previous posts, but I was in the same shoes you are in when I wanted to enlist. Except I was 285 at 6’. I dropped down to 208 (210 was my max enlist weight) in 6 months. You have plenty of time. I did a lot of things to drop weight, some good, some bad. Mikeyali gave me some good advice on my last thread, and I have some for you. I’m guessing you’re at 6’1 (hence the 215 enlist weight). Are already a poolee or just setting a projected date? In either case,look at this website. http://navyseal.s5.com/workouts.html. It has a good starting program. Every website I’ve seen that shows you how to get prepared for boot camp says start a weight training and running program. Simple, but effective. A simple, full body program (2-3 sets of ten on 8-10 exercises) three times a week, with running 3-4 days a week will work wonders. Also, the training guide they give you at the Recruiter’s office is pretty much that, and it’ll work great. The only thing you need to do is pay attention to diet. Keep it very simple, 7 habits by JMB is perfect. Do those three simple things (run, lift moderate high reps, eat right) and you’ll be ready with no problem in 7 months. I wish I had done that. I’d be good to go. If you noticed, I said simple a lot of times. Do not, I repeat, do not get bogged down by too much info. You will stall your progress quicker than a diet of snickers. Believe me, I’ve been in that situation. I actually could have been better prepared if I had followed that simple plan. and believe me, you want to be slim and have a 1st class pft. Being a fat body will fuck you up. In boot camp, everything is based on that next meal, living on half a cup of rice and some shitty meats (even thought PI had decent chow) will kick your ass.
does anyone think that the warrior diet could work for me? I’m having a hard time finding info on german body comp training, although I did find some promising info on meltdown training. By the way, I really appreciate the motivation I get from this website. You people rrally do rock!
If I remember the warrior diet correctly, I’m not so sure that it will work well for anyone; I could be mistaken but I think that diet was the one incorporating fasts first half of the day, massive eating through the rest of the day.
I am also considering the Marines; I was originally going to apply to Officers Training this summer but I have been unable to lose weight period. I was told that I needed to weigh in at 205 for a 6’1" frame. Started at 225 and have probably lost about 5 pounds bodyweight; I have this real problem where I have been losing fat and gaining muscle…what a problem. So I am sitting at 220 16% bodyfat and probably won’t make this summers program. I could run the weight off but don’w want to sacrifice muscle in the process.
I went through about 3 weeks of Meltdown Training before I realized that it wasn’t pushing me towards my goals. It is an excellent program, and I’m sure that the results could have been different depending on diet, but I didn’t lose a pound. Dropped bodyfat% and would recommend it for everything excluding all out weight loss, but again depending upon your caloric consumption.
Here’s my advice. Mix the running man program with meltdown. Retain two of the big movement upper body days from meltdown training, really focus on back and lat training because it will improve your PFT. Then perhaps 2-3 days do your running(again improves PFT). Talk to guys in the corps and they’ll tell you to do marathon running; run 5-7 miles at a time(this is for 3 mile PFT runs). I have been running sprints; it seems this may be the better of the two to maintain lean body mass. You don’t want to make weight and be weak at that weight; ie skinny fat guy. Starting next week I am going to incorporate one lower body training session and then 1-2 sprinting sessions later on in the week along with the upper body split. Good luck.
Chippy, I served in the Army in the 82nd and on a LRSU team during the Gulf. Before I enlisted I was 20 lbs over the max weight for my height. I worked hard and barely achieved the weight. When I arrived at Airborne School I weighed 50 lbs less than my enlistment day. Make it easier on yourself and get control of your weight now and not when some DI is in your face. Try to get down below that magic number by at least 10 lbs. When it comes to PT you will be graded on four things ? push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups and run. While getting your weight down focus on doing these exercises well and no ?Kipping? on the pull-ups. I would start learning about the heritage of the Corps. Learn what you can before you join. I would also speak with a Recruiter. They probably have a training document for people in the Delayed Enlistment Program. Next, choose you MOS wisely. There are many jobs that are available, but you have to know what they are before you can shoot for them. Last, get everything in writing!
?Semper Fi?
Me Solomon Grundy
Here’s what I did today at the gym.
-ran a hard half mile
-incline bench with dumbells(4x10)
-flat bench with dunbells (4x10)
-dips (5x5)
-close grip presses with barball(4x10)
-20 minutes on the treadmill (3.5 mph x 5% incline)
I felt like I got a pretty good workout ( I felt like I wanted to vomit at the end!)what’s everybody think? I want to lift three days a week with a chest, tri’s/back,bi’s/legs,shoulders kind of a thing in mind. Three more days a week I want to run,crunches,swim. I usually do these workouts in the morning(5 am) on an empty stomach.
Pull-ups! Pull-ups! Pull-ups!
Focus most on PULL-UPS, push-ups, crunches and running.
If you can’t do a pull-up, have a buddy spot you. You can do lat pull-downs for a bit, but you don’t want those to take a priority over Pull-ups.
A thermogenic wouldn’t hurt, but don’t use it as an excuse to eat like shit.(That’s what half the population uses them for)
I would encourage you to not use one, learn how to properly feed your body. You don’t want an appetite suppressant.
Congratulations on your choice to become a Marine. What MOS do you want to do?
Semper Fi
Yeah, it’s a little difficult to get airborne slots as a reservist, but it can be done.
You’d have to be in an MOS that is attached to either Airborne Civil Affairs, Phsycological Operations, or Special Operations Support. Of course, all of these MOS’s are very difficult to get unless you hold out for it before signing and bargain or score very high on all of your tests. Never take the offer from the enlistment office if it’s not what you want. They will try and place you where there are needs and will fight you if you hold out. But, trust me, hold out for what you want. It’s like buying a car. Never go for the 1st or 2nd offers. They won’t turn you away.
As far as women in airborne slots. In the eighty-deuce (82nd Airborne), everyone from infantry to cook to mechanic must be airborne. Hell, I was at school with an air conditioner mechanic (not the coldest beer in the fridge…pardon the pun…).
EDGAR03- I intend to go infantry. I’m gonna try real hard to earn some jump wings while a reservist. It doesn’t hurt that I live 5 minutes away from a reserve center with an infantry/naval corpsman outfit in it. In your opinion, how do you think USMC infantry stacks up against the rangers. I got a buddy in the Army and he’s always making the comparison.
thanx
chippy–Be advised what you are getting into by going into the grunts. It isn’t a bunch of sexy movie stuff. Being a grunt really has very little to do with going around shooting people, and everything to do with walking around without sleep with a big heavy pack on your back freezing or sweating your balls off. In other words, it’s great, when you’re done anyways.
mikeyali
I’m a Marine, so I can’t give you a un-biased(sp?) opinion about the Army.
I can only say that I have never regretted joining the Marine Corps.
I was in the Infantry as well(hence the 03) and I won’t lie to you, there is a snowballs chance in hell that you will get your jump wings.
Here’s why.
-The Marine Corps has to spend money for you to go to an Army school.
(They don’t like spending money on the grunts, cause you main job is to f**kin stop bullets. It’s a pretty poor investment)
-If it’s not necessary for your job to be jump qualified then you ain’t a gettin’ it. I know only one Marine who got his wings while in the Infantry, and he was a regimental NCO of the year. Since there were no Sergeant billets open they sent him to jump school.
-The mission of the Marine Corp rifle squad is to locate, close with, and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver, or repel the enemies assault by fire and close combat.
(Learn This)
As you can see by your mission statement, there is no mention of hot-doggin out of a plane and floating down onto their heads.
Hey chippy, it’s good that you are working out hard, but just from the stats that you gave, I would definitely re-read my suggestions and go with those. You need more specificity. Zeb pushes it for pull-ups, Pavel does,so do a lot of people. you need to break your body in slowely. you mentioned your workout (good effort), but you need to list your diet. I wouldn’t recommend meltdown if you can only do two pull ups. I would check out those websites I posted for you. If you are in the dep program (you didn’t say), use the training guide the recruiters gave you, it’s actually really good at preparing you. If they didn’t give you one or you’re not in dep, I would go to http://www.quickseries.com/mil/mar_main.html The first training guide is what you should have gotten from the recruiter. It’s good, solid, basic info. That guide and JB’s 7 habits is all you should use. You have 7 months. Dedicate 3 months to that and you will see a big improvement.
Infantry is hard. I’m Airwing (6400), so I couldn’t tell you how hard it is, but I have a friends that are and a friend that’s airwing now that was a grunt (he fucked up both his knees, so he had to switch MOS). It’s tough, dude. You have to be ready. As far as getting your jump wings, my senior DI said anything is possible, as long as you are persistant and become a pain in the right person’s ass. But right now, you have to be fit to be a Marine. Grunt, airwinger, cook, no matter the job, Marine is the title you are striving for. Train for it like you would any sport. It’s not bodybuilding right now, it’s endurance.