[caver101]

With all of the new house construction going on over the fall/winter I have let my health slip a BUNCH. Last summer I was religiously putting 85-100 miles a week on my bike and participated in several 100k rides/races. Sad to say that the bike has not come off the garage wall this year. Once the house is finished I plan to get back into the swing of things and that brings me to my question. Do any of you guys participate in triathlons? I have been looking into them for a couple of years now. I care nothing about muscle mass I just want to enhance my endurance and lose the weight that I have gained over the winter. So that is it, what so the military snipers do to keep their endurance “up to par”? I like the look of the triathlons and have took a beating from my cycling buddies to get started in it. Any advice? What do you do?

PS:
I went through chemotherapy about 4.5 years ago and it really REALLY screwed up my metabolism and I can gain some serious weight in a hurry if I am not very physically active. And then I have a pesky VO2 max problem that I am working on, darn chemo messed up my lungs to.

 

[Jeff_850]

running, bike riding any of that stuff is the best for buidilng endourance
even low weights, lots of reps builds endourance if you choose to weight train

 

[Yimmy]

re

I can only speak for what I do, but it has got me fit.
I alternate between running 4 miles, and tabbing 4 miles with some weight, use a bike machine, use fairly light weights to tone musles, and of course press ups and situps.

 

[caver101]

press ups

You mean PUSH ups......... :lol: :lol: j/k

 

[Ballistic_Coefficiency]

Run (jog) 5 miles every morning (before breakfast) on the weekdays... and 10 miles on Saturday (its more like 8 miles but i say 10 to make me sound more hard core) :lol: ... swim for at least 1 hour and go to the local gym for weights every Sunday.

 

[mlammers]

I am in the same boat as you Caver. I have had 5 reconstructive surgerieson my should, including two in 2003. I got back pretty good, and then it started hurting a bunch and the doc made me back off befor I tore things up. I used to Benvh about 355 and was in pretty good cardio shape. Now that I laid off the weights for about a year I have porked up(yeah its a pig pun from a cop). I am now swimming a mile at a time and back riding bike patrol at work starting this week. I think power lifting is gone for good in my case the shoulder just wont take it anymore. So I work at the pushups and cardio/swimming.

 

[Jeff_850]

i wouldnt reccomend power lifting if you want to build up endourance cause it will kill it completly
when i was at my peak i was 6'2.5" tall, 225 lbs, 3% body fat, power lifting 405... not my max
after dropping weights and decididng to join the military i gained more endourance, im about 195 lbs now, granted i lost a lot of weight from being sick and weeks 1-6 having 90 seconds to eat if i was lucky, put up about 335 lbs last i maxed just to see what i could do when i was home
now i run 10 miles... well morelike 10 BC miles every day since ive been home and felt recovered... think the route is 9.7
then pushups and situps, flutter kicks, overhead arm claps... its hard to smoke yourself LOL

 

[snowy]

Coming from the Civ world here.

In the Summer:

6 Miles of Stairs three times a week. (UofM Stadium)
Upper body weight training. Bi's Tri's and Shoulders.
200 inverted sit ups with 130lbs. around my neck.
1 Hour of full contact Muay Thai Boxing on wearing only hand pads.
Medicine Ball sit up passes.
Hindu Push Ups
Hindu Squats
Working in a Shipping Department.

In the Winter:
Next to nothing.
Catch up on my reading.
Go camping.

-snowy

 

[Ballistic_Coefficiency]

i wouldnt reccomend power lifting if you want to build up endourance cause it will kill it completly
when i was at my peak i was 6'2.5" tall, 225 lbs, 3% body fat, power lifting 405...

It would look great for the front of a muscle magazine... but i garentee you would drop like a rock the second you hit the ground in iraq. The first guys to drop from heat exhuastion and other things are the big guys... that is why i stoped bulking up. I use to be 6'2" 230 lbs 7% body fat... i got deployed to crackistan and was having a real hard time while the smaller (normal sized) people in my unit were just fine. Im now 6'1" (yea i shrunk or somthing) 200 lbs 9% body fat. It doesnt look as impressive but it works 100 times better in the real world.

BC

 

[Bead Drawer]

I'll add a quick .02 here.

I just saw an article about the summer biatholon (sp?). At least that's what I think its called. Its a summer version of the winter sport with cross country skiing and shooting. If you're looking for a workout, this ought to do it. Run and run and run, for miles, then pick up your iron-sighted .22 match rifle and punch holes in 1 3/4 inch targets at 50 yards.

Yeah, and no time to rest between running and shooting. Sounds tough, but fun. I'm going to see if any of our local clubs have this event.

 

[lonewolf]

It would look great for the front of a muscle magazine... but i garentee you would drop like a rock the second you hit the ground in iraq. The first guys to drop from heat exhuastion and other things are the big guys... that is why i stoped bulking up. I use to be 6'2" 230 lbs 7% body fat... i got deployed to crackistan and was having a real hard time while the smaller (normal sized) people in my unit were just fine. Im now 6'1" (yea i shrunk or somthing) 200 lbs 9% body fat. It doesnt look as impressive but it works 100 times better in the real world.

BC

I believe you. Ever notice that the majority of the guys who win the Best Ranger Competition are almost ALWAYS the smaller guys out of the Ranger Battalions?

 

[Ballistic_Coefficiency]

It would look great for the front of a muscle magazine... but i garentee you would drop like a rock the second you hit the ground in iraq. The first guys to drop from heat exhuastion and other things are the big guys... that is why i stoped bulking up. I use to be 6'2" 230 lbs 7% body fat... i got deployed to crackistan and was having a real hard time while the smaller (normal sized) people in my unit were just fine. Im now 6'1" (yea i shrunk or somthing) 200 lbs 9% body fat. It doesnt look as impressive but it works 100 times better in the real world.

BC

I believe you. Ever notice that the majority of the guys who win the Best Ranger Competition are almost ALWAYS the smaller guys out of the Ranger Battalions?

Yep... you almost never see the 6 foot 5 tall 250 pound muscle heads in the BRC. Heck... from what i remember... all the winners of the BRC have allways been the smaller guys.

BC

 

[CM2k]

Hot. I'm a smaller guy. I should really hurry up and finish enlisting already. Too bad the US Army doesn't hire foreigners .

But yeah, all those extra pounds of muscle weigh extra, and take more water and nutrients to keep running. It's like if you were carrying an extra set of gear with you out into the field; Not very bright.

 

[Ballistic_Coefficiency]

Hot. I'm a smaller guy. I should really hurry up and finish enlisting already. Too bad the US Army doesn't hire foreigners .

All you need is to legally live in the US... have a GED / High school diploma and pass the ASVAB test... you dont have to be a US Citizen.

BC

 

[Nekekami]

I actually don't do any weightlifting etc at all...

My training regimen for keeping in shape consists of running, biking, swimming, hiking and martial arts

 

[K2]

I spend at least two hours a day working my roping horses (we ALL leave in a lather of sweat). This first requires dragging my arena to make sure it is in good condition to minimize risks to me and my horses, Then I have to catch the frisky little sh_ts, brush them out, clean their feet, and saddle them. Then I have to round up all the practice steers and put on their protective headgear (wouldn't want to offend PETA). After roping practice, I move about 500 pounds of feed from my rodent-proof container and stack it in the barn. Then I carry 5-10 square bales of hay from the hay barn to the feedlot as a "snack " for the horses. Then I lug out feed for all the rest of the livestock (twice a day). After that I repair anything that needs repairing, like fences, tractors etc.. I'll usually have some wood to collect, cut and stack since I refuse to just leave good mesquite laying around to rot. Then I go inside and finish whatever engineering drawings, reports, etc. that I need to complete during the hottest part of the day. If I still have any energy left after the afternoon feeding, I'll try to get a little stick-n-rudder time in. WHO'S GOT TIME FOR EXERCISE!!!!

K2

 

[jc71corvette]

I strenght lift. Every other other day. 4 sets of 4. I like to expand my lifting through out a week instead of one day. I gotta start doing push ups daily. But I dunno.

 

[ekaphoto]

I spend at least two hours a day working my roping horses (we ALL leave in a lather of sweat). This first requires dragging my arena to make sure it is in good condition to minimize risks to me and my horses, Then I have to catch the frisky little sh_ts, brush them out, clean their feet, and saddle them. Then I have to round up all the practice steers and put on their protective headgear (wouldn't want to offend PETA). After roping practice, I move about 500 pounds of feed from my rodent-proof container and stack it in the barn. Then I carry 5-10 square bales of hay from the hay barn to the feedlot as a "snack " for the horses. Then I lug out feed for all the rest of the livestock (twice a day). After that I repair anything that needs repairing, like fences, tractors etc.. I'll usually have some wood to collect, cut and stack since I refuse to just leave good mesquite laying around to rot. Then I go inside and finish whatever engineering drawings, reports, etc. that I need to complete during the hottest part of the day. If I still have any energy left after the afternoon feeding, I'll try to get a little stick-n-rudder time in. WHO'S GOT TIME FOR EXERCISE!!!!

K2

You really should take some time to work out. All that lack of exercise will catch up with you. :lol:

 

[ekaphoto]

I drink beer and watch TV. :roll: No actually I had a back injury that slowed me down, but before that I had a mix of weight lifting, cardio and streaching to keep me in shape. The best bet is to incorperat all into you regimin since all compliment each other. I will say sparring would tire me out the quickest. I was never a good runner, but the guys that out ran me, I could kick their butt when humping a ruck. Those days are over for me now.

 

[muzzleblast]

There's nothing wrong with a heavy program of (root) beer curling to keep you in good shape.

I can understand about K2's job being exhausting...Lumberjacking almost killed me the first month or so, I could barely straighten my back....then I got used to it...then the job ended, and. as Mlammers put it, I porked up. Time to go back in soon.

Going from daily vigourous activity to nothing but sitting on the couch with a root beer is not good! Gotta make sure I throw in some gym time after I finish this go-round