2002/11/17, 12:13 PM
I have been in the army for about 4 years and after excercizing 4 times a week one would think that I would have achieved something by now. We do a lot of pushups, situps and a run. I want to start a wieght program, but I cannot stop doing my army excercizes as it is a requirement of my job. I want to give my muscle groups adequate time to recover yet I need to give them a better workout in order to improve. Any advice would be appreciated.
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2002/11/17, 02:55 PM
The key to muscle hypertrophy(growth) is overloading the muscle, subjecting it to heavier loads than it is used to. To do this, situps, pushups, and running will not induce this. Pushups have an effect when you relatively untrained, but once you are, they will induce no growth. So overload the muscles. The FT mass program is pretty good here. Check it out. as far as you having to do your job, as you say, it is not enough to induce muscle growth, your body is probably quite used to it and you should still be able to grow. You will by all means have to increase your nutrient intake though. Not much chance of growth without it no matter how much you overload.
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2002/11/17, 04:19 PM
I have spent over 6 in the Marines. Just doing there PT isn't going to get the results you want. You need to add in a weight training program of your own. The cardio for pt is sufficient enough. Combine the two and you will get great results.
-------------- Lisa
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2002/11/18, 09:07 AM
Hi Knuckelhead6. I'm still in the Army and guess what, I work with weights and run and I've seen good gains in muscle mass. By just weightlifting and running, you don't need to necessarily practice your pushups and situps for the Army Physical Fitness Test(APFT). I've maxed my APFT the last four times and I'm 43. Doing Ab work like crunches, scissors, etc., get your Abs in shape. Doing chest exercises gives you power for the pushups(I still do pushups by the way, I do incline ones, etc.). I run almost everyday.
So don't worry that you have to do the standard Army pushups, situps, and run. There are a tremendous amount of different exercises you can do and they will help your APFT. Don't limit yourself dude. Good luck DP
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