"PT down time"

[Stonewall]

Hey kids.  I'm not working right now due to a profile, but I've noticed some folks online pretty much all day, but in the past 2 weeks I've been able to go back to the gym along with physical therapy 3x a week.  I forgot how good the gym feels afterwards since I've been absent from regular workouts since August when my back injury occured.

So, as a suggestion, and for your health's sake, take a break from CAP Talk and your computer in general for at least an hour.  Not to eat, sleep or watch TV, but for some PT.  Go for a walk, slog (slow jog), jog or run.  Hit the gym or take a PT test. 

Army: Push-ups, sit-ups, 2 mile run.

Air Force:  Push-ups, "crunches", 1 1/2 mile run.

I think the Marine Corps does sit-ups, pull-ups and 3 mile run.

Navy:  go to chow hall.

Seriously folks, you'll feel great if you simply go on a 30 minute brisk walk.  If it's flooding or snowing, hit a treadmill or eliptical.

Hooah?  Hooah!

[JC004]

::mounts laptop to the treadmill::

[mikeylikey]

::mounts laptop to the treadmill::

^  puts donuts and coffee in blender for a mid-workout energy boost

[star1151]

Hmmmm...my profile shows as being online for quite a bit of time, but that's mostly because I'll walk off and leave the browser window open. I can assure everyone I'm not sitting here all day, every day.

[JCW0312]

::mounts laptop to the treadmill::

I have no problems mounting my personal laptop in my squad car. Thank goodness for the midnight shift...

[Stonewall]

I have no problems mounting my personal laptop in my squad car. Thank goodness for the midnight shift...

Amen...can't wait to get back to work

Problem is, I never seem to have time to use it.

[mikeylikey]

^ Same.....I play on here at work, then walk to teach class, and back to check responses I received.  Then I sit here at work until (well now) to read my Army Times, and try to get some of Masters thesis typed up.  

So Kirt......how often does the AF do a PT Test?  Once a year....if you pass your test and body fat are you good for the whole year?  Does it feel strange to only run 1.5 miles?

What the heck are crunches?  Does the AF have to be so different?  two miles, push ups and situps.  Simple.  

Oh.....the Army does an APFT every month (commanders discretion), Guard/Reserve different of course.  And two For Record tests a year.  We also PT every morning, and then I get at least 2 extra hours in a day.  So I spend up-wards of 3 hours a day exercising, alternating 3 and 4 mile runs, elliptical, stair climbing or just umping rope.  I hope I passed.  By 11PM I am dead and barely make it to the car to get home.  As a matter of fact......it is about that time to head off, I will be up bright and early to run with my MSIII Cadets tomorrow morning.......around 530AM if anyone wants to do it at the same time.  We can be distant workout buddies.  Oh.....I also subscribe to runners world, Great magazine, and Mens Health (starting to suck a little).  Did I mention I get some power lifting in 3 days a week.  I am actually going to MCSS tomorrow afternoon to get a new ACU jacket.....don't want to brag but it is getting a little tight in the chest.  

So I read the AF is giving "On-Duty" time for airman to PT.  How ridiculous.  They need to get out of their freaking Hotel Like Dorms....and spend 0515-0700 outside exercising as a unit.  No.....big AF says "take time off your duty day to PT on your own.  I have seen it at Wright-Patt as well.  You all get new PT scrubs, but are your really using them?

Kirt......not being an ass toward you, I was making comments in General.....since reserves do things a little different (Make sure you make weight and PT on your own BY YOURSELF all year long).  I am glad you are getting up and out there to PT though.  I know what it is like to sit around doing nothing for months and let your body basically "shrink" or get FAT.  It feels good for a real long time when you get those first workouts in.  Keep it up bro.  

My above examples may not fit the typical Army Officer.  I am stuck at university teaching Future Officers how to fight at their summer camp this summer.  I have a weight room across from the classroom, and treadmills and ellipticals down the hall.  I also have a bar across the street, which makes concentrating on what I have to teach Difficult to say the least.  I have been doing this for over 8 months now, and have to say to other Officers or NCO's in the military, apply for an ROTC assignment, get it, go to school to get a Masters degree at the same time, have lots of fun, make the brand new LT's do stupid stuff for you and advance your career through a choice job.  Heck......I wear PT clothes 60 percent of the time, ACU's maybe once per week, and Class A's about once a month.  The Battalion Co (LTC) comes in to work in a university polo and khakis everyday.  He got here this past summer and has not once worn Service Dress or ACU's once.  This ROTC Land really is a world unto itself!  

[Stonewall]

Dude, I'm totally with you...  Even when I was 175 and 6' 2", I still managed to have love handles...think I have a pic after running an adventure race...not that you want to see it.  That was circa 2001.  Ironically, with jobs that increased the need to be physically fit, the time to work out got more and more limited, aka protection work with world travel, endless amounts of time on planes, eating hotel food, time changes, etc.  Regardless, not once have I ever not been able to pass a PT test or make weight.  And I don't mean just pass.  To be honest, I haven't come to understand the AF PT test just yet.  My last unit didn't give us the option to run the 1.5 mile, we had to do the 3 minute step thing and check our pulse.  Then 1 min of push-ups and sit-ups.  Always scored high, like 90% range.  I think.  Honestly, I never really understood it.

The ANG requires annual PT tests.  Up until, I think a few months ago, there was no real "fail".  You just did "poorly" if you scored under, like 75% or something.  But now, if you get under 75% you fail.

Keep in mind, like 30% of our score now involves our waistline.  If you don't have a 32" waist, you absolutely cannot score 100.  Me, I've got a 36" waist and stand 6' 1.5".  Yep, lost 1/2" in the past 3 years.  Could be that compression fracture and spinal problems.  I can weigh up to 214 I think.  Not until this injury did I peak at 215.  Gained 9 lbs since August because my food intake didn't change, but my PT went to zero.

Except for the past 4+ months, I have maintained a gym membership and averaged at least 4x a week at the gym with at least 30 min dedicated to cardio (tread, elliptical, stairs, or comibination), followed by 30 minu of weights or other strengthening exercises.  I max'd the APFT in the ARNG up until I got out in '01.  Even have that stupid PT patch and certificate to prove it ;-)

To keep myself challenged I run races, usually 5K, but there are often 5 mile beach run (yes, in the sand which sucks) and I enter those as often as my work schedule and health allows.  I'll be back to 205 in a couple months.  No biggie.  Unless I move too fast.  I have to keep it slow and deliberate so I don't hurt my recovery time.  Plus, looking at deploying sometime after May, probably late summer, so I've gotta get ready for that too.

I wish I did have a lot more time for PT, but the way my schedule works, I get an hour a day between 1500 and 1600.  No running though, not for another 2 months or so.  For now, it's the elliptical.  Did 2 1/2 miles today in like 25 minutes.  Even broke a sweat.