Topic: need to maintain weight and build strength

[Kratos]

To help the first post:
Its hard to keep size while doing cardio without loosing muscle. People I use to train who had similar goals as yours , I would tell them this. To eat a lot of small but filling meals during the day , 10-12. Do not miss breakfast lunch or dinner ! I would suggest starting off with a 5 day workout plan, Monday to Friday and using the weekends as rest. Use each day to workout a different body part.

Example
Monday: Chest
Tuesday: Legs
Wednesday: Shoulders
Thursday: back
friday: arms

Doing this will allow each muscle to get the proper rest needed to grow. Also throw in heavy cardio Monday - Wed - Friday. When I say cardio I don't mean a long distant slow jog. I'm speaking about hard cardio that will get your hearting pumping. On Monday try doing interval training, Run for 1min FAST and walk for 30 seconds. On Wednesday attempt to do a 25 minute run at a really fast pace. Friday you can do the bike or the stairmaster.

Anyway this is what I did personally and did for past clients of mine and worked out great. Remember never push your body to far. Hope this helps

Sorry, but that's a terrible training routine. Akin to the routines you'd find in a bodybuilding magazine, or see Joe Blow weakling-never-progressing doing in the gym.

I feel bad you train other people that way.

[Kratos]

A question raised by smodes response: I set up a plan for weights with a personal trainer at the gym and she suggested doing two muscle groups a day ie. back and triceps, shoulders and legs, chest and biceps - I liked the idea of it because it lets me get in two workouts per week on each muscle group...is that really too much? I know I'll never be able to imitate the kind of days I'll have at St. Jean, but my thinking has been that  I need to condition my body to being exhausted and then recovering quickly to make sure I"ll be alright for training - and as I said earlier, I've been told that there's not a lot of time to work on increasing strength etc while at basic, and that I should be as ready for CAP as I can be before basic. where do you all come down on this idea of one workout/week on each muslce group? tanks again;)

99% of "personal trainers" make me want to vomit. They seem never want to make people WORK.

Don't think of breaking it up into muscle groups. think about MOVEMENTS.

How often do you pick things up off the ground? Deadlift.

How often do you lift things over your head? Over head presses.

See my first post:

Monday:

Deadlifts (Back, core, entire posterior chain)
Bent over rows (Back, arms)
Chin ups (Upper back, shoulders, arms)

Wednesday:

Bench (Chest, triceps, lats)
Strict overhead press (Shoulders, core, triceps)
Dips (Chest, shoulders, triceps)

Friday:

Squats (Legs, core, entire posterior chain)
Front squats (Legs, core, etc.)
Hyper extensions (Lower back)

[WB]

Thanks!

[Kratos]

I think Smode's advice might be geared towards bodybuilding, which - in my opinion - is not optimized for military fitness.  Bigger muscles does not necessarily mean bigger strength, and Kratos' thread linked above explains why.

Immerse yourself in the following material:
http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki

Exactly!

Thanks for the props, though.

Sidenote:

I applied, but I don't know if I'll get accepted to the ROTProgram due to burst fracturing 3 vert. in my t-spine and 3 in my c-spine in 2007. I guess I can only hope the medical guy wrote down good things. I get really frustrated thinking about it because now I can squat 400+, deadlift 430+ and put ~240 over my head (strongman jerks) and yet I can't help but think I'm going to get rejected due to past injuries.

Is my cardio good? Nope. Would I improve it? Of course. In my opinion, it's easier to improve cardio than it is to get bigger and stronger. It's easier to take a 220 pound insanely strong guy and get him to good place, cardio wise, than it is to take a 140 lb guy and get him to 200 lbs while maintaining/achieving good cardio.

Can I do pushups? Maybe 15-20 max. Would I improve that? Of course.

I realise the military requires a combination of everything, fitness wise, but I also believe you can train for strength and still have good cardio. You just have to find the balance. I don't believe that being at either extreme end of the spectrum is good.

The question of how to get strong was asked, so I tried to answer.

Hopefully it's of some help.

Sorry that, spanning through all the posts, it seems somewhat unorganised and rambling. Did I miss a multi-quote function?

[Kratos]

Thanks!

I try, man.

I'm no authority on the subject, but I try to help within my limits.

I was just going to edit something in another one of my posts, but I forget now. That's really annoying. Shoot.

[CallOfDuty]

  Hey Kratos.  Just finished looking through the posts here and you said you had burst fractures.  I've recently had an L1 Burst fracture in an MVA and would love to hear about your recovery.

   How long did you take to heal?  How much therapy did it take?  Are you 100% now?  I'm surprised you can lift as much as you can......considering I can't lift more than a jug of milk right now, lol.

Thanks man
COD

[Kratos]

  Hey Kratos.  Just finished looking through the posts here and you said you had burst fractures.  I've recently had an L1 Burst fracture in an MVA and would love to hear about your recovery.

   How long did you take to heal?  How much therapy did it take?  Are you 100% now?  I'm surprised you can lift as much as you can......considering I can't lift more than a jug of milk right now, lol.

Thanks man
COD

None of mine were lumbar region, but here you go:

Accident was late July, 2007

I wore a waist to shoulder clam-shell back brace for five weeks (could have been up to eight, I think, but I got the OK after five) and spent a lot of the first month in bed, resting..

After I got the back brace off, stuff was obviously still stiff, sore and very weak.

I had to wear an Aspen neck collar for almost three months. That sucked. Getting it off was good and bad at the same time. Neck was super weak and would tire/get sore easily.

The worst part was it's the core structure of your body that hurts severely. Not a knee, wrist or ankle, where you can somewhat rub away the pain or put some heat/ice on it.

Anyway, did physio. Helped a bit, but after a while, not so much.

Didn't do any physical activity again until February, 2009, when I stumbled upon a forum geared towards powerlifting/strongman/strength training and decided it was time for me to do something. A state of physical weakness didn't really suit me and it certainly wasn't doing my body any favors.

So, I told the guys there my situation and received some information/suggestions.

So, besides a two month travel break, I've been lifting since. I was "lucky" with my back, because my lumbar region was spared, allowing me to squat and deadlift as if nothing had happened.

Honestly I would say I'm 110% haha. Much bigger and vastly stronger than pre accident.

You just have to take it slow man. It's your back. You want to make sure it heals well. Your lumbar region, especially, I'd imagine. Listen to your body. While I was recovering, any time I would get sore, I'd go lay down, no exceptions.

Good luck with your recovery.

[CallOfDuty]

   Hey man, thanks for your reply.   Your story gives me hope for a full recovery, however, as you said...the Lumbar vertebrae is not a good one to break.  The docs predict I'll get as good as 95%.
   Anyhow..just happy to be alive!
Cheers

[Kratos]

   Hey man, thanks for your reply.   Your story gives me hope for a full recovery, however, as you said...the Lumbar vertebrae is not a good one to break.  The docs predict I'll get as good as 95%.
   Anyhow..just happy to be alive!
Cheers

No problem.

As cliche as it sounds, (in my opinion) don't let doctors give you numbers regarding recovery.