how do i get ready for basic?

Question

My sergeant is working with me to get me ready, but i want to be able to work on this outside of his office. Unfortunately my upper body strength is that of a twelve year old girl, apparently, because i cant do one push up...unless i use my knees! pathetic i know. the requirements are; 3 pushups, 17 sit ups, and a mile in under 10 just to get into basic. Im alright at running, but sit ups i always seem to use my legs and less of my abs, and push ups are killing me. i need to build up my endurance also... so what im looking for i guess are some tips, a way to start off easy and work up to wear i need to be. a routine. i have a few months to do this... any suggestions??

Answer 1

I am veteran and have only been out for about4 yrs. so i remember those days. The main thing is you have to push your body to where you get used to the pain. Thats what its all about. Do pushups on your knees if you have to ,to the point that you can't do anymore...then rest...and do more. Try and do several sets. I would do as many as you can about 5 sets a few times a day until you work your way up and of course take off a at least one day a week. I know you should take off every other day , but it will build you up faster doing them 3 or 4 days in a row because thats how you do in basic. As far as sit ups..do them the same way, but I would work on some crunches in between to strengthen the abs and try and do inverted ones off of a bench of something if possible. A few months is plenty of time. If you push your body to that pain threshhold, you will be suprised at how much improvement you make even in a few weeks. Hit me up if you need more advice or info. good luck

Answer 2

If you like to run, carry weights in each hand and use your arms more while you run. This way the muscles get worked when you're working out. Start every day and end every day with a pushup. DON'T use your knees. Force yourself to do one no matter what it takes.

If it helps, put a couple of big books under your hands. This shifts the weight back onto your toes and offers your weak arms a bit of help. (Use this only to get going, don't rely on it every time. Try the regular pushup and if it's too difficult, use the books. Stop using them the first time you get a full pushup completed.)

Answer 3

I assume you are a female. Practice doing push ups by letting your knees touch and use your ab muscles to push you up. Do 3 reps of 10 each for 2 weeks and then begin ding regular pushups and be sure your body is straight and DO NOT let your knees touch the floor. Run at least one mile every day. After two months you will be ready for boot camp.

Answer 4

You're definitely ready. That is a great starting point, and you will improve very fast in Basic Training as long as you put forth the effort. I have seen people enter basic that could do 10 pushups and by the end of training, they could crank out 50.

Answer 5

Do continue to work on your PT stuff, in fact your recruiter should have provided you with some kind of PT routine for you to be doing now, but at the same time there is some book learning to be done as well. Learn the general orders by heart, and be able to quote them out of order i.e if someone asks you what your 6th general order is, you had best know it. Learn the rank structure of both enlisted and officers and be able to recognize the insignia. Learn about the history and core values of the service you are joining. If you are joining the Army, get the America's Army game installed on your pc and at least go through the various basic training and first aid scenarios, you will learn from them.

Answer 6

Use you legs while doing sit-ups many people do. (The real trick is switching between legs and abs to max the sit-ups and bouncing up quickly)
Do as many push-ups as you can every other day. When you can't push any more go to your knees. They count anything as a push-up during in processing and your DI's will make sure you get the rest you need. Girls who could barely do one during shark attack were maxing their pt test at the end.
Oh Only do arms every other day. Those muscles have to rest, you can work abs every day.
Run every day and go a little farther every day.

Oh something our DI had us do was push on the ends of our bunks. Start almost vertical and go lower and lower every day. Do sets of 20 when ever you can.

Answer 7

i sucked at push-ups in the beginning, too. what i did was use my bed to do inclined push-ups. put your lower legs on the bed and kinda hang off and do push-ups. this will gradually increase your upper body strength. sit-ups are supposed to work your hip flexor muscles so it is supposed to work your leg muscles. that's how you know you're doing them right. the run (ask any soldier) is probably the worst area for anyone. so concentrate a lot on that. any other area, you can do anytime.

Answer 8

Yea I have trouble doing lots of push-ups too. But when you do a normal pushup on your feet, try bending your foot more so you're not straight up on your toes, and make sure your back is straight not curved. Also try some weightlifting, benching is easy, doesn't strain you too much, and will help you when you do push ups. It helps me, it could possibly help you too.

And with situps, is someone holding your feet or are they held down with something? If not then that is probably why you're having trouble with those.

Answer 9

...start hitting the weights, fool. Bench presses will work your chest and your triceps.

If you don't have access to a gym, then get a couple of 2 liter soda bottles (still full that is) and sit in a chair, raise a bottle above your head, and bend your arm at your elbows behind your head....then raise...and repeat. This will work out your triceps, and strengthen those up. Also, continue to do the "girl" push ups....the thing you need to do is strengthen your triceps (the muscles that run behind your arm, from your elbow up).

Man, I can't believe you can't do three push ups...

anyway, good luck with that.

Answer 10

start by doing stretching exercises,followed by sit-ups,push-ups,chin-ups.then run.then stretch some more.
start with attainable goals,say 10 of each and running 1 mile.
next week do 15 of each,run a mile.do this every day and don't skip a day because your body hurts-it hurts because you are making progress.good luck and God bless!