soljaboy
Level 2 Valued Member
Hello everyone
So all of a sudden I decided to enlist in the army and I'm serious this time. For the past few weeks I have started self-training by carrying out bodyweight workouts like pushups, sit ups, squats, and running every other day. My current progress: 2 miles in 27 mins, 10 diamond pushups with a very good form, 25 normal pushups, 37 straight sit-ups with arms behind the head and 45 extra with arms stretched, and 0 pull-up/chin-ups L!. However the biggest problem besides my age (I’m 28!) is my severely out-of-shape body: I have a very lanky limbs, a pencil neck, weak wrists and other features of a muscle less skinny guy with 2 additional virtues of an obese person: a bloated belly measuring 33” and womanly chests. In addition to genetics, my lack of interest in physical activities (I literally never played any sports in the school) and poor diet have contributed to sculpt me in this way.
Nevertheless I would still like to give a try and I need to do it by the next year otherwise it will be too late. I could have focused on getting max in exercises and running rather than worrying about this issue because my physical fitness will be assessed on the basis of BMI; despite of my high BF of ~22%, my BMI is exactly 20! (normal) However, more than one person has suggested me that I reduce my body fat and get some muscle mass before thinking of joining because they opine that the recruiters won’t be very impressed with my current body shape.
So I started looking up everywhere I could to find any information to get out of the predicament. After reading a ton of articles I came to the conclusion that I need to incorporate resistance training, focus on intensity rather than volume, lift heavier and reduce the cardio! In regards to cutting/bulking, some articles suggest cutting and then bulking and the others, vice versa.
Now my major preoccupation right now is that if I want to finish off with this skinny-fat issue, I need to probably run less, do fewer reps and carry out more intense/loaded exercises. If this on one hand will help me solve this problem, on the other hand this will seriously affect my endurance. I am aware that you might have never seen anyone in such a rare situation wanting to do something on the extreme like joining the army but I really want to be an exception (well not just to be an exception; I do have motifs behind).
I would therefore like to know your opinion on what would be my best bet? Is there any solution to get my body into a decent shape and gain strength without cutting the cardio (running) and high-rep workouts?
PS: I am following a book entitled ''convict conditioning'' written by an ex-con and am incorporating few of his methods. Do you think as someone aspiring to join the army can benefit from his work?
So all of a sudden I decided to enlist in the army and I'm serious this time. For the past few weeks I have started self-training by carrying out bodyweight workouts like pushups, sit ups, squats, and running every other day. My current progress: 2 miles in 27 mins, 10 diamond pushups with a very good form, 25 normal pushups, 37 straight sit-ups with arms behind the head and 45 extra with arms stretched, and 0 pull-up/chin-ups L!. However the biggest problem besides my age (I’m 28!) is my severely out-of-shape body: I have a very lanky limbs, a pencil neck, weak wrists and other features of a muscle less skinny guy with 2 additional virtues of an obese person: a bloated belly measuring 33” and womanly chests. In addition to genetics, my lack of interest in physical activities (I literally never played any sports in the school) and poor diet have contributed to sculpt me in this way.
Nevertheless I would still like to give a try and I need to do it by the next year otherwise it will be too late. I could have focused on getting max in exercises and running rather than worrying about this issue because my physical fitness will be assessed on the basis of BMI; despite of my high BF of ~22%, my BMI is exactly 20! (normal) However, more than one person has suggested me that I reduce my body fat and get some muscle mass before thinking of joining because they opine that the recruiters won’t be very impressed with my current body shape.
So I started looking up everywhere I could to find any information to get out of the predicament. After reading a ton of articles I came to the conclusion that I need to incorporate resistance training, focus on intensity rather than volume, lift heavier and reduce the cardio! In regards to cutting/bulking, some articles suggest cutting and then bulking and the others, vice versa.
Now my major preoccupation right now is that if I want to finish off with this skinny-fat issue, I need to probably run less, do fewer reps and carry out more intense/loaded exercises. If this on one hand will help me solve this problem, on the other hand this will seriously affect my endurance. I am aware that you might have never seen anyone in such a rare situation wanting to do something on the extreme like joining the army but I really want to be an exception (well not just to be an exception; I do have motifs behind).
I would therefore like to know your opinion on what would be my best bet? Is there any solution to get my body into a decent shape and gain strength without cutting the cardio (running) and high-rep workouts?
PS: I am following a book entitled ''convict conditioning'' written by an ex-con and am incorporating few of his methods. Do you think as someone aspiring to join the army can benefit from his work?