Advice

Everyday Better: Fitness

Other posts on this matter: Everyday Better and Everyday Better: Blogging

I would like to say I’m pretty in shape. When it comes to the Army, that’s part of my job. We get evaluated on our fitness through a simple test of push-ups in two minutes, sit-ups in two minutes, and then a two mile run. The amount of push-ups and sit-ups and the time you have to run your two mile in is based on your age and gender.

You can see what you would score here.

On the female scale for my age, I often ‘max it’ meaning I get the most points possible in each category giving me a 300. But, with changes in the Army with more opportunities for females and my job being combat arms, I expect this ‘female scale’ to go away. I have to score around a 340 on the female scale to come close to a 270 on the male scale. Whether that’s fair or not is a different debate, but it does show a different level of ‘combat readiness’.

My soldiers holding up a tire for a timed competition.

For example, in artillery we have different types of ammo based on what effect you want. If you want a big bang, there’s a type for that, if you want light in the night, we also have one for that. These different rounds have different weights and some weigh more than 110 pounds.

My body weighs 120.

Needless to say, I need someone to help me lift those rounds. There are a lot of people, male or female, that can lift those rounds alone yet have a lower fitness score than me.

I’m not saying that the only reason to get in shape is for my job but I’m also not saying I’m a slacker. I recognize where I want to be fitness wise while acknowledging that I do have a decent amount of accomplishments too.

So, by the end of February I do want to start lifting weights because right now all I do it push-ups or variations of them. I also want to look in the mirror and see muscles on my back and arms and even my abs.

Summer is soon!

Again, with my schedule it is hard to figure out how to do this but I think if I do my mandatory physical fitness Monday – Friday with the Army, which is mostly just running, but also dedicate Monday morning to an hour run then Saturday and Sunday I can do weight training.

I’ve also always wondered about getting a personnel trainer so I might save and do that just because I don’t know how to do free weights while feeling safe at the same time. Plus, it’ll give me motivation to show up because I paid for the service!

Also, no more fast food! Okay, that’s not fair to me I can’t go cold turkey…. only once a week in February and none by March. This means I need to figure out meal prep a lot better. I did it recently for a week and by Wednesday I thought the food was bland and it was unappealing to me. I cooked chicken and pasta dishes and gave myself a salad to go with it.

Ugh.