Start With The End In Mind

Christopher's #1 fitness goal: Pass the Special Forces Physical Fitness Test with a 300 score.

I believe all men should do their best to be prepared for any curves that life may throw at us. Who better to look towards for direction on physical preparedness than the Armed Forces? The US Special forces uses 7 different exercises to measure a soldiers capabilities. These include Push-ups, Sit-ups, Pull-ups, timed 2, 3 or 5 mile run (varies depending on branch), 16 mile hike with a 65 pound backpack, and a 15 meter swim. After spending time looking at the different criteria for each age bracket and accompanying score, I determined that I should be able to do the following:

-100 push-ups in 2 min (currently I can do between 50 and 60)
-100 sit-ups in 2 min (currently I can do just over 60)
-3 mile run in under 17 minutes (current time is 20:40)
-25 pull-ups (current # is 12)

The hike sounds fun, and I would like to try it. However I am not going to train specifically for it. I suspect when I meet my goals the hike will take care of itself. The swimming portion of the test is something that most guys who grew up on Lake Powell could pass on any given weekend. Since I belong to that group I won't be training for it either.

Fitness goal #2: Appearance.

Call it vein or call it shallow, I just call it the way it is. IHow I look is important to me. A personal trainer once asked me why I wanted such big muscles. I thought long and hard about my answer. Why does any guy want to look like a comic book super hero? I never want to make another man feel bad about their physique and most women don't like muscle freaks. So its not to show anyone else. I'm certainly not one that likes to be noticed, I'm sort of a social hermit. No the truth of the matter is I want to like what I see when I look in the mirror.

So how big do I really want to be? I'm not sure. Everyone carries weight so differently that I am not certain how much I'll weigh when I am satisfied. What I do know is I want to be strong. My initial strength goals are as follows:

-bench press 250 pounds
-squat 350 pounds
-dead lift 450 pounds

It's been many years since I have tried a one rep max of any kind. And for the last year all of my training has been endurance focused with dumb-bells. I plan to use a 5x5 weight plan to work up my initial goals. In perfect world I would add 100 pounds to each of those numbers.

Fitness goal #3: Submission Grappling.

Besides technique, there are 6 physical attributes a grappler can work on to improve their game. In no particular order they are strength, speed, flexibility, endurance, and balance. A couple of these are addressed with my first two goals (strength & endurance). Improvement in the other three will be addressed long term, but I am not addressing them specifically now. Eventually I will incorporate more bag work and sprinting to address speed. Balance and Flexibility will be addressed when I take up yoga. Yes, seriously.