Gaining weight in the military

[progressiveman1]

Air Force guy here. As you know, the military has horrible PT tests that is based solely on certain endurance movements. My plan was to just do good enough to pass these tests so I could put sufficient effort into weight lifting. But I see a potential serious problem for my upcoming tests: the majority of the overall score is from the 1.5 mile run and waist circumference, and from my experience putting forth extra effort into those two things compromises results of my weight lifting. More running lowers my strength in squats and being at a respectable waist size by AF standards will mean eating much less.

Ironically I have the third strongest squat at my base since they started the records, but when I point that out to my supervisors they all shrug it off and "highly reccommend" that I lose weight instead; I have a 37" waist, 250lbs. It's frustrating accomplishing such a feat and have nearly everyone I'm around at my job criticize my weight while giving no congrats on getting up on the Wall of Fame in my gym.

I'm wondering what you would do in this situation. My waist and run time just barely meet the maximum at this point, but as I continue to weight lift both those numbers are going to go up noticeably and I don't want to do a long term reduced calorie diet every few months. Personally, I'm losing interest in the AF because of this and so many other regulations I strongly disagree with. A lot of the time I just wish that I was living in Wichita Falls as a civilian, lifting at your gym, and not having to put up with everyone criticizing me about shit I don't care about.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Can you apply for an exemption to the PT? I know that they used to grant these in certain cases.

[BryanM]

I used to cut back on food for the week before the waist measurement - it was worth almost an entire two inches, to have less food and poop rolling around in there. Possibly some of it was fat also.

Is sucks enormously to lose out on training time just to keep away people's sass and having to take it over. I still liked it better than my archnemesis, The Stupid Bike Test, though.


and not having to put up with everyone criticizing me about shit I don't care about.

It really is just like high school, isn't it? Except with more Don't Kill Yourself briefings.

[Gottatri2lift]

I am in the Navy and they offer the bike, elliptical, and swim option instead of the run. I swim it and find it easy, three fatass coworkers did the bike and laughed at how easy it was. As far as the BMI issue or rope & choke you gotta make it someway. I have heard of getting for a caliper test, but everytime I have asked for it the reply is, "the command doesn't have the ability to offer that."
Good luck and congrats!! I have been doing the 700 pound club (bench & squat only) at the gym, but since it is monthly, it interfered with SS. Stopped doing it because the judging is horrible. I started videotaping it to show the proof that people didn't hit parallel, but to no avail. How do you guys on your base do it? Looking to improve the 700 pound club to a quaterly test, better judging and a plaque instead of a piece of paper on a cork board. Any suggestions?

[KSC]

Personally, I'm losing interest in the AF because of this and so many other regulations I strongly disagree with. A lot of the time I just wish that I was living in Wichita Falls as a civilian, lifting at your gym, and not having to put up with everyone criticizing me about shit I don't care about.

Getting criticized about stupid shit 24/7 is what military life is all about! I've been out of the USMC about 3 years and all I can say is that my two tours of Iraq had NOTHING to do with my decision to cut my career short. Fact of the matter was that I kinda got used to being yelled at about stupid shit, but as I moved up the chain of command I found myself unwilling to enforce alot of this same stupid shit to those underneath me. Being an enlisted man in the service can be a tough life to live for those of us like to march to the beat of our own drum.

I am 5'4 and weighed about 200 lbs while I was in the service. I was well above the height/weight standards of the Corps but I could still hit 20 pull ups and run 3 miles in about 23:00 without doing much running, so they couldn't really do much about it.

don't you guys in the AF have a bike option instead of the run? Or is that just something they used to tell us in the Marines :-)

[BryanM]

don't you guys in the AF have a bike option instead of the run? Or is that just something they used to tell us in the Marines :-)
It used to be just a "VO2" test with a bike. They'd take a resting heart rate, then increment the resistance on the bike while pedaling and calculate it with voodoo math from the difference.

Smokers and fat guys used to pass it with zero effort. I'd fail it every single damn time. I guess my resting heart rate was too low, while for those guys just staying alive was a struggle? I've no idea.

The AF isn't big on free will and choice. The Navy lets you choose your test? Wth..

[Gottatri2lift]

Yes, you can decide to do an elliptical, run, bike, or swim. It is dependent on you CFL (command fitness leader i think) and the ability of the command to be able to accomodate. The AF doesn't?! Wow

[progressiveman1]

Can you apply for an exemption to the PT? I know that they used to grant these in certain cases.
What kind of exemption were you thinking?


How do you guys on your base do it? Looking to improve the 700 pound club to a quaterly test, better judging and a plaque instead of a piece of paper on a cork board. Any suggestions?
At our base you can get judged anytime and your plaque stays up on the wall until your lift gets beaten.



don't you guys in the AF have a bike option instead of the run? Or is that just something they used to tell us in the Marines :-)
Yeah, but only if you have a medical waiver saying you can't run.



The AF isn't big on free will and choice.
Agreed, which surprised the hell out of me when I just heard they're eliminating the whole mandatory group pt thing starting next year. Hopefully my commander doesn't keep it going. If not, all we gotta do is the test twice a year.

[Mark Rippetoe]

What kind of exemption were you thinking?


I was thinking about maybe having someone actually measure your bodyfat. Crazy, I know.

[Bootsy]

Agreed, which surprised the hell out of me when I just heard they're eliminating the whole mandatory group pt thing starting next year. Hopefully my commander doesn't keep it going. If not, all we gotta do is the test twice a year.

That sounds very promising. It's kind of sad that I can deploy and get into the best shape of my life by doing nothing but lifting 3 days and running once a week, maybe, and then get fat again when I come home and have to run all the time.

[AXB]

I'm not in the military, but I'm currently in the process of enlisting in the Australian Army. My bodyweight is making things very difficult. I've passed the fitness tests, interviews, blood tests, etc. But according to them I am obese. I have a BMI of 33, which apparently renders me useless and unfit.
It's very fucking disheartening to basically be told I am a fat slob unfit for service, when I bust my arse in the gym at least 3 times a week. My bodyfat percentage is 15% tops.

[Mark Rippetoe]

At least it's not just here.

[JesseJJ]

Just for shits and giggles I calculated some BMIs of strong guys a couple years ago. Brett Favre's is 28.5 (overweight), Brad Gillingham's is 39.5 (obese), Shaq is 31.6 (obese), John Brookfield is 34.3 (obese), and Eugene Sandow is 27.4 (overweight). If you're interested for some reason, Rosie O'Donnell's is 34.1.

To help visualize 'normal', Ryan Seacrest's BMI is 22.8.

The internets are so useful.

[Bootsy]

I have a BMI of 33, ... My bodyfat percentage is 15% tops.

BMI is such a load of BS. Anything that just assumes muscle is fat is a horrendous method of judging fitness.

[PatrickBaldwin]

I was thinking about maybe having someone actually measure your bodyfat. Crazy, I know.

Used to piss me off back in my Army doc days, going through the trouble of having a super trooper dunk tested to get an accurate measure of body fat, just to have the soldiers snot nosed LT dismiss the reading because his "tape measure" BF number wasn't to standard. Saw this ruin the careers of good NCOs.

[OITW]

KSC had the key point, and that was performance. Crossfit has at times in the past posted post-WWII Navy and Army physical fitness tests to show that what used to be routine is now considered exceptional. But the key point to both of those tests is that there was no body fat measurement at all, it was all performance based. There was no issue if you could perform, as with KSC's example in the Marines. Set the standard for performance high and body fat just isn't an issue.

As an officer, I see three reasons why this is no longer so. The first was the advent of the all-volunteer military, coupled with the second, the advent of women in the military. The reality is that physical standards have dropped to maintain the numbers (with the exception of the USMC, which has always maintained its numbers by setting the bar high to draw those who wanted to beat that bar). I would add that as an officer recruit at Newport back in the day, there was an obstacle course just rotting in the wind, completely unused, and at the same time "sick, lame and lazy" female cadets were kept on for months, even years, while injured male cadets were usually quickly sent home. Wasn't hard to figure out a) who couldn't complete the obstacle course, and b) who was more valuable to the new, statistically sliced and diverse Navy. (I would add that minority males who ran into problems got tossed as quickly as us white males, twas only females who got the breaks.) Add to that an officer can no longer simply inspect a soldier/sailor and say, "You're fat, you're weak, you are out of uniform, you have one month to fix it." Instead there is a small truckload of administrative procedures, review boards, hokey physical fitness standards, etc., in place to insure the trooper's rights are protected and the officer doesn't get hauled up for harassment, especially in the case of chronically overweight women. The third, alas, is that a peacetime military specializes in chickenshit, and we've been a peacetime military for a long, long time (the recent excursions haven't changed anything in the bureaucratic mindsets), and PFT is as good a place to pile chickenshit as any. It's also viewed as a "force shaper," that is, we need to lose 10,000 sailors over the next two fiscal years, tougher PT standards will allow us to shake off at least 20% of those numbers.

The sad thing is, my father retired from the Air Force in 1972, and he told me he used to see the same thing in the Air Force--men who came in heavy, were heavy through their whole careers, suddenly under the gun at say, year 17, required to lose weight. He had little stomach as a Senior Master Sergeant to enforce what he, too, thought was fundamentally unfair, but it's worth noting that this BS went on even before the all-volunteer military, so maybe my theory above is just crap.

[Ryan Dell Whitley]

I am currently in the US Army, and I have dealt with the issues you are facing. Here are some thoughts:

1. None of the services care about how much you weigh. They care about how you look in a uniform. They are all about that V-shaped torso. That is why a big neck can offset a larger waist in the Army. The Air Force is full of idiots, and as a result they use the most ineffective measurement to determine the BF % of their service members. I don't know what to tell you. Join the Army. Look into how MMA fighters cut weight for fights. It will be hell, but it can and does work.

2. Running is a different issue. Being proficient at running is expected of you as a military member, regardless of your branch of service. There is always some griping about "How far do you ever really have to run in combat?" Well, I ran for about 6.5 miles when our LZ for extraction was compromised. In full kit. While being shot at. Running fucking matters. And it isn't that hard. Go outside. Run as hard as you can. Drink water. That's it. You're a professional that this country has entrusted to protect its women, children, and pussies. Act like it. Intervals are the best bang for your buck. I still use this template and it has worked for me pretty well.

M: 400x8 (90 second rest between intervals)
T: Lift
W: LSD (3-5 miles)
TR: Lift
F: 800x5 (5 minute rest between intervals)
S: Lift
SU: Go to church

I have been doing this for a while and here are my current stats:

5'11"
210lbs
26 years old
Last APFT: 337 (12:46 2 mile)
BS: 420
DL: 505
BP: 325
PR: 255

If I can do it, you can do it.