18 Years Old. Not sure Where to Start.

[Trey Brown]

Hey guys. Im gonna go ahead and get down to it. 18 Years old. In college. 5'10. 145lbs. bench 185ish. Squat about 200. Do my mile in the high 8 minutes. I Wrestled in high school so im pretty good at pushing myself when i need to.
How do i get started? I really would like to get my Endurance up while gaining some strength too ( more towards Endurance though). Im also condsidering joining the Marines so i figure im going to be doing alot of push ups/crunches/ running. I guess i just would like some advice/direction! thanks.

[Eric Montgomery]

Give these a look then come back if you need any clarification:
http://board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=49825
http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/faq.html
Both WFS

If you're running an 8+ minute mile, you don't really need any specific endurance work to get faster. Just doing CF metcons will fix that for you.

Some focus on strength would benefit you a lot. A 300+lb squat makes it a lot easier to carry a heavy pack or hump a mortar tube or M240G. If you're thinking about going the Marine route yes, you will need a good PFT score but a good PFT doesn't really do much for real-world fitness. And you don't have to do a lot of PFT-specific training to get a good PFT score. CF-style training will take care of you as far as that goes.

I would also recommend you eat a lot of good food and try to gain about 40lbs as fast as possible.

[James White]

Originally Posted by Eric Montgomery

Give these a look then come back if you need any clarification:
http://board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=49825
http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/faq.html
Both WFS

If you're running an 8+ minute mile, you don't really need any specific endurance work to get faster. Just doing CF metcons will fix that for you.

Some focus on strength would benefit you a lot. A 300+lb squat makes it a lot easier to carry a heavy pack or hump a mortar tube or M240G. If you're thinking about going the Marine route yes, you will need a good PFT score but a good PFT doesn't really do much for real-world fitness. And you don't have to do a lot of PFT-specific training to get a good PFT score. CF-style training will take care of you as far as that goes.

I would also recommend you eat a lot of good food and try to gain about 40lbs as fast as possible.

Eric, would you agree that more strict that kipping pullups would serve him better for entry into the USMC? I'm thinking strict in metcons until he NEEDS to kip.

[Eric Montgomery]

Yeah, kinda depends where he is in terms of pullup strength, but he'll obviously need to make sure he can do them deadhang and not just rely on kipping all the time. If he can already do 20 or close to it, he doesn't need a lot of deadhang-specific work.

[Trey Brown]

Originally Posted by Eric Montgomery

Yeah, kinda depends where he is in terms of pullup strength, but he'll obviously need to make sure he can do them deadhang and not just rely on kipping all the time. If he can already do 20 or close to it, he doesn't need a lot of deadhang-specific work.

I can do about 15 Pull ups with my Palms facing me, maybe 1/2 that with them not facing me. Our YMCA just got a Rowing machine so i think i may try that today since today is my Upper body day ( bi's, tri's, back, and chest)

Edit just looked up Kipping, i may give that a try seems pretty neat!

[James White]

Originally Posted by Trey Brown

I can do about 15 Pull ups with my Palms facing me, maybe 1/2 that with them not facing me. Our YMCA just got a Rowing machine so i think i may try that today since today is my Upper body day ( bi's, tri's, back, and chest)

Edit just looked up Kipping, i may give that a try seems pretty neat!

If you wanna get started with CF, you need to lose that "upper body day" mentality, pronto.

[Trey Brown]

Originally Posted by James White

If you wanna get started with CF, you need to lose that "upper body day" mentality, pronto.

How come?

[Mike Wildman]

As a former Marine, I would say that if you can run 3 miles in circa 20-24minutes, then focus on strength. Build the carraige that will have to hold and carry all of your battle kit. That'll do the most for you in terms of building a body that will hold up to the wear and tear doled out by Mother Green. CFFB is my recommendation, though any of the CF programs would be beneficial.

[Eric Montgomery]

Originally Posted by Trey Brown

How come?

Did you read the links in my first post?

CF (or any good training program, really) doesn't do "muscle groups"--it does movements (push, pull, squat, throw, jump, etc.) and focuses on compound movements, not isolation junk.

Train for performance, not based on how Mens Fitness tells you to blast your pecs or get ripped abs. Those kinds of programs are jokes and won't get you anywhere, especially where you want to be for the Marine Corps.

[Trey Brown]

Originally Posted by Mike Wildman

As a former Marine, I would say that if you can run 3 miles in circa 20-24minutes, then focus on strength. Build the carraige that will have to hold and carry all of your battle kit. That'll do the most for you in terms of building a body that will hold up to the wear and tear doled out by Mother Green. CFFB is my recommendation, though any of the CF programs would be beneficial.

Former? Once a marine always a marine, right? haha. Yes i really need to work on that. I guess just running more and more would be the best thing for getting that time down? or alternating sprinting/running. CFFB, thats cross fit football correct? im going to research some more for sure