In the Marine Corps PT was life. In the civilian world we feed off of the Gimmick workouts too much. The P90x's, the Bowflex, and many, many others. Too many of us have forgotten the basics. So, when I peeled my self out of the chair in front of the PC when I had decided it was high time I got back into good physical shape for WTSHTF I looked & looked for the best PT plan to get me there quickly. I have friends that are in many stages of P90x, or Bowflex workouts, or some other gimmick out there. I have friends that are "one" with their chair. Too many have quit the gimmicks out there because they expect wither hours of PT a day or crazy or unorthodox PT exercises. I decided to go back to "Basic". When I say "Basic" I mean Basic Training. I think there is many a military member here that can remember the most fit they were was Basic training and the short period after wards.

So I got to it. Well, it seemed as though I had forgotten how to organize regular PT the Marine Corps way. Sure I knew to warm-up, stretch, Run, cool down, & stretch again, but adding in the pushups, situps, & other PT exercises where they should be was half-hazard to say the least. I was looking to get more organized so that i could get it done in a shorter period of time. I found plenty of content on the net to help, but i wanted an in print version. I found The 'U.S. Marine Corps Workout' on Amazon and bought it. The book covers some history, the obstacle course, the confidence course just for histories sake i think. Then you get into the meat of the book, "The daily 16" is laid out in detail. The "Daily 16" is a set of 8 stretches & 8 Calisthenics laid out to work directly into your running portion of PT. They provide several stretches to choose from and plenty of different exercises to choose from. They even provide pre-made PT cards that have different combinations of stretches/exercises. They also have sections for rifle PT, Diet, new beginners PT, Boot Camp Prep, and maintenance programs. Everything is laid out in detail.

I found that by using this book's organization I was able to make a stable, sustainable routine that I could do in 30 minutes. I change cards every week to keep my body adjusting to new routines. Once I made my 6 weeks to make this routine a habit I started to work in longer runs. I also started to work in some minor weight lifting to help boost the muscle growth, but only after getting my routine down.

This is what I recommend for WTSHTF. It is easy, maintainable, requires no weights or Machines, and is proven through daily use by our elite fighting forces.

[amazon]http://www.amazon.com/United-States-Marine-Workout-Revised/dp/1578261589[/amazon]

Thanks for the info. That's one book I REALLY need to get.

How goes the work? I hope to get into something like this real soon, and I am curious on what your progress has been.

Going slowly. Working 2 jobs and going to school for Registered Nursing. Lost 9 pounds so far though & muscle tone is definitely getting better. That is only doing it 2 times a week. It takes roughly 30 minutes for me to do the workout. About 20-22 minutes of running.

I'll have to take a look at this... my run time is starting to get longer and longer, I guess that happens when you get older!!!