No pain, your gain

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Hey there, beer belly. Here’s a dollop of deep-fried honesty for you: Your family, friends and fellow service members can see that extra 15 pounds you’ve been lugging around — and they’re all talking about it behind your back.

Take a moment to digest that. Stings a little, doesn’t it?

Yes, as you age it gets harder to keep your weight in check. Your body won’t melt those mashed potatoes as aggressively as it did when you were a raw metabolic machine fresh out of boot camp.

But you’re not a lost cause. You’ve just got to climb back on that StairMaster — and here’s why.

Dedicated physical activity is essential for a healthy, happy, long life; for Joe and Jane Staff Sergeant, it is vital for a fruitful career. Let your tummy blubber swell too much, and you’ll struggle on your next fitness test. Fail it, and you can forget about that next promotion.

Scary, but there is some encouraging news: Maintaining sufficient fitness does not require that you kill yourself doing endless wind sprints, arm curls and squat thrusts. No, “it doesn’t come easy,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Mark Cucuzzella, a Reserve family doctor and flight surgeon with the 79th Medical Group at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., but “if your goal is health, general fitness and weight control, you don’t have to do any painful exercise. People don’t have to ‘hit the gym,’ ‘work out hard,’ ‘push it’ or [strain themselves to complete] ‘one more rep.’”

You read that right, ladies and gentlemen: no pain, yet plenty to gain. Cucuzzella advocates moderate- to low-intensity exercise; “movement at a pace that’s sustainable,” he calls it. Focus on large muscle groups, like those in your legs and butt, which are resilient to injury and capable of working for “hours at a time,” he said. “If [service members] do that, they will be in shape enough so that they don’t have to worry about their fitness test.”

It’s tough to make the time needed to keep your physique looking respectable. But trust us: The payoff is worth it. You will feel healthier, you will look better and you will have more get-up-and-go.

So carpe diem, friends — exercise options are abundant. Here are four fitness strategies for improving your life and your livelihood:

Find some tough love
Patrick Avon has a curious way of introducing himself. It’s barely 6 a.m., and he has just ordered his “recruits” to the ground for some intensive ab blasting. Sarge, as he’s known, counts aloud while walking among the members of the class, inspecting and, if necessary, correcting each person’s form. He pauses beside a first-timer and hovers above him. “Don’t hold your breath,” Avon growls. “That’s how you get hemorrhoids.” With what little air they can gasp between crunches, others in the class join in on the jeering. “It’d be a shame if you ruined that brand-new running suit,” he jabs before resuming his count.

A former Navy medic and dental technician, Avon, 45, left the service in 1986 as a petty officer third class and within three years was running The Sergeant’s Program, a Monday-through-Friday early morning outdoor boot camp that serves hundreds in and around Washington, D.C. He’s one tough cookie, and his classes are no joke; the last reporter to audit one yakked 20 minutes into a ranger run, Avon proudly notes. (This writer hung onto his Count Chocula, thank you very much.)

The back-to-basics brand of exercise thrives on two key components: community and accountability. It’s a class, after all, so you don’t go it alone. Sure, you’ve got to drag your carcass out of bed at 5 a.m., but camaraderie is a natural incentive. And unlike the archetypal drill instructor, Avon doesn’t get in your grill and chew off your eyebrows. Miss a class, though, and you can expect a phone call; he’s not the least bit shy about needling you to push harder.

“We like to hold your hand and kick you in the rear end at the same time,” he said. “We’re not gonna kill ya. We’re not gonna embarrass ya. I might tease ya, poke at ya a little, but I am gonna correct your form and make sure everyone gets a solid workout.”

Exercise boot camps market this external motivation. And while they can be expensive (The Sergeant’s Program, for example, costs about $1,300 a year), the philosophy is free. So don’t let your paycheck stop you from seeking some tough love if that’s what you need.

“If you know you can’t do it yourself,” Avon advises, “find a guy that’s really fit in your platoon, your squad, your company, your battalion and say: ‘Hey dude. Help me. Let me be your workout partner. Let me run behind you.’ Most people that are really fit are happy to help.”

Tough love: You’re up
Now try one of the Sarge’s workouts — he calls it “90-second Thursday.” All you need is a stopwatch and a set of dumbbells (8 or 10 pounds for women, 12 or 15 pounds for men). His gender-neutral conditioning sessions focus on cardio and calisthenics (you get one day dedicated to running, two days to work everything above your bellybutton and two days to work everything below it).

• Warm up. 10-minute jog followed by a light stretch.

• Work your core. Start with pelvic tilts. Lying on your back with your hips raised, lift one leg slowly and hold it in the up position for three seconds. Repeat for 90 seconds, alternating legs throughout.

Progress this exercise by crossing one leg over the other, so your ankle is resting on your knee. After 90 seconds, slowly switch legs without tilting your hips and repeat for another 90 seconds.

Now flip over onto your belly for an exercise called the bridge (or the plank). Lift your body onto your forearms and toes, making sure to relax your back muscles by squeezing your abs and glutes. Rotate one leg in a 12-inch outward oval for 45 seconds. Repeat, using the other leg for 45 seconds.

• Work your abs. Do some five-second sit-ups. Place your legs far enough away from your butt so it takes five seconds to do one sit-up (18 in 90 seconds).

Next, do some one-dumbbell side bends. Holding the weight with both hands, raise it over your head as far as you can and bend to the left (your hips should go to the right). Slowly come back and bend to the right. Be sure to squeeze your glutes. Perform this drill for 90 seconds.

Now progress to one-dumbbell circles. Keep the weight over your head, but this time rotate so the dumbbell goes to the side and close to the ground in a complete circle. Alternate directions after 90 seconds.

Lastly, perform 60 seconds’ worth of hanging knee raises. Just grab onto a pull-up bar and raise your knees above your waist. It’s harder than it sounds.

• Work your upper body. Start with push-up rotations. Get into a push-up position with your feet spread hip-width apart. As you lift your body, raise one arm and extend it straight up into the air. Follow your hand with your eyes the entire time. Then, lower your arm back to the ground and immediately descend to the start position — don’t pause. Switch arms with each push-up. Stop after 90 seconds.

Now do some bent-over shrugs. Holding both dumbbells, bend down and touch your toes, making sure to keep your back flat. Tighten your abs. Now slowly shrug your shoulders. Stop when you feel the squeeze through your upper middle back. Slowly return your arms to the original hanging position and repeat for 90 seconds.

Progress the exercise by moving the dumbbells up to your lap and shrugging backward in a circular motion so you can rest the weights on the top of your butt before bringing them to the front again. Stop after 90 seconds.

You’re almost done. But first, do the crunch punch. Lie on your back and lift your feet so they are perpendicular to the ground. Using one dumbbell at a time, punch the weight toward the opposite knee and come up into a crunch. Repeat for 90 seconds.

Wrap things up with chest flies. Keep your legs in the air and hold the dumbbells at 90 degrees with one arm straight above your chest and the other raised slightly off the ground. Lift the one dumbbell off the ground and then lower the other. Repeat so when one comes up the other goes down, with your arms at a constant 90-degree angle. Stop after 90 seconds.

• What it’s good for. An hour of rigorous calisthenics can burn between 500 and 700 calories.


To see the rest of the tips, go to the full article: http://www.militarytimes.com/offduty...etfit_080128w/
Face of Fitness: http://www.militarytimes.com/offduty...tside_080128w/