a French Foreign Legion Forum

Welcome! Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

My current workout routine

Joined
Oct 14, 2021
Messages
80
Reaction score
112
Location
Wiltshire England
Home Country
United Kingdom
Regarding fitness, in addition to what le Caporal posted, think agility. To run an obstacle course well you need overall strength. To climb up the side of a cliff you need to be lean and have good arm strength. When parts of your body start cramping from the cold your other parts should keep you going. Swimming muscles aren't the same as running muscles. Swimmers are usually longer muscled..and you should be able to hold your breath while doing stuff for at least 1 and 1/2 minutes without double extending. One of my personal training points was that if I punched you in the ribs I would break one. I also could take a punch. But if you want to be more capable, you need to be fast and accurate with your strikes with whatever part of your body and with whatever is at hand. Look around to see who the best are and try to match them. You can't do everything but you can be in the top 15% overall.
Have you maintained high fitness & strength now you have left? If yes, how?
 

jwaltos

Legionnaire
Joined
Aug 18, 2011
Messages
298
Reaction score
389
Location
Canada
Home Country
Canada
Have you maintained high fitness & strength now you have left? If yes, how?
I left the Legion in Nov. 88 and was almost 30. At that time I was enrolled directly into University where I resumed 10 meter tower diving and springboard diving. I also did some jumping with the University sport parachute club. In early 2000 I obtained my recreational diver certification and have done some diving when on vacation.
From 30-55, I still jogged regularly usually on the hottest days (85 degrees and up) where I would do 10 km,13 km, 17 km, 20 km or 30 km depending on my free time, road repairs or farmers putting manure on their fields or just for variety. My "good shape muscle weight" is/was around 220 lbs but I've been down to 200 lbs for distance running and up to 277 lbs (about a year ago) due to laziness, getting older and lack of available time. You can't do some things at 60 that you could do at 20. Arthritis, ancient pains that you recovered from come back to greet you..etc. However, I'm still "strong like bull" and probably as smart because I handle heavy metal pieces at work easily where others need to use a boom crane. A good framework to build from is using routines that gymnasts and boxers use. Just make sure to add some swimming into that list.
As a grandpa, I can still play tag and hide-n-seek and a lot of other things like rolling a somersault (no cart wheels though) as required.
I should also add that I was down to 227 lbs recently and am working my way down to 200 lbs again (by proper nutrition including beer, push-ups, sits-ups .. just the simple stuff but doing them properly), since I really don't need much power for anything I do now.

cheers.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Oct 14, 2021
Messages
80
Reaction score
112
Location
Wiltshire England
Home Country
United Kingdom
I left the Legion in Nov. 88 and was almost 30. At that time I was enrolled directly into University where I resumed 10 meter tower diving and springboard diving. I also did some jumping with the University sport parachute club. In early 2000 I obtained my recreational diver certification and have done some diving when on vacation.
From 30-55, I still jogged regularly usually on the hottest days (85 degrees and up) where I would do 10 km,13 km, 17 km, 20 km or 30 km depending on my free time, road repairs or farmers putting manure on their fields or just for variety. My "good shape muscle weight" is/was around 220 lbs but I've been down to 200 lbs for distance running and up to 277 lbs (about a year ago) due to laziness, getting older and lack of available time. You can't do some things at 60 that you could do at 20. Arthritis, ancient pains that you recovered from come back to greet you..etc. However, I'm still "strong like bull" and probably as smart because I handle heavy metal pieces at work easily where others need to use a boom crane. A good framework to build from is using routines that gymnasts and boxers use. Just make sure to add some swimming into that list.
As a grandpa, I can still play tag and hide-n-seek and a lot of other things like rolling a somersault (no cart wheels though) as required.
I should also add that I was down to 227 lbs recently and am working my way down to 200 lbs again (by proper nutrition including beer, push-ups, sits-ups .. just the simple stuff but doing them properly), since I really don't need much power for anything I do now.

cheers.
Thank you, you have the green bar by your name so I know you have taken on & completed one of the toughest challenges.....did you find it hard in the legion? You can stand tall.
Interesting fitness comments , I am a similar age & completely agree you can’t do the same as 20. I cycle to work & back a round hilly trip of 42k, swim & run & still race triathlon.......... race means aim to get to the finish line!! Strength training is relatively new to my regime . I have bought free weights/ squat rack & do kettlebell workouts as well but have never thought to find out the training of boxers & gymnasts......I will look into this , boxing , I have noticed is an interest of other members.
I have no nutritional qualifications, after trying all the mainstream recommended diets for aging males....Keto etc etc .... I follow a high carb (sugar) low fat low protein diet, it goes against current trends but is brilliant for energy & weight management.
Cheers.
 
Joined
Aug 9, 2021
Messages
399
Reaction score
370
Location
Roma
Home Country
Italy
I feel that in any triathlon, just finishing the would be an achievement. I've never tried one, although I am a strong swimmer.

That is very true! Regardless of your level of fitness, even finishing the shortest sprint triathlon for the first time is quite an accomplishment. I will never forget my first swim! It was "only" 750 mt but in open water and we were a bunch of dudes all swimming on top of each other for a good 100 mt, I honestly thought I would drawn haha. I eventually ended up liking it, in particular running straight off the bike which most people hates. But going back to your point Joe, to improve even slightly you have to take care not only of training but also nutrition, recovery, sleep etc... Some people say it is more of a lifestyle than a sport and I agree.
 
Joined
Oct 14, 2021
Messages
80
Reaction score
112
Location
Wiltshire England
Home Country
United Kingdom
I feel that in any triathlon, just finishing the would be an achievement. I've never tried one, although I am a strong swimmer.
Give it a go, you may surprise yourself , lots of very fit triathletes are poor swimmers as it is the one part that relies as much on proper technique as aerobic fitness.
 

Joseph Cosgrove

Moderator
Legionnaire
Joined
Jul 13, 2013
Messages
9,556
Reaction score
7,900
Location
Thailand
Home Country
New Zealand
Give it a go, you may surprise yourself , lots of very fit triathletes are poor swimmers as it is the one part that relies as much on proper technique as aerobic fitness.
Unfortunately where I live they are not very sportive. Golf for those who can afford it and badminton. There is an annuel bikini race which is won every year by the Kenyans.
 

jwaltos

Legionnaire
Joined
Aug 18, 2011
Messages
298
Reaction score
389
Location
Canada
Home Country
Canada
.....did you find it hard in the legion?
Interesting fitness comments , I am a similar age & completely agree you can’t do the same as 20. I cycle to work & back a round hilly trip of 42k, swim & run & still race triathlon.......... race means aim to get to the finish line!!
I have bought free weights/ squat rack & do kettlebell workouts as well but have never thought to find out the training of boxers & gymnasts......I will look into this , boxing... I follow a high carb (sugar) low fat low protein diet, it goes against current trends but is brilliant for energy & weight management..
Triathlons and other competitions are great experiences especially with your great attitude..just finishing! Meeting people of a like mind is a benefit also. Free weights are a great investment (especially if they're steel and not plastic). Bicycling is the way to go as well! You have a great workout ethic, healthy body healthy mind..

Regarding what I did in the Legion, there were many others that were better, stronger and faster but I was a strong average. I would weight train, jog and swim after hours on my own whenever possible just to work for that extra edge. In Kourou, I would jog to the beach then swim out 4 km around the first bouy (maybe the second one..I forgot) then swim back. Factoring in the currents and the tide, the whole swim was a wide 8 km loop. In Corsica, at a chalet called Vergio I would jog up the small highway for 15 km and back down (like Kip Kano, a Kenyan, used to do ..he would train by running up the side of a mountain for seven miles). At the time I didn't realize I was creating micro-fractures in my achilles tendons and painful nodules started to form for months afterwards but they did go away eventually. Like everyone, I found certain things very hard and challenging..and in many cases you didn't get second chance so you had to give everything you had up to and including passing out for any number of reasons. Not only did I try to prepare for going "all out" but for certain activities I did so and I needed some recovery time afterwards. For example, I could barely walk sometimes, other times I would "zone out" or fall asleep while doing something due to exhaustion.. but only briefly because you had to keep going..injuries were something else and so was disease or other ailments that brought you to your knees. Anything less than that you could cope with easily but for this other stuff you had to dig deep. When going through jump school in Corsica after coming back from Guyane, I had a bout of malaria and something else (some sort of microbial fungus in the lungs) that should have killed me. I had to haul myself hand by hand up a railing going up a small stairwell, sweat rivers at night..etc.. In any case I did all the "fun runs" and everything else and got my wings. When they were deciding which company I was going to, like everyone else, you get checked out. I was put in the hospital for about a week..without any real explanation. After that, mountain combat with a trip to Djibouti. Long story short, some things were hard and others were just nasty..corvee quartier pour les megots..blechh.

Came back to the site to add this, here is a bit of current news from that part of the world: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/...ope-arrives-in-french-guiana-after-sea-voyage
Interesting stuff!
 
Last edited:
Joined
Oct 14, 2021
Messages
80
Reaction score
112
Location
Wiltshire England
Home Country
United Kingdom
Triathlons and other competitions are great experiences especially with your great attitude..just finishing! Meeting people of a like mind is a benefit also. Free weights are a great investment (especially if they're steel and not plastic). Bicycling is the way to go as well! You have a great workout ethic, healthy body healthy mind..

Regarding what I did in the Legion, there were many others that were better, stronger and faster but I was a strong average. I would weight train, jog and swim after hours on my own whenever possible just to work for that extra edge. In Kourou, I would jog to the beach then swim out 4 km around the first bouy (maybe the second one..I forgot) then swim back. Factoring in the currents and the tide, the whole swim was a wide 8 km loop. In Corsica, at a chalet called Vergio I would jog up the small highway for 15 km and back down (like Kip Kano, a Kenyan, used to do ..he would train by running up the side of a mountain for seven miles). At the time I didn't realize I was creating micro-fractures in my achilles tendons and painful nodules started to form for months afterwards but they did go away eventually. Like everyone, I found certain things very hard and challenging..and in many cases you didn't get second chance so you had to give everything you had up to and including passing out for any number of reasons. Not only did I try to prepare for going "all out" but for certain activities I did so and I needed some recovery time afterwards. For example, I could barely walk sometimes, other times I would "zone out" or fall asleep while doing something due to exhaustion.. but only briefly because you had to keep going..injuries were something else and so was disease or other ailments that brought you to your knees. Anything less than that you could cope with easily but for this other stuff you had to dig deep. When going through jump school in Corsica after coming back from Guyane, I had a bout of malaria and something else (some sort of microbial fungus in the lungs) that should have killed me. I had to haul myself hand by hand up a railing going up a small stairwell, sweat rivers at night..etc.. In any case I did all the "fun runs" and everything else and got my wings. When they were deciding which company I was going to, like everyone else, you get checked out. I was put in the hospital for about a week..without any real explanation. After that, mountain combat with a trip to Djibouti. Long story short, some things were hard and others were just nasty..corvee quartier pour les megots..blechh.

Came back to the site to add this, here is a bit of current news from that part of the world: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/...ope-arrives-in-french-guiana-after-sea-voyage
Interesting stuff!
30k training runs & 8k swims- hardcore 👍
 

Papillon

Legionnaire
Joined
Dec 26, 2012
Messages
886
Reaction score
1,135
Location
Glasgow, Scotland
Home Country
United Kingdom
I would be much more impressed if the activity was uploaded on Strava as in this day and age of transparency and people trying to get top spots for numerous disciplines! Personally it was the one thing that motivated me when training solo but hey! Nothing like knocking another competitor of a spot on a segment or whatever the challenge. Any of you guys on Strave? Be good to look.
 
Joined
Aug 9, 2021
Messages
399
Reaction score
370
Location
Roma
Home Country
Italy
I would be much more impressed if the activity was uploaded on Strava as in this day and age of transparency and people trying to get top spots for numerous disciplines! Personally it was the one thing that motivated me when training solo but hey! Nothing like knocking another competitor of a spot on a segment or whatever the challenge. Any of you guys on Strave? Be good to look.

Strava is great!
 
Joined
Oct 14, 2021
Messages
80
Reaction score
112
Location
Wiltshire England
Home Country
United Kingdom
I would be much more impressed if the activity was uploaded on Strava as in this day and age of transparency and people trying to get top spots for numerous disciplines! Personally it was the one thing that motivated me when training solo but hey! Nothing like knocking another competitor of a spot on a segment or whatever the challenge. Any of you guys on Strave? Be good to look.
I m not on it.
 
Top