My Fitness Logs.

[ZULU]

Would you be doing a lot of your phys in boots Zulu?

Alternate it half and half. Some times I do the circuits in boots, others runners. All of the training is done in combats and t-shirt. Well bar swimming.

[SwiftandSure]

Fair play Zulu.
I'm just after running my old circuit in reverse. 6km with a steady downhill followed by a steep(ish) uphill climb before heading up steadily uphill for the home stretch. Wasn't gunning it (besides the usual last 100m dash) and my time was 31:31. Which I was happy enough with as I hadn't run on the road in a while.
In the lead up to the assessments I was running on the beach and sand dunes, doing a few circuits in the dunes. Had a great little circuit with this 8m high sand dune. I'd dash to the top of it, come back down, bang 20 reps of pressups/sit ups/burpees etc and as soon as I hit my 20th rep, the guy counting me would then do the same. And Fark me does that dune sap the energy out of me by about the 4th or 5th time trying to run up soft sand!

[ZULU]

Thats good going. The beach is a great place to exercise. Try bringing a few ammo cans and tyres the next time! haha

[SwiftandSure]

well I have been tempted since the assessments to throw on the chest rig with some free weights in it to compensate for battle load and do some leopard crawling through the dunes, as it was my ability to effectively crawl during the assessments that let me down. But I'm too concerned that I'd look like a plonker doing that so I might be better off taking up swimming instead to build up the right muscle groups there.

[ZULU]

well I have been tempted since the assessments to throw on the chest rig with some free weights in it to compensate for battle load and do some leopard crawling through the dunes, as it was my ability to effectively crawl during the assessments that let me down. But I'm too concerned that I'd look like a plonker doing that so I might be better off taking up swimming instead to build up the right muscle groups there.

I took 2 x 3kg diving weights in my CEFO for the assessments. It made it more interesting!

[Hello Alaska]

Our Brigade Ex was this week.

During a FIBUA Attack which ran on for more than 5 hours, it dawned on me just how important it is to be battle fit, rather than for example just being a good runner but being **** all use with a daysack on your back.

Between your rifle, battle vest with frontline ammo and personal admin, CBA, a daysack with your personal admin as well as somewhere between 14 to 18 belts of 7.62, MOE kit etc. the weight really starts to add up.

While I was able to hack it, it was still an eye opener to see how it effected some people that I would've considered fit.

Really highlighted the need to train as you fight, rather than training general fitness rather than battle fitness.

[SwiftandSure]

Like you say HA, while I'm not too bad running with the kit on at a steady pace, its quite another type of fitness required to be stopping, starting, getting down, getting up, crawling, jumping, bursts of sprinting etc. That's what really fecks me on ex and it now amazes me how far 200m can be when you're trying to play hard target in your superman suit.

[HavocIRL]

Our Brigade Ex was this week.

During a FIBUA Attack which ran on for more than 5 hours, it dawned on me just how important it is to be battle fit, rather than for example just being a good runner but being **** all use with a daysack on your back.

Between your rifle, battle vest with frontline ammo and personal admin, CBA, a daysack with your personal admin as well as somewhere between 14 to 18 belts of 7.62, MOE kit etc. the weight really starts to add up.

While I was able to hack it, it was still an eye opener to see how it effected some people that I would've considered fit.

Really highlighted the need to train as you fight, rather than training general fitness rather than battle fitness.

The only thing that exercise taught me was that the issued assault vest, body armour, MOE Kit and daysack are completely incompatible with each other and do nothing but inflict pain on the soldier wearing them.

[holdfast]

it taught me i am glad i am not infantry or should i say ex troops

[DeV]

Our Brigade Ex was this week.

During a FIBUA Attack which ran on for more than 5 hours, it dawned on me just how important it is to be battle fit, rather than for example just being a good runner but being **** all use with a daysack on your back.

Between your rifle, battle vest with frontline ammo and personal admin, CBA, a daysack with your personal admin as well as somewhere between 14 to 18 belts of 7.62, MOE kit etc. the weight really starts to add up.

While I was able to hack it, it was still an eye opener to see how it effected some people that I would've considered fit.

Really highlighted the need to train as you fight, rather than training general fitness rather than battle fitness.

Outside of career courses is battle PT done much in units? or is fitness even in the programme?

[holdfast]

our unit really only gets a chance to do some for the last two months and first two months of the year due to exercises etc, but we are a small unit . But been on exercises themselves is a form of training in some way.

I do believe that there is too much running as the form of fitness in the DF. I try to mix my training up with crossfit type training and some endurance stuff.

[ZULU]

The only thing that exercise taught me was that the issued assault vest, body armour, MOE Kit and daysack are completely incompatible with each other and do nothing but inflict pain on the soldier wearing them.

Care to expand on what are the main gripes?

[HavocIRL]

Care to expand on what are the main gripes?

Well in this privates humble opinion.

All the gear is great.......seperately.

The body armour is great for duties. Difficult to use during tactics but its possible to get the assault vest around it neatly. Hard to get the rifle into the shoulder with it but doable.

Assault vest is great in vehicles but personally I prefer the PLCE CEFO for the ground.

New backpack is great in that it carries more then the old PLCE one. And its easier to store stuff in which comes in handy. But you can only use it properly on its own. If you have an assault vest loaded with magazines you cant get the waist straps around it, making them redundant.

Again the daysack is great on its own and you can use it with the assault vest but if you have body armour on it cuts into your shoulders as it slips off the body armour. You can use the chest strap on the daysack but when running it moves up and I find it slips up to my neck and chokes me. And again the waist straps can't be used if your ammo pouches are filled. Another problem with the daysack is that I thought that when we were getting issued them they would be designed to fit flat across the top of the backpack as a grab bag. In a way they are but only if they arent fully loaded. If the bag is fully loaded it can fit in the backpack but not flat along the top which leads to problems with weight distribution.

MOE kit I only used for the first time in this exercise. Its heavy enough which is grand as its needed for getting through a FIBUA enviroment. Unfortunately it doesnt fit comfortably with the body armor on. The lad in my assault group with me had to put the MOE kit carrier on his back and then have his daysack on over that. There wasnt enough room in his daysack for the gear with all the rest of his ammo + water + rations + other gear that we needed for the assault/occupation of the AO.

The helmet is great. Simple as. Lighter and more comfortable then the previous issue.

Kneepads + elbowpads are great. I used the kneepads for the first time on this exercise but had to wrap them tight to stop them from slipping down. Kept my knees nice and unbruised clearing the rooms and covering arcs. Had a bit of wear and tear on the back of my knees though from the friction they caused. Nothing major just something that annoys you. Maybe they wouldve been better if there was a way to actually attach them to the front of the trousers and keep them in place. I can see why a lot of lads forego them in tactical exercises as the majority opinion is that they slip down to the ankles when running as they did a lot when I had them on. Luckily in FIBUA you stop start a lot so theres time to readjust them every now and again.



Now when I refer to comfort, I know that the kit is heavy and I accept that. I carried heavy weights in recruit training and other exercises using both the old CEMO and the new gear. And in terms of weight distribution the new gear is better however when body armour is thrown into the mix it makes sh*te of everything.

In summary, in my opinion

Body armour = works
Body armour + assault vest = works
Body armour + assault vest + MOE Kit = doesnt work
Body armour + assault vest + MOE Kit + daysack = F*ckin nightmare
Body armour + assault vest + daysack = doesnt work
Body armour + assault vest + backpack = doesnt work
Assault vest + daysack = works
Assault vest + back pack = works
Assault vest + MOE Kit = works

Again just my opinion.

[Hello Alaska]

Outside of career courses is battle PT done much in units? or is fitness even in the programme?

For the past few months in our Unit we've been doing between 1-3 Battle PT's a week, as well as usually a hill walk most weeks, some circuits and some cardio work in normal running gear. However, that's purely cause we've been rather busy lately with Exercises so all the focus was on getting lads ready for the Ex's.

It mostly depends on the time of year, as Exercises get closer battle pt's etc. get more frequent and then there's the other extreme where everything is quiet.

For the most part it's up to the lads to look after our own fitness beyond the Bn level, especially with alot of us chasing Recce Courses, Sniper Courses, Selection etc.

Care to expand on what are the main gripes?

CBA makes it a bit awkward to shoulder the weapon at times, I don't like the new backpack at all and the daysack can be a pain in the bollocks when you're trying to grab specific bits of kit.

They'd be my only gripes really, as an Infantryman you just have to accept the fact that you'll endure varying levels of physical discomfort and carry heavy loads, no matter what new kit you get

[Hello Alaska]

Hav, the bottom two clips on the back of the battle vest open so ya can slide the waistband of the backpack and daysack underneath your battlevest and more importantly your ammo pouches ya wally.