Hello everyone. I have been thinking about the health and fitness standards required for the Army quite a lot lately as I'm planning on applying this May. One thing I enjoy doing is reading about all the different criteria for different different roles in all the branches of the armed forces and seeing how I measure up to them.
Comparing the fitness standard required upon entry to different parts of the armed forces a couple of questions were raised for me. Firstly, why do outfits like the Royal Marines and The Parachute Regiment have high entry requirements for body weight exercises like press ups? I understand that both the RMC and the Paras are considered "elite" and so they require a slightly higher standard of recruit than other roles, but surely that criteria of being "elite" and "fit" is met simply by the tabs and runs they do? What I'm trying to get it is why does an infantryman not have to do press ups in order to start training (in which, from my understanding, they will be doing press ups regularly) but a recruit for RMC etc will have too? Obviously, not being in the armed forces I don't have any experience of what the physical stress is like when on deployment or exercise but from what I've seen it looks like things like doing cardio and running with a backpack or something would be the most beneficial types of exercises for you to do.
The other thing I am wondering is how beneficial is the training that individuals in any given infantry will go through in terms of their ability to do things like press ups? From what I understand, people in training would be doing press ups regularly either as punishment or in PT sessions, so do people in army infantry generally come out the other end better at doing them or are they just used in training to add a little bit more stress and get the blood pumping?
Thanks in advance for any replies!
Comparing the fitness standard required upon entry to different parts of the armed forces a couple of questions were raised for me. Firstly, why do outfits like the Royal Marines and The Parachute Regiment have high entry requirements for body weight exercises like press ups? I understand that both the RMC and the Paras are considered "elite" and so they require a slightly higher standard of recruit than other roles, but surely that criteria of being "elite" and "fit" is met simply by the tabs and runs they do? What I'm trying to get it is why does an infantryman not have to do press ups in order to start training (in which, from my understanding, they will be doing press ups regularly) but a recruit for RMC etc will have too? Obviously, not being in the armed forces I don't have any experience of what the physical stress is like when on deployment or exercise but from what I've seen it looks like things like doing cardio and running with a backpack or something would be the most beneficial types of exercises for you to do.
The other thing I am wondering is how beneficial is the training that individuals in any given infantry will go through in terms of their ability to do things like press ups? From what I understand, people in training would be doing press ups regularly either as punishment or in PT sessions, so do people in army infantry generally come out the other end better at doing them or are they just used in training to add a little bit more stress and get the blood pumping?
Thanks in advance for any replies!
