I know that some members here have expressed interest in joining the Canadian Military but were discouraged by fitness requirements. I thought this may be of interest.
(I'm bored in class. sigh.)
Posts: 1572 | Registered: Jan 2004
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quote: Aspiring soldiers no longer need to be in tip-top physical shape if they want to join the ranks of the Canadian Forces.
quote: In the past, the fitness test for men under 35 consisted of 19 pushups, 19 situps, squeezing 75 kilograms in a hand grip, and running 2.4 kilometres in an acceptable period of time.
Since when is doing the above considered 'tip-top' physical shape?
Posts: 1412 | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
seriously. if you can't get those basic things accomplished, the military might not be the best place for you.
Posts: 8741 | Registered: Apr 2001
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The military can train and condition folks. With proper motivation, people can overcome shortcomings. That's what they will use training for. To coach people and whip them into shape.
Posts: 1572 | Registered: Jan 2004
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so that fitness test was something that people had to do before they were allowed to go to basic training?
i agree with the idea of dropping it. like you say, they're going to get whiped up into shape anyway. if they really can't handle it then, they'll realize it really isn't for them. Other people who maybe wouldn't have been able to accomplish it before, will now hopefully be able to. But to be perfectly honest, someone who can't accomplish those things is going to be a significant danger to themselves and others.
Posts: 8741 | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
Well, for instance, dropping the running could allow asthmatics in, and as long as they're not on the front lines but in an at-home support position, with the proper medication asthmatics might be okay.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Modern militaries do actually have a lot of utility for folks who can't past tests like those.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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In a longer-term sense, we also need a military to guard against the possibility that America might feel the need to semi-permanently deploy troops to Canada to protect us from outside forces. We don't need to be a military powerhouse, but a certain level of robustness should be maintained.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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So THAT'S what those helicopters that just flew overhead were for! (I can just about see Canada from my window)
Posts: 5422 | Registered: Dec 2001
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quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: Well, for instance, dropping the running could allow asthmatics in, and as long as they're not on the front lines but in an at-home support position, with the proper medication asthmatics might be okay.
I was always under the impression that anyone joining the military could potentially be put in or assigned to a combat situation. Am I mistaken? Honest question, I really don't know. If there are purely administrative roles, with no possibility of combat, then it makes absolute sense to drop physical requirements for those (people in wheelchairs could take part, etc).
Are they taking physical requirements out of completing boot camp though? If they're not, then it doesn't make sense to drop admission requirements. With boot camp it makes sense to me that the trainees will need some sort of common base for them to work with. Kind of like college. They will churn out people with a higher level of education than they had when they went in. However, they don't allow 6th graders to take college course. They have admission requirements so that there's a bare minimum expectation. I just kind of view this the same way. Posts: 1412 | Registered: Oct 2005
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I don't know, it was a hypothetical. I'm not sure exactly how the Canadian military is structured.
That would be one way to free up more people already in for front-line duty if they're having trouble recruiting and such.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quote: Aspiring soldiers no longer need to be in tip-top physical shape if they want to join the ranks of the Canadian Forces.
quote: In the past, the fitness test for men under 35 consisted of 19 pushups, 19 situps, squeezing 75 kilograms in a hand grip, and running 2.4 kilometres in an acceptable period of time.
Since when is doing the above considered 'tip-top' physical shape?
Oh, man. Since when is the above considered even "vegetative" physical shape? Canada must be pretty confident that they have no enemies...
Posts: 3293 | Registered: Jul 2002
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quote:Since when is the above considered even "vegetative" physical shape?
Come on, now. I'm sure there's some kind of time limit. I probably couldn't make it through their test, but I can carry 1/3 my weight on my back five miles and live off it for four days and hike back out with it.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
If the most they require is nineteen situps, the time limit for the run is probably, like, half an hour or something. My guess is you're way more qualified than the average Canadian serviceman.
My high school football team did over 150 situps in our warmups, before lifting (some of the linemen benching over 400 pounds) and doing several miles worth of sprints. I mean, we were way better than I'd expect any non-elite military training to live up to, but good lord.
Posts: 3293 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Yeah Storm, it pretty much is. Unless we specifically work on upper body strength, most girls can't do push-ups from puberty onwards. It's not just arm strength, althoght that's a lot of it, having a lower center of gravity also makes it harder to hold your body straight in order to do "real" push-ups.
I could do them when I was taking karate, and did them every week, although it was never easy and I could never do "enough," and then a couple years ago when I was lifting seriously I could do a few. But I'd be very surprised if I could now.
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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I just asked the woman next to me, your average cubicle rat, and she said she could do one pushup.
Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Storm Saxon: What, like on your knees?
Yup. Feet held up in the air off the floor, with the only floor contact being palms and knees. It's an interesting experiment for men -- different in unexpected ways from the traditional pushup, which makes use of the male center of gravity.
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Storm Saxon: *shifty eyes* *whispers*
I wish. She's hot.
All the more reason.
Play the "I'm interested in science" card. Nerds are hot right now. And offer to do the other pushups for her. She can count and watch your form carefully.
posted
Well, if you're saying they're harder for men, they're not. Really. I speak as someone who has done lots of pushups and seen other people do lots of pushups, not just me being argumentative. I can probably do twice as many knee pushups as regular pushups.
Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002
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quote: Play the "I'm interested in science" card. Nerds are hot right now. And offer to do the other pushups for her. She can count and watch your form carefully.
quote:Originally posted by Storm Saxon: Well, if you're saying they're harder for men, they're not. Really. I speak as someone who has done lots of pushups and seen other people do lots of pushups, not just me being argumentative. I can probably do twice as many knee pushups as regular pushups.
How many can you do right now? (Just curious.) "Girl" pushups, that is.
---
Edited to add: Drop and give it to me, Stormie.
Wicked? Yes. For breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and thank you kindly.
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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posted
And you have to keep your torso in line with your thighs -- i.e., body in straight line from head to knees, feet off floor, good form throughout.
I'm willing to stand corrected, by the way. I am not impossible to please, just a woman who requires diligent effort. As it were.
posted
I don't want to say how many 'girl' or 'regular' pushups I can do right now because it might hurt my manly image, but trust me that I know for a fact that I can do twice as many girly ones as regular ones.
Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
I shall firmly endeavor to maintain your manly image in my mind's eye, so long as you agree to always think of me as a sprightly nymphlicke faerie. Deal?
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Storm Saxon: I don't want to say how many 'girl' or 'regular' pushups I can do right now because it might hurt my manly image, but trust me that I know for a fact that I can do twice as many girly ones as regular ones.
I just did pushups to exhaustion - that is, until I couldn't do any more in correct form - then immediately did twice as many "girl" pushups. So I think it's easier, at least for someone who's out of shape.
It's possible that improvements would not be even between the two and the numbers would move closer were I not in horrible shape right now.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
(I had noted "well-conditioned man" initially for a reason. This is all secondary to a prior discussion with a physical therapist, by the way, so my interest is professional as well as personal.)
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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quote: I just did pushups to exhaustion - that is, until I couldn't do any more in correct form - then immediately did twice as many "girl" pushups. So I think it's easier, at least for someone who's out of shape.
posted
BTW, my center of gravity is still pretty high (bigger chest than stomach and hips still, thankfully) even though I'm out of shape. But the fact that it's my muscles giving out rather than aerobic exhaustion would definitely change the results if I could do more of each.
quote:I've just been psychologically stretched past my reserves, but I won't forget.
I understand. Completely. It's a discussion best left for times when the inner reserve tank is full and at rest. Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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I'm in fair shape and I really want to test this, but I don't think the janitorial staff in my office has been doing such a great job of cleaning the floors lately.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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And I am spiking a fever, unable to breathe through my nose, and caffeine-deprived due to an apartment-wide milk shortage. Give little credence to my utterances this morning.
But seriously, I was told (by someone trained in physical therapy) that men in good condition are often surprised that they cannot do more "girl" pushups [than they can] and [still] maintain good form; i.e., that physical training which improves one's ability to do traditional pushups does not correlate quite as expected when one then does the modified pushups. In part (I think) this is because a well-conditioned man tends to have a higher center of gravity, but also in part (I think) because pushup ability is about more than just upper-body strength (so, when one improved upper body strength, one may not improve as much as one would expect one's ability to do all versions of pushups).
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