Hey all, here's an update for you since I arrived at RMC in August. I went in being able to do about 15 pushups consistently, and probably about 35-40 situps in a row. I could also do 3-4 chinups. After our "recruit camp" training, and FYOP (first year orientation period) for 5 weeks, plus weekly athletics classes and intramural sports, I lost 12 pounds (down to size 4 now!), and I just did 34 pushups and 55 situps on our PPT (like the CF Expres test, but about twice as difficult, as there are only men's and women's standards, no allowances for age). I can out-pushup some of the skinnier guys in my flight, which is cool! Not bad for a 36 year old! Some "games" that we played during FYOP really helped me to improve in pushups especially. One is play the song "Flower" by Moby - the lyrics go "Bring Sally up, bring Sally down, lift and squat gonna tear the ground" over and over. On the "up", go into the up position of the pushup. When you hear "down", go down, but keep your elbows at 90 degrees, and don't let your body hit the floor. Then you have to hold that position until you hear "up" again. I can usually get through 2 choruses before I have to drop to my knees. One guy in my flight can do the song fully twice before he craps out - amazing! The other "game" was using a deck of cards. Deal out 5 or 6 cards, and do the face value of the first card in pushups, rest for the same number of seconds, then do the second card, etc. When you get to the end of the 5 or 6, take a 2 minute break, then deal out some more. One night, we went through more than 2 decks of cards, and we ended up doing 1170 pushups in less than 2 hours. Very hard work obviously, and us girls had to drop to our knees pretty early on, but that was one hell of a workout! Loud dance music is mandatory if you're going to do that many, it definitely helped keep you motivated!
As far as other training, we do everything. During FYOP we did so much running, from doing circuits to hill sprints to long runs, plus team sports after classes. We also did hallway PT - the stuff I mentioned above, wall sits, holding the plank position for 1 or 2 minutes, and even an abs battle with another flight from a different squadron. Just do as many different things as you can think of, because you will work different muscle groups, and work on your strength, endurance, etc all at the same time. I'll be heading off to basic in St. Jean in the summer, so by then I should be super fit! My squadron gym rep is going to set me up with a running program, as that is my weakest area, due to a minor heart problem. It will be 3 days a week, one of long distance running, one of intervals, and one of shorter (5km) but faster runs. Should be interesting to see how it goes! Good luck ladies!! Oh, I'm going air nav (or air combat systems officer), in case anyone's interested. From what I've heard from other students who've already done some of their phase training, it sounds like a sweet trade!