5 Rules for Adding Workouts to Your Military Unit’s Daily PT Sessions

Adding workouts for your group at your military unit’s morning PT sessions each week is one of the more difficult things to figure out. This challenge can lead to overtraining by increasing the volume too much on calisthenics or cardio events and not giving yourself enough rest between workouts when weights are added.

You must be creative if you feel your group workouts are insufficient for your fitness level and goals, but if you consider the following rules, you can supplement your unit’s group PT and see the gains you want.

1. Repeat What You Did Earlier

This option must be used carefully. It does not mean you double your workout; it simply means you work the same fitness components you did earlier. This way, you can be sure you do not work the same muscle groups the following day. Be smart and consider your evening workouts a supplement to what you did that day.

For instance, if you did upper-body calisthenics and ran in the morning (like many group training workouts), add lifts involving the same muscle groups. If you feel you need to do more cardio, mix in some nonimpact cardio options with your run or ruck to get “all of the cardio” with half of the impact. (Biking, rowing, elliptical machines and swimming are great options for additional nonimpact cardio.)

2. Try Adding Evening Mobility to Your Day

After a tough workout with your unit and a long day working, consider cooling down with a stress-reducing Mobility Day. This classic de-load workout can also help you maintain cardio, de-stress and gain flexibility and joint mobility to feel better. If the week is highly stressful and involves long hours, you may want to do this, even if it is doing five minutes of easy cardio and five minutes of stretching/massage for 3-4 sets.

3. Try Sports but Be Careful

Many still like to compete in various activities while serving, from individual events such as triathlons, running races and lifting events to team events like soccer, basketball and softball teams. The only issue is that these can come with injuries that can make your unit less capable, so take precautions. These events usually do not interfere with group PT workouts, but you may occasionally feel the burn of early morning workouts and early evening sporting events. Fuel, hydration/electrolytes, joint support gear and good sleep will help with these supplemental fun training sessions.

4. Extra Workouts May Mean Extra Food

If you lose weight and feel like you are working too much, it is an energy/fueling issue. Eat more to get through the busier day, or do not add a second workout. You must focus on your recovery (eat, hydrate, sleep) after two-a-day workouts after a long workday. You will find out whether you are adding extra cardio or weight training at the second workout of the day. You may need to carb up before doing that second workout, especially if you are on your feet all day doing busy work at your job.

5. Proceed with Caution

The reason for all the rules is that if you are not careful, you could ruin workouts and be unable to recover correctly in time for the next group PT session. For instance, if you do leg lifts in the evening, you could unknowingly trash them for tomorrow’s leg day, long run or ruck. There is no need to do two or three leg/load-bearing days in a row, which can happen if you are not careful.

To get more specific, you can add several options to a group PT session to help you develop your personal and professional goals. Consider the following:

More cardio: Top off any group workout with more cardio. If you run and want to run some more, maybe mix it with a run-bike-run combination. Or swim on the day that you can. I would not add more rucking time unless you know you are not doing a ruck at your group PT session in the same week.

Group full-body PT/lift days: The best thing about doing a full-body day as a group is that anything is open for secondary lifts or calisthenics. Add to what you did the least in the group PT session. If you know cardio (long run or ruck) is coming the following day, you may want to opt out of running more on full-body days. However, depending on your mileage progression, adding running may not be a big issue for you, but if you doubt it and want to add cardio, make it the nonimpact option to be safe, especially if you run regularly at work PT. Running, rucking, swimming and all nonimpact cardio options are fair game, depending on your goals and how much cardio you did earlier that day.

More lifting: If you did calisthenics and running or rucking as a group PT session, you can add in a related lift later if you feel like it. Try supplementing any muscles worked during the morning PT session with corresponding lifts. For instance, if you do push-ups and pull-ups, add typical lifts involving push and pull muscles such as bench presses, military presses, rows, pulldowns, pushdowns, biceps curls and triceps extensions. Try weighted pull-ups, push-ups and dips in the evening if you do not have free weights or machines and the daily total volume is not too high.

Do not get overwhelmed by the many options. As long as you keep true to a logical split routine, you can add more lifts, cardio and mobility exercises or take a rest day from the second workout of the day. It depends on your ability, goals and what your group does each day, so stay flexible and think through the situation to adjust your workouts as needed.

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