Is a week long enough to switch between cardio/muscle gain exercises?

[Devin]

Hey

I've got a couple months to get ready for the army physical, and I've got a lot to work on. I need to work on pushups, situps, and running primarily. Will one week of cardio and one week of muscle exercises and so on be a slow enough cycle, or does your body take time to transition between the two?

[kikr]

You don't even have to wait a week. You can alternate between them on a daily basis. While I was on active duty I established a 5 day training cycle for fitness, not just conditioning for the APFT. But if your looking for conditioning for the APFT thats even easier to establish (the discipline to follow through is just as tough though.) My Conditioning schedule went like this:

Monday: 5 minutes of warm ups these included:
10 neck rotations both directions
10 shoulder shrugs both directions
10 arm rotations both directions
10 hip rotations both directions
10 knee and ankle rotations both directions

stretches
Upper back
Lower back
shoulder
tricep
thigh
calf
groin

2 calisthenics 25 reps ea. Either
Side straddle hops (jumping jacks)
ski jumpers
cross country skiers
8 count body builders

25 (or more) standard push ups
45 (or more) standard sit ups

and a 3 mile run 8 min army standard...try for 7 or better for achievement purposes

ended with 5 minutes of cool down during which we did the stretches again.

Tues: 5 minutes of warm ups these included:
10 neck rotations both directions
10 shoulder shrugs both directions
10 arm rotations both directions
10 hip rotations both directions
10 knee and ankle rotations both directions

stretches
Upper back
Lower back
shoulder
tricep
thigh
calf
groin

3 calisthenics 50 reps ea. Either
Side straddle hops (jumping jacks)
ski jumpers
cross country skiers*
8 count body builders*
Lunges*

ab work out: sit ups and crunches 3 sets of 50 reps
frog kicks-25 reps 4 count*
flutter kicks- 50 reps 4 count
and partner assisted leg lifts 50 reps

Push ups: standard, wide arm, close hand partner resisted 3 or 4 sets 25-50 reps

Wednesday same as monday except for the run we would conduct speed drills ie:
wind sprints, farklick, or last man up

Thursday: same as tues day with variations where appropriate...weight lifting at
gym, small obstacle course, team drills, sandbag, or rifle PT.

Friday: same as monday and wednesday except for endurance run...burn out run, 5
or 10 mile run, 3 mile cross country, 3 mile ruck run, or 12 mile ruck march.

These are set up for 1 hour sessions except for the 10 mile run or 12 mile ruck march. Dont try to do all this at once but work your way up to these. Focus on the warm up and cool down and especially the stretches to avoid injury. I hope this helps and if it does let me know if I can help any more. Good luck!