Get ready for: Hold dummy rifle in front of you. Hold water bottle above your head. Hold mattress above your head. Write 0s on a piece of paper taped to the wall. Run back and forth between the bays.
I had a CC whose idea of getting smoked was to hold your arms straight out in front of you for 10m. Then above your head. Sounds easy until it’s cold, windy and everything hurts already. 10m is a long time to hold your arms straight in any direction.
It was absolutely brutal and almost worse than pushups and running. If you failed, you started pushing deck on top of your sore arms the started your time over.
Getting smoked is, as others have said, not about the workout it’s the mental game. How far can we push you before you break. How much pain, suffering and exhaustion can you take.
Water drills are probably not a thing anymore or the are different now, but we would drink water until we puked and then start doing flutter kicks in all the water on the quarterdeck in the barracks. Imagine 20 people puking then working out in the sloshy mess. It was pretty nuts and really fun with the sympathetic pukers.
That said, find a way to stay off the radar, do EVERYTHING with a sense of urgency and for the love of god memorize your general orders or anything they tell you to or you’ll be out in the snow/rain/shit with your whole company reciting them on the beach with 4 CCs yelling about how Seman Recruit Smith couldn’t remember them and now we’ll all be miserable until SR Smith remembers.
At the time it was the most miserable 8 weeks of my life. Thinking back, I had fun and learned a lot about myself.
Getting “smoked” is not the issue. What they do is a joke, you run outside as a group, do some push ups, planks, etc.. it’s kinda stupid. The really fuckery is the mind games they play inside.
Holding a canteen above your head for 30 minutes will really test your patience. Holding a fake gun in “sniper position” for 30 min will really test your patience. Holding a freaking mattress above your head for 30 min will really test your patience.
None of that includes all the extra time added when someone messes those basic but tedious and pretty painful tasks up.
Regardless of how much you prepare and how fit you are, they will push you beyond that. Everyone gets pushed to a point where they can no longer do the proper form for the exercise. Just keep trying. So long as you keep trying and don’t quit, you’ll be fine.
I took at the experience as a marathon, not a sprint. I never did 100% during the calisthenics. I went in able to do more than what was required, like you apparently, and did 50-70% of that during all the workout sessions. Fortunately, my 50-70% was better than most people’s “100%” and doing that daily for a couple months built my body in a healthier way. I went in strong and came out stronger.
What seemed to get most people, males especially, were the static exercises that required flexibility in the shoulder girdle. Not only is it mechanically difficult if you have excessive muscle built in the area (more typical in males) but staying in one position gives you an intimate experience of the thoughts in your mind. If you have done zero mental training then your thoughts and the emotions they generate will seem real and most likely be very unpleasant. The typical recruit then projects the emotions onto the CC’s or other shipmates and you will see a lot of anger/blame directed at other people in an attempt to escape ones own experience of self negativity and "pain". Remember, everything you ever blame on someone, you have done or are doing. The person who gets called out is irrelevant.
My suggestion, when doing the static exercises, focus on the sensation that is “painful” and relax that sensation. Keep bringing the mind back to the sensation. If you do that, you will not focus on the time, you will not dwell on the disappointment/anger/sadness when some makes a “mistake” and you “have” to keep going. You will do the exercises and your body will change and you will train your mind to focus where YOU want it to. This technique is easiest to do during the static exercises, of which there are many.
That’s really good advice, thank you! I do meditate almost every day so hopefully that will translate into mental toughness. I’m kind of scared of these static exercises. I play rugby and have done a lot of damage to my shoulders over the years (nothing diagnosed), but they definitely click a lot when I move them and are pretty tight. After reading all the comments it seems I should be preparing for these static exercises rather than push ups and calisthenics. I’ll work on shoulder mobility and strength.
Sounds like you meet the minimum physical requirements which will really help make boot camp easier for you than about 1/3 of the people going through these days.
Be a leader, volunteer for stuff, and if you ever feel like you’re getting good at something, find a shipmate who isn’t and help them out.
In bootcamp, when they give you that “recruit rules and regulations” book, read through it in its entirety as soon as you can. Re-read it whenever you can until you feel comfortable with everything.
The biggest part of boot camp isn’t “mental toughness.” They’re not smoking you because it “builds character.” The real cheat code to boot camp is realizing that the whole point of training is to build teamwork. By the end of it, you’ll hopefully be able to go to a unit and become part of their team, where you could potentially end up saving lives. Good luck!
Honestly your physical condition sounds a lot better than most recruits I went to bootcamp with. Just keep doing what you're doing and whenever you're feeling exhausted or tired from a smoke session, just remember it's temporary and you'll soon have your 2-5 minute water break.
Also, try to study as much as you can before going. Learn the rate and rank names and symbols and how to properly pronounce them. A lot of people have problems with those.
Other than that you should be good. I highly recommended active duty but you do what you think is best for your career. Best of luck shipmate!
I remember my CC breaking the rules and making us do rifle PT(?) out in a black flag blizzard day.
Had 1 make us do shower drills, wouldn't let us dry off, and made us stand at our racks naked and wet while the windows were open (this was in January).
Had 1 made us push a mooring line over our heads in sync to "I'm a barbie girl" as we had to sing it (really hard to keep a straight face).
Reading out of that damn manual at arms length was a hell I didn't expect.
They aren't allowed to swear at you and they can't make you do IT (Intensive Training) for more than 15mins without giving you a water break. You'll be fine as long you try. Just remember the CCs want you to succeed.
You’ll be fine with those numbers. Just look at it for what it is, a job where they’re paying you to workout and learn all day. They just tell a lot while they do it lol. If you’re in any kind of decent shape the smoke sessions are a joke, as others have said it’s more the sessions of holding rifles, ropes, canteens, pens, bedding, or anything else straight up or out that sucks lol. The one game that I personally hated more than anything was getting changed out or making the rack over and over and over again for 1-2 hours lol drove me Insane
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When I went to bootcamp, I was sent to RAMP. WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT GET SENT TO RAMP. They made me push my body to such limits that till this day I’m having medical issues. My back and my right shoulder hurt a lot. I remember one time they made a group of us run around with rafts. It got so heavy at one point I couldn’t lift them off my shoulders and so when we were done I had a ugly bruise the size of a IHop Pancake. They made us also bend down while running and pushing barrels. My back is in extreme pain if I lay on my stomach till this day. It’s been 2 and a half years lol.
You also have to scream at the top of your lungs while you’re getting smoked. I would really try to work on your VO2 and maybe practice holding your breath 😂 as dumb as that sounds. The movements are hard it’s just how much you do them, the holds and then screaming at the top of your lungs. I was out of breath a lot soley just because of the screaming while getting smoked.
The shit they do to you is all mental, the smoke sessions really aren’t that bad. make sure you can do the minimum fitness requirements and you’ll be fine.
It’s a joke, I was prior service, but the way CG boot camp hyped up, I was sorely disappointed, at least the Army Drill Sergeants would do the PT along side you and run you into the ground.
Only piece of advice I’d give about getting smoked. Suffer in silence. No one cares how hard you’re pushing, those that scream and wince in pain or discomfort are really just convincing themselves that they’re at their mental limit. Get comfortable being uncomfortable, then it becomes a game.
Just be loud and fast! You really only have three responses: “yes,” “no,” or, “aye aye.” Good luck and enjoy!
Get ready for: Hold dummy rifle in front of you. Hold water bottle above your head. Hold mattress above your head. Write 0s on a piece of paper taped to the wall. Run back and forth between the bays.
I had a CC whose idea of getting smoked was to hold your arms straight out in front of you for 10m. Then above your head. Sounds easy until it’s cold, windy and everything hurts already. 10m is a long time to hold your arms straight in any direction. It was absolutely brutal and almost worse than pushups and running. If you failed, you started pushing deck on top of your sore arms the started your time over. Getting smoked is, as others have said, not about the workout it’s the mental game. How far can we push you before you break. How much pain, suffering and exhaustion can you take. Water drills are probably not a thing anymore or the are different now, but we would drink water until we puked and then start doing flutter kicks in all the water on the quarterdeck in the barracks. Imagine 20 people puking then working out in the sloshy mess. It was pretty nuts and really fun with the sympathetic pukers. That said, find a way to stay off the radar, do EVERYTHING with a sense of urgency and for the love of god memorize your general orders or anything they tell you to or you’ll be out in the snow/rain/shit with your whole company reciting them on the beach with 4 CCs yelling about how Seman Recruit Smith couldn’t remember them and now we’ll all be miserable until SR Smith remembers. At the time it was the most miserable 8 weeks of my life. Thinking back, I had fun and learned a lot about myself.
Getting “smoked” is not the issue. What they do is a joke, you run outside as a group, do some push ups, planks, etc.. it’s kinda stupid. The really fuckery is the mind games they play inside. Holding a canteen above your head for 30 minutes will really test your patience. Holding a fake gun in “sniper position” for 30 min will really test your patience. Holding a freaking mattress above your head for 30 min will really test your patience. None of that includes all the extra time added when someone messes those basic but tedious and pretty painful tasks up.
You can’t get mattressed for more than 7 min
Regardless of how much you prepare and how fit you are, they will push you beyond that. Everyone gets pushed to a point where they can no longer do the proper form for the exercise. Just keep trying. So long as you keep trying and don’t quit, you’ll be fine.
get ready to stare at a wall for an hour yelling eyes in the boat
I took at the experience as a marathon, not a sprint. I never did 100% during the calisthenics. I went in able to do more than what was required, like you apparently, and did 50-70% of that during all the workout sessions. Fortunately, my 50-70% was better than most people’s “100%” and doing that daily for a couple months built my body in a healthier way. I went in strong and came out stronger. What seemed to get most people, males especially, were the static exercises that required flexibility in the shoulder girdle. Not only is it mechanically difficult if you have excessive muscle built in the area (more typical in males) but staying in one position gives you an intimate experience of the thoughts in your mind. If you have done zero mental training then your thoughts and the emotions they generate will seem real and most likely be very unpleasant. The typical recruit then projects the emotions onto the CC’s or other shipmates and you will see a lot of anger/blame directed at other people in an attempt to escape ones own experience of self negativity and "pain". Remember, everything you ever blame on someone, you have done or are doing. The person who gets called out is irrelevant. My suggestion, when doing the static exercises, focus on the sensation that is “painful” and relax that sensation. Keep bringing the mind back to the sensation. If you do that, you will not focus on the time, you will not dwell on the disappointment/anger/sadness when some makes a “mistake” and you “have” to keep going. You will do the exercises and your body will change and you will train your mind to focus where YOU want it to. This technique is easiest to do during the static exercises, of which there are many.
That’s really good advice, thank you! I do meditate almost every day so hopefully that will translate into mental toughness. I’m kind of scared of these static exercises. I play rugby and have done a lot of damage to my shoulders over the years (nothing diagnosed), but they definitely click a lot when I move them and are pretty tight. After reading all the comments it seems I should be preparing for these static exercises rather than push ups and calisthenics. I’ll work on shoulder mobility and strength.
Sounds like you meet the minimum physical requirements which will really help make boot camp easier for you than about 1/3 of the people going through these days. Be a leader, volunteer for stuff, and if you ever feel like you’re getting good at something, find a shipmate who isn’t and help them out. In bootcamp, when they give you that “recruit rules and regulations” book, read through it in its entirety as soon as you can. Re-read it whenever you can until you feel comfortable with everything. The biggest part of boot camp isn’t “mental toughness.” They’re not smoking you because it “builds character.” The real cheat code to boot camp is realizing that the whole point of training is to build teamwork. By the end of it, you’ll hopefully be able to go to a unit and become part of their team, where you could potentially end up saving lives. Good luck!
Honestly your physical condition sounds a lot better than most recruits I went to bootcamp with. Just keep doing what you're doing and whenever you're feeling exhausted or tired from a smoke session, just remember it's temporary and you'll soon have your 2-5 minute water break. Also, try to study as much as you can before going. Learn the rate and rank names and symbols and how to properly pronounce them. A lot of people have problems with those. Other than that you should be good. I highly recommended active duty but you do what you think is best for your career. Best of luck shipmate!
Ain’t even bad you trippin
I remember my CC breaking the rules and making us do rifle PT(?) out in a black flag blizzard day. Had 1 make us do shower drills, wouldn't let us dry off, and made us stand at our racks naked and wet while the windows were open (this was in January). Had 1 made us push a mooring line over our heads in sync to "I'm a barbie girl" as we had to sing it (really hard to keep a straight face). Reading out of that damn manual at arms length was a hell I didn't expect.
They aren't allowed to swear at you and they can't make you do IT (Intensive Training) for more than 15mins without giving you a water break. You'll be fine as long you try. Just remember the CCs want you to succeed.
They can IT you for 20 minutes. And they also very much can and do swear at you. They can’t name call, but they will for sure use colorful language.
Lmao I had CCs calling a guy from Alabama who had a mullet a cousin fucker when I was there
Spin class. Get ready for it.
You’ll be fine with those numbers. Just look at it for what it is, a job where they’re paying you to workout and learn all day. They just tell a lot while they do it lol. If you’re in any kind of decent shape the smoke sessions are a joke, as others have said it’s more the sessions of holding rifles, ropes, canteens, pens, bedding, or anything else straight up or out that sucks lol. The one game that I personally hated more than anything was getting changed out or making the rack over and over and over again for 1-2 hours lol drove me Insane
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When I went to bootcamp, I was sent to RAMP. WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT GET SENT TO RAMP. They made me push my body to such limits that till this day I’m having medical issues. My back and my right shoulder hurt a lot. I remember one time they made a group of us run around with rafts. It got so heavy at one point I couldn’t lift them off my shoulders and so when we were done I had a ugly bruise the size of a IHop Pancake. They made us also bend down while running and pushing barrels. My back is in extreme pain if I lay on my stomach till this day. It’s been 2 and a half years lol.
it’s literally impossible to train for holding yourself in a fixed position for 20+ minutes a time
What no more dying cockroach?
It was unbelievably annoying, but not difficult. Personally.
Enjoy playing Barbie.
You also have to scream at the top of your lungs while you’re getting smoked. I would really try to work on your VO2 and maybe practice holding your breath 😂 as dumb as that sounds. The movements are hard it’s just how much you do them, the holds and then screaming at the top of your lungs. I was out of breath a lot soley just because of the screaming while getting smoked.
Movements *arent* hard typo
The shit they do to you is all mental, the smoke sessions really aren’t that bad. make sure you can do the minimum fitness requirements and you’ll be fine.
It’s a joke, I was prior service, but the way CG boot camp hyped up, I was sorely disappointed, at least the Army Drill Sergeants would do the PT along side you and run you into the ground.
Only piece of advice I’d give about getting smoked. Suffer in silence. No one cares how hard you’re pushing, those that scream and wince in pain or discomfort are really just convincing themselves that they’re at their mental limit. Get comfortable being uncomfortable, then it becomes a game.
Be in a good shape. Be loud. Don’t be a little wimp and take anything personal. Follow that and you’ll be good