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May 26

Times reporter tries Marine fitness test – nwitimes.com

Fitness Comments Off on Times reporter tries Marine fitness test – nwitimes.com

MICHIGAN CITY Laying on the mat, a teenager holding down my feet, the drill instructor barking out the time, I realized: I'm out of gas.

Thirty-odd situps in and I physically couldn't do another one. The kids beside me kept bringing their chests to their knees. Still a minute left on the two-minute clock.

"Come on, Giles, get off the struggle bus," Master Sgt. Jeff Benak said.

I contorted my shoulders and back like a circus performer. I pushed my legs and butt cheeks and muscles I didn't know I had into the mat. None of it gave me any momentum. Finally, I reached my hands behind my thighs and lifted myself up.

"That doesn't count," said my holder, James Steinhagen.

I did 36 situps in two minutes, embarrassing my 18-year-old self. Luckily, I'm in my 30s.

I went back to high school for a day this week and got a passing grade. That is, at the Marines Corps Junior ROTC physical fitness class at Michigan City High.

For my previous challenge as The Times' fitness experimenter-in-chief, I tested whether I was as a fit as senior citizen. In the interest of fairness, I decided to face off against high-schoolers this time around. Maybe I should have gone back to elementary school.

Kids have eye on military

Before we did the fitness tests, a few of the students told me how they plan to actually join the military. Senior Michael Livengood is starting basic training for the Marines later this year.

"I really only took the class to get out of P.E.," he told me. "Then I started to like it and I stayed."

"It's a little bit harder than the normal P.E. class," said Arturo Moreno, a senior who hopes hopes to join the Navy once he loses some weight. "We push each other."

"It's hard freshman year," Livengood said.

"When you're weak," Moreno said.

"You go home sore," Livengood said. "Now that we're seniors we've done it a couple hundred times, so it comes natural."

"Are you done with these slugs?" Benak called out to me. "Are you ready to get started?"

The first exercise was to see how many situps I could do in two minutes. Real situps: arms across the chest, forearms to knees, all the way down and up again.

During this test, I heard the girls next to me say something to the effect of, "You're not going to let this old guy beat you, are you?" (At least that's how I interpreted it.) They didn't let me.

Next was the pushups test. I had to do as I many as I could before I needed a break of a second or longer.

Benak, who has the demeanor, build and haircut of a retired Marine (which he is), scolded me for not paying attention to his instructions. "This is for you, Giles," he said, sounding like a disappointed father.

Lucky for me, I actually do pushups in my personal life. When Benak said go, I was like a thoroughbred crashing through the starting gates.

"Uh, oh, Giles has got this one," Benak yelled out. "He's got this one. Look at him."

After my 29th pushup, I collapsed to the mat. My competitors were still going.

Versions of Marine Corps tests

I thought I'd perform better at pullups. I can do about 10 or 15 when I'm by myself. Apparently I've been doing them wrong.

For the Junior ROTC test, you have to do them overhanded and hang with your arms completely straight between each one.

I did the first one no problem. Then I found myself hanging, like a kid on the monkey bars, wondering how I was ever going to reach the bar, which seemed to be at "Jack and the Beanstalk" levels of height. I pulled with all my might and ... made it three-quarters of the way. My chin just wouldn't grow anymore. How I wished I was Jay Leno.

The final test was a 300-yard sprint. At the end, my lungs were pleading for oxygen. But I actually didn't come in last place this time. I finished ahead of those two girls. Payback.

Since the students are graded on how well they do on these fitness tests, I thought it was only fair that I received a grade, too. Totaling up my score (see the breakout box for how I calculated it), I earned a 265, good for an 80 percent, or a B. (Benak had guessed I'd gotten a 70. Giles Bruce: exceeding fitness expectations in Northwest Indiana since 2014.)

Junior ROTC students who do well enough at these activities can compete at a national event in San Diego. These tests are versions of ones real Marines have to do in order to serve.

The fitness requirements for being in the Marine Corps at my age would be three pullups (the Corps lets you do them under- or overhanded); 45 situps (the Corps calls them crunches); and a 3-mile run in 29 minutes or less.

So I'm only 1 1/4 pullups, nine situps and a lot more running endurance from becoming a Marine. Good to know.

Compare yourself to other age groups

These last two fitness assignments for The Times have taught me that it's good to test your physical ability against other age groups. Going up against seniors and now teens really illuminated my strengths and weaknesses.

I learned my running speed and upper body strength are pretty solid, but I can use some work on my endurance, leg strength and flexibility.

On the other hand, if I had completed against fellow late Gen Xers/early millennials, who have couch-cushion indentations on their backsides from growing up playing video games, I probably would've come off looking like LeBron James. No improvements needed.

Sometimes it helps to compare yourself to people who are in way better shape than you. What's bad for the ego is good for the body in the long run.

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Times reporter tries Marine fitness test - nwitimes.com

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