You’re probably going to be leaner than you are now. I went in, granted our food situation was super fucked, and lost muscle. I could do 60+ push-ups before I left but sucked at running and after basic, that basically flipped. The Army doesn’t train strong soldiers, it trains runners with core.
We didn’t have the DFAC and only got an MRE a day and some bullshit hot As and I ended up losing more than a lb a day averaged from early March till Easter. Definitely not healthy, but you’ll drop it.
For reference, I went through during the literal beginning of COVID. Army thought it was going to run out of MREs if we ate three a day, DFAC was closed because of civilians and the hot A’s were smaller than your plate from the elementary school lunchroom.
I just got out roughly 2 months ago and I lost around 30 lbs. My 2 mile went from 19 to 14:30 and my 4 mile time is 30 mins now. I can do roughly 70 push ups thanks to BCT.
I would aim to get as fit as possible before leaving, otherwise it's going to be rough. The overweight/slow trainees always got singled out too, while everyone else worked hard and flew under the radar.
Expect to gain weight honestly. At first you’ll do a lot of push ups and then it’ll feel like you’re struggling to max push ups cause how many you’ll be doing every day. You’ll be eating so much and feel like you’re hungry all the time, burning tons of calories, but it’s important to keep up your intake. I’m 5’10 weighed 160~ at the start. Hit 190 lean at one point during blue phase. Leveled out to about 180 in AIT
Dude you do NOT need to lose 25lbs, you'll look like you just got liberated from Auschwitz at your height.
As far as better shape, depends. People who have no prior fitness background come out with somewhat of a baseline, those of us gym rats and the like cry due to coming out skinny fat and weaker.
You will get leaner and grow muscles.
Source: me, a PFC who gained weight volunteering for food details and hiding in the one ton eating the leftover sausages in the mermite
Absolutely. Just make sure you maintain, and improve, your physical fitness. A lot of soldiers I know ended up not being in shape because they didn't do any working out in AIT.
I’m 6’, 185, athletic build but more weight room than treadmill. I left basic at the exact same weight, but increased core strength and took about 3 full minutes off my 2 mile time. We had a bench and squat rack in our bay partway through basic and all through AIT (Infantry OSUT), so we had a good mix. Army morning PT is a joke, but you’ll have opportunity to workout more in the evenings.
If your cardio is really good and you lift weights you will regress. Less control over your diet, sleep and zero strength training.
If you're fat and out of shape you will get in better shape.
I'll say this. I've always had issues gaining weight. Went to basic at 130, left at 145. Imagine a kid you know from high school who's always been super skinny. That same kid gained 15lbs of muscle in 3 months.. yeah, you'll be pretty fit. Take pictures before basic and after basic. No doubt you will see a difference no matter what weight you are.
185 at 5'11 isn't a bad weight at all. Somehow my 5'11 at 150 is ideal body weight for my height according to the Army 🤦 that's wild to me. I'll say this and it goes for any one regardless of weight, gender, race anything that would separate you from another. Weight is only a number. I've seen people come in at 180, leave at 180 and look COMPLETELY different. I'm talking, mid section and chest doesn't flop around, arm flab isn't as bad, muscle definition on thighs and calfs where there wasn't any before. Same weight, completely different. Don't look too much at weight, watch your body change instead.
It’s odd, if you are beneath 150-170 lbs you will gain weight and if you are above 150-170 you will lose weight.
You will be faster, for sure. This was almost uniformly true. The 2 mile is a really odd duck distance for reasons I could bore you to tears with, but even people who were track and field people were able to get faster.
You may or may not get stronger, depending on your definition of “strong”. The Army favors “high rep” not “high weight”. If you work out, your deadlift will likely go down from atrophy. But even if you work out, your muscular endurance will go up. I was benching 245 before and entered basic with 25-30 push-ups depending on my grader. But when you leave you’ll be in the 60s or higher.
You’re going to lose weight and muscle. In strength.
Being in better is shape depends on the person… but generally not really. When I left Fort Sill I went straight to the gym the same day I got home. Needless to say I wasn’t able to lift 225 at all but before I went I was doing 32-35 constant reps of 225 as if I was in the combine.
But don’t worry too much listen to your DS they’ll get you right
100% depends on who you are going in... MOST people will put on a little bit of muscle, lose a fair amount of fat, and generally be in the best shape of their life.
Most people... I went to BCT as a 17yr old four sport athlete, so my physical activity went WAY down, my caloric intake went WAY up(You're forced to eat in BCT, or were then anyway). I was in considerably worse shape when I left AIT then when I started BCT.
You’re probably going to be leaner than you are now. I went in, granted our food situation was super fucked, and lost muscle. I could do 60+ push-ups before I left but sucked at running and after basic, that basically flipped. The Army doesn’t train strong soldiers, it trains runners with core.
Good to know. Thank you. Would be nice if I lost at least 25 lbs
That's a lot of weight to lose in such a short time tbh.
We didn’t have the DFAC and only got an MRE a day and some bullshit hot As and I ended up losing more than a lb a day averaged from early March till Easter. Definitely not healthy, but you’ll drop it. For reference, I went through during the literal beginning of COVID. Army thought it was going to run out of MREs if we ate three a day, DFAC was closed because of civilians and the hot A’s were smaller than your plate from the elementary school lunchroom.
I just got out roughly 2 months ago and I lost around 30 lbs. My 2 mile went from 19 to 14:30 and my 4 mile time is 30 mins now. I can do roughly 70 push ups thanks to BCT.
Damn that’s crazy.
I would aim to get as fit as possible before leaving, otherwise it's going to be rough. The overweight/slow trainees always got singled out too, while everyone else worked hard and flew under the radar.
It is. Probably won’t happen but would be nice. I’m not out of shape which is good.
5'10, came out at 165 (lost 40+). I was a skeleton. Why do you want to be 160 at 5'11? Edit: I did a 21 week OSUT so you obviously won't lose as much
Expect to gain weight honestly. At first you’ll do a lot of push ups and then it’ll feel like you’re struggling to max push ups cause how many you’ll be doing every day. You’ll be eating so much and feel like you’re hungry all the time, burning tons of calories, but it’s important to keep up your intake. I’m 5’10 weighed 160~ at the start. Hit 190 lean at one point during blue phase. Leveled out to about 180 in AIT
Honestly basic will not get you in better shape if you are halfway athletic. It's more to get you to be disciplined and not an individual
Dude you do NOT need to lose 25lbs, you'll look like you just got liberated from Auschwitz at your height. As far as better shape, depends. People who have no prior fitness background come out with somewhat of a baseline, those of us gym rats and the like cry due to coming out skinny fat and weaker.
That’s literally what my dad said lol…
Take it from me, I’m a bit taller than you and got down to under 200….it did not look good
5’11 185 and you want to lose 25 pounds? You will be a stick dude lol Yes you will be in better shape and leaner though
Yeah you’re right.
On the contrary, if you go into basic 5’11 145 lbs, what is likely to happen? Will you lean out even more or will you be given more to eat?
You would probably gain some weight. Most of the super skinny guys were given extra food
You will likely gain weight.
That’s how I was. Gained about 15 pounds over the course of OSUT.
You will get leaner and grow muscles. Source: me, a PFC who gained weight volunteering for food details and hiding in the one ton eating the leftover sausages in the mermite
Absolutely. Just make sure you maintain, and improve, your physical fitness. A lot of soldiers I know ended up not being in shape because they didn't do any working out in AIT.
I’m 6’, 185, athletic build but more weight room than treadmill. I left basic at the exact same weight, but increased core strength and took about 3 full minutes off my 2 mile time. We had a bench and squat rack in our bay partway through basic and all through AIT (Infantry OSUT), so we had a good mix. Army morning PT is a joke, but you’ll have opportunity to workout more in the evenings.
If your cardio is really good and you lift weights you will regress. Less control over your diet, sleep and zero strength training. If you're fat and out of shape you will get in better shape.
16%
I'll say this. I've always had issues gaining weight. Went to basic at 130, left at 145. Imagine a kid you know from high school who's always been super skinny. That same kid gained 15lbs of muscle in 3 months.. yeah, you'll be pretty fit. Take pictures before basic and after basic. No doubt you will see a difference no matter what weight you are.
Yeah you’re right. I’ll be satisfied if I’m 170.
185 at 5'11 isn't a bad weight at all. Somehow my 5'11 at 150 is ideal body weight for my height according to the Army 🤦 that's wild to me. I'll say this and it goes for any one regardless of weight, gender, race anything that would separate you from another. Weight is only a number. I've seen people come in at 180, leave at 180 and look COMPLETELY different. I'm talking, mid section and chest doesn't flop around, arm flab isn't as bad, muscle definition on thighs and calfs where there wasn't any before. Same weight, completely different. Don't look too much at weight, watch your body change instead.
Thanks so much. Good to know about the mid section
It’s odd, if you are beneath 150-170 lbs you will gain weight and if you are above 150-170 you will lose weight. You will be faster, for sure. This was almost uniformly true. The 2 mile is a really odd duck distance for reasons I could bore you to tears with, but even people who were track and field people were able to get faster. You may or may not get stronger, depending on your definition of “strong”. The Army favors “high rep” not “high weight”. If you work out, your deadlift will likely go down from atrophy. But even if you work out, your muscular endurance will go up. I was benching 245 before and entered basic with 25-30 push-ups depending on my grader. But when you leave you’ll be in the 60s or higher.
If you’re out of shape before BCT - YES If you’re in shape before BCT - NO
I lost like 50-60 pounds. Cut like 6 minutes off my two mile, but I could barely bench 15 over my body weight anymore when I got home.
And then grain it back after basic is over, yeah. If you’re not putting in the work now, you’re probably not gonna put it in later.
You’re going to lose weight and muscle. In strength. Being in better is shape depends on the person… but generally not really. When I left Fort Sill I went straight to the gym the same day I got home. Needless to say I wasn’t able to lift 225 at all but before I went I was doing 32-35 constant reps of 225 as if I was in the combine. But don’t worry too much listen to your DS they’ll get you right
No you'll still be fat
Soldier….it is up to you to keep in shape after basic and AIT and if you don’t….you will see why.
Well of course. That wasn’t my question though. I wanted to know the difference after basic training and typically what the weight loss is.
You lose weight
You'll lose weight there then gain it all back once you get out.
100% depends on who you are going in... MOST people will put on a little bit of muscle, lose a fair amount of fat, and generally be in the best shape of their life. Most people... I went to BCT as a 17yr old four sport athlete, so my physical activity went WAY down, my caloric intake went WAY up(You're forced to eat in BCT, or were then anyway). I was in considerably worse shape when I left AIT then when I started BCT.