6 Months of Self-Induced Hell

And we're off!  After a 7-day break from working out to go see my son for his first birthday, I'm back to the grindstone.  Well, I'm onto a bigger, coarser grindstone.  The 26-week US Navy Special Warfare Physical Training Guide was outlined in my last post, and it's remarkably tough.  It is shaped by running, swimming, lifting, calisthenic, and core workouts is such a dizzying mix as to keep things interesting for my body and my mind.  Until the snow melts, I'm replacing the runs with their swimming counterparts.  So what did the first few days look like?

Day One:

Long, slow swim: 1,000 yards mixed (31 min)

Upper-body lifting: Overhead press, lateral raise, bench press, row, curl, tricep extensions (2x12 @ 60 lbs)

Core work: Bridge, plank, side plank, bird dog, superman, wiper (2x)
Throw up (2x)


Day Two:
Continuous high-intensity swim: 750 yards mixed (15 min)
Lower-body lifting: Lunge, squat, calf-raise (2x12 @60 lbs)
Push-/Sit-/Pull-ups: Push-ups (4x20), sit-ups (4x15), pull-ups (3x10)
Throw up (1x)


As you can see, I only threw up once on Day Two, which is a marked improvement over Day One.  I'm trying to convince myself that my body is just adjusting to the shock of this much activity.  I'm also reminding myself that I have it easy, because I don't have a drill instructor screaming at me to finish each set.  Whatever doubts I may have had about the intensity of this program are gone now.  I know I'm in for six months of hell.  I also know that if I can complete it, my body will have to change drastically.  I hope the promise of being healthier than ever before can get me through the pain (and the puking).