Dangerous Men

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Comment by Christopher Ciaciura on November 4, 2009 at 3:30am

oh man, that's terrible. I hope everything works out for you buddy.. i'm in the same spot with the ticket situation right now haha, my damn motorcycle is a ticket magnet. Thanks for the all info, i really appreciate it. How exactly were/are you training for the PAST? like are you doing strictly cardio and pushups pullups ect or are you doing that and throwing weight training in there as well? and if you are weight training, how often? I was a lifting freak a few months ago with absolutely no cardio and then i decided to go air force cause firefighting just isnt going to happen without military on a resume..and then i learned about PJ and i fell in love. that's what started my new workout routine - i havent touched a weight since...i feel great but i KNOW i've lost strength but at the same time i've built up a ton of endurance. My only concern really is push ups..it doesnt help that im 6'6" and that is a long way down for a push up lol. i can do sets of 50 no problem but like you said, i need to go in ahead of the game. Before when i was lifting my only concern was image but now i couldnt care any less about how i look as long as i can perform.

Comment by James A. on November 3, 2009 at 8:12pm

Dude, I've been doing this dance with my recruiter since October of last year, I kid you not. I had 6 tickets on my record that I had to wait to clear. I FINALLY swore in, the end of Aug. this year. After that I took the PAST 2 weeks later, it wasn't "offical" bc an E-6 did it and not an E-7. They called me up last Friday to tell me that, I was fine with it considering I've been training my butt off. The next day I sprain my ankle. They are now telling me if I don't run the mile and a half in 10:22 then they will force me out of the DEP program and I will have to start the process over and won't be promised which sucks. I'm trying to push through with my ankle and everything but there is only so much I can do, and the doc won't give me a cortizone shot. So I'm SOL and I guess time will tell.


As far as the swim, just keep going dude. Train hard with FF and FFluid, and you WILL see results. Do as much research as possible and go in ahead of the game. The guy I train w/bought his fins off ebay and they are the rocket fins. He has the strap problem already.

Comment by Christopher Ciaciura on November 3, 2009 at 6:47pm

oh no! That's my biggest fear right now, getting hurt right before my PAST. How many PAST tests do you have to take?! I thought it was just the one? I feel as though i have a lot to learn about this process, and that's ok; i can't even go through meps yet cause of a stupid ticket i have to wait for to clear. I'm actually an avid swimmer, i used to teach swim lessons; i've just had a lot of injuries from other sports that i think make me work my main muscles a lot harder than i used to have to. My thing with freestyle is, i can't pace myself. I'm so used to going short distances from swimming in high school. 100m-250m was pretty much all i swam freestyle so im not used to going slow to get those long swims in. i can do combat swim and breast stroke all day, it would just be nice to get some fast times doing freestyle if i could just pace myself lol. Thanks for the site info, i'll check it out. I hope your ankle gets back to 100%. And mike thanks for the ebay suggestion, i'll checking that out too.

Comment by Mike Hussle on November 3, 2009 at 6:29pm

I got my fins off ebay, sometimes you're getting one at a time (some jerk lost one) and you can get them really cheap if you look for good deals. The thing I'd recommend is make sure to get spare straps, the rubber straps for the back of the fins wear out fast.

Comment by James A. on November 3, 2009 at 6:28pm

I don't have the "proper" fins that PJ/CCT/SEALs/SF use. I just got mine from OPSGEAR.com at a discounted rate. You can check em out in there "dive" section.The proper fins are from Aqualung and they are called rocket fins. Personally, fins are fins. It's just a matter of getting used to using fins and doing flutterkicks off the side of the pool with them on, etc.

Thats exactly what I did as far as the PAST test is concerned, except I did it every 2 weeks. It worked quite well, in fact I have a past test in 9 days but my ankle is jacked up and I may be losing my PJ contract bc of it. I guess everything happens for a reason, its just really irritating. I know this will sound cheesy and lame, but take swimming lessons if you can. I did 2 sessions, and they helped with my technique big time. I finally quit "muscling" it and everything got easier. Keep it up man!

Comment by Christopher Ciaciura on November 3, 2009 at 5:42pm

for some reason freestyle just destroys my chest and lats haha. I'm just going to start giving myself mock tests of the PAST at the end of every week and see which one works best i guess. How much were your fins and where'd you get them from?

Comment by James A. on November 3, 2009 at 3:16pm

Reason I saw fin, is because we'll be doing it a lot in training. You may as well get your ankles used to it now. Also practice treading water "beater" style. I did Freestyle and still hacked out 70pushups. you've got plenty of time to recover, so it really wan't a problem. Breast stroke will knock your chest out before free will.

Comment by Christopher Ciaciura on November 3, 2009 at 3:10pm

What stroke did you swim yours in? I cant decide on what stroke i want to use. I feel like if i do freestyle, i'll demolish the time but I'm going to be winded for my push ups. I think i'm leaning towards breast stroke. You think fin swims help a lot huh? i might have to go out and get some of those this week. Thanks for the info!

Comment by James A. on November 2, 2009 at 10:40pm

stroke doesn't matter. Just as long as your time is under 11:15 for PJ. First time I did it ever was a 9:50, so its just a matter of pushing through. I'm now in the mid-7's and its been 8 weeks since my first PAST test. Just remember, fin fin fin, swim swim swim...then swim some more.

Comment by Christopher Ciaciura on November 2, 2009 at 10:25pm

I haven't been able to get a hold of my recruiter today so i'm going to ask one of you guys. PAST for PJ...is the 500 meter swim any stroke you want? combat stroke/freestyle/breast?

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