Okay, the above exercises are nice, but they are pretty pansy-ass, if you pardon my expression. The following are MILITARY exercises that will turn you into a hunk o' man that has bulges where you never thought they could occur. The following are in general order of intensity:

  • The Deep Knee Bend: From a standing start, extend your arms in front of you and bend at the waist and knees, keeping you back straight and arms in front. Go as deeply as you can, then return. Move slowly and deliberately.
  • The Turn and Bounce: From a standing position, hold your hands outwards from the shoulder, parallel with the floor. Turn for a four-count to the right as far as you can go, bouncing lightly but firmly at the end of travel, arms still held outstreched. At count four, face forward, stretching your arms slightly backwards, yet still parallel to the floor, then go counts five through seven to the right, bouncing lightly but firmly at the end of travel, then coming back to the front at eight. Repeat until your arms feel like lead, then continue.
  • The Bend and Reach: One starts as if they were doing Deep Knee Bends, but after one repetition, you bend at the waist and touch your toes. Repeat the alternating Deep Knee Bend/Toe Touch for at least 20 repetitions, then rest and repeat.
  • The Squat Thrust: Among the most hated of exercises, this one combines a Deep Knee Bend and Push-Up. From a standing start, one squats, back held straight, and then places their hands on the floor. Then, you quickly shift your weight forward an shoot your legs straight out behind you so that you end up in the position the military calls the Front Leaning Rest. At this point, you back is straight, your hands are on the ground directly below your shoulders, and your toes are touching the ground. Take two push-ups, then swiftly bring your feet back up underneath you and stand in one motion. This should be a smooth eight-count. Repeat as needed.
These exercises, pluys a few others, are known in the vernacular as "grass drills". They are used to a great extent by soldiers, football players, and any other organized group of athletic masochists, as the control of how many of each exercise is usually goven to an authority figure such as a sergeant or coach who wants his group to be fit while simultaneously broken in will.

These are some of the excercises I had to do at the Royal Air Force College during RAF Initial Officer Training:

  • Burpees: Similar to the Squat Thrust. Start standing. Drop to a crouching position, knees bent, hands just in front of your toes. Thrust both feet back together, juping to a press-up position with both arms braced. Return sharply to the crouching position, then jump into the air. Repeat as required.
  • Bastards: Note: I don't know the real name for this exercise, but this is a fairly accurate name nonetheless! Standing in front of a bench, do a full press up with hands on the bench, then jump on the bench and bounce off again. Repeat, jupming into the press-up position as with burpees.
  • Tricep dips: Grip both arms of a chair, or the front of a bench, behind your back. You need to be in a sitting position with your buttocks just in front of the chair/bench, knees bent at 90 degrees. As rapidly as is comfortable, use your arms to lower your buttocks to a couple of inches off the ground, then raise again immediately. Repeat in rapid succession until you are too exhausted to continue.

In addition, there are some variations to the classic press up that were used to "beast" us. The three main variations were:

  • Dolphins: Difficult to describe. Start in the press-up position, arms braced. Move your shoulders back, thrusting your buttocks higher; your arms should be braced and in front of your shoulders at roughly a 45 degree angle. Now move the entire upper body in a circle, lowering your shoulders and moving them forwards, then returning to the starting position. Continue to move in this circular motion.
  • Heart-to-heartsSame as with normal press-ups in terms of starting, moving and returning to rest, except that the hands are not shoulder-width apart. Instead, the index fingers and thumbs of both hands meet to make a heart shape, and the brace position therefore starts with both hands immediately below the chest. This is excellent for developing the triceps.
  • Wide-arm press-ups: As the name suggests, standard press-ups but with the hands twice as far apart as normal. Develops the pecs and, to a smaller extent, the shoulders.

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