The Basic Concept
The basic concept is to use Olympic bars and body weight to perform fundamental exercises. These exercises are the foundation to modern-day training. Women have gotten lost in the healthclub’s glittering lights and shiny aerobics floors. They’ve been sitting inside machines too long, afraid and unable to use their bodies more effectively and efficiently. A training program that incorporates groundwork exercises allows multiple joint movements in many planes of motion. It concentrates on the large muscle groups, with the small muscle groups acting as stabilizers. Basic training will improve body composition as well as proprioception, balance, and coordination. Now are you ready to train, cadets? I’ll explain what muscles are involved in each exercise and how it’s done. Next I’ll outline a program for you to follow, or consider yourself court marshaled!

Before We Begin
You will be instructed to exhale prior to the sticking point for each of the movements. You should also know that advanced lifters hold their breath through the sticking point to offer more stability. Try both approaches and see which is more comfortable for you. With very heavy weights, it may be better to hold your breath throughout the movement as this will balance out internal and external pressures across the body.

Squats
Squats are the king of all leg exercises. They are also the most functional exercise. Think about how many times a day you squat: when you sit down in a chair, when you bend down to pick something up, when you get the file out of the last file drawer. The squat works the most of the muscles in the leg: the quadriceps (front of the thigh), gluteals (buttock), hamstrings (back of thigh), and the gastrocnemius/ soleus complex (calf). Squats can also help you develop flexibility around your hips and calves. Practice squatting without weights and hold just a stick for the bar. Work on keeping your whole foot firmly on the ground while sinking your hips low and in between your heels. Go as low as you can while you maintain an arch in your lower back and your upper back remains as upright as possible. Make sure your ascent is straight up and devoid of the twists and turns that can place additional stress on the body. This is best accomplished by starting out with light weights and working diligently on proper form.
Technique:
1. Stand with feet approximately shoulder-width apart and toes pointed slightly outward.
2. Hold a barbell behind your neck across your shoulders with a grip slightly wider than shoulder-width.
3. Inhale and then bend your knees and hips to lower your body into a squat position. Keep your head up, heels on the ground, and back arched.
4. After squatting below parallel, quickly reverse direction and exhale through the “sticking point” (the most difficult part of the movement).

Deadlifts
Not the stiff-legged-sissy kind! The lift-the-heavy-weight-off-the-ground-Princess-Zena kind. This functional movement simulates activities like picking up the kids or the groceries. Deadlifts are a very metabolic exercise because they overload the large muscle groups of the leg and lower back and use the upper body musculature for stabilization. The muscles used are the: erector spinae, lattisimus dorsi, hamstrings, quadriceps, gluteals, and gastrocnemius/ soleus complex.
Technique:
1. Position your feet about hip-width apart, flat on the floor, with your toes pointed out slightly.
2. Bend your knees and lower your hips into a deep squat position with your hips lower than your shoulders. Keep your back arched.
3. Grasp the bar with an overhand grip slightly wider than where your legs touch the bar.
4. Look upward slightly and pull against the bar so that there is no “slack” in your arms or the bar.
5. Inhale. Lift the weight off the ground, keeping your arms straight throughout the movement, your back arched, and the bar close to your legs.
6. Stand erect, but don’t lean back at the top of the lift and exhale.
7. Lower the bar while bending the knees and hips and keeping your back arched.

Bench Press
Because you are new recruits, you must join in the testosterone ranks and become proficient at this popular “guy” exercise. Soon you will be able to answer the important question, “How much can you bench?” Bench presses target the pectoralis major muscle, but the pec minor, serratus, and triceps are also involved. The rotator cuff is stabilizing the shoulder and the abdominals are stabilizing the trunk.
Technique:
1. Lie on a bench on your back. Slightly arch your back and let your head, shoulders, and buttocks come in contact with the bench.
2. Plant your feet firmly on the ground about shoulder-width apart with your knees bent to approximately 900.
3. Grasp the barbell with a pronated (overhand) grip and your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Pull your shoulder blades together and hold them there for the duration of the exercise.
4. Remove the barbell from the stands with extended arms, inhale, and lower the weight to your chest, just above your nipple line.
5. Quickly reverse directions and exhale as you pass the “sticking point.”

Military Press
The military press involves the entire upper body musculature and some of the lower body musculature for stabilization when standing. The muscles used are the: anterior deltoid, medial deltoid, biceps brachii, coracobrachialis, pectoralis major, scapular stabilizers (serratus, trapezius, and rhomboids), rotator cuff (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, subscapularis), triceps brachii, and the lower body stabilizers (spinal erectors, abs, quads).
Technique:
1. While standing, grasp a barbell slightly wider than shoulder-width using a pronated grip, with elbows pointed downward and to the front.
2. Rest the bar on hyperextended hands at the clavicle level. In this ready position, inhale.
3. Exhale as you drive the bar overhead until the elbows are fully extended. Keep the bar balanced and under control. Slowly lower the bar to the starting position while inhaling.

Push-ups
Cadet, drop to the ground and give me 20! You know you’re in basic training when you have to do push-ups. Push-ups target the entire upper body, but also use the trunk and leg muscles for stability.
Technique:
1. With straight arms, put your hands on the floor directly underneath your shoulders with your fingers pointing forward. Keep your elbows close to the side of your body. Keep your feet are together let your toes support your lower body. Your trunk muscles should hold your body in a straight line at all times.
2. Inhale, bend your elbows, and lower your chest until it almost hits the floor.
3. Reverse directions and exhale after the “sticking point.”

Pull-ups and Chin-ups
Ideally as a military recruit, you would be able to pull up your own body until your drill sergeant got dizzy from all of the up and down motion. But because you are just learning these new maneuvers, you may need to use a pull-up assist machine until you get strong enough to do it the real women’s way. Pull-ups and chin-ups hit the entire upper body, but pull-ups emphasize the latissimus dorsi (lats), while chin-ups emphasize the biceps brachii.
Technique:
1. For the pull-up use a pronated, wider than shoulder-width grip. For the chin-up, use a neutral grip with arms shoulder-width apart.
2. Start in a hanging position from a horizontal bar. Inhale and pull your body up so your chin is above the bar.
3. Exhale as you slowly lower your body.

Bent Over Barbell Rows
Work your mid-and lower back and your biceps during this strenuous exercise. You need strong legs for stabilization and a strong mind to move the weight. Keep your lower back arched and your knees slightly bent throughout the movement, and squeeze with your shoulder blades. Don’t rock and roll too much during this exercise. Let the mid-back muscles do what they enlisted to do.
Technique:
1. Set a barbell up waist-high on standards.
2. Grasp the bar and take it off the standards with a pronated grip slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Your feet are shoulder-width apart and flat on the floor.
3. Bend forward at the hips until your upper body is parallel to the floor. Inhale, extend your arms, keep your back arched, and your knees slightly bent.
4. Row the bar up until it touches the lower part of your rib cage and exhale through the “sticking point.”
5. Lower the weight slowly to the starting position while inhaling.

Dips
No, I’m not calling you a nasty name. The dip is a great exercise for incorporating the chest, back, shoulder, and tricep muscles. You’ll need this particular kind of strength to push your way out of sticky situations like quicksand and mud pools. As with the pull-ups and chin-ups, feel free to use an assist machine, but try to progress to your own bodyweight.
Technique:
1. Grasp the dip bars with a neutral grip, look straight ahead and inhale.
2. Slowly lower your body until your elbows make a 900 angle or you feel stretching in your shoulder joint. Keep your body upright and do not swing.
3. Reverse directions and exhale through the sticking point.

Sit-ups and Twisting Sit-ups
So you thought that basic training would require a million push-ups, but quality is always better than quantity. Anyhow, in this training regimen your abdominals get worked in every exercise, so it’s not necessary to blast them apart with endurance work. Old-fashioned military people like straight and twisting sit-ups to ignite abdominal development
Technique:
1. Lie down on your back with your knees bent. Fold your arms over your chest or lightly put your hands behind your head. Don’t not pull your neck forward.
2. Inhale while curling your upper trunk and lifting it off the floor as much as possible. Curl up straight ahead or twist toward one knee.
3. Exhale and return to the starting position while you slowly uncurl your trunk.

Basic Training Program
You’ll want to perform a general and specific warm-up before you start your daily exercises. Use a 5-10 minute general warm up to increase the entire body’s circulation. Try swinging your arms while walking and then doing some squat jumps with arm movement. After your general warm-up, stretch all of your major muscle groups. You’ll perform the actual exercise with a light weight, progressively increasing the weight for each set in your specific warm-up. Using just the Olympic bar for a first-set specific warm-up is a great way secure your body mechanics and stretch your muscles. Here is an example of a specific warm-up:
First warm-up set: Olympic bar or 50% of your top weight for the day for 5 reps
Second warm-up set: 75% of your top weight for the day for 3 reps
Third warm-up set: 90% of your top weight for the day for 2 reps
The Basic Training Program emphasizes muscle hypertrophy and strength, so you’ll see different rest periods and repetitions depending on the focus that day. Your orders are to follow this program for 4-6 weeks and then get adventurous and incorporate some changes. Try dumbbells instead of the Olympic bar for rows and presses, use the incline bench, and mix in some weighted ab work. On your low-to-moderate day, do one-leg squats, one leg and/or one-arm push-ups, and one-arm pull-ups. Have a fellow cadet or officer lift you up to the top of a pull-up bar so you can concentrate on negatives. Change your grip with dips. At this point, you’d better be loading up the barbell with bigger and bigger weights or it’s a dishonorable discharge for you!

Day One
Superset exercises and rest 2 minutes between supersets
Perform 5 sets of 5 repetitions of each exercise
Make this a high intensity day and you’ll lift 85-95% of your 1RM (maximum amount of weight you can lift one time).
Squats supersetted with Sit-ups
Deadlifts supersetted with Twisting Sit-ups

Day Two
Superset exercises and rest 2 minutes between supersets
Perform 5 sets of 5 repetitions of each exercise
Make this a high intensity day and you’ll lift 85-95% of your 1RM (maximum amount of weight you can lift one time).
Bench Press supersetted with Bent Over Barbell Rows
Military Press supersetted with Pull-downs

Day Three – Rest

Day Four
Finish each exercise before beginning the next
Take only a 1-minute rest between sets and 2-minute rest between exercises
Perform 5 sets of 10 repetitions of each exercise
Make this a low to moderate intensity day and you’ll lift 75-85% of your 1RM (maximum amount of weight you can lift one time).
Squats
Push-ups
Pull-ups
Dips

Day 5
You’re in the military, girls! Get outside and run some sprints. Remember back to your high school days and add in some track and field drills like skips, hops, cariocas and side shuffling. Just in case we ever run out of gas, you should practice pushing the sergeant’s Jeep around – for time! You’ll thank me for that one later.

Day 6 – Rest

Day 7 - Rest