Lets face it those good at mid & long distance running are skinny little runts.

If you want to be military, particularly Army you have to be able to run and run fast for long distances. Sadly you can not do this if you are big.

You may be a far better athelete but if your BMI is high you will be a bad runner even if you are not obese but muscular. You simply can not have the best of both or all worlds. Trust me the military has been at it for thousands of years. If they had figured a way to have super muscular troops that can run 10km fast they would not be testing BMI.

There is simply no trade off or workaround. If you want to do well in the military you need to get your BMI down and increase your strength to weight ratio. So for me at 5ft 11in this would mean going down to 80-90kg and getting as strong as possible.

Clearly this is not an athletic ideal but it is a military ideal. Remember the military is an outfit that is training you potentially to die not to win a muscle man contest.

So what can you do if you are young and have instinctive yearnings to be a combat soldier but also want to be a muscle man?

Well what I would do is focus on the military objective because once you are 35-40 you will be past the expiry date anyway. Go hard, have your military career. Then when the time comes retire & change your training & physique.

Now another option is to cut to the chase. Stuff the military, pack on the muscle & become a muscle man – hell you can pay for your own gun & skydiving – right?

Its up to you – just be aware you can not do both at once.

Muscle Man can not run!!!

He can however sprint & can carry heavy loads for long distances. Could muscle man be a better soldier? Maybe but not within the institutionalized military.

Maybe he can be a better operator but not at official special forces. He can certainly be a better police officer, bodyguard, arena combat athlete or street fighter.

Also if you are too big for medium & long distance running accept that as your reality. Dont fight the flow – go with it. Take up sprinting & high intensity training.

Now take a look at these sprinters:

Those are magnificent lean physiques right?

Who the hell would not want to look & feel like that? Well stop trying to do mid & long distance. Do the hit training. Be a sprinter, bodybuilder, power athlete. You can still have a magnificent cardio-vascular system. Whats more this style of training is better for your heart & longevity than skinny man endurance training which actually causes heart muscle damage.

Muscle man is fitter than skinny man even though for certain jobs skinny man is better – including ironically being a modern combat soldier or special forces comando.

If you want to be a comando do not become a bodybuilder or a sprinter. Simple fact easy to understand. BMI may not accurately reflect your athleticism or health but it does reflect your ability to run mid & long distance.

One final point to raise is just why upper body mass seems to be beneficial for sprinters. It is extra weight to carry after all. The answer’s involve biomechanics, peripheral heart action & nerve force irradiation. So be assured that yes a bigger & stronger upper body definitely amplifies sprinting capacity – which is great.

Finally here are some links on sprint training, BMI and VO2max:

Sprint Training

Ideal Running Weight