Customer Reviews

Marine Corps Daily 16 Workouts: Marine Fitness for the Civilian Athlete

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a fifty year old who runs a few miles daily. This course, centered on a two to three mile run is a basic, physically sound, and no-frills program. Not for dabblers or beauty queens. It does just what the intro states. Adding this to my running and having many age-specific guidelines has really begun to pull me into shape. With all due respect to the wannabe future Marine's review, a course such as this, which can be performed virtually anywhere (treadmill or running, exercises indoors or out), will probably benefit anyone who seriously goes at it. It may not become a best-seller, but it may become the standard of this type of book.

The core of Marine Corps PT is the Daily 16, which is something that with some little changes can be done by anyone. This book by itself will not put one in Marine Corps shape (the Daily 16 is just a beginning), but this is a good well-rounded exercise programme that you can use in daily life, with little equipment.

Like the title of the book, Marine Corps Daily 16 Workouts, this is a book that shows daily routines, and gives you something to do every day. Fitness needs to be a daily activity. This book has no set author. It is done by staff of the US Marine Corps and Marine Corps Association. The photographers are Arnold Crane (combat training photos) and Bruce Laurance (exercise routine photos). This is not a glamour shots book -- don't get it for that. All the pictures are black and white, basic exercise photos which have no background. The combat training photos show real guys in platoons doing various group exercises and obstacle course pieces.

The book is big on pictures and light on words. This is a book for ACTION! One doesn't get fit by reading about fitness just like reading about football isn't playing football or reading about music is not listening to music. One could read through this book and get the ideas in less than one hour.

There are several parts to this book:

1. Introduction
2. The Daily 16
3. Aerobic Fitness
4. Warm-up and Dynamic Stretches Card
5. Stretching Card A
6. Stretching Card B
7. Stretching Card C
8. Exercise Card 1
9. Exercise Card 2
10. Marine Recruit Physical Training Test Requirements

This book was put together in 1999, making it fairly current on what is required, but the Corps is always changing, so there might be a few changes here and there.

There is a letter from Major General L.M. Palms, USMC (ret) who is at the Marine Corps Association at Quantico. He talks about the real burden of Marines, why they need to be fit and what recruits at Parris Island or San Diego go through. He also discusses the differences between the routines in this book and 'real life Marines'.

The Daily 16 talks about how the Daily 16 replaced the Daily 7 because there was not enough work for the lower body. The Daily 16 always requires 7 pieces however, so the number 7 did not disappear.

1. Dynamic stretches
2. Static stretches
3. Conditioning Exercises
4. Conditioning Runs
5. Cool-down
6. Conditioning Exercises
7. Static stretches

The heart of the book is the section with pictures and descriptions of how the exercises are done, and how they are organised into 'card' systems, so that one isn't doing exactly the same thing over and over.

Exercises are to be done In that order, not mixed around. The exercises are performed one right after another with no break, giving aerobic benefit too.

Aerobic Fitness
This part is not from the USMC staff but comes instead from Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper, a pioneer in aerobic fitness. He gives a point system to follow to judge aerobic fitness based upon weeks of training and age. There are definitions for walking, walk-job, jog, and run. Most Marines are required to get into the excellent range of Cooper's fitness classification. Many get into the top range of superior. A minimum level of good is required to progress through the Corps and the routines in this book.

Cooper's charts go by age groups -- under 30, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59 for walk/jog/run routines and separate charts for those who use treadmills.

The end of the book lists the Marine Recruit Physical Training Test Requirements - after following the routines here after a while, one can judge achievement against these criteria.

The Daily 16 is a great book for people at any level who wish to begin a self-paced workout regimen, maintain top-notch health and also avoid unnecessary gym fees.

All the exercises and suggested programs require nothing more than you, the book and self-determination. Clear illustrations coupled wiht concise instructions on proper form also ensure that you will never injure yourself attempting to perform any of the exercises.

Be aware that the author is not unnecessarily verbal. Be sure to read the introduction (pgs 9-11) as it is the only place in the text where you are told how to put all the exercises together, pace yourself and advance to greater levels of fitness.

This book was a bit strange. If you are getting this to recapture your boot camp days you may be surprised--most people I talked to about this book do not remember much stretching in the old days, and situps are done a bit differently now--hopefully to avoid injury and get more of a workout.

A lot of the stretches look like what you would get on an Oxycise! tape. If you were to do the stretches on all three "cards" with the oxycise breathing (or body flex for that matter) you could get a similar workout. In this book, you don't hold stretches very long, so I wonder how much good they do.

As to the rest of the workout, well, most fitness instructors no longer do the "donkey kicks" exercise because it is easy to injure yourself. The "dive bomber" pushup could also easily cause injury if not done properly.

Buy this book for the stretching, but if you want an entertaining AND useful boot camp book, buy Boot Camp:Be All You Used to Be.

I could not even tell the book had been used and I saved over 30 dollars!The book arrived quickly too which I really appreciated.

Though this book did not have that much info that I didnt already know, it was a little insintive to get excersizing. As a person who wants to be a marine it helped a little, but there are better books out there.