my intro

[Muskrat]

Hello, everyone.

I'm a an 18-year-old freshman at CSU. I am a non-contracted Army ROTC cadet on the Ranger Challenge "Bravo" Team, and I'm always looking to increase my number of pushups, situps, flutterkicks, etc. My biggest concern right now is lower body strength and endurance, but upper body is an issue as well. I need to get better at marching very fast with a heavy pack. So, I guess that's my intro question. Does anyone have any tips for getting better at that? Body weight exercises are fine, if they work. :)

[koltz]

welcome aboard !

well like you can see in my loacation tag I'm from israel and army service is semi-mandatory in here, there are many army preperation groups and they basicly just do whatever you need to for the army without any indirect taining stuff or whatever , so if you need to improove your running with a heavy bag oviously you should run.

I'd probably either try to do the following:
Suppose you need to run 20000 meters at a given time try running every day and measuring time , every time you beat your record or get somewhat close to it do the running again the next day , if you are slugging take a rest day for tomorrow , this isnt so accurate but it will give you about what you need to recover and staying motivated so you will progress.
or more attempts like twice daily if you need to cover less milage for more speed

oviously you need to train your strength as well since if you only do the running your strength will be a goner and you will be much weaker that's why a lot of people who didnt run in the gym and only lifted weights and enter basic training they loose all thier strength .

[Muskrat]

My big concern isn't running in itself. I'm sort of a runner by trade. But with a 50+ lb ruck, lbe, etc. it gets hard for me fast. I don't have the lower body strength to handle that kind of weight while moving quickly. So what's the best way to gain leg strength without sacrificing current running ability?

[koltz]

Squats \ luinges maybe just starting to run with the backpack ON?

[Muskrat]

Pack running on a regular basis will get you hurt FAST.