Photo By Cpl. Samuel Ranney | Lance Corporal Luis Castro, an administrative clerk on Marine Corps Logistics Base...... read more read more
MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE BARSTOW, Calif. - Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow offers myriad opportunities for Marines and civilian employees looking to get in shape. Whether it’s for combat readiness or simply looking good for this upcoming summer, a great physique is just steps away.
Constant exercise and eating right helps Lance Cpl. Luis Castro, an administrative clerk here, with a first class physical and combat fitness test score, in pinnacle shape.
“I train my body through resistance training, cardio and eating as healthy as I can,” said Castro.
Castro can do 40 pull-ups, twice the amount required for a perfect PFT score. He tells anyone who desires to do more pull-ups the same thing … to simply do more pull-ups.
Castro encourages Marines to do pyramids* to increase their maximum pull-up repetition. He also often does a max set of pull-ups followed by a max set of dips without resting. He will continue doing this until his muscles fatigue.
Castro is currently striving toward a 300 PFT, a perfect score.
“I want to get a lot faster so I’ve been focusing more on cardio and endurance training than I normally would,” said the Puerto Rico native. “I want to get my three-mile run time under 18 minutes in order to achieve a perfect score.”
“My motivation is my competitive edge. Marines are naturally competitive so you always have to strive to be the best in order to stay ahead of the game,” said Castro.
When the gym is closed, or when he gets tired of his regular workout routines, Castro explained that he often uses YouTube and imitates other people’s workouts.
Mike Chang, the lead trainer for Six Pack Shortcuts, for example, offers many beneficial health tips and workouts. One of Castro’s favorites is Mike Chang’s “High Intensity Muscle Building Workout.”
The workout is as follows:
1) A set of pushups until
muscle fatigue
2) Bent over rows (10 reps)
3) Military press (10 reps)
4) Barbell squats (10 reps)
5) Barbell lunges
(10 reps each leg)
6) Barbell curls (10 reps)
7) Triceps’ extensions (10 reps)
*Perform four sets in this order, only
resting in between sets (not exercises.)
No matter how much you work out, a major part of being in good shape is your diet and eating habits. Being seconds away from nothing but fast food restaurants may pose a challenge to some, but it’s no excuse. Instead of going off base, the Family Restaurant’s healthy alternatives should be utilized.
The restaurant offers tuna salad, fish, chef salad, a grilled chicken sandwich, and a salad bar, explained Diane Yslas, the restaurant’s supervisor. Also, the grilled chicken may be ordered by itself and added to the salad bar. The salad bar includes many vegetables and protein, such as hard boiled eggs, turkey, and ham, breakfast is no different, plain scrambled eggs, egg whites, oatmeal and substituting tomatoes for hash browns are just some of the healthy choices.
For more workouts, dieting tips or any guidance on physical fitness Marines here can see Shelley Hines, the base Semper Fit director, fitness trainer and combat conditioning trainer. She encourages Marines to take advantage of the opportunities they have here to get in shape.
“Physical fitness to a Marine is being combat ready. No matter what your military occupational specialty, we as Marines must be mentally and physically ready for anything,” said Castro. “Marines have a standard; we must uphold that standard and be the best.”
There is no question that Marines should be in good shape. However, service member or civilian, everyone wants to look and feel good. The base gym is free for Marines and Department of Defense employees and there’s plenty of room to run here on MCLB Barstow; put down the potato chips and take advantage. Here’s health to you and to our Corps!
*Pyramids: Do a set of ten pullups followed by ten pushups. Do ten sets of each exercise, decreasing the total repetitions by one each time.
| Date Taken: | 02.13.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 02.13.2013 18:41 |
| Story ID: | 101951 |
| Location: | BARSTOW , CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 72 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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