Witness the Fitness

My daily run from San Cristobal to and from El Morro
(Aprox. 2 miles)

Hello my name is Nicholas Fitzke and I am the ProRanger currently stationed at San Juan National Historic Site.

With academy right around the corner fitness has been on my mind. Well actually its been on my mind ever since I was accepted into the program. But now looking back I am defiantly grateful for the motivation being a part of it has provided me.

I have always considered myself to be relatively fit. But unlike some people I know (Shauni) who spend countless hours in the gym or running I've never been super dedicated to fitness.

Some of the best fitness advice I ever got was from Jordan Keiffer (ProRanger Alum) when he said, "If you want to get better at running, run. If you want to lift more weight, lift.". There was something so simple but true in his words. 

My workout room in San Juan

People get so afraid of fitness because their goals seem unattainable. The thing that has provided me the most success was simply discipline. Like Jordan's words imply, you don't have to follow some complex or fancy workout plan to see results. You need to have some goals because goals are important but focus on the doing rather than the end game.

Some of my PEB scores pre-summer 2

When we took the PEB for the first time just before this summer's internship I once again felt that spark of motivation. Also inspired by Jordan's words of wisdom I began working toward some personal goals. Although I focused my efforts on consistency rather than the goals themselves. 

My PEB goals and progress

It is now week 8 of summer 2. My two main goals were to break the 10 minute mark for my 1.5 mile and to hit 200lb max on my bench by week 10. But as of yesterday I I am happy to say that I met and have even surpassed my fitness goals.

Me attempting to cultivate mass
Left: Aug 24th 2015 - Right: July 4th 2016

So do I feel ready for academy? Eh not really. I don't think I would no matter how much I trained. But do I feel a lot more prepared than I was a year ago? Yes.