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Austere Equipment
Building your own gym just takes a bit of imagination. Here's some things that worked for us. This list isn't very extensive as this tour afforded us a decent gym or the items below were sufficient for what we needed when it was fobbit hour at the gym(for some reason these guys actually pay attention to days of the week and go less often on weekends and mid-afternoons. Fobbits are strange creatures indeed, I'm waiting for Man vs Wild to taunt them in the Iraq episode).
- Pull-up bar- Most T-walls have steel hooks for the cranes to put them in place. Find yourself a camo net pole and thread some thick rope through the steel loops of an entrance T-barrier, the net pole and the other side steel hook. Cushion the inside of the pole entrances and rope at the wear point. It will wear through eventually, but without this added layer, you'll be lucky to last on workout. We used tape and some white cotton rope from the PX. 550 had too much stretch and was worn through very quickly. Something to look into is braid several strands of 550 into a very thick rope and wrap it in tape. Never tried it, but it seems like it would work and even in remote places there's plenty of 550 cord and tape around. Leave a comment on the blog or email me with results and I'll post them.
- Sleds for sled drags- We did some sled work during out WS4SB cycle. One of the best idea's I came up with was using a leather jump rope looped through a kettlebell or two. Combine this with the deep amounts of gravel in the living area and these made for an awesome sled workout!! The leather type jump ropes help up minus the handles, but that just made you work your grip more =)
- Sandbags for sandbag work- This one should be obvious. Just be ready for all the skin on your knuckles to be removed while gripping and cleaning duffle/sea bags. Rucksacks and assault packs can also be used.
- Dowel for training O-lifts- Rifles can be substituted, although not optimal. A M203 can make for a decent snatch workout if you keep the obstructions(lights, grips, lasers, etc) on the opposite side of your face ;)
- Paralette bars- Depending upon the exercise will determine what you need. Sometimes a pinic table will do. Couple 2'X4's stacked on another flat piece of wood of required height will also do in a pinch. Course you could get real fancy and have KBR build you some or someone back home send the PVC pieces. Costs about $25. Here's a guide to making your own. You can buy PVC pipe scissors, but get the wrong ones and you won't be able to cut anything. The right ones will slice through it like butter. Paralette construction guide
- Plyo-box jumps- Pinic tables, tail gates, M1114 hoods(I didn't tell you to step on the "NO STEP", just saying it can work if you have the ability to jump that high ;)), fobbits that have fallen over and can't get up, pretty much anything around 2-3' high will do. Higher if you're doing strength work specific to low volume high box jumps.
- Along side of the bar, if you can get it up high enough, you can toss some Elite II gymnastic rings on it. This will allow more variety for sure. Multiple different pull-ups, gymnastic exercises, dips, pushups, body rows. They are so versatile I seperated them from pull-up bars cause they have so much variety. You could use nothing but this and bodyweight calestanics your entire tour and come back strong and fitter than you ever thought possible.
- Jump Ropes- For actual jumping rope, I highly reccomend the Buddy Lee Jump Rope Training
 book and rope. These ropes are freaking fast! I never really thought much about it, but my ma sent me the book and a couple ropes for me and the guys. These are the only ropes I use now, they are just that good. His programs are also easily thrown into the mix as a warm-up. In fact I was able to maintain my conditioning with just ropes when I pulled my piriformis and couldn't run or do bodyweight exercises very fast. For what ever reason the ropes with my running shoes had soft enough impact to still be able to train.
- Tornado ball- Put a medicine ball inside your issue duffle. Grab the bag the end closing the bag and slam the ball side to side against a wall. Awesome core explosiveness.
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Medicine ball- Get a basketball from the PX or care package(soccer balls are all over and should work). Fill it up with sand, cover the crap out of it with tape and your set.
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Water ball- Got this one from www.rosstraining.com get a stability ball, roughly $20 and fill it about 2/3 to 3/4 with water. Now just pick it up in various ways. Simple and easy.
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Blender- Need to mix those shakes up? Grab a Camelback bottle from the PX and chuck the straw. Put your water in first or you'll get chunks on the sides. Shake the crap out of it, drink and feeding opportunity complete! I reccomend the full 1000ml bottles if you can find them. The 750's will have some of your larger shake mixes spilling out the top and won't mix at all. Also ditch the bottle about once every month or so. With no dishwasher and cleaning them out mostly in the dark outside your living area, they get pretty nasty. Store it with as much air circulation as possible without risk of contamination ie:open the flip top, leave the cap completely off if in fairly clean area with zero chance of falling and hitting the floor.
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Kettlebells- Ok so you probably won't be able to make some of these, but here's some options. Most kettlebell retailers will ship them to APO. I know for sure Art Of Strength will send a Bulldog Kettlebell and 50lbs of steel shot. Got there fairly quickly and getting the Bulldog makes one bell very versatile. Their new U-Fill It kettlebell's seem very promising, I have a pair enroute. At 2lbs empty, you can easily strap this to your assault pack or your duffle and you'll know exactly which bag is yours coming off the flightline. "Yes that's mine with the big blue balls attached". U-Fill it Facts:
2lbs empty
12lbs filled with water
18lbs filled with sand
49lbs filled with shot
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