Hello and welcome to Becoming Badass, I'm your host Carly box and this is my podcast series where I talk to ADF applicants about physically preparing themselves for the military. Now traditionally I interview ADF applicants from my gym in Brisbane called the Barracks Gym, but I recently decided that I might add in what I'd like to call a little bit of a quick chat every now and then where I offer up some tips and guidance about questions that I often get asked and guidance that I give to people in the gym that I think that my listeners could really benefit from. So it won't be an interview, it'll just be me talking to giving you some tips, having a little bit of a quick chat about a topic that I think is really important and I figure if someone is asking me a question then you probably will be able to ask me a question. Then you probably will want to know the answer to that question too so why not share the love.
Now in the show notes I'm always going to put a link to a blog or a page where you can go and get some notes about what I've spoken about. So if you're listening to this on the bus, the train, in the car, you don't need to stop and try and write things down, you can just listen, enjoy, take what you want from it and then you'll be able to go back when you've got some time, click on the link and it'll take you to a spot where you can copy things down, copy, paste whatever you need to do. So I hope that you enjoy these additional episodes, they won't ever go for very long, five, maybe ten minutes and it's just some quick tips, a quick chat about some topics that people are bringing up and I figure you are going to benefit from them too. So enjoy.
Why you should have started your fitness training yesterday. So you've made the exciting decision to apply for the Defence Force, you've probably got a million things running through your head when it comes to, so what do I do now? Sure, there are things like the up to two tests, deciding on an actual job role, whether you want to work on a ship with aircraft or sleep out in the bush for weeks on end. Where could I get posted?
What do I do with my dog when I go to Kapukah? When my boyfriend be cool is all of this, should I buy a G-Shock watch? Now all of this is very important and it's all bits and pieces that form part of the application process. However none of this is relevant if you can't pass your fitness test at the end of that process.
That's right, your PFA is one of the last things you'll do prior to enlisting, but it shouldn't be the thing that you leave to last minute. You'll have your use session, your aptitude tests, decide on a job, go to an assessment date, go for all your interviews with a Defence interviewer, psych and medical, get a letter of offer and only then will you be able to move forward and conduct a PFA. Imagine taking months to get through this process only to get a job offer and enlistment date, be all ready to head off to basic training and then fail your fitness test. There seems to be this myth in the Defence Force applicant mindset that, oh I'll be right, I'll start working on my fitness closer to the time, you could not be more wrong.
Everyone is different, some people are already fit enough to pass, some people are pretty close to passing and just need a bit of work tidying up their pushup technique, and some people are not even close and probably need around 12 months or more of training to just get themselves to that pass mark. So here are a few things that are important to highlight here. Number one, know where you are, accept that you've got work to do and know that you're just not ready yet. This will probably be 90% of you, you need to start working on your fitness well before you apply for the Defence Force.
If you're reading this and thinking, well shit I've already applied, then it's in your best interest to start training now. Number two, prevent panic mode. No one wants to get to the last minute, so let's say two weeks out from a PFA and get into a wild panic that they're just not ready yet. We see this all the time, people who come to us thinking about training with the Barracks Gym and then say, oh yeah, I might just wait till closer to the PFA, I think.
How do you think that turns out for them? You can't expect magic in two weeks. It probably took you ten years to get this unfit. Ten years of irrelevant exercise, shit eating habits, crappy posture and a negative attitude does not get undone in two weeks.
Number three, be ready to win the job. If you fail your PFA, you'll lose that job offer. They don't just let you go into the Defence Force and just see if you pass a kapukka. You need to pass before you go and if you don't, your job goes to the next in line.
On the flip side to this, if someone who is ahead of you in that line fails their PFA and then you get a call up to say, a spot is opened up, you've got a PFA next week for an enlistment in a month. Are you just going to turn around and say, oh sorry, I haven't started training yet. I'll have to knock that job offer back. No, you're going to make sure that you've been training properly for ages and say, fuck yeah, I'm ready.
Number four, get out of waiting mode. Wouldn't you rather be working towards your goal the entire time rather than just sit around and waiting? You've got no idea how long it's going to take you to get ready. Hence why you need to start yesterday.
In conclusion, no one wants to miss out on a job offer because they were too lazy, too fearful or just too delusional to think they could leave their fitness training to the last minute. Get off the couch and start training. What are you afraid of? You've got nothing to lose by doing some training, but you've got everything to lose by not training.
Don't just assume that you'll be right because chances are you probably won't be. Start training yesterday. I promise you that you'll never regret the choice to conduct relevant, decent fitness training in the lead up to your PFA. But if you're standing on the line at your PFA, knowing full well that you haven't done enough to pass and that you should have started months ago, I guarantee you will regret that.
Don't allow yourself to feel this way. Be ready. Start training yesterday in bold, underlined. If you don't know where to start, hit me up.
I've got free resources on my website that I'll put in the show notes. I can talk to you. You can ask me questions and I can guide you in the right direction. I've got programs for sale.
I do online coaching and I've got a gym here that's full of amazing people ready to be your training buddies. If you've got unanswered questions, make sure you contact us today to see how we can help. That's team, T-E-A-M, at thebarrixgym.com.au. Well, thank you for listening to today's installment of Quick Chat and I hope that you've taken something from that topic that you can apply to your training, your upcoming PFA, basic training if it's coming off for you, and that it's going to make life a little bit easier.
Not all of this stuff is going to apply to everybody and that's okay. Just take what you need, use it, apply it, enjoy. I hope that you've found this useful and if you have, I'd love if you could flick me a review on iTunes. I want you to remember that it all comes down to one simple thing.
How bad do you want it? I know you guys want it bad, so let's make it happen. Thanks for listening to another episode of Becoming Bad Us and I'll speak to you guys next time.