Monday, February 13, 2017

Basic Officer Training Qualification: Sandbag Lifting

I spend some time in the building gymnasiumBasic Officer Training Qualification Test, if, I repeat if, I get the call from CAF. I recently bought two 18 Kg bags of play sand in order to practice the sand bag lift exercise of the qualification. In this exercise two 20 Kg sandbags are put on the floor within the distance of 1.25 m. The participant has to lift each bag to the height of 1 m., leave it (or better to say drop it) and then moves (or better to say leaps sideways) to the next one and does the same. He or she has to repeat that 30 times and be able to finish in 03:30 min., maximum.
as well as outdoors with the hope that I can prepare myself for the
I called The Chef once to come and help me. Unfortunately I had not been able to get durable bags and used tot bags! I put the plastic 18 Kg. bags in the tots and The Chef timed me. I just did that as a test to see how I can handle it. According to The Chef I finished the practice in about 02:20 min. or so but I know I can't trust his record keeping! Besides each bag was only 18 Kg meaning that I was lifting a total of less than 4 Kg each time I did both side but the result was somehow satisfying showing that I was not very weak. I, now, have to get a pair of durable bags and practice more with 20 Kg ones. I bought two weight belts years ago in British Columbia. Each belt has 8 small sand bags in order to be able to decrease or increase its weight. I can add 6 of them to each side to make them each equal to 20 Kg but as indicated earlier it's hard to find the damn bags!
Another issue is repeated lifting of sandbags is not the only exercise in the qualification test. There are three more and each seems as hard. The question is would I be able to finish all within the standard time as each comes after another?!
The Chef then decided to give the exercise a try and although he's much older than me and had not warmed himself up, went really well up until the 13th lift and then stopped! I know that would be a problem for him despite his strength but everyone has to know his or her limits. He was down the entire evening after that! We went to his place and he attacked the Rotisserie Chicken we had bought and then said that he had too much and too fast! He usually starts drinking before the food so Alcohol has its effect but this time he brought the booze after we ate and it was like drinking water! He also likes to play his traditional local music the entire time we spend at the dinner table but this time he didn't even has his player on the table! I realized that he was tired and I assume that was because of the lifting he had done! Eventually I suggested to leave early so he could go to sleep! I don't know if he did or not but he certainly welcomed my message and saw me off his door!
Then a weeks after that I purchased garbage bags from The Home Depot and make the 18 Kg sandbags heavier by adding the little belt sandbags and went to the gymnasium. At first one of them felt heavier but I said I have to do it. I timed myself and the result was 01:33 min.!!! How could that be. I had been practicing the exercise without the bags for some time and the result was the same. How did I do that while I had 20 Kg more weight on me and one of them was heavier??!
So now what I have to do is to balance the bags and try the exercise again. I hope I can find someone reliable to time me at least once before I head to the training center.
I was good the whole evening after that but I guess this is what is called warm body! Maybe not here but in the old country. Basically what it means is that after the exercise your body is still warm and if you don't threat it with respect (Hot shower, water, good meal, enough rest) it will act against you later. After the exercise I just had a little water, put my cloths on and went to The Chef's. Over there we talked for a bit and then we went to The Brave's to check on the status of the home. I did a little of snow shoveling and then we headed for a coffee to a local McDonald's. So here I was after almost 2 hours, had no rest and had nothing but a bite, a little water and a small coffee! Then we did some grocery shopping and went home and started cooking. Or better to say I did most of it. The Chef helped but he was busy with his drinking! The cooking took probably more than an hour and half and I was mostly on my feet! The dinner was not bad. I made some Zucchini and separately we had Spaghetti. The latter got a little runny(!) because I used, as The Chef likes, Tomato, instead of Tomato Paste and the Tomatoes had not been dissolved in the mixture of Onion, Garlic, Chili Pepper, Ground Beef and Spices but overall it didn't taste bad. I had enough of that but instead of having a Protein based food, I had mostly Carbohydrate based food although I had selected 100% Whole Wheat Spaghetti. After the dinner I sat for a little while and it was almost 23:00. The Chef was not able to keep his eyes open. I said goodbye and left. The next morning I felt like a dead corpse and even after a shower and breakfast I was acting almost all over and I felt heavy on the left side of chest which is not a good sign. I decided to rest and then I told myself that a good massage would be really helpful but didn't have that available to me!
(Photo: This basically shows how the exercise is down. You lift the sang bag up to 1 m. height and then drop it then jump sideways to the other one which is 1.25 m. away and do the same. You have to do this 30 time in the limited time mentioned above. This young lady, and I hope she doesn't mind that I'm using her photo, seems to start to struggle. Her neck veins are up and she has biting her lips. I hope she has made it, for whatever purpose it was)

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