Well hiking with heavy weight and I mean ruck marching does actually build muscle. And I also stated I do crossfit and body building type workouts.I am trying to put on muscle but im not just trying to "bulk" up. Im trying to add quality muscle and endurance at a rate that's not going to slow me down in the long haul. I am in the military an I dont workout for shows of any sort. I workout to try to be the best in every event put in front of me no matter what it entails. Which means a lot more than slinging weights and skipping cardio day.
But the muscle you put on from that is only "newbie" gains. You'll never break much of a threshold because it's high repetition, you're basically just getting a cardio workout. This is why almost nobody left basic training with any decent size. Unless they came in stacked and had really good genetics.
If you want to put on weight, you'll have to start hitting the weights. End of story. And you're going to have to eat a lot to compensate for your morning PT along with the rest of your training. That's always a huge problem in the military, but worst case scenario you're going to have to grab an extra MRE, lol I'd avoid that if possible but they're packed with calories and helped me a lot overseas. And don't worry about your cardio as much. You get plenty from PT and you can add some into your days off.
I know sleep is an issue in the military too, but you need to try to get as much as possible for muscle repair. But in my opinion that comes after calories.
Even though you aren't getting ready for a show, and you don't want to gain "that much". Those are the essentials you'll need to follow. And trust me when I say don't stress on your cardio so much. As long as you're pushing it as hard as you possibly can when you do do cardio, you'll have great gains. I left the military at 5'11", 225 pounds, all natural, and I ran a 12:32 two mile. People thought it was crazy seeing a guy of my size run so well but it was because I pushed my cardiovascular endurance as hard as I could anytime I ran. Lol make those lungs bleed whenever you do.
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