I'm having trouble sorting out my goals.
I'm going to go to the IDF in 2 months, and part of the problem is that I'm not sure how to prepare.

Some of my friends say it's best to be strong and to focus on that, others say to just drop as much weight as possible, and in the past I'm used to straight cutting so it's always in my head.

The first few weeks I just sort of did it all at once, but now I'm losing a bit of motivation to get to the gym because I'm not sure what my goal *at* the gym should be...I still go, but I end up confused and my workouts are suffering...

Should I...
A) Lift hard and try to gain as much muscle as I can? I'm probably 190lbs 18%bf (just a guess), but I'm also stronger than I look. Should lifting be my primary concern? Would being a stronger soldier help me in the long run, short run, or both, or neither? A program here would focus on light cardio and a heavy intense lifting program (think SGX for those who know) along with a bulking-style diet. The point here would be to build as much muscle as I could, regardless of how I looked. I suppose you could say the end result would be stocky but strong.

B) Try to just cut as much body weight as possible. In the past I've always focused on a slow-cut of as much fat with as little muscle as possible, but part of me wants to simply cut as weight as possible. The rational here is that I will be more slim, run faster, and build the muscle *during* the army on a day to day level. I'm not saying "crash diet" here or something, but the focus of this type of thing would be cardio, cardio, and more cardio, mixed with a few simple compound exercises like pushups, situps, dips, and pullups (although I can't do any pullups right now and maybe just a few dips). The end result here: slim and faster, but probably not so strong.

C) An attempt at some kind of mix or a standard cut whereby I try to lose body fat only and maintain or increase my strength. My issue here is that I'm concerned that this wont' have the desired effect of increasing my stamina, and I'm not sure how this will end up...this is part of the problem...I could cut and end up 2%BF less, slightly stronger, but I could potentially lose stamina or be weaker/slower than I would be if I focussed my energy on one specific goal...

D) Just push myself to every limit attainable...basically figure out how to simply torture my body...I've tried this with things like walking with weighted backpacks on the sand, etc. I don't work or go to school. I have all day to work on my body, and the end result here could be rugged.

I'm just really confused on what to do at the moment and it's wearing on me...I don't care how I look, I just want to get to the army and KICKASS!!

Thanks,
-Andrew
(Please note that "I think you should do all of those things" isn't the type of advice I'm looking for, because it's confusing to me.)

I dont know how much help this will be, but if it was the Canadian military I would say cut and train for endurance and bodyweight strength. In our military they don't care how much you can squat/lift, but they want you to be able to run for miles, do pushups, climb over walls (pulllups) and just be able to go forever.

So... knowing absolutely nothing about your military, I would say lots of chinups, situps, pushups, and do your running in the sand with the weighted pack. Easiest way to increase bodyweight strength is to lose a little body weight, so if you can afford 10lbs of fat in 2 months, I would do that.

I'm going to assume your ultimate objective here is to not look like an asshole in basic training(or w/e) and fall to the ground halfway through the required exercises, correct? If so, isn't the ridiculously obvious answer to find out what those req. exercises are and work on them while simultaneously building your core via compounds? If PT is mostly pushups and running like the US Army BCT, do push ups, run, and the occasional compound. You say you have friends that were in, ask them to get specific about what exercises were required. As for nutrition, 18% is obviously above your optimal bf, so eat less than maintenance.


Thing is, you seem like a smart guy and you've been here a while, so obviously I'm missing something here...???

Don't think about any strength gains now. You've been training, so there aren't any "quickies" there.

Work on strength endurance and recovery - so big-ish sets with short rest, and HIIT. Get lots of rest and sleep. Get your vitamins and nutrition straight. Make sure you have the last few days off.

Thing is, you seem like a smart guy and you've been here a while, so obviously I'm missing something here...???
I guess I'm in the same boat as anyone who has done some cutting in the past and is familiar with it through-and-through, but then decides to bulk, or train for a marathon. The goals are different so the routine must be different, and I'm not sure what my goals should be and how to adjust a routine to fit them.

Don't think about any strength gains now. You've been training, so there aren't any "quickies" there.

Work on strength endurance and recovery - so big-ish sets with short rest, and HIIT. Get lots of rest and sleep. Get your vitamins and nutrition straight. Make sure you have the last few days off.
Yeah, definetly no quick fix. I'm not looking for one, I'm just looking for a direction to focus my energy.

The last 7 days before I go to the army I'm going to take off (Nov.1-Nov.7) and do some traveling around the country and just try to relax. It's possible and even likely that my draft date will get pushed back.