Royal Marine Commando 7 Exercises - Sunday Times (UK), 1972
Jul 7, 2021 4:12:36 GMT
BigBruvOfEnglandUK, Deuce Gunner, and 2 more like this
Post by brennus on Jul 7, 2021 4:12:36 GMT
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UPDATE: It appears that the original links no longer work. Fortunately, the Internet Archive seems to have saved the content, including the scanned images:
Clippings can be more easily read from here:
or
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**** Another Update ****
It may be simplest to use this copy:
**** Wall Chart ****
The Sunday Times produced a wall chart or poster for the exercices. Available at:
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A bit of an odd-looking webpage:
Intended to be a 10 week course, 12 minutes a day. Rather similar to the 5bx plan. Created by Simon Cook and Tony Toms, two physical training instructors with the Royal Marines. These exercises first appeared on a local British television station, and were published as a ten-week series in the Sunday Times, a UK newspaper, in 1972. The website creator has apparently saved all the clippings and uploaded them. (You can click on and save all the clipping images.) Note that he suggests replacing sit-ups with crunches. Also, note that he added a newer set of scans:
Cook and Toms published their program, along with some general health advice, as a book in 1973, "Royal Marine Commando 7 Exercises". It was reprinted through the rest of the 1970's and 1980's. The last printing may have been in 1990. Copies can be found on ebay, though they currently seem a bit expensive to me, especially for a rather slim paperback. Unless you are a collector, I do not see any need to spend the money for one, since the exercise program seems to be identical to what is given in the newspaper clippings. (The diagrams in the book even use the same stick figures as in the clippings.)
Regarding "Royal Marine Commandos" in the title: This may just be marketing. I believe I read somewhere that a more realistic estimate is that if you can comfortably do the program at the final, 10th-week level, then you can probably meet the physical fitness requirements needed to enlist in the regular British Army. So you may be ready to begin basic training 
The above may all sound rather negative. But I just don't want anyone to feel misled. In reality, I think this is a decent, basic, equipment-free exercise program, similar to 5bx, from the time before the internet. If more people followed this program, or something like it, I think we would have a much fitter population.
