I’m going to try and keep this short and sweet.
It looks like the economy is about to get rid of the awesome job I currently have. I have always been interested in joining the military so I’m trying to plan ahead. I probably have about a year and a half to get physically prepared before my job is officially out the door.
That being said, what would be the best approach to kill the PT tests. Should I try and bulk/power lift for a few months, and then gradually cut down into a lean machine? Or are the 3 tests (push up, sit up, 2 mile run) more endurance, and I should just do alot of push ups, sit ups, and a variety of running?
The hypothetical 100% goals are 77 push ups, 82 sit ups, and 13:18 2 mile run.
Knowing my body, none of these will be hard to hit, I’m more interested in pushing my potential limits. Because of 50-60 hour physically active work weeks for the past two years I haven’t done much working out. To give you a rough idea I could probably get off the couch and do about 45 push ups and run two miles in 15:00 minutes.
I’d say use 5/3/1 while trying to get to your goals. Get stronger and try to get 100 pushups, 100 situps, 13min run. Year and a half, you’ll get there. So use that extra time to not only crush your goals but get stronger and increase your knowledge of what you’ll need to do in bootcamp as well.
After your lifting just do alot of pushups make sure you keep your form perfect so they will all count. I would say doing 250-500 pushups a few times a week and situps while your feet are locked so it works out your hip flexors aswell which can make the run a bitch if your not used to it.
As far as running , run inteverals 30/60’s 60/120’ start running 5Ks and once you build your endurance to where you can run 4 miles dont bother pacing yourself just start running as fast as you can. Your strength will take a hit but it feels pretty good running your 2 miles faster then everyone else.
A former college roommate of mine basically went from being in the 40s in pushups to over 100 in the span of about a year (and yes, these were legit pushups that the military would count). I got to the high 80s myself. We’d always do pushups in the dorm room before going to sleep. I honestly think that was the main trick, just tons of repetition.
I don’t think lifting weights helps with the military fitness tests. They’re very endurance-oriented.
I would recommend focusing on running 2 miles fast as that’s how you get tested and it’s a good distance combined with speed sort of distance anyway. Maybe do that every Friday, trying to improve your time, with Monday and Wednesday being 30 minute runs.
Sure going for a 1 hour run would be OK but mainly for confidence building.
You still have time to exercise any way you want before you even need to focus on push ups, sit ups and 2 mile runs.
To prepare yourself I’d also recommend exercising in the AM, then later in the day going for a long bike ride or walk or even a march with a backpack loaded to 40 or 50lbs as the thing that I think tires you out in the army is not the morning run, but the morning run combined with basically being on your feet all day anyway.
And the one thing I’d also recommend that I wish I would have done earlier would be to read Robert A. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers! Please don’t think of the movie when you read that. The movie is goofy fun, but the book is so much better, and I think the best book on how it feels to be in military training I have ever read.
Are you in the US? If you are, I would have a back up plan as well. The military is going through budget cuts and serious downsizing right now. It is getting harder than ever to join and will probably be harder in 18 months. I’m not saying it will be impossible to join, but it will only get harder.
If you’re not in the US then I have no idea. Either way, good luck.
[quote]ryno76 wrote:
Are you in the US? If you are, I would have a back up plan as well. The military is going through budget cuts and serious downsizing right now. It is getting harder than ever to join and will probably be harder in 18 months. I’m not saying it will be impossible to join, but it will only get harder.
If you’re not in the US then I have no idea. Either way, good luck.[/quote]
Yeah, you might want to see what MOSes are available and what you need as far as ASVAB scores to qualify. If you have college, or are willing to go to college, OCS or ROTC will probably be available.
Also, it really isn’t necessary to “kill” the PT test in order to graduate from Basic and AIT. It’s not like the DSes will give you a cookie or pat on the back. Later it might matter when it comes to promotions and getting into schools. Right now I would say it is more important to make sure you get a high score on the ASVAB.
[quote]ryno76 wrote:
Are you in the US? If you are, I would have a back up plan as well. The military is going through budget cuts and serious downsizing right now. It is getting harder than ever to join and will probably be harder in 18 months. I’m not saying it will be impossible to join, but it will only get harder.
If you’re not in the US then I have no idea. Either way, good luck.[/quote]
Yeah, you might want to see what MOSes are available and what you need as far as ASVAB scores to qualify. If you have college, or are willing to go to college, OCS or ROTC will probably be available.
Also, it really isn’t necessary to “kill” the PT test in order to graduate from Basic and AIT. It’s not like the DSes will give you a cookie or pat on the back. Later it might matter when it comes to promotions and getting into schools. Right now I would say it is more important to make sure you get a high score on the ASVAB. [/quote]
[quote]zecarlo wrote:
Yeah, you might want to see what MOSes are available and what you need as far as ASVAB scores to qualify. If you have college, or are willing to go to college, OCS or ROTC will probably be available.
Also, it really isn’t necessary to “kill” the PT test in order to graduate from Basic and AIT. It’s not like the DSes will give you a cookie or pat on the back. Later it might matter when it comes to promotions and getting into schools. Right now I would say it is more important to make sure you get a high score on the ASVAB. [/quote]
Good advice. Only caveat I would add is I did ROTC for a semester after my deployment (wasn’t for me) and I still know some cadets, though most are commissioned by now. I know that recently the cut off for active duty has gotten really high. There were some guys that wanted to go active, but instead got reserve (which is perpetually short junior officers).
I wouldn’t worry about map reading or anything with a compass , or Maxing the pt test , unless you want to be a ranger , but the better shape your in will make basic easier.
What I did the 6 months before I joined, pretty basic approach: Lift 2x a week, press/squat one day, deadlift/bench the other. And run at least 3-5 miles every other day, and do 150 situps a day as well as 200 pushups a day. Adding things in like sprints, carries would also give you an edge up as well. Before I started i was a pretty awful runner to say the least, my first pt test I ran like a 1530, by the time i got to basic i ran a sub 13.
Hey, everything in here is good info, I just wanted to ass my 2 cents as someone who has taken a lot of PT Tests.
If you have access to a good gym, I would highly suggest going with 5/3/1. Its what I follow and I get great results. Be sure to include Cleans.
You will want to run a lot. Something like 15-20 miles a week. Alternate Long sprints and long distance with short sprints and short distances. Stopping mid run to run some sprints then continuing is popular in training.
You will want to do lots of Push-Ups and Sit-Ups, greasing the groove style. They are a skill when done in such high numbers for time, and you will need to be really good at that particular exercise. 10 push-ups every time you enter or exit your bedroom or something of the like. Same with Sit-Ups, during commercials or load screens on CoD.
Other things people never think about, is you might want to get used to Ruck Marching. There are time ruck marches in Basic that you have to pass, the longest being 12 miles in 3 hours. You can get a ruck sack and frame at a surplus store for cheap, and I use 40 pound bags of top soil as practice weight.
If you have access to an obstacle course or even a large play ground, they make great active recovery and help you practice moving your body in odd ways.
The best thing you can do to increase your pushups and situps is do a bunch of pushups and situps. It doesn’t matter how much you can bench press, if you don’t do you don’t do a bunch of pushups you won’t max them.
As for running: early and often. Just run a mix of distance and sprints and you’ll keep getting better.
All that being said, unless you’re planning on going ranger or SF then it’s not super important that you max them out right away. If anything the DSs are going to make you do more work if you’re a pt stud. It isn’t until you’re up for promotion that your pt is really going to matter.
Considering you are probably at least 27 I’ll definitely second the recommendation about practicing ruck marching before you go. You need to get your low back used to hauling around a 35 to 45 pound pack, especially if you’re doing infantry, scout, engineer, or any follow on school, i.e. airborne, ranger, SF. Running miles on top of miles with a heavy ruck beats the crap out of your back, especially if you aren’t used to it.