thomass872

Hi, I'm a junior in High School and i'm interested in going to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. To be considered for admission I have to pass a a Physical Aptitude Examination. I've been going to the gym for about 5 months now, but I've been working on bulking instead of endurance(which is some of what the exam tests)
The exam events are as follows: Pull-Ups, Standing Long Jump, Basket ball throw, Push-ups, and a 300-yard shuttle run.

The push-ups test is seeing how many you can do in a 2-minute time.
The Standing Long jump, pull ups, and shuttle run are all pretty much self-exlpanatory.
The basketvball throw is when you kneel down and see how long u can throw a basketball.

I tried the pushups last night and got to 36 before I burned out and gave up, i had plenty of time left i just didnt have the endurance. I need to get to 54 I also tried the long jump and am about a foot off of the required 7'9".

I havent tried the other three yet.

Does anyone have any advice they can give me for preparing for this test? It is very important for my future and i'm willing to work very hard to pass it. I have a little less than a year to prepare for it. I think if I do 3 sets of 25 push ups with little rest every night that might help me with that part of the exam, but the other four areas I'm pretty clueless on how to prepare for. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Thomas

P.S. more detailed information on the exam can be found at http://www.usma.edu/admissions/PAE_Instructions.pdf

IronSlingah

Im about to do ROTC and i need a perfect score on the Army Physical Fitness Test which is similar to your test. My advice is focus on endurance training like running long at a slow pace and high reps weight training like 15-20reps.

Damm btw westpoint is the hardest university to get into in the US (even if your qualified) so i hope you got connections.

LazyByNature

There is probably a website out there that will provide a training regiment specifically for the west point PT test. I have started a routine that I found when I was training for a PT test. Take a look at http://navyseal.s5.com/workouts.html

Take your time and most importantly, don't get hurt.

Yanger

Hey Thomas, it's cool you desire to go to West Point. I graduated from the Naval Academy (10 years ago...jeez where does all the time go) and I can tell you when I prepared for my admissions PAT, I spent alot of time working the cardio more than the bulking portion of it. I'm not sure what your training goals have been up until now, but one thing you will find that is going to serve you well your first year is ALOT of cardio.

Couple things to help with push up endurance:

1. Push up pyramids: start at 2 then make your way up to 15 than back to 2. Between sets, stretch and keep going. If you're at 36 before failure, 15 is a good high number, maybe too high. Set your high number accordingly and increase when your ready. But you should be moving up the high number weekly

-Push up position.....stay in the up pushup position for intervals of 30 seconds. Then build on that number until you can do it for 2 mins. It's not as easy as it sounds. But when your forced to try and do 20 pushups in 20 mins without ever leaving the floor you'll understand

2. Pull ups: Not sure how many you can do but a good way to build fast is to use resistance as your working on it. We used to use 10-45 lbs weights attached to our belts to build our pull up endurance. You'd be amazed how it goes up.

3. Basketball toss: PRACTICE IT. Would not believe the number of bozos who do it for the first time when they showed up for the test. It's coordination more than strength, get your form down and it's a piece of cake.

4. Standing Long Jump: Okay couple things...other than doing more leg lifting workout (squats, presses etc) you need to work on the explosion part of it. Work vertically as well as laterally. Find a small wall or if your school has a volleyball team they have jump towers probably they look like a stand you can stand on, but built so you can jump onto them. Try them, they will get you working on your explosion. Also, talk to your school track coach about jumping exercises.

5. Shuttle run: Practice that as well. Do line runs in your local basketball court....

What happend to the sit ups and 1.5 mile run?

Test yourself weekly...THE WHOLE TEST EVERY EVENT. Keep track of your results, have someone else test you if you can. Be honest and keep working hard.

Btw, I really can't emphasize the cardio aspect of it. I mean it's generally not what is advocated on this board, but that is because this is not geared for the environment your headed to. This is gonna sound bad but if you show up charting less than 20 miles a week running your gonna have a difficult time your first summer.

The PT is only the start of it, the PE exams every semester aren't easy and the more your prepared to ace them the better off your gonna be taking them.

If I remember right the minimums (i mean you get a D) you had to for the PT test at school were:

Push ups- 67 in 2 mins
Sit ups- 70 in 2 mins
Pull ups- 2
1.5 mile run- 10:38
Sit and Reach-pass/fail

Max Out Scores were something like:

Push Ups: 100 2 min
Sit up: 115 2 min
Pull ups: 12+
1.5 mile run: 8:15
Sit and Reach-pass fail

Anyway, long post, dont' quote me on the school test numbers but they are in the ballpark. Best of luck.

Yanger