CFA Workout Routine?

AVT

USAFA 2015
10-Year Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2009
Messages
372
I'm a Junior looking to be a part of the class of 2015. My physical strength is the weakest part of my package. I can only do 30 pushups, 4 pullups, 45 situps, 7:00 mile, and unknown shuttle and BB.
I'm sure my shuttle can be decent as I'm a Track sprinter / mid.
This is my current routine, but I can see room for improvement: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AgZumMJ4b-CxdGloblNjWjVfcndzMHZOQlRpcHFUOWc&hl=en

This is what I own and the exercises it can perform:
Weider Pro 4950 - Chest press, Butterfly press, Leg lifts, Bicep curl, Rows, Military press, Lat pull down, and Leg press
Straight Bar w/ up to 75lb - Bench, and Clean
Iron Gym - Push ups, sit ups, chin ups and pull ups
Also, I'll be getting a weighted vest on the 24th of September

Any assistance or guidance would be appreciated! :smile:
 
advice= practice your program and stick with it. It really doesn't matter what you lifts you practice, as long as you practice. Just do the actual events and max out once a day. If you find that your numbers are going down, eat more peanut butter and only max out once every other day.

Take the CFA before school starts. I don't know if you're doing the summer seminar. If not, take it before school. You're doing a sport, it'll wear your body down. Once school starts, your body will never really have as much energy as it once did. I'm finding that hits from football to my shoulder are really making pull-ups more difficult.

A 7:00 minute mile is passing, not stellar, not horrible, but OK. It'll be much harder to keep that 7 mins after the other events, so make sure you cross-fit (run and push-up,sit-up, and pull-up then run again). I lost about a minute because of the other events and 8 mins is pushing the limit, so watch out.

Try the basketball throw. It's early enough for you to just light-heartedly experiment. Goof around. Try different grips and different motions. Whichever one feels natural, stick with and practice. It is much harder than you think for some people. It was just felt plain odd for me to practice.
 
I've found that the best way to practice for the components of the CFA is to actually DO them, rather than lift weights, because then you know you're training the muscles that you need to train. I would start a daily routine of sit-ups, and push-ups, and increase your reps bit by bit each week. Buy a pull-up bar, and each time you walk past it, knock out a few pull-ups. As a sprinter, I would also incorporate long distance runs as well to bring your time down. Make sure you run on hills as well whenever possible (West Point is basically nothing but hills).

Make sure you stick to your schedule; that was my problem. A set routine can get boring, so change it up with different types of sit-ups and push-ups if needed. Cross-fit, as said above, is also a good workout to add in maybe once or twice a week. Switch your runs from shorter, faster ones, to long, slow ones.

As for the basketball throw, the advice above is solid. If possible, see if you can get someone who is good at the basketball throw to throw out some pointers. I just retook my CFA this past Sunday, and this varsity soccer goalie taking it at the same time threw it 90 feet, no sweat. Since the BB throw was my worst event, I would have killed for some pointers from him.

Good luck, keep at it, and you'll do well.
Remember, too: The CFA only counts as 10% of your package. You obviously do not want to fail it, and you want to put out the best scores possible to become as competitive as possible; however, if you DO fail it (which you won't!) and your academics and leadership are stellar, West Point will request that you retake your CFA.

I would also suggest attending SLS. There, you'll be able to take an official CFA, which can count towards your package if you want it, but you can also retake it if you want. You will also get a letter afterward with your scores and will be named either "at risk" or "not at risk." I found this helped me immensely.
 
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