APFT Training Plan?

Does anyone know of a good training plan for the APFT? Perhaps on another website?

I am just joining my AROTC's battalion this semester as a college sophomore. As of now, I want to go active duty and I would enjoy getting the same benefits that most other cadets have (i.e. tuition scholarship). I do realize I am joining late and my chances are horrible. I will most likely continue without a scholarship if I don't get one but still, it would be nice.

Anyway, I would do ANYTHING to help my chances at getting a scholarship. My grades are already very good through the first three semesters and I do hold several leadership positions on campus. I think my weakest link would be physical fitness and I'm not even that out of shape. But I think it would bode well to improve in that area so I can score high on the APFT. Please I will take any advice at this point.

Happy new year

trevrock said:

Does anyone know of a good training plan for the APFT? Perhaps on another website?

Click to expand...

http://www.stewsmith.com/

The best training plan will be to attend PT. What have your cadre, and your fellow cadets told you they are doing to improve their APFT scores. There is no magic program. Lots of pushups, situps, and running will be the best way to improve your pushups, situps, and run time.

Thank you for the link.

clarksonarmy said:

The best training plan will be to attend PT. What have your cadre, and your fellow cadets told you they are doing to improve their APFT scores. There is no magic program. Lots of pushups, situps, and running will be the best way to improve your pushups, situps, and run time.

Click to expand...

I am starting PT next week and I will be meeting my cadre and the rest of my fellow cadets this week. I am really excited to get started. So far communication from the battalion hasn't been too great. I have spoken to several different goldbar recruiters (from last semester to the present) who have since left the office. I haven't been put in contact with anyone higher up than a 2LT or 1LT, but that might be appropriate for all I know.

I did get in touch with my TAC but something doesn't feel right. I just want to get started!!

As a parent of a DS applying to both SAs and ROTC, the biggest mistake that I made was not signing my DS up with a personal trainer earlier. As a former Army officer, I thought I understood PT and believed that to increase push-ups, all you need to do is push-ups in your bedroom morning, noon, and night. My DS worked out for months and saw only marginal improvement. Then, I had a conversation with a mother whose DS is a current USMA cadet, and she swore by the "personal trainer" route. It was at this point that I decided to reach into my wallet and sign my DS up with a personal trainer at the local gym. His pullups and pushup quadrupled in a few short weeks!! (situps and run were not a problem for my son). I'm not sure what it was, but for us, this is what ultimately worked. I used to think that that personal trainers were only for bored, rich people from Beverly Hills -- this experience has changed my view entirely. By the same token, back in the day when I was an aspiring ROTC cadet, I simply obtained a workout from my PMS and followed it religiously. That worked for me. Go figure.

In any event, Stew Smith teaches at USNA and has a really good workout for very little cost. We also purchased his CFA video, which is excellent for those applying to the SAs.

I think the reason a personal trainer works is because it is individualized, as opposed to group PT. He/she can identify down to the individual muscle fiber what needs to be improved. For my DS working on pushups and pullups, it was actually his lower back strength that was keeping his scores down. So he had my DS do exercises that focused on lower back strength, and his scores went through the roof. This all seemed counter-intuitive to me, because I had always thought pushups and pullups were all about upper body strength. I definitely think it is worth the $25 to have a professional look at you perform the PT test and assess -- precisely -- where you are weak.