CFA tips and tricks

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Timmytheprince

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I am applying to West Point next year and was wondering if anyone had any good tips for the CFA segments and/or tips for getting in shape. I currently play water polo, tennis, and swim team but am not too good at all the CFA events. Should i train them all evenly or would it maybe be easier to try and excel in a couple and be decent in the others? I couldn't find another thread on this but if there is one feel free to just send the link.
 
Practice all of the parts and not just some is them.

Also about once every week or two, practice the whole CFA within the time limits as you will take it for real. It is a really different thing to do the whole CFA than practicing just the individual parts separately.
 
The basketball throw gave me no end of trouble and stress until I finally got the technique down (added ten feet just by locking my arm out fully). Read this post CAREFULLY, follow all of the directions on there, and try to practice it before/after each workout. Since it’s the first event, you don’t really need to worry about practicing it separately vs. with the other components.

I’m not sure that you need to be testing yourself too frequently at the moment as you’ve got 8+ months before you need to take it. Maybe take a diagnostic test now and compare yourself to the averages, then “passively” focus on the trouble areas— ex. do five minutes or core work before bed every night, or get a doorframe pull-up bar and crank out as many as you can every time you walk by.
 
I think the harder for my son were the pullups . He made a bar set for him to practice at home. He is 6'2 and had a hard time practicing them at school because he could not extend his arms properly.

Good luck
 
My weakest event were the pull ups and the ball throw. The ball throw requires a lot of technique. Plenty of videos on youtube, but highly recommend practicing and understanding how to leverage your body to get that extra boost. Pull ups/push ups/sit ups require practicing them frequently. I bought a pull up bar (around $30) and set it up in my door way or any frame I entered/exited frequently. Would try to knock out as many as I could. A good way to improve push/pull/sit ups is to try and do a specific amount (ex: as much as you can), take a minute break, and then try to do as much as you can again. repeat this 4-5 times. do it every day and you should see some progress over several weeks.
 
I passed the CFA this summer at SLE (which I highly recommend you attend. It is a great experience and the adrenaline of being there helps with the CFA). For me, an XC runner, push-ups were the hardest. Make sure not just to practice sets of 15-20 like I did but several times a week to do 40+ in one go to build up endurance. With the basketball throw, I found it helpful to really yell while throwing (I know it sounds weird) and make it an explosive movement. A cheap pull-up bar also helped me build up my back strength. Be sure to practice pull-ups with good form. I saw two strong guys fail because most of their pull-ups did not go down far enough. If you are really strong on one event, don't feel the need to spend a huge amount of time practicing it. Your score is not averaged. Even if you hit the max on every other event, failing one means you fail the whole test. Work on what you are weakest at. If as a tennis player, you are really good at the shuttle run, spend more time on the other events.

That is just my take, there are lots of good posts on this forum from much more experienced professionals.
Good luck.
 
Another good way to improve push ups is to have your feet elevated or put some weights on your back (like textbooks in a backpack). Put your feet up on a storage container or like 2-3 steps up. This will help you challenge your upper body more. Do as many as you can in 1 minute, use the remaining time as a rest, then do as many as you can in the next minute. Repeat. This can "simulate" you trying to do as many as you can during the actual test. For the long term, look into the ACFT. The push up for the ACFT is a hand release one. That is also a good workout, especially for core since you want to maintain proper posture.
 
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