NASS Physical Reqirements

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KCKings

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My son got accepted to attend NASS. He wants to be an AeroAstro Engineer, is the pilot and a captain for his school robotics club, is in advanced and college level classes, got a 32 on the SAT, is in marching band, and is a really great kid.

However, you could pick him from a lineup as being the robotics/band kid. He's 5'9", 120lbs, can't do a pull up and his push ups are poor at best. He started working out last week when he found out he was accepted and is excited to go, but 3 months isn't a lot of time to prepare. He umpires baseball up to 10 hours a day on weekends, gets through 3 hour marching band practices carrying a drum, and played baseball/basketball until he was 14 so I'm not concerned about him making it through the day, but I am very concerned about the consequences of being the weakest male for PT and the sea trials.

For those who have attended, will his lack of physical ability be detrimental to the benefits and experience of attending?

Thanks
 
I suggest he look at the events on the CFA and start practicing those (e.g., push-ups, crunches, mile run). Participants take the CFA during the summer and you really don't want to stand out as the one who failed miserably. NASS participants do receive evaluations from their squad leaders and if someone really can't cut it physically, that will be noticed.

If possible, have him contact a coach (or personal trainer, if that's in your budget) who can provide a targeted training regimen/exercises that should improve his level of fitness over the next 3 1/2 months.

On a related note, if your DS really wants to attend USNA, he'll want to strengthen his "resume" by adding a sport. 90% of those appointed are varsity letter winners. While that obviously means that 10% are not, it is very rare to be admitted to USNA without having some sort of athletics on your resume. And for those kids, the CFA counts tremendously as it's really the only indication of the candidate's physical condition. Also, recognize that sports are integral to life at USNA. Thus, if your DS doesn't like sports, he will be miserable there. The fact he does not appear to participate in sports may cause USNA to question whether he likes sports and therefore whether he will be happy/successful at USNA.

The above said, he should still go to NASS. It's a great experience. If he loves it, he can then figure out how to handle his lack of sports to date. If he doesn't like it, then no issues on that front.
 
I always recommend this link:
http://www.stewsmith.com/linkpages/serviceacademycfa.htm

Stew is a former SEAL, USNA grad and staff officer, now a fitness professional.

Physical fitness and athletics are a part of the lifestyle of well-rounded candidates, SA attendees and military officers. At all the Academies, there is a range from the all-out multi-sport athletic stud to the less accomplished in this area, but there is a baseline level of physical fitness.

A couple of months is time to get a targeted routine going and build up skills in push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, running, etc. A concurrent goal is getting into the range of delivering an above-average CFA score.

NASS is a good opportunity to get a feel for USNA, whether it's a place that feels right, or whether it's time to explore paths which don't require the physical and athletic elements.

Search for CFA threads - lots of candidates with similar backgrounds.
 
KCKings said:
My son got accepted to attend NASS. He wants to be an AeroAstro Engineer, is the pilot and a captain for his school robotics club, is in advanced and college level classes, got a 32 on the SAT, is in marching band, and is a really great kid.

However, you could pick him from a lineup as being the robotics/band kid. He's 5'9", 120lbs, can't do a pull up and his push ups are poor at best. He started working out last week when he found out he was accepted and is excited to go, but 3 months isn't a lot of time to prepare. He umpires baseball up to 10 hours a day on weekends, gets through 3 hour marching band practices carrying a drum, and played baseball/basketball until he was 14 so I'm not concerned about him making it through the day, but I am very concerned about the consequences of being the weakest male for PT and the sea trials.

For those who have attended, will his lack of physical ability be detrimental to the benefits and experience of attending?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Ok, well, I'll just give you what I do to train (I'm an aspiring candidate, nothing more so, I'm no navy SEAL or anything). To increase pullups and pushups, take your personal best, divide it by two, and do three sets of that with about 10-20 seconds rest in between. If you can't do one pullup, do bicep and tricep curls until you can pull yourself up once (I'd say 60% of the pullup is mental though, so if you really believe you can't do it, you're not going to be able to do it).

I'd suggest joining distance track if it's not too late yet (today was our first day of the season, so I'd get in quick). Also, swimming is great to condition. Doing crunches or leg lifts on the pullup bar help with abs a lot (the pullup bar one especially).

Again, I'm by no means extremely fit nor am I in any way a military person (yet!), just a high school junior, but that's what, in my experience, really helps for the CFA and general PT.
 
Lots of push-ups!! There isn't too much running, just at the end during beast-- but it's not at a fast pace so it's more of a mental push. I play soccer so I'm physically fit, however I did not do enough push-ups and it definitely showed during PT[emoji23]

In the end, the only physical part that really matters is the CFA, and even then he would be able to redo it later on.

Please just remind him to get as fit as possible until then because it will suck to be extremely sore by the end of the week (my arms speak from experience). Lol.
 
^^ edit, not beast!! Sea trials. I noticed it as soon as I pressed send.
 
Stew Smith's book is even good for those "in shape." He covers technique that even DS had not thought of, making push-up easier and better running form. Highly recommended.
 
Don't forget he will have the opportunity to get his required physical assessment out of the way during NASS. I'm just the mom of a newly appointed member of the class of 2021. I'm saying what I'm saying based on my son's words after NASS. Those not in shape learned very quickly what the future will hold if they do attend the academy. Physical fitness is paramount and an enormous part of the equation. If you can afford it, maybe a local gym membership? At the very least, an over the door pull up bar, lots of push ups and RUN!!!! Good luck to him!
 
When our son got accepted to NASS last year, he could only do 1 pull-up. By the time he got there and took his CFA, he had gotten to 9 pull-ups. He worked at it a lot as my husband installed a doorway pull-up bar. My husband also took him to a personal trainer. He also joined track and became a miler, and watched videos to practice, practice, practice the basketball throw. He passed the CFA at NASS, which was much better because we didn't have to set it up for later. My son is a hockey and tennis player which was good for the cardio, etc. but he really needed to work on his upper body. Hope this helps.
 
(I was rejected from the NASS last year, but I received my LOA last month and my appointment two weeks after)

A GREAT thing to start is just before he goes to bed or when he first wakes up is to do a small pushup and situp set. Nothing big, just 15 pushups and however many curlups he can do at once in a row. Then, after he gets conditioned add one a day, or five once a week, until he can build up and up. Good thing to start before he makes any commitment to a sport or program. I started in August, I'm upwards to 90 pushups now!

If possible, he should try to join track, and run long distance. Though he can work out individually, if he has the team factor he may be pushed to work harder and grow competitive. Even if he's starting late, every day he works is a day better than he was the day before!
 
Can't recommend Stew Smith enough! Great guy, trained my older brother all summer last year. I had the great opportunity of attending NASS and he actually led PEP one morning! Other, than that, your kid seems like a fantastic candidate. I wish him the best of luck in gaining admissions to a prestigious institution like USNA!
 
Thank you for all the responses. I realize it isn't basic training and that methods for motivation have changed over the years, but I wanted to make sure he wasn't going to be in a situation that was nothing but miserable. Sounds like that isn't the case so I will let him complete the enrollment process.
 
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