new year, new cfa plan

Sciencnerd

Sciencnerd

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My birthday is in a few days, and I will then be 14. This means that I have 4 years to train as hard as I can both mentally and physically. While I know this question is asked a lot, searching cfa doesn't work for some reason because it's too common and short. So, what fitness plan would you give to someone who is decent in most of the tests for the cfa (except basketball throw), but definitely not there yet for any of them? All questions, comments, concerns, insults, and advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
Just stay in general shape. Im going to be honest, its four years away, dont stress about it right now. The truth is the training your doing now probably wont be reflected in four years. My true advice, join a varsity sport.
 
The CFA is not particularly hard if you are at all in shape. Focus on making a varsity sport, and the CFA will come naturally.
 
@Sciencnerd, good for you for thinking ahead. With almost three years to go before taking the CFA, you have more than enough time to prepare. With all due respect to the prior responders, though, I disagree that all you need to do is play a varsity sport. That’s because not all varsity sports — and levels of participation — are created equal. My DD was a very solid athlete in two sports, e.g. starter, team captain, state qualifier. One sport is well known for its rigor and roughness. But she’d agree that neither was necessarily great prep for the CFA. Other examples: high-level swimmers often struggle with running, and high-end runners often struggle with pullups.

The CFA emphasizes upper-body strength (pullups, pushups), core strength (situps), and mid-distance running (mile). The basketball throw and shuttle run are more about special technique. So over the next three years, focus on general fitness: (1) weight training, with both upper body and lower body, to build overall strength; (2) core strength, addressing both abs and back; (3) running, with a combination of speed over shorter distances and stamina over longer distances. There’s no need to focus solely on the CFA or its component events quite yet.

There are plenty of resources to help you plan your training. Start by using the search function above — CFA is one of the most discussed topics here. There’s plenty of advice on SAF. Then Google “candidate fitness assessment.” Sorry, I don’t buy that it’s hard to search. There’s plenty of info out there! Best wishes to you.
 
My son joined cross country at your age. And cross fit - 5:30 am workouts before school started outside of basketball season.

He didn’t have to train for the CFAs.
 
I second A1Janitor. My school doesn't have sports, so I did Crossfit throughout high school. It was a great option for me since it combined cardio and strength training into one. The only thing it didn't really prepare me for was the basketball throw. Then again, the only way to prepare for that is to throw a basketball.
 
I just want to third Crossfit. Dh and I have been Crossfitting for years but our ds started adult classes at the beginning of his junior year. He had done Crossfit teen camps before but never a consistent routine. It helped him transform his string bean frame into a stronger string bean frame and gave him a huge head start on his CFA training. It was also pretty easy for him to do add some pushups, pullups, and GHD situps after each class. An added benefit was that it greatly helped him out on the lacrosse field as well.

I do think it helped his basketball throw just with the added muscle and mass but he still had to practice it a lot. Probably never to early to start throwing that basketball.
 
Sciencnerd said:
With all do respect, in my original post I was talking about the search function. CFA is too common. But thanks anyway, it's the thought that counts!
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Try an external Google search with “site:www.serviceacademyforums.com” in your search string.
 
I'll give my advice. It's not that I don't think your work now wouldn't pay off. It would. How do I know? Because every darn XC person I raced who was a senior and started freshman year who wanted to win 4 years ago was fast as heck.

But that wasn't everyone who started four years ago. See the ones who became fast could have started a year before or in my case got varsity after only one season. Those that did it for four years did become faster sure but the weren't always the fastest. So for a moment take genetics out and think of only training. What made those one year kids different? They wanted to win.

They had a goal and they were going to get it. So what am I saying? Training early is great. It makes better athletes. Or more accurately it CAN make better athletes. You have to keep the motivation. Fitness can be even harder than grades. Fitness you can plateau really easily. School keeps you working toward the next assignment the next test. Fitness isn't like that.

So while I agree with working out, I would just recommend a few tips.
1) if you can train with others always do it. Whether that's a team or just a group of kids who want to go to USAFA with you. Personally done this when training off season with my girls and then durning the summer with guys who wanted to go to USAFA. It works.

2) set goals. Keep setting goals. Set personal goals that don't involve anyone else's comparison. Maybe it's 50 pushups in a row or be able to run a mile under 7 min by next month. Set big goals then medium then step by step. Dreams become reality with planning.

3) Find motivation. Oh no no I don't mean " I want to attend usafa" that's great hun except that's 4 years away. Humans suckkkk with waiting. Nope you need motivation that works on a daily basis. It's hard. With people it's easier but still hard. No one out there is like "Yes I get to run this 400 meter hill for the 12th time!!!" ( true story).

Nope most of us are " alright why am I doing this. I hurt and I'm about to fall over" So what to you do? Make a mini challenge. I always said "last one best/ death one" because we always raced the last one against each other. That was our motivation in that moment. So make a daily motivation for that second day when all you feel is pain. Make a reason to get up in the morning when it's cold, raining and gosh darn it I'm not improving. USAFA and the academies is great for good days. Guess what? Those don't happen every day.

4) And finally Off days. Plan for them. There's going to be days when motivation just isn't working. Take a step back a relax. Fitness is more mental than physical you learn it the hard way. One day will not hurt you. Pushing till you break will. Those off days need to be about your mental training. You training mentally on the days you don't want to get up, the one more rep even though you're hurting and finally the days when you need a break.

Idk how I constantly make long posts but here I am sorry about that! Hope this helped a little bit. Good luck, I know you can make it.
 
Wonderful you are thinking ahead! Time is in your favor. Working backwards and plan ahead.

Not specifically about CFA training but...
1. Plan to test multiple times for the SAT/ACT, with your anchoring scores done before December of Junior year. Ideally it's the summer as a rising junior. Helps your PSAT, anchoring score for USAFA summer seminar, and one less item when applications open. Save your rising senior year for girls/boys state, SA summer programs, and college app-ing.
2. Google and print the DoDMERB form. Get your Team DoDMERB together - parents, pediatrician etc and strategically plan out anything medical, such as Accutane treatments or getting your wisdom teeth out, etc.
3. Target when you are taking the CFA. That would be at the earliest window possible. In my DD's cycle, she focused on getting the CFA done at USMA's SLE and transferred that test to USNA, USMMA, and USAFA. My DD targeted after the State swim meet (mid-Feb) to take a break and then focused CFA training March, April, and May for 3 months to test at SLE the first week of June.

I would not specifically train for the CFA at this time, other than if you want to have fun and see what you can score under testing conditions. You are far better off engaging in a sport and other ECs, working up to leadership and excellence in those activities. Your mental preparation is not in doing the CFA over and over the next 4 years, but through experiences that shape you by the time you are an applying senior.
 
I am not a personal trainer or anything but my stupid butt only gave myself a year to train so good on you for doing this now.

How I did it was to familiarize myself with the exercises, doing them in a two week cycle, 10 days on, 3 days off, and a max rep test on the 14th day, this was mainly around the push ups, pull ups, and sit ups and it was hard on my muscles but it paid off. Get yourself used to the exercise but I also tried more difficult variations of the events (you can find those online) or doing other exercises that work the same muscle groups (weight training also helped me a great deal). For events like the run and throw, try running long distance, don't just do the mile but test yourself maybe once every couple weeks to see where you are at and for the throw, practice and practice some more (Stew Smith's YT video is a good example on how to throw it for maximum distance).

Any questions, feel free to reply.
 
Sciencnerd said:
My birthday is in a few days, and I will then be 14. This means that I have 4 years to train as hard as I can both mentally and physically. While I know this question is asked a lot, searching cfa doesn't work for some reason because it's too common and short. So, what fitness plan would you give to someone who is decent in most of the tests for the cfa (except basketball throw), but definitely not there yet for any of them? All questions, comments, concerns, insults, and advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
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If you have 4 years to train you better max everything. It's a pretty easy test of overall fitness but basic is basically abs and push-ups ad nausea.
 
The SA's seem to like athletes so I would recommend working on excelling in a sport that will get you in excellent shape and help with mental toughness. I do not know your size or body type but wrestling is a great sport that helps build fitness and mental toughness and your size does not matter because of weight classes. Also, as recommended above, cross country is great for getting in shape. Maybe you already have a sport that you enjoy and excel at. If so work on being the best you can at it. If you have room to take Advanced PE or go to weight lifting then do that as well.
 
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