ROTC PT?

ballsy

5-Year Member
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Oct 5, 2012
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Hello all,

I want to know what I should prepare for as my first PT in college for AROTC. I am a senior in high school. Ive been told that's it a 2 mile tun, 2 minutes of pushups, and 2 minutes of sit-ups? What's the score chart for these? How soon after I begin college will I have to take this? And how often are there PT's? Thank you so much!
 
Hello all,

I want to know what I should prepare for as my first PT in college for AROTC. I am a senior in high school. Ive been told that's it a 2 mile tun, 2 minutes of pushups, and 2 minutes of sit-ups? What's the score chart for these? How soon after I begin college will I have to take this? And how often are there PT's? Thank you so much!

I think you're referring to the APFT (Army Physical System Test). You can find a score chart and instructions by doing a quick google search, the standards vary by different age groups. If you are coming to campus with a scholarship, you'll take the APFT almost right away if not before the semester actually begins. The sooner you pass the APFT, the sooner you start collecting benefits, and those benefits are not back paid so if you don't pass for 2 days or 2 months, the date you pass is the date you start getting paid. You'll take at least 1 record APFT each semester, in order to validate your scholarship, however you most likely will take a diagnostic APFT much more frequently (anywhere between every 1-3 months).

PT refers to the individual physical training sessions, which as a contracted cadet you will participate in about 3-5 times per week.

Best way to prepare? Push-ups, sit-ups, and running. Go.
 
Ballsy,

In order to prepare for an APFT, you must first take one. I recommend grabbing a friend, parent, coach, etc. and have them assess your performance. After that, you can develop an understanding of your weaknesses. Usually, ROTC programs will conduct an APFT the first few weeks of school to gain an understanding of the levels of fitness their cadets have. You can find the "score charts" by searching APFT calculator. Maxing an event is 100 pts. Most ROTC battalions PT twice a week. Keep in mind this in the minimum standard, you must workout on your own if you wish to be competitive with your classmates.

Tip: The only proven way to increase pushups and situps is actually doing them. Weights will only get you so far.

- 3.5 year Scholarship awardee
 
Actually take the APFT, do the exercises right and see where you stand. Touch your nose on push ups, interlock your fingers on sit ups, and just assess where you are.
 
Does anybody have a video that shows the correct form of the push-ups and situps? And how long are the rests in between each event?
 
The Internet is full of videos showing proper form - try YouTube. As far as rest, there's no set time, but give yourself a max of 5-10 minutes between each event.
 
Does anybody have a video that shows the correct form of the push-ups and situps? And how long are the rests in between each event?

Go do a bit of research on your own instead of asking to be spoon fed. Everything you've asked can be answered within 30 seconds on google. There is an entire field manual that covers instructions for each event, standards, rest time, and anything else you may want to know.
 
I agree with Bull 100%.
This forum is pretty amazing in the fact that other folks willingly share "insider" information and advice from a "been there, done that" point of view for the rest of us who are trying to catch on.
The APFT isn't mysterious in any way, unlike the machine/process/gauntlet of ROTC end-to-end. It is the exact same APFT for the entire United States Army, with requirements only varying based on age and gender. PLENTY of knowledge out there on the standards, prove yourself worthy by doing a little research, learn the "regs" which in Army parlance are called FMs (Field Manuals). You need to begin to learn how to read and understand those FMs independently as a stand-alone resource if you want to be a leader of soldiers.
 
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So after hearing experiences from MS1s it seems that most do not pass and therefore do no contract at the initial APFT. (pay is NOT retroactive BTW and you dont have unlimited chances)

I have all kinds of problems with that.

This is the one thing you CAN control. It really isnt that hard if you put twenty minutes a day into it. Yes I know you are all busy but consider that you get paid $300.00 per month when you contract isnt that worth doing it sooner rather than later? Also so many of the cool opportunities take APFT into consideration (CULP, Ranger Challenge)

You should do them every single morning and night before sleep, from today until contracting. You should run 2-3 times per wk.

Some people's body type does work against them for sure. If you dont know how the form goes or if you are doing them correctly, go to a recruiter's office (I swear there is one on every corner, like Walgreens) and show them your form, they will tell you (army is stricter with form than Navy BTW). My ROTC son had an easier time with form because his older brother is a training corporal (usna).

Look here, you want to start off making a bang up impression. But you dont want to jibber-jabber or BS your way into making a good impression. Let your PT scores speak for themselves.

Also if you may be interested in Ranger Challenge, you may want to take up rucking. Actually, why not take it up anyhow... My Army and Navy son rucked together over the summer (our town police were a little freaked out initially BTW)

Son's contracting APFT (a wk into the school yr) was 342 (big army stops at 300)
three weeks later after RC work outs (every day but sunday) his official APFT was 370. (big army stops at 300)

He started prepping for it they day he was awarded his scholarship.
 
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I think most recipients do one thing wrong which Vista touched upon. They get the scholarship and spend the rest of the year being a kid having fun. They spend the summer hanging out and playing with friends...nothing wrong with that, but like Vista stated, it is 20 minutes of your life for a paycheck!

Our DS was fortunate because his Dad was an officer that also went through ROTC. He was a stickler with DS and on him. Not insane, but just enough to make sure his form was perfect, and made him get accustomed to not training in a normal way. He would wake him up at 6 to go for a run, even if DS only went to bed at midnight.
~ College you will have sleep deprivation. Hanging out late with friends, dorms are noisy and can keep you up, last minute papers, but you will still have to get up at that time to do PT and lack of sleep can impact your scores

Bullet also would make him run in every type of weather. He would run at the height of the heat of the day. He would run in light rain. Both of these things will impact your score if you don't train in less than perfect conditions. THE PFT will be scheduled for a specific day and unless the weather is insane it will still occur. If you only run when it is 80 and sunny, you are doing yourself no good!

Bullet also had him do sit-ups and pushups outside. Harder to keep a perfect form on unlevel ground! Some units will do PT outside on the parade ground. You usually have to keep resetting your body, while the clock ticks away. When he had that accomplished, Bullet amped it up for him, allowing him to do it inside but push ups were one arm side. Threw in butterfly kicks before doing sit ups.

The point being is DS easily maxxed right out of the gate and for the rest of his AFROTC career when he was home that was how he trained. During the winter break he ran early in the morning so his lungs were use to taking in the cold air. During the summer he would run late in the afternoon when the temps were the highest. He also would run as soon as the sky looked like rain was on the way, highest humidity and the road would be slippery during the run. His target goal was always 10 minutes for a 1 1/2 mile. If he was slower than 10:30 (7min mile) he was running every day until he was at 6:45 min mile.

Those are the type of cadets you will meet! That is AFROTC, so I am sure for AROTC he probably would be average! :wink:

Good luck!

PS Vista that pic made me LMAO . It brought back memories of the first time DS trained with Bullet! DS got mad at him during the sit up portion. He even stopped and yelled at him. Dad, you aren't counting. Bullet: I am you just happen to be not completing it properly for me to count it! DSs 1st job in AFROTC was flight PT instructor and became the guy that said 41, 41, 41!
 
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The Internet is full of videos showing proper form - try YouTube. As far as rest, there's no set time, but give yourself a max of 5-10 minutes between each event.

There is a mandatory minimum rest of 10 minutes between each event I thought?
 
If I'm not mistaken the letter one receives from AROTC offering the scholarship also has listed links to youtube showing proper form. Cadre will be a stickler for form! DS P/U and S/U on his first AFPT was proctored by the MSG of the cadre. He was a hard a** on the form but DS passed his first time out because he took the time to practice and research proper form. Good luck.:thumb:
 
Prep for ROTC PT

Hi. I would highly recommend the workouts of Stew Smith on his website. I have looked at a number of them and he really know how to get candidates prepared for tests and military fitness in general. Even though I was an Army ROTC PMS for 6 years, I don't profess to be an expert or to be able to give you the best advice.

Good luck!

Robert Kirkland (LTC, USA, ret.)
"The Insiders Guide to Army ROTC for High School Students and Their Parents" (Amazon)
 
APFT - MS1

My DD is an MS1 and completed her first official APFT in mid-September. She scored a 262 which was well above the average for the rest of the MS1 and even MS2s. She will tell you three things about the APFT -

1. PRACTICE
2. PRACTICE
3. PRACTICE
 
DS passed his first one last year and was one of 8 MS-I's to pass (out of about 30). He always score close to 100 on his pu's. Until his record APFT test in the fall when he had a MS-IV as a grader that didn't want any of the younger cadets to do good so he graded them all low on the pu's. It was obvious as everyone this cadet scored was way down on their pu count from previous tests. To the point that the PMS noticed. Never the less, that was their score.

Some will depend on how the scorer perceives your form also. Not everybody looks at things the same.
 
DS passed his first one last year and was one of 8 MS-I's to pass (out of about 30). He always score close to 100 on his pu's. Until his record APFT test in the fall when he had a MS-IV as a grader that didn't want any of the younger cadets to do good so he graded them all low on the pu's. It was obvious as everyone this cadet scored was way down on their pu count from previous tests. To the point that the PMS noticed. Never the less, that was their score.

Some will depend on how the scorer perceives your form also. Not everybody looks at things the same.

Reminds me of LDAC up to just a couple years ago. They had newly minted 2LT's grading the APFT, it was well known that they graded low, it was not uncommon to see cadets that had scored 300's on their recorded battalion tests get 250 to 260's and some didn't even pass the first time. The NCO's at LDAC hated this, they finally switched to having NCO's do the grading and the scores took a big jump.

I guess the new LT's just figured it was done to them so we'll do it to these cadets. Glad they made the switch.
 
This year for the first APFT they told the SMP cadets if they took the test with their guard unit the school would just use those scores, they wouldn't have to take it again.

His guard unit said "no, take it at school".

Instead of taking the test with his guard unit, they used him as a scorer.
 
As far as rest, there's no set time, but give yourself a max of 5-10 minutes between each event.

There most certainly is a set minimum and maximum rest time between each event, all of which can be found in the appropriate FM.

EDIT: Jcc, just saw the correction, I missed the second page of the thread.

I'm being completely serious, the manuals and regulations will walk you through the APFT using 5 year old language and pretty pictures. You won't have to rely on information from some anonymous internet users, but can get the information directly from army doctrine. It's a fascinating concept
 
Reminds me of LDAC up to just a couple years ago. They had newly minted 2LT's grading the APFT, it was well known that they graded low, it was not uncommon to see cadets that had scored 300's on their recorded battalion tests get 250 to 260's and some didn't even pass the first time. The NCO's at LDAC hated this, they finally switched to having NCO's do the grading and the scores took a big jump.

I guess the new LT's just figured it was done to them so we'll do it to these cadets. Glad they made the switch.

Switching to drill sergeants as graders was much, much better.
 
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