IMPROVE YOUR PT SCORE
Push ups and Sit ups
Remember from "Periodization": don't hit any particular muscle with a
workout every day unless you are doing a (very) sub maximal effort for the sake
of learning basic form. Training to failure every day on a particular muscle
only tears you down and makes you weaker. A good rule of thumb for strength
training Periodization is for each muscle to get worked twice per week when you
go to and beyond failure. Three times per week is doable if you are in peak
condition but should not be a goal for anyone. Three days of work on a given
muscle does not maximize the anabolic rebuilding phase that you need for best
strength gains. You could lift weights every day at max effort, just so long as
you are working different muscles each day and each muscle gets no more than two
hits per week.
SFAS preparation format: Any good workout starts with a general warm up
of the whole body followed by a stretch of the muscles you are about to work. A
ten minute light jog with a few "strides" thrown in is a good warm up, then move
on to following the format you will be tested on. I generally do a push up / sit
up / pull up assessment just like they will do with us on a PT test day. I am
doing the assessment once a week and training the same muscles one additional
time (abs are one of the exceptions to the "twice a week only" rule. They could
be trained every day because they are fast twitch fibers, but that's another
conversation):
On my assessment days, I am doing a two minute set of push ups under testing conditions, then a two minute set of sit ups under testing conditions, then one set of pull ups under testing conditions. After I have assessed myself, I rest, take water, then start my workout on those same muscles. For the workout portion after the assessment, I do 3-5 additional sets of push ups and sit ups to failure in order to increase my ability - not bench presses or crunches. Always use the exact same exercises you will be tested on because you will work the fibers at the same angles you will need to be familiar with and fit for on test day.
What the PT test requires is muscular endurance. The high push up repetitions (50-100+) is not the same experience for your chest muscles as bench pressing a heavy weight for 2-10 reps. The bench press will make you stronger, and you could do this as a supplement to your push ups AFTER you have done your push up sets, but prioritize the high rep push ups because that's what they are testing us on. Form follows function, so the best way to train for anything is to do that thing - and do it in the manner you will be tested (i.e. high rep in this case).
Workout: How many sets of each exercise to do in a workout - and how many
different exercises per muscle - is a very individual thing. But some good
guidelines to follow are:
- Bigger muscles (chest, back, thighs, etc) can handle more sets and more exercises (5-10 sets)
- Smaller muscles will overtrain at 5-10 sets. 3-6 is a better approach
- Use intensity and duration of soreness - and your connection to your body - to determine how many sets are right for you.
Push Up Form: Use different muscles within your two
minute test period - and during workouts. This will train all the muscles
available, and varying your arm position throughout the test will bring the
freshest muscles into play. I used to start by keeping my hands wide and my
elbows back so I was putting the weight mostly on the relatively big, powerful
chest and back muscles. Keeping the hands closer together and your elbows close
to your body is an alternate and Army acceptable form that puts your weight more
on the arm muscles (specifically the triceps). Alternating between both
positions during training and during the test keeps all muscles fresher so you
can push longer. Lately I have found good success by using a hybrid between the
two positions for the whole test where I keep the hands a little closer together
but keep the elbows out to the side. This evenly divides the work between arms
and chest / back. It's a question of preference at this point, and everyone's
body is different. Experiment and find your groove, but maybe my input will be
helpful during that experimentation process.
Sit Ups: When I was in AIT I had trouble with sit ups, and I overcame it
by doing sit ups on a slant board at the highest position with my feet about
four feet higher than my head (when in the start position). I shot for the Army
minimum score when on this extreme incline. That way, when I did a PT test, it
was like a vacation and maxing (then 92) became easy. It started a training
philosophy where I said "train harder than you have to work on the test, and
test as easy as you can." What I mean by that is that when I trained, it was on
a full incline with very strict form where I used no momentum or elbow throwing.
That was so the training would be hard enough to provide a maximum compensation
stimulus during recovery. But when I tested, I used every advantage I could and
I still do this. I throw my elbows and try to keep a momentum that allows me to
relax the stomach muscles more during testing. That way I don't waste
contraction energy. Again, to do better at sit ups, train on sit ups. Do them
first in the ab workout, and - if you want to supplement with leg raises, etc -
do so only as additional training. Do not substitute a testable exercise for
some other exercise that uses the same muscle. Again, you have to use the
muscles in the same way that you're testing them. Form follows function.
Running
Go to
www.runquick.com Check out ALL the info in the "Information" section. Every
subsection there is great, and the info is good for all distances. In
particular, read what they say about "toe running" "arm crossing" "Pace Running"
and "intervals." Also, I have not clicked on any of the links as yet, but they
look really good too. The following is a distilling of some of the info I ran
across that I'm not sure how to steer you to, and some thoughts of my own...
1). Pace: Keep the majority of your training AND race pace what they call
"comfortably hard" and punctuate this pace with intervals (sprints). "Comfortably
hard" means a pace at which you could not really carry on a conversation, but
you could maintain it for about an hour if you had to. The logic is that if you
start off as fast as you can do and try to maintain that for the whole run,
lactic acid will build up and slow you down. Most of the runners I know or have
read advise to come fast out of the gate to establish a position and then fall
into the comfortably hard pace punctuated with intervals.
2). Intervals (sprint) lengths embedded within the run should be 200-400
meters at a time. I have found that throwing in 3-4 intervals in a two mile run
is about right. Start with two (one per mile), and work up to 4 or more
intervals per two mile run.
3). Toe Running: Especially when doing the intervals, get up on the toes
of your feet. This increases elastic response and decreases travel time from
heel to push-off if you are a heel striker (as we all are to some degree or
another). Toe running is fatiguing, and most people cannot stay on the toes for
long until they train up to it, but it is the single best thing for instant
improvement and all the sites I went to said it was the best single thing to do
to reduce your times. Know too, however, that it is harder on the Achilles
tendon and so may make you more prone to injury so build up slowly to this run
style. It will also make your calves VERY sore in the beginning (but think of
the development you'll get from it!)
4). Lean slightly forward as you run. Not doing so puts your weight
behind your feet and your legs begin to perform a "braking" effect. This forward
leaning is especially important to do (although it is counterintuitive) on
downhill sections.
5). Arm swing: Keep the swing of your arms on the side of your body and
avoid crossing your chest with them as you run. That action twists your torso
out of the "forward" orientation that you want and transfers momentum to the
side as well. Swing arms vigorously at your sides from back to front -
especially uphill. I keep mine low when I am thinking fast so that I have a
greater centrifugal effect as I swing them.
6). Stride length: Avoid "striding" or taking long strides. It's faster
to take smaller but faster strides - especially if you're on your toes.
7). Belly breathing: Hunch the shoulders forward and use your diaphragm
(on the floor of your lungs) to force air into your belly instead of your chest.
It takes some practice and is a little awkward but oxygenates your muscles
better. If you're geek enough (like me) to care to measure your O2 intake
increase with this method, count your strides per breath when you breathe with
your chest, and then do the same for your belly breathing. You should see an
increase in number of strides per breaths when you belly breathe.
8). A Great Running Workout for Improving Speed Quickly
I have been doing a lot of reading on running performance training and one of my old roommates (who just moved back to town) has been advising me a lot too. He was on our college x-country team and used to run a 4:16 mile in High School!! For a little perspective, only two High School runners since 1967 have done a 4:00 minute mile. He turned me on to doing 1/4 mile training. Here's how it works (and boy! has it been working!)...
- Select a target goal for your one mile pace and divide that by four (example: if you wanna run a 13:00 two mile [max Army score], then divide it by 8 to get your target 1/4 mile pace. In this case, that's 1:38 seconds or 98 seconds). This'll give you a great idea of how fast you will need to go to max the run.
- Next, find a 1/4 mile course and shoot for running it in 98 seconds. It's short, so you can REALLY push it, right? Do that and see what happens.
- Next, rest by jogging this off for another 1/4 mile (active rest), and try the fast 1/4 mile again. This time, slow down just a little. Not a lot. Maybe 5%. It should be fast but not so hard that you could not maintain the pace for quite awhile. Your second 1/4 mile that you do with less intensity will likely be faster than the first!! Why? Because when you push hard, lactic acid builds up in the muscles and slows you down. Thus, you will run faster when you run less hard. Everything I've read and everything top runners have told me supports this. They say, "I run faster when I use less effort."
- Repeat this process (fast 1/4 followed by a recovery 1/4) four times.
- Do this for a week or two and then start doing the same thing with a 1/2 mile (target 3:15).
- You will no doubt notice that even your recovery 1/4 miles will soon be faster than you are running currently.
- What you are doing is training your fast twitch muscle fibers so that your running muscles get to where they know how to be fast. Plus, every time you increase the distance of the splits, you are teaching your body to have a higher threshold for speed before it tires out (higher lactic acid threshold). Both things will make you much faster in a hurry and you will have more overall energy even when you are not training. You'll feel great and your fitness will increase rapidly.
- For even better results, do this same training up hills when you are ready.
- NOTE: In my last email I talked about running on your toes. I did warn that this is harder on the Achilles tendon (which is about the worst injury you can have) but I want to reiterate that caution. Long distances on your toes are not well advised. Most people reserve toe running for sprinting or for intervals when running for distance. I think two miles is short enough to run most of it on toes if you are well conditioned for running, but please be careful with this. A good distance runner will still avoid heel striking completely, but will strike a little on the toe side of flat footed before pushing off rather than run on toes the whole way.
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