Posted on Jul 20, 2016
SPC(P) Geospatial Intelligence Imagery Analyst
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SGM Erik Marquez
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Edited 8 y ago
You are going to hate this answer yet is it is factual.

Most days, I woke up and went to work doing stuff....occasionally I slept in till 6am and then woke up and did stuff at home.(this was that elusive thing known as "weekends")

Every few months (seemed like once a week sometimes but was more like 6 months or so) I was told this morning there was an APFT...and I did less stuff that morning with less physical stress then most any other day.
end result was APFT scores that were "Max"

Im not a gym rat, not a runner, dont do pilates or yoga.
I went to work and did PT, then lots of physical activity from the time I got back from chow till I went home. I ran, walked, lifted, squatted, carried, pushed all manner of things all day, changed tires, broke track, carried water cans and ammo crates here and there, was tasked to the supply room to "move stuff", tasked to the BN to "Move stuff", later, as rank was earned, I led those men in doing the same.. I was never a arms crossed watcher..I was, am a do it like this...leader
Did combat focused training, for , well training, but also as sport, play, competition. Machine crew that could move, set up, place into action, fire, take down and move to alt position the fastest got bragging rights and a early day off. At home I walked , ran, lifted, played...pressed transmission up into place, held water pumps with fingertips as they were bolted in place, lifted motorcycl wheels to align axles, pushed a lawnmower, chased kids and dogs...
The only time I worked at creating a PT plan was to do so for others, as a MFT for the unit, as a leader for my Soldiers, as an SME for other leaders.
For myself, I just work up, went to work and went home, did stuff then went to sleep. Worked well for 28 years.
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LTJG Student Naval Aviator (Sna)
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Muscle confusion. I do 150 push ups, sit ups and 50 pull ups a day and run, but I do variations of each. Sometimes wide grip push ups, sometimes incline push ups, sometimes I run up hill sometimes I do 60/120s. That and I hit the gym for a little bit every day. And don't eat awful
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SFC Infantryman
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Edited 8 y ago
The real question is this, are you conducting physical training for a PT score, or are you trying to build up a functional base that focuses on your combat chassis? I would say you really need to think about the difference between the two.

On one hand you could have a guy around 260/270 that has the ability to do excel at explosive movements and your core lifts I.E squad, deadlift, bench, power clean; then a guy that max's a PT test and can't deadlift his own bodyweight. In terms of the combat Soldier, the ability to move across the battlefield is more important than "maxing" a PT test. Off my soap box, and on to your question!

In trying to build up your APFT score, the most important part is knowing exactly where your baseline in, utilizing a no nonsense assessment and not BSing yourself. From there you can build a comprehensive program that focuses on building on those baselines by maximizing your abilities. This is usually done over a 5 week period, and from what I've implemented at the squad and platoon level I 've seen an improvement of 20 reps per event and around a minute to a minute and a half shaved off the run.

Everything is a day off day on approach, you can fit this in easily with other programs to specifically hit your APFT events:
P/U
5 rounds every 60 sec:
35% of your max reps scored on APFT
Once complete with all 5, 1 round P/U max reps/to failure

S/U
Same formula

Run: Focus on 200m and 800m intervals for two days of the week. The focus here is to far exceed your 2 mile pace. I.E if you are averaging a 7 minute mile you need to be shooting for a 5 min mile pace or better on your interval split.

Alternate run day:
4 rounds of 1 mile interval at designated pace with a 3 minute rest between miles. We usually shoot for about 30 seconds faster than average than our recorded time. I.E if you are running a 7 minute mile on average, we want to shoot for a 6:30 on these splits.

Each week you need to add 5-10% of your percentages to increase your workload. Everything on this is based on effort, if you put in the work you will see improvement, and it all conforms with PRT regs, so if you need to use it at the unit level for remedial PT you should receive no gruff.

I have this all spelled out in a powerpoint so if any of the team needs the 5 week workup with the interval tables, hit me up on .MIL and I will work to get it to you. Forward right now, so it may take 24 hours.
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