Well after being sick for the last 10 days I'm finally feeling up to testing myself for PAST scores. I've also realized for the time being, focusing on improving each of those exercises needs to be my primary goal, and I'll be adjusting my workout routine with that in mind.

I'll post my scores later this evening, and be retesting every Sunday.

Here's what I have in mind for my weekly workout:

~Saturday - Rest Day
~Sunday 4 mile ride to gym, PAST w/ 2 mile ride from pool to track. Back to gym for pull-up/push-up work.
~Monday 4 mile run to gym, interval runs and sit-up work, 4 mile run home.
~Tuesday 4 mile run to gym, pull-up/push-up work, 4 mile run home.
~Wednesday 4 mile run to gym, interval runs and sit-up work, 4 mile run home.
~Thursday 4 mile run to gym, pull-up/push-up work, 4 mile run home.
~Friday 4 mile run to gym, interval runs and sit-up work, 4 mile run home.

For pull-up/push-up work I had in mind something like this:
2 pull-ups, 10 push ups, upper body workout of the day
4 pull-ups, 20 push ups, upper body workout of the day
6 pull-ups, 30 push ups, upper body workout of the day
X pull-ups, Y push ups, upper body workout of the day
Where X and Y are the greatest number I can get without muscle failure. Once I get to X and Y I would work my way back down to 2 and 10. Then rest with a mile or 2 on the treadmill, repeat, another mile or 2, repeat, finish up with pull-up negatives.

For interval runs and sit-ups I was thinking the same as above, but:
200/400/600/800m runs instead of pull ups
Squats instead of push-ups
Lunges, or another lower-body workout, instead of the upper-body workout
Ab and core work instead of the mile or 2.

I will also be swimming every day except Saturday. I don't have a swimming routine yet because I know nothing about swimming. I ordered a few books that should help me figure things out though.

I based most of this off of
http://www.specialtactics.com/pjccttrainup.pdf
and
http://www.militaryfitnessmiami.com/military-fitness-creating-the-perfect-workout

Any input on this would be awesome. Thanks everyone!

First PAST is going to have to wait until next Sunday, pool wasn't open when I was there today.
I'll keep at that workout until then.

DavidLP,
Your schedule looks very run intensive, perhaps heavy on the distance work. I don't see anything in the swimming department other that the PAST. The cals seem pretty weak, unless the upper body workout of the day is going to address them. This plan appears to offer great running endurance, maybe some running speed, a lot of general fitness but possibly not much ability in swimming or cals.

In terms of training for the extensive miles that are required in the pipeline; does anyone have any advice on running form? More specifically foot landing. I've been running on the balls of my feet. This method is new to me but I've been told it's more efficient. Because this style is new to my calves, I sometimes get pain there. I always stop and rest it to prevent injury. I just don't want to end up putting myself out of commission before I even get to BMT.

Never mind I found the posts I needed.

Ok, did my first PAST.

Underwaters: Can do them. I usually use the flutter kick and go as fast as possible. I need to learn to slow down and do the frog kick properly.

500m swim: 14:10 - I knew this would be my weak spot, but I am confident I can easily drop at least 2 minutes this week as I learn the proper form and get more comfortable.

1.5 mile: 10:20 - Was running with a partner, but I could have gone a bit faster.

Pull Ups: 10

Sit Ups: 57

Push Ups: 37


I have at least a month before I even go to MEPS, so I'm feeling good about my levels right now. Just gotta make sure not to slack off.

Old-
1.5 mile: 10:20
Pull Ups: 10
Sit Ups: 57
Push Ups: 37

Got these yesterday-
1.5 mile: 9:54
Pull Ups: 11
Sit Ups: 64 I think
Push Ups: 47

swim is still suffering, have some new technique ideas to try tomorrow though, will hopefully drop below 12:00 on the 500m.

i was wondering, should I train for the 500m by just doing a lot of 500m swims? Just completing the swim is difficult for me at this point, but I was wondering if I should throw in pyramid sets or something into my swimming.

Thanks!

A good site for swimming work outs (or work outs in general) would be http://www.rescueathlete.com/.

They post daily work outs and have a pretty good community.

The swim portion for today's work out is...

swim
Warm-up
•3 x 100 freestyle easy freestyle

Tech / Drills
•4 x 50m Catch-up Free
•6 x 50m freestyle kick w/ kickboard (no fins)

Main Set
•3 x 200m (100m Fin on side / 100m freestyle) moderate
•5 x 100m freestyle w/ Fins moderate
•6 x 50m Fin Sprints

Cool Down - 1 x 100m Choice

What you are doing is clearly not working well for you, so why not stop and do some research and learn the proper form instead of guessing. The information is out there, I used a book called Total Immersion, which I've seen advertised on this forum.

Now granted you will only get better with more time in the water, but you need to make the most of that time by using the proper form. There are plenty of vids on youtube as well, so stop wasting your own time with bad form.

1st try
500m swim: 14:00
1.5 mile: 10:20
Pull Ups: 10
Sit Ups: 57
Push Ups: 37

2nd try
500m swim: 12:30
1.5 mile: 9:54
Pull Ups: 11
Sit Ups: 64 I think
Push Ups: 47

3rd try
500m swim: 11:15
1.5 mile: 9:36
Pull Ups: 11
Sit Ups: 72
Push Ups: 47

Almost there.

Thanks for the info crossfitsgt, NOtrainee.
I've actually been reading Total Immersion, and a few other swimming books, just had to get through those damn moto chapters before getting to the stuff that actually helped me swim properly.

I'll be finishing up my degree this fall before heading to BMT. Hopefully will get to MEPS within a month or two from now.

Good job now stick to it and keep drilling that form over and over.

I would look to add into daily work out If you can, try to knock out 10 pulls in the morning and another 10 before bed each day.
After the pulls do 2 sets of push-ups 20-25each, this should help you start to improve those #'s.

From there you can move to 2 sets 8-10, 3 sets of 25 and keep improving.

1st try
500m swim: 14:00
1.5 mile: 10:20
Pull Ups: 10
Sit Ups: 57
Push Ups: 37

2nd try
500m swim: 12:30
1.5 mile: 9:54
Pull Ups: 11
Sit Ups: 64 I think
Push Ups: 47

3rd try
500m swim: 11:15
1.5 mile: 9:36
Pull Ups: 11
Sit Ups: 72
Push Ups: 47

4th try
500m swim: 11:10
1.5 mile: 9:24
Pull Ups: 11
Sit Ups: 62 (not sure what happened there...)
Push Ups: 53

That swim is still killing me.. Underwaters are easy enough though.

swim down to 10:55, almost there.

Latest:
500m swim: 10:30
1.5 mile: 9:30
Pull Ups: 12
Sit Ups: 65
Push Ups: 48

Just found out that I was swimming 12 laps when I only needed a bit less than 11. I should get about 9:30-9:45 on my next go.

Latest:
500m swim: 9:10
1.5 mile: 9:18
Pull Ups: 13

Didn't do the sit ups or push ups this time due to a hip flexor strain. Thought it was better but the run aggravated it again and I decided I should let it recover some more.

Got my application in last week.

Finally got approved to go to MEPS! Thought it never was going to happen. Will hopefully go in the next week or two.

So where are you at now with your PT?

I haven't had a chance to go through the PAST in a while. My school doesn't have any sort of pool nearby to do the water portion in, although I have done a decent amount of ocean swimming.

I'd guess that my 500m time will be slightly improved. Run, sit ups, and push ups are definitely improved, but I think I will probably still be around 12-13 pull ups.

When I get back to school from MEPs (going on the 5th, finally!) I'll finally have some transportation, so I'll run through the PAST and let you know.

Well, I ran through the PAST this morning. Didn't have a chance to get breakfast first and had to ride my bike pretty far before and after the swim. Excuses aside, I passed, but still need to do much better.

500m - 10:00
1.5 mile - 8:55
pull ups - 11
Sit ups - 55
Push ups - 52

Officially taking the PAST tomorrow

Good luck David, let us know how it goes

Thanks, but it was rescheduled until early December haha.

Hey, more time to train.

First post.. prior enlisted, served back in the 80s...

My son (17 and Jr in High School) is an excellent athlete (Wrestling and golf). He had been training for the past 6 months with his buddy (who was headed to SEALs before he injured his shoulder). Enough background. My son has turned his attention towards PJs and why I've joined this board, to learn as much as I can about the AF Spec Ops. Thanks, its all great information.

HIs recent unofficial PST scores (his buddy times them and knows the proper technique as he was contracted for seals before his injury)
swim: 9:48
Pushups: 104
Situps 112
Pullups 21
Run 9:35

His goal is now to really work hard on reducing his swim and run times. He is also an advanced Open water scuba certified. If any of you know a PJ in the Colorado area that you believe would be willing to sit and talk with my son, please send me a private message and I'll give you our contact information. thanks

Flodad,
I don't think your son's friends can be relied upon to give accurate feedback on proper form for cals. Their interpretation of acceptable form is probably very different from what a USAF Operator (PJ, CCT, SOWT) would find acceptable.

It is possible but very very rare for a trainee to get 104 push ups and virtually unknown for one to get 112 sit ups when evaluated by an actual Operator. 21 is abpuit the 85th or 90th percentile for pull ups. The swim time is OK, but it is good to work at being faster. The run time is good so I wouldn't spend too much time working on that.

Instructors are likely to be VERY critical of cals, looking for at least a 90 degree elbow bend at bottom of push up and completely straight elbow at the top of the movement. Likewise, they will want to see the shoulder blades touch the ground on the down phase of sit ups and the back break a 90 degree angle in the up phase. The adams aple must clearly rise above the bar in the up phase of pull ups and the elbows must straighten to a "deadhang" position at the bottom of the pull up.

We regularly give the PAST at our STS in Kentucky since each ANG unit recruites its own Operators. We have not had anyone in over 20 years hit those Cal scores with an Operator evaluating the exercises. We have had some Applicants claim scores in this region before they took the test with us. Most of them scored about 20% lower when evaluated by an Operator.

My advice is for your son to conduct his practice PASTs with very strict form. Touch chest to ground in down phase, arm locked straight in the up phase of push ups. Touch back to ground on down phase and chest to thighs on up phase of sit ups, while ensuring hands are clasped behind head, feet remain on ground and butt remains in constant contact with the ground. Chest should touch bar in the up phase of pull ups and elbows should be fully extended straight in the down phase. If he does this he will be exceeding the standard and can only do better when an Operator evaluates him on the real PAST.

Good luck to your son and good on you for taking an active interest in his career path.

Thanks for the feedback Guard MC.

I know he is a good athlete and has made alot of progress over the past year but seeing all the lower scores on the Cals for folks being selected, made me ask the question. We have reached out several times trying to get a recruiter to set us up with a special Ops PJ /CCT to talk to but have yet been sucessful. Hopefully we will be able to get ahold of the recruiter and get something setup. Thanks

Just a quick update... Guard, your input was "spot on". The order of events and the techniques were different enough to dramatically impact his scores. He will "unofficially" meet with a PJ this week to run him through a mock PAST and expect his scores to drop significantly. On the positive side, he's a junior in HS and has a lot of time to train. He did run a 1.5Mile on the track this weekend with a time of 8:45, and with ensuring he cleared his adams apple when doing chinups he stil was able to knock out 15. Pushups will proably be around 50-60 and situps around 60-65.

quick update under the eyes of a PAST administrator
UW passed
500M - 9:02
Run -8:48
Pushups 64
Situps 68
Pullups 17

This gives him a good baseline to measure progress. He was also able to swim 2500M (without fins) using FS and combat side stroke. He plans to locate a Total Imersion coach (and in the meantime get the book and watch some youtube videos on it) to help improve his swim. He also went ahead and joined the track team just to get some work in on the track. He made the team in the mile (5:29).

Flodad,
Your son's scores are right up where you want them to be. This is a solid starting point. Keep up the good work. Joining Track will certainly help his run. If he finds time to swim or do cals before school or after practice, he should keep improving. Track Practice can be quite long and can really wear a guy out so I always preferred to do the cals or swim a few hours before practice. I always swam hard on my easy run days and always did failure sets of cals on my easy run days, too. Seemed that speed work at running just didn't leave anything for my swim or cals.

Track is also great for teaching pace. One of the hardest things to teach any athlete is to pace themselves for a given event. This is true for all physical activity. Once you learn to pace yourself on the track, you learn to flirt with the ragged edge of failure, then back off a little. Once this is learned for running, it easily translates (with lots of practice) into other activities. I used the pacing skills learned in Cross Country and Track in the PAST, Pipeline Workouts, ruck marches, and every other physical activity we did in the Pipeline. Your son has a great opportunity to learn a useful skill, I hope he makes the most of it AND has FUN doing it!