Here is some useful information if you are interested in signing up for the Army. You will need to pass the Army Physical Fitness Test which is made up of three different events, but knowing what will be required of you will give you an edge in the testing. When preparing yourself for the fit tests, you will want to make sure that you can do them within the time limits. Practicing these events would be a great idea, so that you know what you are made of before you show up for testing day.
Here are the three events that you will have to pass in the Army Physical Fitness Test. The events are listed in the required order you will have to perform them.
-Push-ups
-Sit-ups
-2-mile run
You perform the events in the order listed above, and you will have to take at least 10 minutes to recover and no more than 20 minutes to recover before moving on to the next event.
Push-up event (2 minutes) – This event will test the endurance of your chest, shoulder, and triceps muscles. Depending on your age, there is a specific standard of push-ups you will need to perform in two minutes.
Sit-up event (2 minutes) – Sit-ups will test the endurance of your hip-flexors and abdominal muscles. Again, depending on your age, there is a standard amount of sit-ups you will need to do in that two-minute time frame.
2-mile event – This cardio event will challenge the endurance of your respiratory system and legs, and of course there is a time limit depending on your age.
Now lets talk about the part of the body that actually propels you forward…your legs. Lets face it, you could not run if you had no legs. There is a difference between sprinting and endurance running. If you are sprinting, you will want to lift your knees up higher for maximum power, but we are focusing on endurance running. With endurance it is not necessary to bring your knees up as high as would if you were sprinting, you simply could not keep that pace for a long endurance run. You do not want a long stride, nor do you want a very short stride, but you want to make sure that you feel comfortable in your stride. It is better to be on the shorter side of stride, than the longer side. You will save energy and will protect your knees better.
It all starts with your head, if your head is correct it is easier for your body to fall into position. So make sure you are not looking down. I blame treadmills for the bad habit of looking down, because when people run on a treadmill they always tend to look down at the clock, their distance, or maybe they are looking to see how many calories they have burned. For whatever reason it is, it is teaching bad habits. There are even certain treadmills that have TV’s installed that help people get in the bad habit of looking down. We need to look ahead, face forward, look to the horizon. When you keep your eyes ahead it will align your head with your spine, and you will help your body to last longer during the workout.
