<p>I'm in my freshman year and I was wondering if anyone had an exceptional workout routine that I could start now to prepare for the CFA.</p>
<p>The best preparation for something is doing that something. Practice does make [almost] perfect. You have to run, so run. You have to do push-ups and sit-ups, so work on those. You have to do pull-ups, shuttle runs, and basketball tosses, so practice them.</p>
<p>Try joining track or cross-country -- great bases for running endurance and speed. Wrestling and swimming also help endurance and strength. Really work on pull-ups. You can do an ab workout every morning after you wake up, at practice, and once before bed (So if you only do 100 sit-ups in each setting, that makes 300 a day. Of course, you're going to do push-ups with those too, so that makes 300 push-ups too. Increase as needed.). Trust me on that. My coach got me hooked on ab workouts a long time ago, and now I don't regret it.</p>
<p>If you're looking for specifics, check out Stew Smith on Google.
USNA Summer Seminar Work-out
<a href="http://www.stewsmith.com/linkpages/usnasummerseminar.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.stewsmith.com/linkpages/usnasummerseminar.htm</a></p>
<p>List of Articles
<a href="http://www.military.com/NewContent/0,13190,Smith_Index,00.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.military.com/NewContent/0,13190,Smith_Index,00.html</a></p>
<p>The Best 20-minute workouts:
<a href="http://www.military.com/NewContent/0,13190,Smith_040123,00.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.military.com/NewContent/0,13190,Smith_040123,00.html</a></p>
<p>Your name is Soccerguy, so do you play soccer? Even though I never did soccer, I have seen them practice and I know if your team runs as much as the ones around, you will most likely be good in the running. I would try to also get into the track or cross country team depending on which season soccer and season track/x country is around you. </p>
<p>Just don't overexert yourself, work out 4 days, rest 3. If your body doesn't get enough cool down time, you are more libal to tear something and also during this cool down time your body will build up new muscle. Although that applies more to heavy weight lifting, it still holds true for most physical work. </p>
<p>An easy workout though to help get you in shape is this: Do as many pull/push/ and sit ups as you can for a week. The next week add 5-10 push/sit ups, and 1-2 pull ups, and keep doing that for however long. With running I just started out with a mile, and then kept adding a 1/4 of a mile each week untill I got to where I wanted to be. There are also a multitude of push ups and sit/curl ups you can do that will work the same areas, but make it harder or isolate your muscles a bit more then the standard push up or curl/sit ups. You can do a quick google search to find pictures and videos of these better then I can describe them in writing. Another thing with running, is I did a Day 1 length work out, day 2 speed, day 3 length, day 4 speed. Practicing speed will work your muscles different then running length, and both are important in running.</p>
<p>The most important thing about anything posted in this theard, find something that works for you and keep at it. What I posted above is what I did for many years (I didn't do it just to train for USMA, I did it as training when I couldn't hit the gym on a regular basis). And even though it worked for me, that doesn't mean it will work for you. And another important thing is look at the average scores for the CFA, and try to score WAY over that.</p>
<p>Good luck on getting in when it is your time to apply.</p>
<p>Do the events on the CFA to practice and you'll be prepared.</p>
<p>Specificity.</p>
<p>In my experiance, I find that if you work daily on specific events you will gain one rep a week. ie if you work pushups everyday for a week you will gain at least one rep that week, which seems really slow, but it has never failed me, even with pullups, as soon as I finally did my first pullup, each week I increased by one that I worked my back daily (They say don't work the same muscles everyday, but it seemed to work well when I was short on time. Pineapple makes the pain stop! Eat it and drink some protein shakes...thats how I reached 6 pullups in a little over a month from where I could do 0. Now I can do about 9 or 10 which isnt stellar, but I don't work them everyday right now)</p>
<p>I only used it when I first started training about a year ago but the Citadel has an interesting guide to training for the fitness test. </p>
<p>They have a lot of variatiosn to keep you interested. I personally prefer doing the actual exercise thats being tested...Except pullups, pulldowns are a must if you want to increase reps, as you want to do more than your body weight (or if your in terrible shape, less...my coach started me off by doing pyramid pulls...i could do one at the time...and then when I was dogged, I jumped on pulldowns, doing them till I couldnt move my arms.)</p>
<p>If you're trying to get stronger, you want to build muscle, and the only way to that is give ur body sufficient rest time, which is at least 48 hours. Many people, including myself, work out Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Adding weight training into your workouts will also really help as well as eating right. Quit drinking pop and eating a lot of fat, but up your protein and carb intake....One other thing, I took creatine last year to "get big" for football, it worked, but I ended up pulling my ab muscles because everything was so tight, so I would sya stay away from supplements.</p>
<p>I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you do pushups 7 days a week, you're not going to improve a fast as if u did them M, W, F with other workouts. On top of weight training, I use a Navy Seal Workout that is a 9 week program from improving push ups, sit ups, pull ups and running: <a href="http://www.teenbodybuilding.com/brent2.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.teenbodybuilding.com/brent2.htm</a></p>
<p>If you need a good weight training routine, I can send you mine, just IM me: jsmitty234</p>
<p>Lol jdsmith206, thats my approach exactly, but my coach, a marine, did it that way (in the corps) and it worked fine on him, and it seemed to work for me as far as reps go. Weight training is different..I go M,W,F upper body, T, Th, Su lower body, and run 4 days a week. Sometimes I split the upper body into two sections and neglect the lower body though. Saturday is always the 13 mile run:) if i can get my lazy but up.</p>
<p>In X-Country season I did no weight training whatsoever though. It was running everyday, in peak season 3-6 miles a day with 9-13 on saturday (sunday was usually biking or off, and thursdays were usually an easy jog) ...Still haven't run a marathon...been thinking about it though...</p>
<p>Wow, I just read my post...lots of mistakes:-/....o well i was in a hurry. </p>
<p>Ragman, 13 miles is an awful long way, yet you make it seem like it's no big deal. I've never run more than 6 miles! Will you be at West Point next year?</p>
<p>Definatley go for the marathon, ragmanlaw-- completing one is probably one of the biggest confidence boosters ever. Training up for one usually takes 2-3 months, though it might take you slightly less since you've already run distances for a while. Are you thinking of doing one before June 26th?... Cuz time's ticking....</p>
<p>out here in texas, a lot of people do the bataan death march. i got suckered into doing it one year. 26.2 miles with 35 lbs in an alice pack! ack!</p>
<p>Like I said I've been thinking about it, I have actually never run the 26 miles before. I mean, I know I could do it (its not like I am gonna drop dead or something, and I dont stop running no matter how much it sucks, hurts, or any other whiny excuse people use to trail off into a walk without finishing properly) 13 miles IS A LOT, btw, but it sure makes 3 miles (X-Country) or 2 miles (APFT), seem like a walk in the park so its well worth it. Also my pace is pretty slow on these longer runs, gotta be about 8-8:30 mile on anything longer than 3 miles. My biggest problem is I get very very bored on these runs. I practically become oblivious of my surroundings, one time I ran into someone, and I've had my share of trips due to just not paying attention...Its not fun sliding face first on asphalt!</p>
<p>Were you out there this year, ADA? I was luckily in the JROTC category-- meaning no weight other than your camel back :D</p>