getting fit for the Airforce!

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Need help getting fit enough to pass the physical for the Airforce! There is a 1.5 mile run that I have to complete in under 10:20 and right now, I am just finishing a mile in 10 minutes. I have to be able to do 47 pushup in 1 minutes and 50 crunches in 1 minute. Help please!

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  • rez2012
    rez2012 Posts: 39 Member
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    Former Air Force vet here. First off, your standards are a little off. Secondly, are you trying to get a 100% on the test or just trying to pass? Bc the standards you posted are for a perfect score. Max points for run under 10:23, max points for push ups 47, max points sit ups 54. You can already run a 10 min 1.5 which is damn good and max points...you don't get extra points for running it faster. If you want to drop the time I would suggest doing some sprint workouts. As for push ups...you need to do push ups to get better at them. So do as many push ups as you can until failure then get on your knees and continue to push. Adding upper body weight training to that only speeds up the process. Overall, focusing on the push ups is key. The same goes for sit ups...train using the the Air Force standard sit up technique. Again, adding other core exercises will only benefit you. Again, the standards you posted are for a perfect score just bc you don't get above that number you fail...just give it your all. It's pretty easy and you can already run great. Try not to stress about it. Btw, what's your job? Thanks for serving.
  • SonicDeathMonkey80
    SonicDeathMonkey80 Posts: 4,489 Member
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    Ummm... those standards are for the 100%, like rez said. Supposedly, only 10% ever score that. Have you talked to a recruiter yet?
  • Sheyanne0747
    Sheyanne0747 Posts: 9 Member
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    rez2012 wrote: »
    Former Air Force vet here. First off, your standards are a little off. Secondly, are you trying to get a 100% on the test or just trying to pass? Bc the standards you posted are for a perfect score. Max points for run under 10:23, max points for push ups 47, max points sit ups 54. You can already run a 10 min 1.5 which is damn good and max points...you don't get extra points for running it faster. If you want to drop the time I would suggest doing some sprint workouts. As for push ups...you need to do push ups to get better at them. So do as many push ups as you can until failure then get on your knees and continue to push. Adding upper body weight training to that only speeds up the process. Overall, focusing on the push ups is key. The same goes for sit ups...train using the the Air Force standard sit up technique. Again, adding other core exercises will only benefit you. Again, the standards you posted are for a perfect score just bc you don't get above that number you fail...just give it your all. It's pretty easy and you can already run great. Try not to stress about it. Btw, what's your job? Thanks for serving.

    Thank you so much! This makes things a lot easier! They point you out at graduation
  • Sheyanne0747
    Sheyanne0747 Posts: 9 Member
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    Also thanks for your service!
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    From experience, sit back and eat all the pies ;)

    But in all seriousness I'd echo the point from sonic above. Go and see the recruiters and find out the actual standards that you need to reach. That figure is somewhat lower than the minimum standard to join the Royal Air Force, but somewhat higher than the best scoring times. That said, the Recruit Fitness Test is a pass/ fail whereas the in-service fitness testing for all three UK services have graded scoring.

    As far as preparation is concerned, the advice that I'd normally offer would be to look at the kind of phys that's done in new entry training and aim to replicate that rather than merely the entry tests. The better you can do the phys in training the less likely you are to end up on remedial phys, so you free up time to focus on the other parts of training. It's a very easy win.

    That means broadly running, and a fair amount of bodyweight circuit work. For my own service, admittedly not AF, I'd anticipate being able to comfortably run 10Km in the first week of training. If you get yourself onto a plan to run for that distance you should be smashing the new entry standard fairly easily.

    Equally, as far as resistance training is concerned, something like You Are Your Own Gym is decent preparation. And the author in that case knows what he's about as he's a former USAF Combat Controller and PTI.

    All the best with it
  • amychris2015
    amychris2015 Posts: 22 Member
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    Air Force here this is what I got on my last PT test: 50pushup 1 min= 10 pts max, 47 sit-ups=1 min for 9, and a 15:20 1.5 for 46 and some change. Passed
  • wildtxn
    wildtxn Posts: 97 Member
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    From an US Army perspective, I would agree that incorporating some sprint training or fartlek training will greatly help at improving your overall run times. For pushups, getting into the gym and doing some upper body work will help but so will doing lots and lots of pushups. We used to get into a pushup position with our hands on a scale to find that weight, put that on a bench press and then do as many as we could in our time limit for several sets. I think the most I ever got on a PT test was 127 in 2min. I struggled with situps due to hip issues half the time so proper stretching to be warmed up and doing lots of ab work should help.

    Keep in mind that most services do have a minimum and maximum score you need to achieve. Most also have a minimum ENTRANCE score you need to achieve which should be different than the one close to graduation day. I can't vouch for AF but in the US ARMY if you could pass the entrance version, you would do more than enough working out to breeze through the final.
  • AllanMisner
    AllanMisner Posts: 4,140 Member
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    Need help getting fit enough to pass the physical for the Airforce! There is a 1.5 mile run that I have to complete in under 10:20 and right now, I am just finishing a mile in 10 minutes. I have to be able to do 47 pushup in 1 minutes and 50 crunches in 1 minute. Help please!

    I did the same thing. I wanted to be able to max the PT test before I went in. Being able to run a mile, do 15 push ups, and 15 sit-ups (maybe they’re using crunches now), will be more than enough to get you in. They’ll put you through training to get you up to standard.

    These days, I hear the military is doing a better job of physical training. When I was in, they had us way overtraining and forced us through training even when facing injury (I was US Army Infantry). I was able to pass the PT test (just barely), when I was maxing it prior to enlisting. Once I was on my own to train (at my unit), I rebuilt and was back to maxing when I left active duty.
  • Sheyanne0747
    Sheyanne0747 Posts: 9 Member
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    Thank ya'll so much for all your input. It has helped a lot :)