What is Your Weakness? Test and Find Out
Assess or Guess - Your Choice

One of the most effective strategies to excel in military fitness tests is to simulate the real thing before the actual assessment. This week, one of our group workouts focused on evaluating our strengths and weaknesses by conducting practice tests. We tackled the Navy Physical Screening Test (PST) and the Air Force Special Warfare Initial Fitness Test (AFSW-IFT). These exercises are mandatory for candidates aspiring to join elite units such as the Navy SEALs, SWCC, Diver/EOD, Rescue Swimmer in the Navy, and Pararescue, Combat Controller, and Special Recon in the Air Force. Although these tests include identical events, they are performed in different sequences.

The journey begins with the following tests:

Navy PST:
500-yard swim
Pushups (2 minutes)
Situps (2 minutes)
Pullups (max reps)
1.5-mile timed run

Air Force IFT:
Pullups (max reps)
Situps (2 minutes)
Pushups (2 minutes)
1.5-mile run
2 x 25-meter underwater swims (with 3-minute rest in between)
500-meter swim

Preparation Without Testing Is Guesswork

Your future in these competitive programs hinges on passing these tests. Through consistent practice, you gain insights into effective test strategies, including pacing, fueling, hydrating, and identifying areas for improvement. Many candidates' dreams of joining spec ops units are dashed because they were ill-prepared and didn’t conduct self-assessments prior to the actual test.

Target Weaknesses Post-Test

After the test, address your weakest performance areas even if you’re fatigued. Here’s how you can focus on your weaknesses:

Running
If running is your weakness, head to the track and refine your pacing through interval training. For instance, if aiming for a 9-minute 1.5-mile run but achieving 10:30, practice 6-minute mile pace intervals: Select 400m, 800m or 1200m interval distances as desired:

Repeat 4 times:
Run 800 meters in 3 minutes.
Walk 200 meters

Swimming
If swimming is your weak spot, return to the pool with the 50/50 Swim Workout:

Repeat 10 times:
Swim 50 meters freestyle fast
Swim 50 meters using an easy stroke (CSS or breaststroke)
Aim to rest minimally; use the easy swim as active recovery.

Calisthenics
PT Pyramid If calisthenics is your challenge, add more reps of pullups, pushups, and sit-ups using the to create a secondary workout that yields another 100 pullups, 200 pushups, and 300 sit-ups in 19 sets using the classic 1-10-1 pyramid:

You start at the bottom of the pyramid, at number one. You set the number by 1 for each set, which tells you how many pullups to do. You multiply it by 2 to get your pushups and by 3 for sit-ups. So, you keep progressing until you get to the top of the pyramid, or your MAX At step ten you perform 10 pullups/ 20 pushups/30 sit-ups. Now, you start working your way back down the other side. So, the next set you do will be at step 9 on the way back down. So, you'll do 9 pullups/18 pushups/27 sit-ups. Keep going until you work back down to one. So here is a number summary of the pyramid:

Go up the pyramid: (or half pyramid workout)
Set/Step 1: 1 pullups/2 pushups/3 situps
Set/Step 2: 2 pullups/4 pushups/6 situps
Set/Step 3: 3 pullups/6 pushups/9 situps
Set/Step 4: 4 pullups/8 pushups/12 situps
Set/Step 5: 5 pullups/10 pushups/15 situps (Your first set sets are basically a warmup)
Set/Step 6: 6 pullups/12 pushups/18 situps
Set/Step 7: 7 pullups/14 pushups/21 situps
Set/Step 8: 8 pullups/16 pushups/24 situps
Set/Step 9: 9 pullups/18 pushups/27 situps
Set/Step 10: 10 pullups/20 pushups/30 situps (Here is where you should fail / max out)

Go down the pyramid: (or reverse order pyramid = toughest to easiest number of reps)
Set/Step 9: 9 pullups/18 pushups/27 situps
Set/Step 8: 8 pullups/16 pushups/24 situps
Set/Step 7: 7 pullups/14 pushups/21 situps
Set/Step 6: 6 pullups/12 pushups/18 situps
Set/Step 5: 5 pullups/10 pushups/15 situps (Still tough until this point reaching failure at every level)
Set/Step 4: 4 pullups/8 pushups/12 situps
Set/Step 3: 3 pullups/6 pushups/9 situps
Set/Step 2: 2 pullups/4 pushups/6 situps
Set/Step 1: 1 pullups/2 pushups/3 situps (Finish cool down)

In conclusion, the pyramid has a warmup, max out, and cooldown built in and will definitely help you with your PT scores.

Other creative ideas:

ADD: Dips to the exercises for additional triceps /shoulder burn. I usually do the same number of dips as pullups.

ADD: Running 400m goal pace runs each set to add more running at goal pace mixed with calisthenics if you need to do two weaknesses in one session.

ADD: Swimming PT if swimming is the weakness and you need to work on calisthenics too:

Repeat 10 times
Swim 100m CSS at goal pace (or 50/50 option)
- Pushups 20
- Sit-ups 20
- Pullouts 10 – muscle up on the pool deck.

Assess, test, and reinforce your weaknesses. This targeted approach ensures your chances of moving past the acceptance phase and thriving in spec ops training. Unaddressed weaknesses will be exposed once the real training begins. By consistently challenging and improving your shortcomings, you dramatically increase your likelihood of success.

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