Stew Smith Fitness News

            If you take a look at one of the pyramids, you will notice that it is numbered on both sides. It goes from 1-5 on one side, with the number 6 on the top, and then 5-1 on the other side. Each number represents a step in the pyramid. Your goal is to climb the pyramid all the way up, and all the way back down. So you can consider each step a "set" of your workout. At the bottom, you will find "pullups x 1, pushups x 2, situps x 3". What this...

Every year, I have the honor of exercising with America's Heroes of Tomorrow bright and early at the Naval Academy during a one week course called Summer Seminar. At 0530, Tuesday morning I exercised with over 700 motivated High School seniors who are more than likely to become Midshipmen in the Class of 2009! The goal of the workout is to show the future Midshipmen that PT can be a stress reliever NOT a stress increaser IF they arrive prepared for the daily grind of military/boot camp style of physical training. Military PT is the one stress you can control...

Even though you may be working out several times per week, many get into a rut of doing the same old routine. It is true that this “rut” is better than the alternative of not exercising at all, but it can lead to plateaus in progress whether your ultimate goal is performance or aesthetics based. This can be somewhat de-motivating. A recent email prompted me to create a method for people to develop goals by using a standard PFT style program for testing.Do you have any previous research on making physical fitness tests to give my workout group some goals...

This week I received an email from a soldier who writes:Every time I take the PFT, I ace the PT part but my run is much worse than if I ran first. Does the PT take that much out of me that I cannot run my normal pace had I not done the PT first?As with any test, you have to learn how to take tests to score better. There are entire schools and curricula devoted to helping students pass the SAT, ACT and even the ASVAB. The schools are not so much devoted to teaching subjects, but showing students...

The physical fitness tests of all branches of the military and other special units have differing exercises, standards, and distances in runs and swims. This week’s article is a one-stop location for answers to the many different PFTs in our Department of Defense. The Army physical fitness test consists of a 2 mile run, sit-ups and push-ups. Check out his link: Army PFT Scores - for answers to exact numbers needed and grades received for the army test. See this link for specific guidance on getting in shape to score an outstanding score of 300. West Point - See how...