FBI Fitness Test Workout (EBOOK)

Contact Stew Smith (Email, mail)

As part of the downloadable, you do have access to email me at any time and I will answer your questions as soon as possible.  Below are the different ways to contact me for any of the products and services at www.stewsmith.com.

Mail and email addresses:
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PO Box 122
Severna Park MD 21146
Email - stew@stewsmith.com

FREE Videos in this Book

In this product, there are free downloadable video offers that demonstrate exercises and show techniques in motion.  If you purchased the book version, just email me and we will get the videos links to you to view.

© Stew Smith MMXIX - All rights reserved.  Any part of this book may NOT be reproduced without the permission of the author.  Any unauthorized transmission electronic or printed is prohibited.                

About the FBI Academy Entrance PFT

This Fitness Guide is written to help prepare people who are seeking to become FBI agents pass the New Agent's Mandatory Physical Fitness Test. The workout you can download is a Seven Week program that has been successfully tested with FBI Academy candidates / now graduates during the past decade who either trained with me online with the Stew Smith PT Club or locally with my Heroes of Tomorrow training programs.  

Learning HOW to take this fitness test is the key to excellence.  The profession if highly competitive.  You do not have your first meeting with the FBI Agent recruiters to place you onto the PT failure list.  If you made that mistake already, the good news is that you can ace the test.  BUT - You have to get on a program of exercising specifically for the fitness test – not bodybuilding, not powerlifting, but running and calisthenics. 

FREE FBI PFT CLINIC VIDEO

FBI PFT Video Link

25 minute video

See related articles for detailed TIPS:

PFT Anxiety

Need for Speed on 300m and 1.5 mile runs

Drop Your Mile Pace in Timed Runs

Proper Sit-ups for PFT

More FBI PT Related Articles

Tools and insight to help people get results
faster, easier, and more efficiently

Here is a quick routine not many people know about that has been helping people gain 50-100+% on their PT Test scores in 14 days for over 20 years!  These are supplemental programs not replacement programs so add these additional reps to this program if you want to try the PUSH Workouts.  You should count the reps in the ebook workout toward your daily totals.

Quick Fixes to PT Scores

See methods to increase PT scores significantly in a 14-day period.

14-day plan to increase your PT by 50-100%

Pushup Push – With this supplemental plan, you could increase your Pushups significantly in two weeks.

Pull-up Push – With this supplemental plan, you could increase your Pull-ups significantly in two weeks.

Sit-ups Push - Learn to GOAL-PACE yourself and build up your score in two weeks.

About the FBI Academy Entrance PFT

This Fitness Guide is written to help prepare people who are seeking to become FBI agents pass the New Agent's Mandatory Physical Fitness Test. The workout you can download is a program that has been successfully tested with FBI Academy candidates / now graduates during the past five years who either trained with me online with the Stew Smith PT Club or locally with my personal training programs.  

You will also be required to perform what is called the New Agents PFT which is:

As competitive as it is to enter the FBI Academy, it is highly recommended to achieve maximum scores on the above test. A sample above average highly competitive score would be the following:

Pushups –                            50-60+
300m Run -                          Men 40-45 seconds
Women                                50-55 seconds
1.5 mile run -                       Men 9:00 -10:30
Women                               10:30 - 12:00

To achieve the above scores may take at least six weeks or more even if you are fairly active and workout regularly. Here are some sample workouts to help boost your scores:

Your calisthenics workouts should consist of the above exercises performed every other day for a total of 3-4 times per week. The day of PT rest will help your muscles recover and be able to gain more reps in during the test. Also practice perfect form but do each of the exercises as fast as you can. Speed and endurance is your goal.

Pullup pyramid - See pullup workout for ideas to increase pullups.

Supersets workout for pushups and situps - See this workout for ideas to increase pushups and situps. These 20-30 minute workouts really work.

There are a few things you can supplement with the FBI Academy Workout plan, but most of it is learning how to take the test.  Think of it as studying to take the college SATs.  Remember learning HOW to take those tests.  Your scores got better, but did you really get any smarter?  No you just had a strategy and an understanding of how the test worked.  The same holds true for physical fitness testing.  Think of this article as the Barron’s Guide to the PFT.

Pre- Test Eating plan.  I like to eat / drink foods with good carbohydrates in them for immediate energy.  I have seen big success with apples / baby carrots personally for physical tests, but many people like chocolate milk in addition to a high complex carb pre-test power snack about an hour prior to testing.  DO NOT TRY THIS ON TEST DAY without testing it on a practice test as it may or may not be the right fuel for you.

Warmup well with a light jog / stretch of the legs and torso to prep for the run and max situp test:

1 - Max Situps in 1:00

Focus on pacing the situps.  I have found that if you can muscle memory the pace you need for the goal score you want then the one minute test is a lot easier.  Where people fail is that they sprint the first 30 seconds of the situp test and fail to match the score for the next half of the one minute test.

For example, a FBI candidate came to me after failing the test and only scored 40 situps in 1 minute.  After explaining he needed to pace himself on the test he scored 50 situps in 1 minute.  He did not workout, get any stronger, he simply learned HOW to take the test.

Here is how I recommend taking the situp test.  Say your goal is 55 situps in 1 minute.  That is ALMOST 1 per second pace.  So at 15 seconds you should have 14 situps.  Keep that pace the entire test and you will score 55-56 situps.  The same person above had over 20 situps in the first 15 seconds when he failed with 40 situps so pacing is the way  to go.  Also another tip:  Let gravity take you to the down position.  Try to momentarily relax the abdominal muscles as you fall only to exert yourself on the UP situps. 

A good situp / run workout: 

Do 3-4 sets of 15 seconds of situps at goal pace.

Rest with a 300m run in between each set.

When that becomes easy, do 3-4 sets of 30 seconds of situps at goal pace. Build up to 45 and 60 seconds of situps so your pace matches your goal score.  Top score pace - 1 situp in 1 second = 60 situps in 1 minute.

After the situp test, take a minute to stretch the legs, do a few squat jumps (2-3) to warmup the sprint muscles and loosen up the hamstrings and thighs.  You may also want to stretch your hip flexors a bit as the situps can cause them to flex and get tight. 

To stretch your hip flexors one way is to do a thigh stretch while standing.  Shift your hips forward and squeeze your butt cheeks together.  You will feel this stretch from the hips, through the thighs, and to the knees.

Event #2 - Timed 300m Run

This run tends to challenge most candidates even more than the 1.5 mile run.  This is an all out sprint but you can still build up your pace to a full sprint over the first 100m.  You still want to explode out of the start by staying low for the first 10-20n in order to get the momentum going and by the 100m mark be at a full sprint.  Pump the arms hard and straight as if your arms were riding rails of a railroad track.  Many people swing their arms across their body which will slow you down by throwing off your gait.  Breathe deeply throughout your run as this will enable you to keep pushing full speed for the next 25-30 seconds.

After the run, walk it off but stretch your arms and legs.  Do a few pushups to get the blood up into the arms and ready for the pushup test.  Take a few sips of a sports drink or water.

Event #3 - Max Pushups (no time limit)

The pushup is a SPRINT exercise.  If you try to pace pushups it tends to decrease your score as gravity has a way of taking away reps.  Also, the instructors testing you will too IF you are not doing full range of motion pushups.  Proper form:  Arms straight at top and 90 degree bend at the bottom of a pushup position.

I like to let gravity be my friend on this exercise as with the situps.  Let gravity take you down so you do not waste any energy letting yourself come down too slowly.

Before the run, once again, take a few sips of sports drink / water and prepare for pacing yourself on the run as you did with the situp test.  Find your goal pace per 1/4 mile and maintain that so you reach your ultimate 1.5 mile time.  Stretch your legs after a short jog to get the blood back to your legs after the pushups pump up your upper-body.  Breathe deep and pump the legs a few times and stretch the chest, arms shoulders to loosen the upper-body prior to running.  Many people run too tight or pumped up after a PT test and you need to get the blood back to your legs prior to the run.

4 - Timed 1.5 mile run

Pace it out.  If your goal is to run a 10:30  - 1.5 mile run then you need to run at a 7:00 mile pace or 3:30 1/2 mile and a 1:45 1/4 mile.

This takes some training and practice, but many people are able to score better by just realizing they need to find their pace and stay there.

EBOOK Exercises / Pics / Video Content

Workouts Explained

Rest Day / Stretch

These are days to relax and stretch.  Your body needs rest from rigorous exercise.  In fact, it is the only way you will grow and get stronger.  You should exercise 5 to 6 times per week and rest 1- 2 days per week.  Though the days of the workouts are listed, you do not have to follow per day the program.  If you must skip a day during the week, try to make it up on Sunday which is usually considered as off day. 

The Pyramid Workouts:

If you take a look at one of the pyramids, you will notice that it is numbered on both sides. It goes from 1-10 on one side, with the number 6 on the top, and then 10-1 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 "pull-ups x 1, pushups x 2, sit-ups x 3". What this means is that at each "set" or step of the pyramid, you perform 1 pull-up for every step you are on, 2 pushups for each step, and 3 sit-ups for each step.

You start at the bottom of the pyramid, at number one. For each set, you times that set number by 1 and that tells you how many pull-ups to do. You multiply it by 2 to get your pushups, and multiply by 3 for sit-ups.. Keep going until you worked all the way 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)…Then keep advancing until you fail or reach Set/Step 10: 10 pull-ups/20 pushups/30 sit-ups. When you fail or reach level 10 - Go down the pyramid:  (or reverse order pyramid = toughest to easiest number of reps)                            

The Pull-up Workouts:  

The Pull-up PT Pyramid:  You will want to rest in between pull-up sets for no longer than one minute.  Continue the pull-ups until you cannot perform any more - THEN resort to negatives for the remainder of the workout.  In between sets, instead of resting and doing nothing, try to do at least 25 abdominal exercises of your choice. 

50 Pull-up Workout - The object of the 50 or 100 pull-up workout is to do as many pull-ups in as few sets as possible.  Make your own goals, but shoot for 2-3 sets for the 50 pull-ups workout and maybe 6-8 for the 100 pull-up workout.   In certain weeks you may have to repeat 50 pull-ups again.  Take a break in between these sets by doing stomach exercises or run 100yds or bike for two-three minutes. 

Assisted Pull-ups - This is the first step to being able to perform pull-ups.  Do pull-ups on a lower bar that is about 3-4 feet high off the ground or a pull-up and dip machine using the dip bars as pull-up bars.  Your feet remain on the floor allowing for less weight to be on your arms, so you can get the needed repetitions.  These are also great to do after you can no longer perform anymore dead-hang pull-ups.  This is a good replacement for the Lat Pull-down machine as well.

Negatives - Negatives should be done if you cannot do pull-ups.  Many men and women cannot perform any pull-ups. So, for the majority of you who have not done pull-ups in years or have never done pull-ups, this workout will challenge you. This is step two to doing pull-ups.  After you can easily do the required reps with the assisted pull-up routines, try a negative.  A negative simply takes you through half of a pull-up.  Get yourself over the bar, either by standing on something or having someone lift you.  Once your chin is above the bar, slowly let yourself down counting for 5 seconds.  This will get your arms used to supporting your weight.  You can build up your strength and within a few months of this workout, you will have your first pull-up in years - maybe ever!!  Most people have a goal of achieving a pull-up when they start working out again with this type of program. 

You will see there are several different grips to use while doing pull-ups.  This is to equally exercise every angle of the back, arms and forearms.

Pushup/Crunch Superset:

This is a great way to achieve extraordinary repetitions of pushups and crunches!  Each set of six exercises should be completed within a two minute period.  For example,

Set #1: 10 regular pushups

10 regular crunches

10 wide pushups

10 reverse crunches

10 triceps pushups

10 -1/2 sit-ups

Do the above circuit within a two minute time period.  You should finish this with at least 30-45 seconds remaining.  Use this time to stretch, drink some water etc...  You will repeat this particular workout 5 times.  Total time should only be 10 minutes, BUT you will achieve 150 pushups and 150 abdominal exercises in that time!!  

Rest:  There is no rest time while on the 2 minute clock.  Do your set as quickly as possible, but watch your form. Do not jeopardize your form for a faster superset time.  This is a great time saver workout if you are too busy to take 30-45 minutes to exercise.  Take 10-20 minutes and be amazed at yourself performing 100-200 pushups and crunches in that time.  Say you finish your superset in 1 minute and 30 seconds, you get 30 seconds rest before you have to begin the next set.

Life Cycle Pyramid: (Bike or Elliptical)

On a stationary bike with manual mode and levels of resistance:

Start at level 1 for 1 minute, increase resistance level by 1 level each minute until you can no longer pedal in between the 80-90 RPM zone.  Typically, people will do this workout for 20-30 minutes depending on the bike they have.  Some bike will max out at level 12 and some will go to at least 20 levels.  Both are tough to get to the top of the pyramid levels.  Once at the top, repeat all levels in reverse order and work yourself down the other side of the pyramid.  Usually by the end of the pyramid, there is a puddle under you and your legs will be exhausted.

8 count bodybuilder pushup (or burpee) / pull-up pyramid Workout:  Do one 8 count pushup – run 30m to a pull-up bar – do 1 pull-up. Run back to 8 count area – do two 8 counts – run to pull-up bar – do 2 pull-ups…continue up until you fail at pull-ups – repeat in reverse order

Circuit Workouts - You will see several different circuit routines in this workout program.  Basically, a circuit workout is designed to move you as quickly through a workout as possible.  There are no rest periods in a circuit until the end.  Moving from one exercise to the other is the only rest you will get, but you will rarely be using the same muscle group two times in a row.  So there is actually rest built into the workout

PT with the clock - This type of workout is designed to help students ace a physical fitness test of pullups, pushups, and situps.  By performing as many reps as you can of each exercise in a certain time limit, you will be learning the pace required to achieve 100 pushups and 100 situps in two minutes.  By using the clock as your training guide, you will become accustomed to doing maximum reps in a time period which will further increase your scores as you continue to practice this type of training.                  

Cardio Workout Options:

Tabata Intervals – Do 20 second sprint / 10 second easy for timed sets in the workout – usually done on bike, elliptical, or rowing machines.                                   

Pyramid Life Cycle Workout – Riding a stationary bike or elliptical with increasing resistance levels, place bike on manual mode.  Start off at level 1 or 2 and increase the resistance every minute until failure.  Then repeat in reverse order.  If your bike increases up to 20 levels – increase resistance by 2 levels every minute.  Otherwise, just increase by one level if bike tops out at 10-12 levels.

Mobility Days – Mobility days are non-impact cardio events followed by 5 minutes of stretching or foam rolling.  Then if available, 20-30 minutes in a pool or safe body of water can add 10 minutes of swimming, treading and dynamic stretches in chest deep water. Pool Mobility Day Off (full article)

Non-impact Options – Any run or swim workout can be replaced by other forms of cardio (bike, elliptical, rower). Typically replace the distance and time to do the run and match it with the non-impact option. For instance, if it takes you 4 minutes to run a ½ mile, then consider replacing with a 4 minute option of bike, elliptical, etc.

Nutrition Section

Additional Reading – Learning about calories to lose weight and gain weight:

On average, when people stop exercising and no longer care about what they eat, they can gain five to ten pounds a year. That is why in five short years, people step on a scale and cannot believe they are nearly FIFTY pounds overweight. Weight has a way of sneaking up on you over time.  You do not get overweight overnight and you do not lose the weight overnight either.  Both take time, but fortunately losing weight can be faster if you follow a strict nutritional and exercise plan.  Both take only minutes a day. 

Here are a few eating tips and some ideas on quick exercises routines to try when time is limited:

Lay off the fast food – Before you go on a trip or a long day at work, try to eat before you leave and pack a lunch.  Foods high in protein mixed with a natural carbohydrate are great energy meals.  Try a lean turkey or chicken sandwich with vegetables like lettuce and tomato.  Watch out for the mayo – too many calories and fat grams.  Try mustard instead.  Fruits are great quick snacks too.  Try apples, oranges, bananas for natural sources of energy.  For more ideas see www.stewsmith.com/linkpages/dietplan.htm

Wake up and burn some calories – As busy days pile up with more and more obligations, the scheduled 5:00pm workout can easily get bumped!  Make thirty minutes of exercise fit into your mornings and do some type of workout. 

-     Try biking, walking, or running for 30 minutes

-     Go to your gym for a quick circuit routine

-      Try calisthenics like jumping jacks /
                    pushups / crunch routine and jumping jacks
                   / squats / lunges / crunches

-      Try using dumbbells for arms and shoulders

-      Another Tip – if you do not schedule a
                   workout – it does not exist!!

Don’t wait – Start NOW! – Why wait?  When you can, you should try to eat at regularly scheduled times during the day.  Healthy snacks and meals will carry you through your stressful days much better than skipping meals or binge eating.  You will find that if you keep a good schedule, you will lose weight and inches.  Add exercise to the plan and you will also get fit and feel better than you have in years.

Try an eating schedule of the following recommended times but adjust as needed to fit your schedule.  Notice the waking hours of your day should have you snacking / eating a meal every 3-4 hours roughly.

0630 – breakfast

0930 – morning snack

1230 – lunch

1530 – afternoon snack

1830 – dinner

If your days are longer than 15-18 hours you should try another light snack at 2100 of foods like yogurt, grapes, milk.  Other snacks during the day can be salads, fruits, lean meats, small sandwiches, boiled eggs and others.

See link for complete plan:

http://site.stewsmithptclub.com/leandown.pdf

Walk more – When safety is not an issue, try to walk farther than normal when going about your normal day.  Burning a few more calories by walking is one of the easiest ways to walk off that extra weight.  Just twenty minutes of brisk walking can burn over 100-150 calories. 

Overall, it is important to keep up the habit of moving more and eating better foods for you. These tips can help you prevent unneeded weight gain.   See Fundamentals of Nutrition Chart below and on the next page:

Nutrition Section for Better Performance

Fitness Performance Nutrition Tips

When to eat and what to eat are constant questions that affect your fitness performance, weight loss / gain goals, as well as overall health.  I was recently challenged with a question by email that asked, “What should I eat/drink before, during, and after my workout?  My goal is to perform better in my running, swimming, PT test and following spec ops training.”  The answer will vary depending on your goal, but understanding After, Before, During (ABD’s) of Workout Nutrition will better help all groups reach their fitness goals.  I saw the” ABD’s of Recovery Nutrition” at a recent Mid-Atlantic NSCA Regional conference given by Paul Moore, MS, RD, CSCS of Fitness4 Pros and thought it was a brilliant way to discuss nutrition throughout the training cycle.

This understanding of what foods / drinks work best for performance gains requires a constant search for the individual.  Here are some suggestions that will help you figure out WHAT to eat, WHEN to eat, as it all depends on your individual likes / dislikes and goals.

For the Performance Fitness Goal:  If you are preparing to ace a fitness test, compete in a race, or another athletic event, sports nutrition is vital to your performance.  You have to experiment with immediate energy of carbohydrates of fruits, juices, sports drinks, protein and fat sources to find what works best for you.  Keep track of what and how much you ate and drank, and how you slept that night on your best performance days.  Often these in combination will set you on an optimal performance path. Repeating those optimal performance days is obviously your goal to make it through tough training programs and fitness entrance testing.  You may even be exercising for more than one session per day and for several hours a day.  If so, you really need to eat / hydrate well and usually larger quantities of quality food will help you recover from the multiple workouts per day.  For instance:

AFTER WORKOUT:  This could be a few of your regularly scheduled meals depending upon the time of day you choose to work out.  The fitness performance group needs to immediately focus on carbohydrate replacement as well as protein consumption for both glycogen stores and muscle repair / growth for the next workout respectively.  Find what carbohydrates and proteins work best for you but I would make sure that these meals are not only a post workout meal but also a PRE-workout meal for the next workout later in the day or early the following day.  Supplements tend to come into play during the post workout nutrition game.  I am not personally into supplementing daily other than some omega 3 and 6 capsules and some multi-vitamins rich in all the B vitamins especially.  For a quick fix and in replacement of food in a pinch, I will take some whey protein powder with some chocolate milk.  See list below of quality carbs / protein sources that work great as post workout meal ideas.

BEFORE WORKOUT:  If you are training for long, tough training programs coupled with a high intensity effort for testing your maximums in calisthenics, miles of running, and hundreds of yards of swimming, you need to eat a majority of carbohydrates no less than 45-60 minutes prior to exercise sessions.  Choose low fiber, low fat, low/medium on the glycemic index for immediate and sustainable carbohydrate energy.  I personally like baby carrots, bananas, and apples for performance testing pre-workout snacks.  In fact, many of my weekly 4 mile timed beach runs and 2 mile ocean swims at SEAL training were preceded with these fruits / vegetables.  I often joke that baby carrots and apples helped me get through SEAL training.

DURING WORKOUT:  Unless you are working out for extended periods of time to get used to 8-10 hours of training at Special Operations School, food intake during normal 1-2 hour workouts is not needed.  However, during high intensity training off and on throughout the day, you should be eating a higher carbohydrate diet but mixed with some light protein snacks as well.  The carbs are there to fuel you through the rest of the workout day and the protein comes in to assist with added calories but to also help you recover when the day/long workout is complete.  Consider this an endurance athlete approach to training.  You need to be able to sustain high repetitions of body weight movements, some strength /power for moving heavier team building objects, and endurance as well as the calories to handle many miles of running, rucking, or swimming.

Great ideas are:

Carbohydrate Options:  Multi grain breads and pastas, cereals, vegetables (romaine lettuce, broccoli, asparagus, carrots), fruits, (tomatoes, strawberries, apples, berries, oranges, grapes, and bananas ) make great carbohydrates for energy.  However, if you need to add some calories for either weight gain or weight maintenance due to high calorie burn rates, add in a limited amount of post meal milk shakes, or a great mix of both carbs / protein is chocolate milk.

Protein Options:  Meats, fish, chicken, eggs, nuts, almonds, beans, milk, milk shakes with additional whey protein powder (optional), peanut butter.  I personally eat brown rice and lima beans in between workouts during snack time, or have a few servings with a main course of meat or fish for a good balance of plant and animal protein.

Fat Options:  Fish, nuts, olive oils, omega 3 fortified products (milk, margarine, peanut butter).  Typically, I get most of these fats from nuts and fish, but I also supplement the omega 3 fatty acids most important to longevity / healthy recovery.

The ABD’s of HYDRATION:  Not only does the performance group need to super hydrate due to hard workouts especially during excessively sweaty workouts, but you need to add electrolytes (sodium potassium, magnesium, calcium as well.  So foods / drinks rich in many of these elements are essential to your recovery from significant water / electrolyte loss.  Personally, if I can wring out my shirt after a workout, I will add more of these “salts” into my post exercise diet.  Sure you can add sports drinks but stay away from the “energy” drinks that are loaded with caffeine as these are not what you need.  Sports drinks with sodium, potassium, carbohydrates (sugar) are your best bet for hydration during and after hard sweaty exercise.   But bananas and water are also sufficient in most cases.  Here are some ideas for hydration:

• After Workouts - One of my favorite post exercise snacks is a can of chicken noodle soup (Campbells Noodle O’s) as it is loaded with potassium, sodium, carbs, protein as well.  In fact it has about 3-4 times the potassium of a banana and about 5-6 times the potassium of Gatorade.  If you are not sweating much nor in arid environment, water will be enough to hydrate you.
• Before workouts, do not drink too much if you are doing significant running as the bouncing will potentially cause cramping.
• During workouts, sip water or carbohydrate / electrolyte mix every 10-15 minutes to maintain high intensity performance training. 
• A ballpark equation for daily consumption of liquids for highly active person is: 

50-75% body weight in lbs = oz per day of H₂O

Finding the right mix of carbohydrates, protein, fats, electrolytes and water all depend on your age, sex, weight, activity level, and goals.  Every day you have a killer good workout / test scores and feel great afterwards, make a note of everything you did that day.  Very often it is the formula that works best for you and your fitness performance goals.

Related Articles

ABD’s For the Fat Loss / Better Health Goal:

Prepare for the Transition of PFT

Preparing for the Physical Fitness Test in any service is the same. You need a strategy. For the FBI PFT, you have to do a series of upper body exercises mixed in with a sprint then run for 1.5 miles.

After you perform maximum repetition sets with your upper body muscles, your heart has forced blood to the arms, shoulders, and torso leaving you very “pumped up”. Running like this can be difficult because the heart has to now pump the blood from your arms and torso down to your legs and, of course, oxygenate the blood repetitively.

When blood is “stuck” in the upper body as it is after a maximum repetition PT test (situps and pushups), your heart pumps harder than normal, which can throw off your known pace that you have trained to maintain for your run. Your breathing is more rapid, your heartbeat is therefore more rapid, your arms swing is more stiff than fluid and relaxed, and your legs are burning for oxygenated blood. This will leave many to say at the end of the run, “I felt OK after the first two laps, but I could not get my stride / breathing right for the first 2 laps.”

Here is the answer to the problem:

After you perform the PT test, take the time in between the upper body exercises to stretch the arms, chest, shoulders, stomach and lower back. Then run for about 2-3 minutes at an easy pace to get the blood down toward your legs – especially before the 300m sprint as that can cause injury if you are not ready to run at the start of the run. Finally, after the PT and the 300m, take about 3-5 minutes to stretch your legs. Keep shaking the arms, throughout the time in between the PT and run, to loosen up for the 1.5 mile run.

This will help you feel better at the start of your timed run and you will avoid feelings of breathlessness at your target pace. See the other running articles in the StewSmith.com Article Archive for ideas on increasing your speed and setting your goal pace.

Injury Prevention

Typically, if you take off for more than 2-3 months from a regular running routine, chances are when you start again you will start off “where you left off” and actually over-train.  Basically, you are running too far, too soon.  It takes time to build up to a rigorous amount of running (4-6 miles day – 4-5 times a week), even if you used to run this far in the Fall of last year. 

There is a link I refer many people to who complain of leg injuries.  I have had many of these injuries, BUT since I am not a doctor, I like for people to be better informed through the information prepared by www.drpribut.com. Dr. Steven Pribut is a doctor who enjoys running and has a site designed to help describe, prevent, and self-treat the most common running injuries. See the ailments below at Dr. Pribut’s website for more information about running and injury prevention.  The types of injures most common to new runners and I receive questions on are the following:

If you are an avid runner, chances are you have experienced at least one of these injuries.  In fact, according to Runner’s World, over 50% of all runners get injured every year.

Now, in the spring, after a winter layoff, OR if you are wishing to start running for the first time, I would recommend the following “step up program”.

• Stretch using the stretches in this book for a week first to loosen up stiff joints and connective tissue.
• Choose non-impact aerobic activity like biking, elliptical gliding, rowing or swimming to do when injuries are first felt. It is never a bad idea to cross-train in any of these activities every other day in place a running.
• Warm up properly and then stretch. Run nice and easy for about 5-10 minutes then stretch once you are warm and the muscles and joints a more pliable.  Never stretch “cold”.  See stretches listed on the free Six Week Running Program page at www.stewsmith.com
• Replace running shoes often. A good rule of thumb is 4-5 months or 400 miles of running. UK Gear PT1000 are good for 1000 miles. 

I hope these links can help you prevent some of the common injuries, however, it is always recommended to see a doctor if you are in pain.  Two of the running rules I use is:  “If it hurts to run – stop running” and “If it hurts to walk – DO NOT run and go to a doctor.”

Do this workout as many times as you have to in order to get above average scores on the PFT.

Above average scores:    MEN             WOMEN

Pushups  1:00                  60-80              40-50

Situps                              60-70               60-70

300m run                        sub 45             sub 55

1.5 mile run                    9:00-10:30        12:00-13:00 

Pullups                         10                     1-5

 The Workouts 

The charts below contain six weeks of workouts to help you prepare for any fitness test.  Some alterations may be needed if you have a fitness test that is not your typical calisthenics, run, speed, or agility testing exercises.  If you need help with that, please email us and we can walk you through the process of adding in exercises not listed in the workout plan.  

The workouts in the charts are meant to be done in one session, but if you need to divide and conquer the days into two separate workouts then do so.  Just get the workouts done in the same day.  If you are going to split the workouts into two make sure you are breaking them in order of your fitness test.  For example, if you are taking a standard pushup, sit-ups, 1.5 mile run, you need to get used to the calisthenics then running portions of your test specifically.  So, do not just do the calisthenics in one workout and the run in another workout.  You will miss out on the transition elements which can cause a big decrease in times / reps if you are not used to it.

Supplemental Workouts:
Pull-up / Pushup Push workouts if you want to add more reps into the program of either exercise.  See the Pushup / Pullup Links for more info.

Check out the Lower Back Plan as most Pushup / Sit-ups failures stem from the lack of torso / core muscle strength.  Lower Back Plan
(http://site.stewsmithptclub.com/lowerbackplan.pdf

Running Supplement: 
Some people need more running, some need less mileage when starting a workout plan.  If you are finding the running / speed workouts to not be enough add or replace using the Running Supplement.
(http://site.stewsmithptclub.com/6weekrunningplan.pdf) 

The 45 Day Beginner Workout Plan - The link holds a 45 Day Beginning Workout Chart that will slowly prepare the body for rigorous activity.  I would recommend this program for at least one week IF you were previously in shape, but let yourself slide for a few months. 
(http://site.stewsmithptclub.com/45dayplan.pdf)

However, if you have not been active EVER or in several months, this 45 Day plan should be followed for 45 Days before taking on the challenge of the Six Week FBI program.

If you have any questions with the workouts and do not understand the setup, please email us. Stew@stewsmith.com

Closing Remarks about Federal Law Enforcement Training and Meeting Physical Standards

If you are seeking to become an officer in the law enforcement professions, it should not be your goal to reach the minimum standards in the PFT and just barely pass.  You should be fit enough to lead by example and be in the upper end of the standards.  Whenever the Federal Government is hiring law enforcement agents, you can count on anywhere from 10-20 times the number of applicants to jobs available.  Saying jobs like the FBI are competitive is an understatement.  Having a great education, experience in military or police work, impeccable legal record, great PT scores are the requirements and the norm. You have to have something that helps get your foot in the door.  Something that sets you apart.  You definitely do not want to be placed on a failure list.  You can avoid that list altogether with a little effort today!

The hardest thing about failing a physical fitness test or not performing as well as your fellow recruits is you have to play catch up. The good news is that it is easy to get into shape and become competitive with your comrades, however, it is tough to do while in the middle of training.

My recommendation is to get in the competitive range PRIOR to attending these programs. I promise you it will save you from becoming discouraged, reduce the pain of muscle soreness, and enable you to focus on your job at hand -- becoming a Police Officer or FBI agent.

Average Minimum Standards for some FBI / Police Academies (some are easier / slower – some are more difficult)

1 min pushups are actually not timed but the pushup count stops when you stop moving up / down.  PERFECT PUSHUPS!