How To Improve Your APFT Score (Army Physical Fitness Test) PART 1:

For those of you that aren’t in the armed services, the APFT is the Army Physical Fitness Test and it is designed to test the muscular strength, endurance, and cardiovascular respiratory fitness of soldiers. Soldiers are scored based on their performance in three events consisting of 2 minutes of max repetitions in push-ups, sit-ups, and a two-mile run for time. They are scored on a scale from 0 to 100 points in each event. With a 300 being the top score and an extended scale if you achieve 100 on each (basically a bonus point system for your own personal record). Each branch of the Armed Services has there own version of a standard physical fitness test, but we will focus on the Army’s.

Below you will find an easy to follow plan to boost your APFT scores. Like most things “there is always more than one way to skin a cat”, and I have found that this has been the most effective approach for any of my soldiers. Now each exercise has a different demand on your body physiologically and we will set out to improve in all 3 events. However, if you are someone that only needs help in one area, awesome, feel free to skip to what you need help with. In Part 1 we will focus on the run, in Part 2 we will focus on the Push-Ups and Sit-Ups. If you haven’t done an APFT in 8-12+ weeks I recommend you grab a friend and go get one done. All you need is a watch and someone to hold your feet for you while you crank out those sit-ups. So finish off that coffee, grab a stopwatch and get ready to get after it! To calculate your score use this Online APFT Calculator. To see the Army’s standards for each click on the exercise Male Push-Up Standards, Female Push-Up Standards, Sit-Up Standards, Male 2-Mile Run Standards, Female 2-Mile Run Standards.

First, learn what might be holding you back from a FASTER time…

Every soldier that I have ever come across wants to improve their 2-mile time but are unsure as to what the best approach is. I’ve heard a number of different strategies over the past few years from soldiers of ways they’ve tried to improve there times. Often they are told they need to run more often, 6 days/week, run intervals as fast as possible, run longer distances like 5-7+ miles, avoid strength training because it’ll slow you down, minimize your warm-up so you don’t waste energy for the run etc. Below I will delve into why I believe some of these “strategies” aren’t the best way for you to get faster. And then give you a plan to follow to go crush that next 2-miler on your APFT!

Running Significantly Longer Distances…

Through working with hundreds of soldiers I have come to learn that there is a belief out there that by running 5+ miles on a consistent basis, as in multiple times/week, will make your 2 mile times better. Most will rationalize that it will make the 2 mile feel so easy that you’ll be able to just grit it out and run as fast as possible. Yes, the 2 mile will feel easy if you are running at the same 5 mile pace that you’ve grown accustomed to running at, but it doesn’t mean you’ll have made the progress that you were hoping for. It feels easier because you just cut 60% off the distance you normally run out (5 miles > 2 miles). But if you are trying to run it faster, it’s going to feel substantially harder if you don’t normally run fast. If you want to be fast you have to train fast. If you want to be slow train slow. The only time I would recommend longer distances when training someone up for a 2 mile is if they are so deconditioned that they need to get more volume in.

Running Intervals At Maximum Effort…

What’s great is most soldiers I have come across have done some variation of interval training, such as 400m or 800m repeats on a track. This is awesome and is arguably one of the best and fastest ways to improve your 2-mile time. There is a reason this type of training is used in the Track & Field world. However, I’ve also found that when they are doing these they typically end up doing them wrong. The main goal of interval repeats is to do just that, “repeat” your times consistently from rep to rep, maintain a similar rest break, and build up to running them faster all while staying consistent throughout. For example, soldiers will often go out and crush the 1st 400m in 90 seconds or less without much of an issue. Then the trouble comes on the 2nd repeat where they run it 15-30 seconds slower. And then the 3rd when they run it 20-40 seconds slower and then the 4th when they are almost 45 seconds slower than the 1st repeat. This is a prime example of where you need to train smarter and not harder. Yes there is a time when you have to go all out but you should wait until your final interval of the day for that. It’s ok to go HAM at that point. For example, if you have 5 total intervals run the fifth one as hard as possible, not the first one. If you go all out on rep 1 and aren’t able to maintain it for your 2nd, 3rd, 4th you just wasted a great training day to get better.

Running Too Much..

If the goal is to run a 2-mile faster you don’t need to run 30 miles per week. If you’re training for a marathon, probably. And you certainly don’t need to run 6-7 days per week either to get ready for a 2-mile. This all comes back to the train smarter not harder approach. I am not saying don’t train hard, what I am saying is there is a way to train hard that is smarter. Rest is one of the most underutilized performance enhancing methods around. No matter what type of training you are doing you need to rest. Running 6 days per week and taking one day off in my opinion isn’t great for the body and won’t maximize your physical potential. The magic happens with the rest that you take. You don’t get stronger or faster in the gym necessarily, you get stronger and faster by the rest that you take that goes along in conjunction with the work you put in. Sadly it can be looked at as a sign of weakness to take a rest day. But it’s amazing how much harder one can train after a rest day. So get great sleep, take a rest day between runs and put your self in the best possible position for success on your next APFT. If you don’t already own a foam roller go buy one right now, you’ll thank me later. Then Learn How to Foam Roll from our YouTube Channel.

Just Running…

When it comes down to it, if all you do is run you are missing out on the massive benefits of doing some added strength work. Not only will you be increasing your whole body strength and reducing the likelihood of injuries but you will also improve your running efficiency; and the more efficient the runner the better. Runners with a strong lower body, upper body and core will typically outperform those without. By having the added strength you will improve your performance by reducing the amount of energy the body loses to weaknesses within the system. You don’t want your core to be a wet noodle with every step you take, you want your core to be a shock absorber that is able to absorb force and redistribute it how you need. Rigid, yet pliable, strong, yet mobile. A chain can only be as strong as it’s weakest link and if you know what your weakest link is then you better start training it! By adding some Planks, Squats, Deadlifts, Glute Bridges, Lunges, Step-Ups, Pull-ups and some other basic strength movements you’ll be well on your way to strengthening your whole body and improving your run times.

Dynamic Warm-Up…Just Do It!

One last thing before we get to the running program. Warming up. Dynamically warming-up is a corner stone to any sound performance program. This is often the most skipped part of any training session, but is the one that can substantially reduce the likelihood of injuries by prepping the body to do work. If you don’t know what to do below you will find the link to our warm-up that we do on a daily basis.

READ PART 2