Training for the Cadet Fitness Assessment

[jack.haefner]

I wonder if someone, namely a SS coach associated with the Army or USMC, could off some advice on an PM that I sent to Mac Ward:

Training for the Cadet Fitness Assessment (CFA)
Mac

I have a 16 yr old daughter--17 next month--who is apply to both USNA and USMA this year. One of her gates is the CFA or Cadet Fitness Assessment. Not sure if you're USNA or ROTC, but you probably took the same test. I know I did, but I did not prep in the least.

THe current test is located here: https://www.usma.edu/admissions/Shar...structions.pdf.

Of all her sports, my daughter loves SS. When Dan Raimondi was in the DC area, I took her for a few hours of coaching. She does her best to adhere to her program. But with other sports (soccer, swimming, etc), she has modified her approach. She finishes out swimming about 1 Mar then moves into track a few weeks later. I'd say that her training window for the CFA starts with track season and generally ends in Aug as she starts to close out her academy file(s).

I'm looking for any advice to get build her training regimen. Naturally, some of her track events should compliment and transfer to the CFA (1mi = 1mi; 400m = shuttle run, shotput = basketball throw). I can't see modifying her SS approach much. Just think she needs to work the 1 mi base, push the powler, throw the basketball (there is a little technique) and continue to work on her chins. Speaking of chins, Niki Sims sent her a program about 6 months ago. My daughter kept with the program, but is not really progressing. He's doing a Every Minute-on-the-Minute (EMOM), but can't seem to progress past 2 EMOM or 2 total reps from a rested state.

Any advice that you have would be appreciated.

Jack Haefner

[moved from an article discussion to this forum 1/14 -/stef]

[CJ Gotcher]

USNA '09 grad checking in.

First off, as athletic as she sounds, I doubt she will have a problem passing the minimums or even the average performance scores. It is also not a relevant test past admission. She will never do it again after she is admitted to the Academy and will, instead, do the PRT or PFT. She will also likely do plenty well without any added practice/training.

Still, let's assume she wants to max out every test:

Before she hits her true prep window in March, I'd recommend completing the test at least once every other week. This establishes familiarity and practice with the test and establishes a 'true baseline' where she can identify her strengths and weaknesses. This is practice.

From April to August, complete the test once a week. As she goes into the test, she will have done it 20 times. It will be a no-brainer. Just another day in the gym. If she has an event at the maximal score or near that maximum after she has practiced sufficiently, devote no additional training time to that event. She's likely close on several with her background. For the others:

The basketball and shuttle sprint are entirely based on practice. There is virtually no way to train rotational strength, and it's a goofy test to begin with... but such is life. Simple repetition, at a state of complete rest, will help.

Situps and pullups respond well to interval timeframes. 20, 30, and 60 second effort intervals with insufficient rest (2:1 rest to work) worked well for me in my preparation. Start with lower volumes and increase over time. I didn't find more than 6 minutes of actual work per exercise to be terribly productive.

The mile run will be effectively trained in her track practice. Since the 400m is her event, some time in longer distance ranges (800, 1600, and 3200m, the Army PFT distance) will help. Again, intervals and tempo runs work here.

I've conducted training programs for women who struggle with pulling, working from 0-6 pullups in a few months for most. Niki's program (as I remember from the podcast) is good, but if your daughter is doing the program as written and still struggling, send me a PM and I'll shoot you a few ideas.

[jack.haefner]

CJ

Thanks for the return. ROTC '91 myself and still on activity duty....

Tracking that the CFA has limited untility, but it is what it is. My daughter certainly makes all the mins, but she's pushing for the 6 pull up female max. I'll PM you for other ideas as you suggested.

Throughout both the CFA trainup AND any other sports (only one month of swiming remaining then on to track), how should she modify her SS? I'd say she's still on some sort of LP since she had to back off her BP and DL, opting to retain squats and OP. Just short on time to get everything in while still hitting pushups, situps and pull ups. In fact, she's personally excited to finish track so she can finish LP and move on, but there's still a challenge of integrating SS into the specific sport events.

Thanks,

Jack

[CJ Gotcher]

Pullups:

I really like Niki's program. It's simple and effective, especially for those on a dedicated strength program. I've been running my own before I saw hers that's a little different, so I figured I'd share it. It's loosely modeled after Major Misty Posey's 0-20 program for Marines, so you can look it up if you're interested.

Frequency: 4+ sessions a week. Usually four 'key' sessions (higher volume) at ~20 minutes each, with room for short 'spare' workouts if the lifter has time
Exercise Selection: Similar to Niki's, but:
- I start every session with 1 max set of the chinup, then one of the pullup, even if they don't think they can do one yet (then it's just an attempt)
- I get a lot of juice out of negatives and partner-assisted chinups. With these, the lifter pulls maximally, and their partner provides enough help for an even, steady raise to the bar over 3 seconds. This helps account for the band's limitation: it provides help when, without the band, you need to do the most work.
- Top and bottom-half chinups and pullups: Once the lifter has 1-2 solid reps, I'll add in top and bottom-half reps for sets of 3-5. It's similar to halting deadlifts and rack pulls: working each half of the ROM at a supramaximal load. The women I've trained invariably see them demo'ed (and especially the top half) and immediately balk, but I've yet to train one who could do 1 good-form chinup who could not do 3 top-half chinups.

Programming-wise, you might be interested to read this story on a similar situation. To me, it's a question of interference between activities. In the heat of a track season and additional training for the CFA/IST on top, I might cut my lifter down to 2 sessions week, one heavy (which we attempt to progress weekly) and one medium, reducing intensity by load or by using lighter-weight lift variations (incline bench instead of presses, pause squats for squats, etc.).

I'm sure the Staff Coaches will have more and better insight on this one.

[DeanT]

Jack,
I can't help much with the CFA training but my wife is a USMA 95 grad and I'm USMA 92. We would be happy to answer any questions about West Point. It is often times helpful to get the female perspective on academy life. My wife's experience is much different than mine. PM me if you are interested and I can send you our contact info.

Dean

[jack.haefner]

CJ, thanks for the post. Much appreciated. I'm sure my daughter will start your program in earnest this weekend....

jwh

[jack.haefner]

Dean

Thanks. I'll talk my daughter this evening then PM you.

Jack

[Michael Wolf]

Jennifer W. - if you see this, I meant to reply-with-quote to your message, and ended up editing it by accident. By the time I realized what I'd done, it was far too late to put it back together. It was a good post, so if you see this, please re-post with your experience.

[Jennifer Williams]

HA! No worries, Michael. I can type as fast as I can talk!

So I was thinking it might be beneficial to share my personal experience with the strict dead-hang pull-up. When I began doing pull-ups years ago, I couldn't do even one. I learned about the Armstrong Pull-up routine from my husband. He is in the USMC and told me that many of its members do the Armstrong routine to increase their pull-ups in advance of PFTs. To date, the Armstrong routine was by far the one that enabled me to progress the most. I've had a longstanding of getting myself to 20 (just like the men! Which to me means 22-23 since that would ensure that I can always do at least 20-and this is the way my brain functions). Anyhow, at this time I average between 16 and 18. Other methods I've tried for increasing my pull-ups include doing extreme EMOMs 1x/week where I increased my number week after week. I was doing an exceeding amount of pull-ups well in excess of 100, yet it never increased my max. I also did a routine that I learned from Tony Horton (sure laugh, but the guy is a monkey-I hate him). He does a one hour routine where he does 12 rounds 30 push-ups and 15 pull-ups. My modified version ended up at 12 rounds of 25 push-ups and 8 strict dead hang pull-ups. I did attempt to go up a few times to 9 pull-ups/25 push-ups in under an hour, but I could never get past the 10th round without kipping. And it felt a lot like torture the whole time. After missing a couple of weeks, I went back down to sets of 8. That was a couple of weeks ago. This routine also never increased the total number of pull-ups that I can do-which I do find to be frustrating. I admit that I have not stayed with this process for any longer than a few months at a time on and off throughout the years and then doing spotty training here and there. In any event, Armstrong worked the best likely because the redundancy (its a 5 day program). For a very short time I also did a second version of the Armstrong with a 5 pound weight attached to a belt (I cannot remember the number I was doing), but it didn't improve my numbers either. I'm not sure if any of this will be helpful, but here it is my lengthy experience with the pull-up. I figured it might be interesting from a female perspective (not that we're all the same). Two things I'd add is that unfortunately I am well past my prime for strength (43 y/o), so your daughter should get much better results. And I'll also add that pull-ups for me are like a very sandy, steep cliff. If I do not perform them regularly, my performance slips exceedingly fast. It's annoying. The last couple of weeks (this is my second week on the NLP program), I am doing two days, 12 sets EMOM- 2 sets of 9, 3 sets of 7, 3 sets of 5, and 4 sets of 2. I will increase it next time either by shortening out the time or increasing the number. I have not decided yet. Best of luck to your daughter and her future career!

[Michael Wolf]

Glad you saw this, Jennifer, and this one was with even more detail!

I've had a longstanding of getting myself to 20

Me too.