My original scores were 6/6/5/51 and my retest scores are 8/8/7/63.
-
Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?
Go here:
Edit Account Details and Profile
OCS 02Nov20 SNA/SNFO (Pilot/NFO) Board
- Thread starter kyleerlich
- Start date
My original scores were 6/6/5/51 and my retest scores are 8/8/7/63.
Is anyone doing workouts now to prepare for OCS?
I'm currently doing three sets of push ups and sit ups alternating days:
Monday, Wednesday and Friday I do three sets of as many push ups I can do in two minutes followed by an hour of cardio. (typically walking at max incline keeping my heart rate above 150, maybe a slow jog.)
Tuesday and Thursday I do the three sets of sit-ups followed by an hour of cardio.
I know it's cardio heavy, but I have lost about 45 pounds to get to 220 in order to pass MEPS and have about 10 pounds to go to meet the weight requirements for a 74 inch height. My waist circumference does meet the 39 inch standard, but Im curious if this will count at OCS- I would rather be safe than sorry.
Just curious what everyone else is currently doing.
I'm currently doing three sets of push ups and sit ups alternating days:
Monday, Wednesday and Friday I do three sets of as many push ups I can do in two minutes followed by an hour of cardio. (typically walking at max incline keeping my heart rate above 150, maybe a slow jog.)
Tuesday and Thursday I do the three sets of sit-ups followed by an hour of cardio.
I know it's cardio heavy, but I have lost about 45 pounds to get to 220 in order to pass MEPS and have about 10 pounds to go to meet the weight requirements for a 74 inch height. My waist circumference does meet the 39 inch standard, but Im curious if this will count at OCS- I would rather be safe than sorry.
Just curious what everyone else is currently doing.
Coriolanus
Pro-Rec SNA
I've already been an active person since I got out of the Air Force, but usually focus on free weights as opposed to cardio. Over the summer I began running again, going on two mile runs to build my endurance back up. I have two dance classes for my final semester and that has been my "cardio" for the fall. After I am officially done with school (and hopefully selected by then) I plan on running three days a week for three miles each time to get extra prepared. The last time I timed myself I did about a 10.5 minute mile and a half run, so I feel pretty good.
If weight is your main concern, your diet is going to impact that more than how active you are. You seem on track to be good supposing we get class dates around next spring.
If you have any specific questions please ask!
H_ZNgineer
On or above Cloud 9
Hello Everyone!
A little late to the party but I just added my info to the spreadsheet as I was waiting on a username change before posting, I did submit back on the 18th, with scores of 72/9/8/8 from when I took the ASTB a few years ago (Aug '17). My GPA is not stellar at a ~2.8 in Mech Eng, but I'm hoping that my work history will help explain that if it becomes an issue. I had some life events happen that ended up putting my entire college (and navy) career on hold back in 2017 while I worked full time as a commercial truck driver, but finally went back and finished my degree and got my application submitted for this board.
A little late to the party but I just added my info to the spreadsheet as I was waiting on a username change before posting, I did submit back on the 18th, with scores of 72/9/8/8 from when I took the ASTB a few years ago (Aug '17). My GPA is not stellar at a ~2.8 in Mech Eng, but I'm hoping that my work history will help explain that if it becomes an issue. I had some life events happen that ended up putting my entire college (and navy) career on hold back in 2017 while I worked full time as a commercial truck driver, but finally went back and finished my degree and got my application submitted for this board.
TheCoon
Well-Known Member
A lot of running right now. Probably more than I’d care to, honestly. I’ve been battling some scapular dyskinesis (scapular winging) the past couple weeks so I have not done much upper body lifting, just strengthening exercises for the scapula and rotator cuff muscles.
WARNING: Unsolicited advice from an internet stranger below. Proceed at your own desire.
Look into a technique called “grease the groove,” for the pushups in particular. Basically you do a submaximal (~50% of max reps in this case) set throughout the day/workout session. In short, it allows you to reach a greater number of total reps, which really is what you’re looking for. This really works well if you do it throughout the day. Every hour push out 10 - 15 reps, it doesn’t need to be much. I’ve done this with pull-ups - just a personal experiment, if you will - and saw some real results in a short time.
Also, I’d probably add in a sprint interval workout and an aerobic cardio session. Maybe replace a couple of the 1 hr tempo-type of cardio sessions with them. Basically there’s 3 (technically 4, I believe) energy systems you’re body uses. One is used at low heart rates (aerobic), one at near max heart rates (~>90% of max hr), and one in the range you’ve really been working. To maximize your performance, all 3 systems need to be “on point.” You might think this is overkill, but r/navyseals on Reddit has some real good info on this and they explain it MUCH better than I could.
Awesome work on shedding the lb’s! That’s not an insignificant amount of weight.
I think i'll try your advice out on the repeated sets throughout the day, thanks for dropping some info for me.
I second the advice to scatter the upper body training throughout the day for pushups and sit-ups (sit-ups are now probably a plank?). This is an effective method to increase total output in a timed event. I and many others in my unit used this method, it is highly effective for PRT prep. Circuits are good, 1/4mi run, pushups and sit-ups, 1/4mi run, pushups and sit-ups, repeat. Doing a circuit like that will probably highlight weak areas that one needs to address.
My plan is to build up to 2 miles per day over the next couple months. I just recently read on the forum that people suggest running two miles a day to get ready for OCS. People have reported running up to 9 miles a week at OCS... I.E. 2 miles on Monday, 2 miles on Wednesday, 5 mile group run on Friday at an 8 minute mile pace, etc. If you're not a stellar runner, running is by far the most difficult and time consuming category to decrease time/increase points. To avoid injury, running needs to be increased no more than 10% in distance or speed every week.
I would strongly encourage running on concrete if you're not already doing so. From what I've heard we don't run on a track, so get your legs ready for the extra impact by running on hard surfaces. Many reports of shin splints and stress fractures from individuals running exclusively on a track to then go to OCS where they run on concrete. You need to be very careful switching to concrete, listen to your legs and don't over-train for the sake of maintaining a running schedule. If you get stress fractures, that's a 6-month time frame of no running.
My plan is to build up to 2 miles per day over the next couple months. I just recently read on the forum that people suggest running two miles a day to get ready for OCS. People have reported running up to 9 miles a week at OCS... I.E. 2 miles on Monday, 2 miles on Wednesday, 5 mile group run on Friday at an 8 minute mile pace, etc. If you're not a stellar runner, running is by far the most difficult and time consuming category to decrease time/increase points. To avoid injury, running needs to be increased no more than 10% in distance or speed every week.
I would strongly encourage running on concrete if you're not already doing so. From what I've heard we don't run on a track, so get your legs ready for the extra impact by running on hard surfaces. Many reports of shin splints and stress fractures from individuals running exclusively on a track to then go to OCS where they run on concrete. You need to be very careful switching to concrete, listen to your legs and don't over-train for the sake of maintaining a running schedule. If you get stress fractures, that's a 6-month time frame of no running.
As a side note, I'd highly recommend learning good running form before committing to a high volume schedule.
I made the mistake of just assuming I knew how to run then going out and running 1-3 miles a day on concrete. I got a bunch of back and knee pain and it just overall sucked. Running with good form helps you avoid injuries and also makes running way easier and enjoyable since you're working most efficiently.
Absolutely, thanks for throwing that in!
Hey random question for all you guys, I'm continuing to study in the event I need to retest:
AoA is the angle between relative wind and the aircraft wing's chord line. I've seen some study guides have questions on this and one particularly irked me:
"Does a symmetrical wing with 0 AoA produce lift?" Ans: yes, but less that is if there was any positive AoA (duh).
I'm pretty darn certain this is not correct unless they are assuming that the wing has an angle of incidence that isn't counted in their definition of AoA (so AoA against fuselage not the wing chord line).
If there is actually 0 AoA (and 0 angle of Incidence) then there should be no lift right or am I missing some theory here?
AoA is the angle between relative wind and the aircraft wing's chord line. I've seen some study guides have questions on this and one particularly irked me:
"Does a symmetrical wing with 0 AoA produce lift?" Ans: yes, but less that is if there was any positive AoA (duh).
I'm pretty darn certain this is not correct unless they are assuming that the wing has an angle of incidence that isn't counted in their definition of AoA (so AoA against fuselage not the wing chord line).
If there is actually 0 AoA (and 0 angle of Incidence) then there should be no lift right or am I missing some theory here?
A symmetrical wing cannot produce lift with a zero AoA. Asymmetrical wing, yes. Symmetrical, no. That answer is incorrect.
Thanks, I figured as such - I hate it when these study guides get this stuff wrong.
Going more deep than needed:
Guessing the author was assuming a level attitude with symmetrical wings having some AoA due to wings naturally angling up. Spoke to one of my engineering relatives and he told me that in engineering there can be a discrepancy between AoA when referred to against fuselage (incidence + normal AoA) or the standard Pilot AoA (wind actually hitting the wing).
Yeah, it's a little bit annoying when you come across really simple concepts that are outright wrong lol. I found several in the guides I've had over the years.
You can get pretty technical and you understand the concept, but perhaps if some readers here do not;
The orientation of the aircraft in flight has nothing to do with angle of attack which is referring to directional airflow as it strikes a wings leading edge. Angle of attack has everything to do with the chord line and relative wind direction/angle. The question needs to be answered and addressed at it's most basic and foundational pilot knowledge level which is uniformly understood that a symmetrical airfoil produces no lift with zero AoA. An Asymmetrical airfoil produces lift with zero AoA because of Newton's Third Law and Bernoulli's Principle. The angle of attachment to a fuselage or "Angle of Incidence" is done for many reasons, angle of the fuselage in flight or during landing for better visibility, reducing drag in flight, etc. Angle of incidence is still harkening back to the root of the issue which is relative wind (AoA) and chord line. From my training there has not been a discrepancy in regard to understanding lift creation in both instances so I'm not sure what their reference means there.
When you say naturally angling up I'm assuming you're referring to Dihedral? Dihedral does not create AoA in the manner you think in regards to this question, that is a different topic altogether. Dihedral creates an AoA in the direction of a turn which results in the levelling of wings, but not in the production of lift due to airflow over a wing. It creates a force upward on the bottom side of the wing pushing it upward in a levelling manner. If you meant an angling up referring to angle of incidence, it's just the same topic as relative wind (AoA) and chord line.
Hope that helps clarify some things.
Last edited:
Perfect amount of technical and pretty much what I've assimilated myself from reading. Relatedly "Stick & Rudder" by Wolfgang Langewiesche does a great job of drilling consistently that understanding AoA as wind striking the leading edge of the aircraft is a crucial concept.
Interesting though completely useless theoretical tidbit I found: holding all things equal, you technically could have an microscopically tiny amount of lift generated with 0 AoA on symmetrical wings by virtue of fluid (air) being less dense on the top wing (less pressure) as there is incrementally a tinier portion of atmosphere pressing down.
Nope I meant angle of incidence but the illustration/explanation on dihedrals is something that I didn't intuitively get until your summary (so no wasted effort there).