recruitment office keeps moving the bar

[liam115]

i dont know if its just me but i went into my recruitment office the other day to ask them if it was possible for me to get date for the pre-adsc as i was due to retake it at the end of the month but i have to book the date off work.
so they then asked me what my run time was and i toled them my last run time was about 11mins (they said they wanted me to get it down to 11mins last time i went to the pre-adsc) and now they say they want it down to below 10mins befor they will put me in for another pre-adsc i dont understand why they keep moveing the bar
first they told me below 13:15 then below 11mins now below 10mins
i plan on going in as an engineer not a para so why do they keep telling me lower and lower times every time i go in?

[jay_no7]

I've just passed my selection and the time to pass is 13:15 but you really need to be getting below 10:30 or they won't really be looking At you as the army have so much choice at the moment so they can afford to be picky

Hope this helps

[Dalishus]

Yeap he's right. The Army's at almost 100% capacity and literally picking the creamm of the crop.

For an A/B Grade at PSAC and ADSC, you want to be nailing +10 heaves, under 10 min atleast 1.5 mile run, and nailing both the IceBreaker and Team Tasks. 110% effort all day and you really wanna make sure they know how much you want it.

If you aren't getting a A or B at ADSC you could be waiting +12 months for a job to open up. And as said... its pretty much full so if you aren't shining when others are and theirs limited choice, who they gonna pick?

To get your running down mate, you wanna be out for 40 minutes at a time atleast 3 times a week. Preferably 4.

Over the 3 / 4 days vary doing these runs;

FARTLEK or Interval training - Running at full pace for 100 to 300 metres, jogging for 30-60 seconds and repeat. You wanna doing as much as you can without breaks inbetween. (jogging is breaking) Look at minimum 10 and increase repetitions. (immediately after this, or on another day you may also want to do this on a shor steep hill i.e 50 - 80metres, sprint up, jog down.

Long Distance Running - I don't know how good you are but you want to be banging 6 miles + in atleast once a week. Increasing that every week by a mile or so - not much point in exceeding too far beyond 10 miles though before training. If it's getting easier, run faster. You want to be working towards 9 minute miles, then 8 minute miles and if you can do 7 minute mile continuously your doing well above average.

Short distance running - Try doing a 1.5 mile best effort at 9/10 minute miles, followed by a short 1 to 2 minute break and then do a 1.5 mile best effort. You can map this route out accurately on www.mapmyrun.com.

Getting fit is a serious commitment. Make sure you get yourself proper running shoes. You can fetch these at a good sports store and get a decent enough pair for £30. Will save you lota injury.

[liam115]

what im doing at the moment is going to the gym 3 days a week probably going to increase it to 4 days a week but i do Interval training and hill training on the tredmill and i usually go for a run on sunday 1.5 mile in my best time

[Dalishus]

That's great pal, just keep it up.

You need to get off the treadmills though and do it outside. There is no substitute for the outdoors.

The treadmills do half the work for you, and promote bad running form not suited to outside.

Can't stress how important it is.

[liam115]

hi sorry its taken me so long to reply iv had internet issues. also its not the fact i need to run faster (10mins) its the fact that they keep changing the time every time i go into the recruitment office i just dont understand why they didnt just tell me i needed to get below 10mins at the start.
also i know treadmills do 1/2 the work for you but its the best way to do hill training and intervals training im still doing my runs outside but i tend to do more at the gym for my cardio
because i do intervals for 10mins then ill pop on to the bike and do 10mins on that and then ill do 10mins on the rowing machine and then ill do 5mins hill training then by this point my legs are like jelly so i do some weights and try to do some pullups.

[royals]

Hi folks, it seemed the poster is wanting to go for Army foundation entry ,well if you must know my run time was 9:20 min/sec, 70 press ups,10 pull ups and 100 sit ups in 2min b4 my recruiter could put me on my first pre ADSC now i'm going for my third insight course. I got a time table 4 my self , I am up 5:00 in the morning i embark on running and joging stuff followed by press up ,pull ups and finally sit ups ...please lad , show commitment other wise u'll fuke ur self up in afghanistan cos that is ur first deployment(operation) location u like it or not. D truth is hard but someone gonna spit it out somedays ......................

[Mattious]

I have to add though,

It really shouldn't matter what Core you intend to go for as you should always be aiming for a 1.5m run in under ten minutes at the very least,

Rasing the bar, Maybe they are but you have to ask your self why? .

Its No longer Quantity but more now Quality 'As stated else where the army is nearly fully manned' So in a nut shell they are looking for the Creme of the crop. so your AFCO are simply trying to direct you in the right path so that you will be one of the chosen ones when the ADSC comes around. And that could mean pushing you, And pushing you.

(example) If you can run 10 miles and feel fine at the end of it, Your not pushing yourself hard enough you need to be hanging out of your *bum* when you cross that finish line Everyday you run!

Just keep running , change your diet if need be. Plenty of bananas, Pasta, chicken tuna all great sources of energy and DRINK plenty of water.

[Dalishus]

no mate... CORRECTION. treadmills are not the best for ANYTHING

the best thing for interval training (increasing speed) is outdoors. sprint 100 metres, jog 100 metres.. and repeat for 3 to 6 miles.

the best thing for hill climbing (increasing stamina) is hills.... OUTDOORS

the best thing for building endurance (strengthening heart and lungs) .... OUTDOORS... long runs!

GET OFF TREADMILLS. it's not the same as running outside and you won't spend a second on them at depot.

to me... treadmills are for people too lazy to brave the real thing.

i dont even understand why you'd want to go on them? their boring. unentertaining. promote bad technique. give false sense of achievement. generally get too hot in the gyms their in. stupid.

[Dalishus]

you also want to focus your cardio on running. running is what your fitness is measured on, and although cycling wil benefit and rowing help especially with upper body, do it once your in and not prior to selection.

and stop trying to do everything all at once. and do more running than your doing.

3/4 times a week 40 minutes atleast on those days.

you dont want to be doing all your cardio then doing weights and pull ups etc, not building up to selection. you wanna do doing all that circuit stuff building upto depot after selection so your prepared for th gruelling pt sessions.

concentrate on improving on the things they test you on at ADSC. - Chin Ups, 1.5 mile run, Static and Dynamic lift and your confidence.

3 days running. 3 days core and body weight exercises that they tell you to do in the army fitness book, or poster, with a particular focus on chin ups, press ups and sit ups.

[Chris129]

no mate... CORRECTION. treadmills are not the best for ANYTHING

the best thing for interval training (increasing speed) is outdoors. sprint 100 metres, jog 100 metres.. and repeat for 3 to 6 miles.

the best thing for hill climbing (increasing stamina) is hills.... OUTDOORS

the best thing for building endurance (strengthening heart and lungs) .... OUTDOORS... long runs!

GET OFF TREADMILLS. it's not the same as running outside and you won't spend a second on them at depot.

to me... treadmills are for people too lazy to brave the real thing.

i dont even understand why you'd want to go on them? their boring. unentertaining. promote bad technique. give false sense of achievement. generally get too hot in the gyms their in. stupid.

Strongly disagree with this!!!! granted the Treadmill is not a good as running outdoors but a treadmill is more controlled ina sense you can manipulate it to your advantage with a 3-5 incline and by doing an aerobic curve you can test the cv system massivly alot better than the outdoors. They dnt promote bad technique at all thats rubbish and niether do they give a false sense of achievement you try doing an aerobic curve on a treadmill then say that!!!

[ofens]

I agree.
Running outside is of course A1 in your training plan, and should make up the vast majority of your running training.
But the treadmill is a very useful tool, especially for short sessions (like interval sprints or when you want to practice a certain pace, or injury rehab).
And you can add incline to work harder, this can offset some of the "lost work".

Some people seem to really hate the treadmill, I wonder why this is.
Maybe some bad experience with one in their childhood...
Either way, you can't rule something out for everyone just because it doesn't work for you.