Originally Posted by lyrad89

I agree with this 100%. 30-60s helped my run like you won't believe. When I got to basic, my diagnostic run was 21:58 2-mile (at which point, I lost all hope for ever graduating BCT, much less being naturalized.. lol). I'm older, so my requirement is 17:00 flat. After doing 30-60s for 3 weeks, my red phase run came out to 18:30. The company upgraded to 60-120s in white phase and beyond, and I graduated basic with a 16:30, and passed my first AIT PT test with a solid 16:00.

My AIT company runs 4-5 miles 3 times a week, so my run has been continuously getting better. It's been hard for me to shave-off minutes at this point, but endurance-wise, it's been easier to just keep running and not get the overwhelming feeling of quitting lol..

I know these numbers are by no means "impressive," but I wanted to provide a realistic perspective to those who are older and not so physically fit/active coming into basic--I'm a 29 y/o male.

I also agree with aiming for at least a solid 50 on your push-ups and sit-ups, and build on it. My minimums are 39 and 45 respectively. The funny thing is, while I passed my initial AIT PT test (just having graduated basic), I was just a hair short on sit-ups for my end-of-course. I guess all those weekend fast food runs took a toll. HAHA! I've been working hard and practicing though, so I'm armed and ready for my retake on Wednesday morning.. please pray for me!

We've been issued our plane tickets, and if all goes well, I'm out of here in 2 weeks, and off to my local USCIS field office in SoCal to hopefully finally claim my prize.

88H, Ft Eustis, VA