Fit to Serve

Part II: Exercise

How to train strength and endurance for the test you will actually take

Most candidates train the way a commercial gym is laid out: chest on one day, legs on another, a jog if there is time. Service tests are not laid out that way. You move from event to event, or from a lift to a run, without a real break. The people who fail are usually out of breath, out of grip, or out of legs.

A hose line, a stretcher, a resisting subject, a pack, and a timed run all ask for strength and endurance in the same session. If you only build one, the test will find the other.

This is Part II. Part I is the diet.

Last verified: 2026-08-14.

Confirm the test you are actually taking

Do not download a plan written for a test you will not take.

Some departments do not use CPAT. Denton Fire is one: the city's published FAQ puts the physical agility test after background and polygraph, and recruiting materials describe a department-specific course. If you are applying there, train that course, not a CPAT PDF.

EMS. Many services do not run a branded PAT. The work still does. Stair chairs, stretchers, and loaded carries are the job. If your agency publishes a lift or stair standard, train that. If it does not, train the same patterns: carry, climb, grip, and a heart that recovers.

Police and sheriff. There is no single national test. Some agencies use a Cooper-style battery (timed run, sprint, push-ups, sit-ups). Some use a continuous obstacle course. LAPD's Physical Abilities Test is one published example: sit-ups in one minute, a 300-meter sprint, push-ups in one minute, and a 1.5-mile run (accessed 2026-08-14). Your agency's notice wins.

Army. The Army Fitness Test of record, adopted 1 June 2025, is five events: three-repetition maximum deadlift, hand-release push-up, sprint-drag-carry, plank, and two-mile run. The standing power throw is gone. Passing for most specialties is 300 points with at least 60 in each event. Designated combat specialties have a higher bar (U.S. Army, 14 May 2025; army.mil/aft).

Marine Corps. The PFT and CFT are each scored out of 300. A 300 is a perfect score on that test, 100 points per event. As of 1 January 2023 the plank is mandatory on the PFT and the crunch is no longer authorized. The official site lists 3:45 for a maximum plank and 1:10 for the minimum, on a single standard (Marine Corps Fitness, PFT/CFT, accessed 2026-08-14). Pull-ups or push-ups and a three-mile run (or an authorized alternate) still sit on that test. The CFT is a separate combat fitness test. Do not train to a 2014 crunch table.

Navy. Officer Candidate School publishes the PFA as height and weight, planks, two-minute push-ups, and a 1.5-mile run (NSTC OCS Physical Fitness Standards, accessed 2026-08-14). Sailors use the current MyNavy HR Physical Readiness guides. Read the guide that matches your status.

If the sheet in your hand disagrees with anything above, the sheet wins.

When you already know the sheet, use the specific guide: How to pass the Denton Fire Department Physical Ability Test or How to get a 300 on the Marine Corps PFT. This page stays the base week.

The work is the same even when the score sheet is not

Look at those lists again. The uniforms change. The patterns do not.

• Climb under load (stairs, pack, vest).
• Carry something awkward (tools, cans, a teammate, a go-bag).
• Drag (hose, dummy, sled).
• Push and pull (forcible entry, ceiling, sled, a resisting subject).
• Hang and grip (pull-ups, hose, sledge, stretcher).
• Brace (plank, lifting with a stiff trunk).
• Run (300 meters, 1.5 miles, 2 miles, 3 miles).
• Recover while already moving. Continuous tests do not give you a sit-down.

Strength without a heart leaves you strong for event one and empty for event six. Endurance without a frame leaves you able to jog and unable to drag. Train both in the same week. On some days, train both in the same hour.

Start tomorrow

Four days is enough if they are honest days. This is a candidate week, not a special-operations cycle.

Tomorrow: work day. Vest or pack on for at least part of it if your test is loaded. Circuit the patterns above. No sitting between stations if your test is continuous. Finish with farmer's walks until your grip says stop.

The next day: engine day. Thirty to forty-five minutes of steady work you can still talk through (run, row, ruck, bike). Finish with one short interval block: one to three minutes hard, short rest, repeat. That is the run, the stair climb, and the incomplete recovery between events.

Two days later: second work day. Same circuit, biased to the table below.

The day after that: second engine day. Same shape as the first engine day.

Walk and sleep on the other days. Recovery is training. Part I is what you eat on those days.

Swap the circuit to match the sheet:

Film one circuit a week. If you stand around between stations on a continuous test, you are practicing the wrong test. If you never run because "I lift," you are practicing the wrong test.

You do not need every machine. You need the pattern, then the clock.

After the week is familiar

The physical day should start to feel like something you have already done. That is the point.

When the written side is the next gate, use the Texas civil service exam prep and the practice set. The booklet your department names still comes first.

Specific tests get specific articles. This pair is the base. When you know the exact sheet, train that sheet.