Physical Fitness Assessment
What is tested
The physical test measures baseline endurance, upper-body and core strength, and agility. Components commonly used in selection include a 1.6 km run, push-ups, sit-ups, chin-ups or pull-ups, and a ditch or obstacle jump. Exact cut-offs are printed in the official advertisement for your cycle and are not identical every year - train to beat the published standard with a margin rather than merely to equal it.
Training principles
- Specificity: you improve the test by practising the test, not by only playing cricket or football.
- Progressive overload: add a little distance, repetitions or pace each week; sudden jumps cause injury.
- Polarised running: two or three easy runs plus one interval session per week beats daily all-out running.
- Strength: bodyweight push-ups, sit-ups, squats and pull-ups three times weekly, adding one repetition per set each week.
- Recovery and taper: sleep seven to eight hours, hydrate well, and cut volume sharply in the final three to five days.
Worked example
A candidate runs 1.6 km in 8:30 while the standard is 7:30. That is a 60-second improvement, about 12.5%, needed in the target time.
Reasoning: split the goal into pace. A 1.6 km run in 7:30 is roughly 4:41 per kilometre, so each 400 m lap should take about 1:52. Do one weekly session of 6 × 400 m at 1:52 with 90 seconds' jog recovery, keep two easy 3 km runs, and retest after four weeks. If times do not improve, the easy runs are probably being run too fast.
Traps
- Sprinting the first 400 m and walking the final lap.
- Push-ups with partial range, which the counter does not count.
- Training hard two days before the test and arriving sore.
- Dehydration or a heavy meal on test morning.
- Hiding an injury, which will surface in the medical anyway.