Military Ketoers - Chime in! PT Test Thoughts

military
apft
pt-test
(the cheater) #1

Curious how many of us here are in the military. I’m Army and just took my PT test this morning. As much faith as I have in keto for day-to-day mental clarity, energy, mood, sleep, etc., I wouldn’t trust it to power me through a PT test.

For those who don’t know, the PT test consists of 2 minutes of push ups, two minutes of sit ups, and a 2-mile run. Depending on your age and sex, different amounts/times equal different scores. I’m 35 so at a minimum, I have to get 36 push ups, 42 sit ups, and run under 17:42. I usually do much better than that, but those are the absolulte minimum to pass the test. It’s different for other branches of the service and other ages/sexes of service members.

So for the last two days, i’ve been eating ‘normally.’ That is, I had a Chinese buffet Monday night with TONS of carbs (total binge, I won’t lie) and then I binged Taco Bell last night and ate half a package of double stuff Oreos. I did VERY well with push ups and sit ups, and probably would have done well with the run, except it was literally freezing cold and I never trained in the cold (stupid me - I thought it’d be warmer by damn mid-April! lol).

Anyway, the point is; I seriously carbed up prior to the APFT and did relatively well - or at least not too much worse than 6 months ago when I was 30lbs heavier and eating a SAD. I do feel that overall, with Keto, I’m not nearly as energetic at the gym nor do I have as much endurance, but the holistic benefits, in my opinion, far outweigh what I lack in the gym.

Anyone do strict keto up to and through their physical fitness test? Can you compare it to when you were eating a SAD? Since I passed, I may take diagnostic tests over the next couple months and stay strictly keto just to test/experiment.

Curious about other military personnel’s thoughts about this matter. Thanks!

(Vladaar Malane) #2

@decreebass

How long have you been doing keto? I have been doing it for over a year, I trust it to power me through serious work outs. I was in the Marine Reserves and the National Guard, I wouldn’t consider PT tests that taxing. That’s just my opinion though.

Yesterday I did 40 minutes on the elliptical after not eating for over 24 hours. Fasting and working out is great too it raises your Growth Hormone level. As a matter fact if you listen to the 2 keto dudes podcast that our the gurus that created this forum you will hear all the time @richard talk about going on massive long distance bike rides while fasting, or just while doing his keto meals. He has plenty of energy to get it done.

I guess I am coming off as a attitude on this topic, I apologize for that but I am protective of the keto lifestyle as it has benefited me so much. I’m tired of people bashing me for fasting now and they making comments like your starving yourself, or your going to die if you don’t eat, or your weak cause I am in the middle of fasting. So maybe I gave you the brunt of that, but feel free to research it on your own.

(ANNE ) #3

I guess that the Keto way of life, is exactly that. You forget that you are avoiding carbage, and eating fats instead. Because it is the way you live.
You don’t think about how well you will do in a PT test or any other performance assessment, just have you trained regularly enough and hard enough to do well? Not what fuel did I put in my body over the last few days.
The PT test sound like short burst activity, not the ‘long walk/run with a 50lb pack on your back, endurance kind of assessment.
It has been a long while since I had boots on…but I always preferred the CFT (combat fitness test) the long walk in the rain, wind, mud in the woods…to the PFT (personal fitness test) which was the run for life as fast as you can.

(the cheater) #4

I don’t take offense; i appreciate your passion. To me, though, 40 minutes on an eliptical is far less taxing than giving it your all for two minutes of push-ups, situps, and then running two miles as fast as you can. I’m not suggesting you’re wrong in your premise, but for me, yeah - I’m fine in the gym the rest of the time. I can jog for miles, do any number of sets/reps of whatever machine I’m feelin’ at the moment - but for that ‘give it your all as fast as you can’ - I guess my body isn’t built for (or accustomed to) that; at least while eating keto on a deficit.

Yeah, like I told the gentleman above; I’m fine with the slow burn type exercises. If I had to jog for 10 miles but wasn’t timed, I’d be okay. I even enjoy fasting, too, as with keto I rarely get hungry. But yeah, it’s the short, quick intense exercise that I’m not sure about. I’m sure if I were 150lbs and my main hobby was running and being a gym rat, then a PT test wouldn’t be that taxing at all. But I’m a gamer, a musician, a student, and for my job, a nurse, so I try to do at least light to moderate exercise 3-5 times per week - but short of actually doing the PT test, nothing can really train you for it. And that’s how I’ve prepared - My gym routine for the last week or two has been push ups for two minutes, then immediately two of situps, then run for as long/far as I can handle on the treadmill since it’s SOOOooo boring and otherwise freezing outside.

I appreciate y’all’s insight so far. I guess I’m still just learning my body and how it reacts to keto and exercise. I know for the first week or two, I didn’t have a whole lot of energy to do ANY exercise.

Like I said - I think my plan is gonna be to take diagnostic PT test (that don’t count) with a variety of nutritional statuses. Today was post-carb-up day. Maybe next time will be fasting keto. It’s interesting. It’s so miserable that I hate doing it any more than I need to. I like the gym because between sets I can people watch and listen to music and I’m not miserable. PT tests are just miserable. Then again, I feel GREAT afterward, so there’s that at least :slight_smile:

(Andrew Lyons) #5

I did a 8 mile CFT today and really struggled after mile 5. I’ve never felt that bad before on a CFT before starting keto. I felt like I really noticed that I didn’t have any energy reserves and once I’d burnt off my breakfast I was done. I could have done with an ammo pouch full of haribo!

It didn’t help that they beasted us for the 5th mile running up sand tracks, but hey ho you choose your trade!

(the cheater) #6

So I know this post is old now, but I thought I’d give a bit of an update.

So, when I first started keto (a couple months before the original post), I was nearly 220lbs. I haven’t weighed myself in about a month, but I think, including dropping weight, losing fat, and building muscle, I’m probably about 180-ish, maybe a little more.

My PT test that I took when I wrote this post was probably fueled by carbs. I chickened out and carb-loaded the night before and still did mediocre (fitness-related, not necessarily diet-related).

But over the last couple weeks, I’ve been giving myself diagnostic PT tests and I’m doing just fine. I’m almost maxing out on push ups and sit ups, and running okay (I hate running). In any case, I still cheat about once a week. I’m thinking about not cheating at all until after the PT test but I don’t know. I seem to be doing really well physically - looks, feeling, fitness level, etc. - so I may not want to jinx it by changing up my routine lol!

Anyway, I think I’m going to take my PT test next Thursday, so I’ll report back how it goes and all applicable stats.