This Calisthenics and Cardio Workout Will Prepare You for Any Military Fitness Test

Calisthenics and cardio exercises can be arranged in several ways to improve running times and overall fitness test scores. Few, though, push you as hard as this one in a progressive manner -- until you fail.

The Max Out PT Pyramid workout is a “one-way trip” up the half pyramid, also known as a ladder, until you can no longer achieve the required reps for that set. The workout is broken down to make this multi-set challenge understandable.

Warm-Up

Bike for 10 minutes or run 1 mile to get the body moving. The beauty of this pyramid is that the first few sets serve as a warm-up for the maximum test of this workout. Consider this an assessment tool to gauge your progress each time you perform this workout.

The Max Rep Half Pyramid

This one-way progression takes you from easy repetitions to the point where you start to fail to complete the workout. The goal is to continue up the pyramid until you fail at three of these four events: pull-ups, push-ups, squats and dips.

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People typically will fail first at the three upper-body exercises, beginning with pull-ups, followed by dips and then push-ups. Continue up the ladder until you fail to reach the reps of that set of the ladder.

Even after you fail in an exercise, continue to do what you can on future sets. Once you reach the goal of that step of the ladder in any two exercises, continue until you fail at three of the four exercises.

Follow the steps below for each set. Try to make it to at least 15 sets.

• Pull-ups - start with one, and add one each round.
• Push-ups - start with two, and add two each round.
• Squats - start with three, then add three each round
• Dips - start with one, then add one each round
• Run 400 meters each set (or run 800 meters on odd sets).

In practice, the half ladder looks like this:

• Set 1: 1 pull-up, 2 push-ups, 3 squats, 1 dip, run 400 meters
• Set 2: 2 pull-ups, 4 push-ups, 6 squats, 2 dips, run 400 meters
• Set 3: 3 pull-ups, 6 push-ups, 9 squats, 3 dips, run 400 meters …

Keep working your way up the ladder, but continue to attempt your best on each set, even if you reach failure on one or two exercises.

Once you reach failure on three exercises, you can call it a day. Now you’re ready to cool down.

Cooldown

Go for an easy jog or bike for 10 minutes, then stretch the upper body and lower body. At this point, you have likely accumulated more than 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 squats and 100 dips. You have also accumulated nearly 5 miles in running.

Save this workout to test your muscle stamina progress and try it every month of a calisthenics and cardio cycle. If you're looking for more muscle-stamina workouts and endurance exercises like this one, visit the Military.com Fitness Section for hundreds of workout articles to help. 

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