Rapid PT Program

Bryan Mayo| i
The Rapid PT Program
Bryan Mayo
First Edition | www.rapidptprogram.com
Score Better than 90 Points on Your Next PT Test in Only 42 Days!

Bryan Mayo| i
Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................1
Chapter 1 - About This Program.............................................................................................................................................3
Shrinking Your Waist...........................................................................................................................................................4
Sustaining Faster Run Speeds .............................................................................................................................................5
Doubling Your Push-ups and Sit-ups...................................................................................................................................5
Chapter 2 - Diet Overview......................................................................................................................................................6
Healthy vs Unhealthy Diets.................................................................................................................................................7
Healthy Diets...................................................................................................................................................................7
Unhealthy Diets...............................................................................................................................................................7
Diet and Your Health.......................................................................................................................................................7
Foods to Avoid ....................................................................................................................................................................8
Problematic Foods ..........................................................................................................................................................8
Fast/Convince Foods.......................................................................................................................................................9
Pseudo (Junk) Foods .....................................................................................................................................................10
Foods to Eat ......................................................................................................................................................................10
Meats, Eggs, Cheeses, and Yogurts...............................................................................................................................10
Safe Starches.................................................................................................................................................................10
Non-Starchy Vegetables................................................................................................................................................11
Fruits .............................................................................................................................................................................11
Beans, Grains, Nuts, and Seeds.....................................................................................................................................11
Natural Oils/Fats ...........................................................................................................................................................11
Nutritional Supplements...............................................................................................................................................12
Other Supplements.......................................................................................................................................................12
Your Meals ........................................................................................................................................................................13
When to Eat ..................................................................................................................................................................13
Protein Intake................................................................................................................................................................14
Carbohydrate Intake .....................................................................................................................................................15
Fat Intake ......................................................................................................................................................................16
Diet Conformity.............................................................................................................................................................16
Chapter 3 - Lifestyle Overview.............................................................................................................................................17

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Improve Sleep Quality.......................................................................................................................................................18
Become More Socially Connected ....................................................................................................................................19
Emotionally Decompress ..................................................................................................................................................19
Get Outside More .............................................................................................................................................................19
Watch Your Physical Activity.............................................................................................................................................19
Improve Your Immunity....................................................................................................................................................20
Quit Smoking.....................................................................................................................................................................20
Quit Drinking Alcohol........................................................................................................................................................20
Watch Overmedication.....................................................................................................................................................20
Chapter 4 - Exercise Overview .............................................................................................................................................21
1.5-Mile Run......................................................................................................................................................................22
The PT Standard............................................................................................................................................................22
Learning to Enjoy Running Again ..................................................................................................................................22
Running Faster ..............................................................................................................................................................24
The 1.25-Mile Walk...........................................................................................................................................................29
Push-ups and Sit-ups.........................................................................................................................................................30
The PT Standard............................................................................................................................................................30
Basic Push-up Form.......................................................................................................................................................30
Basic Sit-up Form ..........................................................................................................................................................31
Getting More Reps........................................................................................................................................................32
Planks................................................................................................................................................................................33
Rest and Recovery.............................................................................................................................................................33
Training Injuries ................................................................................................................................................................33
Tracking Your Progress......................................................................................................................................................33
Chapter 5 - PT Test Tips........................................................................................................................................................34
For the Strength Components ..........................................................................................................................................35
For the Body Composition Component ............................................................................................................................35
Just Before the Run/Walk Component .............................................................................................................................35
During the Run/Walk Component ....................................................................................................................................36
Appendix A – Shoe Suggestion Guide...................................................................................................................................37
What Kinds of Running Shoes Can You Use?....................................................................................................................37
What Should You Look for in a Running Shoe?.................................................................................................................37
Running Shoes Suggestions...............................................................................................................................................38

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Appendix B – Natural Running Form.....................................................................................................................................43
Posture..............................................................................................................................................................................43
Footwork...........................................................................................................................................................................44
Arm Swing.........................................................................................................................................................................45
Hip Stability.......................................................................................................................................................................46
Hip/Leg/Knee Movement .................................................................................................................................................47
Running Gait......................................................................................................................................................................48
Overview .......................................................................................................................................................................49
Support Phase...............................................................................................................................................................50
Swing Phase ..................................................................................................................................................................51
Analyzing Your Running Form...........................................................................................................................................52
Appendix C – Basic Push-up and Sit-up Strength..................................................................................................................53
Building Basic Push-up Strength .......................................................................................................................................53
Progressing Through Modified Push-ups......................................................................................................................53
Push-up Form Notes .....................................................................................................................................................55
Building Basic Sit-up Strength...........................................................................................................................................55
Progressing Through Modified Sit-ups..........................................................................................................................56
Appendix D – Eating Guide ...................................................................................................................................................58
Appendix E – Exercise Plan I..................................................................................................................................................64
What does the Plan Use for Training? ..............................................................................................................................64
What Will You Need?........................................................................................................................................................64
Heart Rate (HR) Info..........................................................................................................................................................64
Starting PT Performance...................................................................................................................................................64
Ending PT Performance.....................................................................................................................................................64
Filling Out the Plan Worksheet.........................................................................................................................................65
Appendix F – Exercise Plan II.................................................................................................................................................72
Who is this Exercise Plan For?...........................................................................................................................................72
What does the Plan Use for Training? ..............................................................................................................................72
What Will You Need?........................................................................................................................................................72
Heart Rate (HR) Info..........................................................................................................................................................72
Starting PT Performance...................................................................................................................................................72
Ending PT Performance.....................................................................................................................................................72
Filling Out the Plan Worksheet.........................................................................................................................................73

Bryan Mayo| 1
introduction
Introduction
et me introduce myself. My name is Bryan and I'm excited to present my Rapid PT Program, which I
created to help everyone in the USAF achieve at least an 80 on their PT test within 42 days (for those
who don't know, this is the minimum re-test period after a failure). Ideally, if the program is followed
exactly, then scoring 90s should be relatively effortless.
At its core, my Rapid PT Program is built upon the latest diet, lifestyle, and exercise research. I spent several
years collecting all this information, driven mostly by my own curiosity into disease prevention. What I
discovered has radically changed my understanding of how the body breaks, as well as how to optimize the
performance of the human machine.
But let me back up a bit by explaining how my Rapid PT Program got started.
Like many people in the military I struggled with my PT test. When I joined the military the US Air Force was
using the cycle test to gauge cardio performance. This meant that I wasn’t forced to run for about 10 years (at
the time I was very happy about this).
In 2002, the cycle test was officially replaced by the 1.5-mile run. Honestly, I didn’t put too much thought into
my training for this first post-ergo PT test. Because I lifted weights at the gym religiously since I left Basic
Training, I knew that my push-ups, sit-ups, and waist measurements would all be good. As for the run, I
thought I could just show up without any preparation and blow the run out of the water using will power
alone. Of course, that’s not what happened: I labored to complete the 1.5-mile run in a blazing 13:59 (at the
age of 29!).
This experience was so thoroughly unpleasant that I started to do some research into how I could improve my
run times. I wasn’t prepared for what I uncovered (and am still uncovering). I started with nutrition, which I
thought would be fairly straight-forward (it’s the 21st Century after all), but I quickly discovered that living
underneath the simple official low-fat, whole-grain narrative of proper nutrition was a community of skeptical
investigators all searching for a better understanding of what a truly healthy diet looks like (that is, one that
minimizes disease). As I followed these investigators I came to understand more about how poor nutrition
drives diseases like obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. It also impacts physical fitness potential.
With my curiosity awakened, I devoured as much information as I could for about eight years, reading more
than 100 books that covered health, nutrition, and fitness. And that doesn't even count the hundreds of
articles I've read online. It took a while, but I started to see a pattern in the noise.
As I was gathering data I would test my new-found knowledge on myself. The first thing I noticed was a lower
body-fat percentage as well as increased strength. On the track, my run times started to improve. Before I
knew it, I had clocked an official time of 11:24. While this wasn’t a blazingly fast run time, I had managed to
reduce my run time by more than two minutes. More importantly, my training program allowed me to get PT
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2 | Rapid PT Program
scores in the 90s with relatively little effort.
At some point, I wondered why the Air Force didn't have an official training program that guaranteed 90s on
the PT test. They often argue (rightfully) that the USAF needs to be fit-to-fight because we might be
embedded with Army or Marine units. However, for whatever reason, the USAF doesn't seem to consider PT
the same as an Airman's job training. This means that Air Force members are largely on their own when it
comes to training to pass their PT test. So, I decided to change that by creating this program.
Because I have so little extra time to devote to exhausting and elaborate training programs, my objective was
always to create a simple, flexible, easy-to-follow plan that would help anyone get an Excellent on their PT
test. The result of my research and experimentation is reflected in the program you are about to start. And,
although some of the changes I talk about may seem impossible at first (especially the dietary changes),
collectively they will allow you to make HUGE PT test score improvements in a very short amount of time.
Most importantly, if you always use this program to prepare for your future PT tests, you’ll likely never
struggle with your PT test ever again!
Good luck!
Bryan Mayo
(MSgt, USAF)
P.S. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to email me at RapidPT@hotmail.com.

Bryan Mayo| 3
Chapter 1 - About This Program
chapter one
About This Program
What You Need to Know
 The Rapid PT Program is designed to help everyone get 80 to 90 points on their next PT
test in only 42 days.
 You can quickly shrink your waist size by reducing all sources of chronic stress,
improving diet quality, controlling calorie intake, and improving gut health.
 You can sustain faster speeds over greater distances by optimizing your body weight,
using barefoot training, and improving your aerobic fitness.
 You can double the number of push-ups and sit-ups you can do in 60 seconds by using a
very simple and easy technique known as Grease the Groove.

About this Program
The goal of this program is simple:
To help you score 90 points or better on your next PT test with only 42 days of smart training.
Shrinking Your Waist
The beginning of your PT prep journey starts with your waist. If you have a noticeable belly you can exercise
until you collapse from exhaustion and you likely won’t be able to get rid of it (actually, that approach may
ironically cause your waist to grow). That’s because your waist size is largely a consequence of chronic stress,
malnutrition, and overeating. As such, there are four (4) ways to quickly shrink your waist:
 Reduce all sources of chronic stress: Chronic stress will constantly elevate your blood levels of the
stress hormone cortisol, which will redirect energy into the fat behind your abdominal wall (called
visceral fat), trapping it there until all the source(s) of chronic stress are eliminated. And the more
chronic stress you suffer from, the bigger your waist will be (especially for men). Chronic stress is
primarily reduced through better lifestyle habits (see Lifestyle Overview).
 Improve your diet: Malnutrition will prevent your body from getting the essential and non-essential
nutrients it needs to correctly manage your body weight and efficiently burn fat. Improving your diet is
accomplished by eating less problematic, fast, convenience, and/or pseudo foods while eating more
real foods along with specific nutritional supplementation (see Diet Overview).
 Control calorie intake: Since calorie balance and body weight are inextricably linked, overeating can
lead to excess (fat) weight and a growing waist. Overeating can be effectively controlled through the
use of modified intermittent fasting (see Diet Overview).
 Improve your gut health. The “bad” bacteria in your gut can actually increase how many calories you
can absorb from your foods. Conversely, the “good” bacteria help limit the calories you can absorb.
Consequently, improving the health of your gut bacteria can help you reduce your waist size through
lower calorie intake. Gut health can be managed with a good diet and lifestyle habits (see Diet and
Lifestyle Overview).
The good news is that once you reduce your stress levels, clean up your diet, control your calorie intake, and
improve your gut health the energy trapped in visceral fat will leave very quickly. Depending on how much
you have to lose, following this plan can shrink your waist by up to 4-5 inches in just six (6) weeks.

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Sustaining Faster Run Speeds
By optimizing your bodyweight, running form, and level of aerobic fitness you can expend less energy
sustaining faster speeds during your 1.5-mile run. Although making major lasting changes to how you run is
fairly involved and takes several months (or years) to truly dial in, there are three (3) ways to quickly improve
your run times over the next six (6) weeks:
 Optimize your body weight. Carrying additional body weight (either extra fat or muscle) will force you
to work harder to sustain your running speeds, which can slow you down. Your body weight is largely
impacted by the quality of your diet, level of physical activity, and ability to control stress (see Diet and
Lifestyle Overview).
 Use barefoot training. Running barefoot on a treadmill can help your brain get the feedback it needs
to automatically adjust and optimize your running form and economy (see Exercise Overview).
 Improving your aerobic fitness. The secret of most fast runners is exceptional aerobic fitness, which
allows them to support faster speeds while efficiently burning fuel with the use of oxygen. The faster
you can run aerobically, the longer you can run before fatigue forces you to slow down (see Exercise
Overview).
If you follow one of the two plans found at the back of this eBook (Appendix E or F), and run consistently over
the next six (6) weeks, then it is possible to reduce your run times by 1-3 minutes.
Doubling Your Push-ups and Sit-ups
Instead of torturing yourself with hundreds of push-ups and sit-ups each day preparing for the PT test, you can
use a little-known technique known as Grease the Groove to double the number of push-ups and sit-ups you
can do in one minute (see Exercise Overview). And you can get this improvement while investing as little as 50
push-ups and 50 sit-ups each day during training. More importantly, this technique is so easy to use that you
can also do it at work in just a few minutes, all without breaking a sweat!

Chapter 2 - Diet Overview
chapter two
Diet Overview
 Eating a healthy diet can shrink your waist and improve your push-up, sit-up, and run
performance.
 A healthy diet is one that is compatible with our evolutionary history. An unhealthy diet
is one that is not.
 Limit all heavily refined, junk, and fast foods to no more than 10% of your daily calories.
 Most of your foods will be from real foods that are minimally processed.
 Eat at least 100 grams of quality protein per day.
 Carbohydrate intake is based on your physical activity level. The less active you are, the
fewer carbohydrates you eat each day; the more active you are, the more
carbohydrates you eat.
 Eat at least one pound of fresh or frozen fruit per day.
 Eat at least two pounds of fresh or frozen vegetables each day.
 Use intermittent fasting to control daily calorie intake
 Don’t cheat while training for your PT test.

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Diet Overview
hile training for your PT test you will largely be eating a healthy diet composed of fresh (or frozen)
meats, whole eggs, safe starches, vegetables, and fruit. It is also suggested that you use
supplements to eliminate common nutritional deficiencies that can drive excess body weight,
increased waist size, and impaired fitness improvements.
Healthy vs Unhealthy Diets
To make sure that you know what I mean by a healthy diet, let me share my definitions for both healthy and
unhealthy diets.
Healthy Diets
Throughout our evolution humans have used the nutrients found in foods as the original medicine to help
them resist disease. Of course there was no single healthy diet in the past; however, as humans spread out
into new environments they had to figure out how to eat well so that they could stay healthy. Through painful
trial-and-error, these pioneering humans eventually assembled a unique group of plant and animal foods that
had all the essential and non-essential nutrients that the human body needs while also minimizing toxin
exposure. These traditional diets were then passed down from generation to generation to make sure that
every generation was as healthy as possible.
So, any healthy diet is one that is primarily filled with minimally processed, nutrient-filled plant and animal
foods.
Unhealthy Diets
By contrast, an unhealthy diet is one that is comprised of very little whole plant and animal foods. The major
problem with this kind of diet is that is has been made calorie-dense due to excessive refinement, resulting
foods that have little to no essential or non-essential nutrients left, except for fuels like carbohydrates and
fats. These lifeless foods will also commonly be filled with a few synthetic vitamins and dietary minerals
(known as enriching) to make them resemble real foods. But there is still a dearth of other nutrients, so a
person who eats a diet largely filled with these unhealthy foods will experience persistent but mild
malnutrition that allows the body to slowly lose the battle against the progression of easily preventable
degenerative diseases.
So, any unhealthy diet is one that is primarily filled with excessively-refined, nutrient-devoid plant or animal
“foods.”
Diet and Your Health
You might find this perspective hard to believe, but many of the health problems that we are now plagued
with were once rare or non-existent just 150 years ago. Obesity, for instance, was so rare that you could only
W

see an extremely obese person at a carnival. And heart disease, the current number one killer in industrialized
societies, doesn’t seem to have existed anywhere on Earth before the mid-1800s (there is no description of
the specific symptoms of a heart attack in recorded history before this time).
What changed during the middle of the 19th century? The Industrial Revolution, which allowed a degree of
food refinement and preservation that was never possible before. And as new industrially-processed foods like
refined sweeteners, refined flours, canned goods, and vegetable oils started to enter the American food
supply starting in the mid-1800s, degenerative diseases like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease started to
become much more common. Why? Most likely nutritional deficiency diseases.
Interestingly, the only reason that we know that dietary vitamins and minerals exist is because of the
nutritional deficiency diseases like beriberi, scurvy, and rickets that suddenly appeared after industrially-
processed foods started to comprise a larger percentage of the American diet. This eventually led the
industrial food industry to add a handful of vitamins and minerals to their foods (known as enriching) to
prevent those who ate a lot of their foods from developing these diseases. Sadly, enriching is still used in
today’s highly-processed junk and fast foods for the same reason.
As far as this program is concerned, all highly-processed and refined foods should be kept to a minimum so
that you can avoid nutritional deficiencies, helping your body heal and grow while also allowing you to make
huge improvements on your PT test. (And don’t be too surprised to find that many other health problems
suddenly disappearing as well.)
Foods to Avoid
In general, to eat a more healthy diet, try to keep your intake of the following foods to less than 10% of your
daily calories. They are nutrient-devoid, excessively processed, and/or problematic foods and will complicate
your training efforts if they comprise a large part of your daily calories.
Problematic Foods
Many people will react poorly to some foods (even those that are considered healthy), causing allergies,
bloating, digestive issues, or blood sugar swings, all of which can drive stress and a bigger waistline. During
your training, try to avoid using the following foods during your PT prep (see the food guide in Appendix D for
a more detailed list):
 Wheat. Wheat isn’t necessarily a bad food (after all, many humans have been eating wheat
successfully for thousands of years). However, today we all eat modern industrially-grown wheat that
is highly refined and (consequently) nutrient devoid, making it a “bad” carbohydrate for many. It is also
known to cause blood sugar swings, bloating, and weight gain; displace other nutrient-dense foods
when it makes up a large percentage of a person’s daily calories (a characteristic not generally shared
by other starchy foods); and induce vitamin D deficiency (when consumed by those with low but
adequate vitamin D intake).
 Milk. Despite being an excellent source of high-quality protein and fat, modern pasteurized milk is
another problematic food because of its lactose content. For sensitive individuals, consumption of

Bryan Mayo| 9
lactose can lead to bloating, digestive issues, and weight gain. (However, low-lactose milk products like
whey protein, casein protein, yogurt, cheese, and butter are generally well tolerated and can be eaten
during your training.)
 Industrial edible oils. Unlike natural oils (e.g., butter, lard, tallow, coconut oil, olive oil), industrial
edible oils are usually aggressively processed to produce a lot of product very cheaply. This abusive
processing can damage the delicate polyunsaturated fats often found in these oils, likely oxidizing
industrial edible oils before they leave the factory (and you can’t tell that these oils are oxidized
because they are deodorized). Oxidized (or rancid) oils can cause chronic inflammation when
consumed regularly, which can drive chronic stress and a bigger waistline.
 Hydrogenated oils. Industrial edible oils are also sometimes hydrogenated, making them hard at room
temperature or allowing them to act as a food preservative. Hydrogenated oils have recently been
associated with various degenerative diseases like heart disease and diabetes due to their high man-
made trans-fat content. Both oxidized oils and hydrogenated oils can impair your health when they
make up a large portion of your daily calories (more than 1%).
 Soy. Although marketed as a health food, soy—and all ingredients derived from soy—can be a very
problematic food for anyone who eats it. Some of the unfortunate characteristics of soy include
inhibited protein absorption, testosterone suppression, loss of libido, fertility issues, and reduced
metabolism.
 Refined sugars. Sugar in its normal packaging (e.g., fruits, vegetables) does not usually cause health
problems, even when consumed in very large quantities (several pounds a day). However, once these
real foods are refined to remove all essential and non-essential nutrients, the concentrated sugars that
are left can drive degenerative diseases (including obesity) if eaten to excess (>50g per day). That
makes refined sugars a “bad” carbohydrate that simply adds to your total daily calorie consumption,
which can increase body weight and waist size (among other things). If you really need to eat
something sweet during your PT prep, you can use artificial or natural no-calorie sweeteners (e.g.,
xylitol or stevia).
Fast/Convince Foods
One of the many consequences of the Industrial Revolution is the creation of shelf-able foods, which can sit on
a grocery store shelf for weeks, months, or years without going bad. These preserved foods are usually
cheaply made, devoid of nutrients, and contain some combination of “bad” carbohydrates (wheat and refined
sugar), vegetable oil (often hydrogenated), and soy. These foods are also usually precooked to allow for
minimal meal prep. As such, avoid any foods that have been deep fried, reheated in an oven or microwave
(this excludes any leftovers you prepared yourself at home), or prepared at a fast food
restaurant/truck/trailer/kiosk/gas station/convenience store. Also, be weary of pre-packaged boxed meals
found at the grocery store. See food guide in Appendix D for a more detailed list of these foods.

Pseudo (Junk) Foods
Pseudo (or junk) foods are made with heavily refined versions of real foods that are remixed to create new
“foods” that don’t exist in nature. Typically, these foods are made with a lot of “bad” carbohydrates (usually
refined sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, and/or wheat four), cheap industrial edible oils (that are often
hydrogenated), and chemical taste enhancers and preservatives. Collectively, pseudo foods can play havoc
with your appetite and hunger, causing intense food cravings, wild between-meal mood swings, and ravenous
overeating. Ultimately, if these pseudo foods are eaten habitually they can drive degenerative diseases by
displacing real foods (with essential nutrients) and driving chronic inflammation. And if these “foods”
comprise a large portion of your daily calories then you will likely also experience constant body (fat) weight
gain and an expanding waistline. See food guide in Appendix D for a more detailed list of these foods.
Foods to Eat
By eliminating typically problematic, fast/convenience, and junk/pseudo foods, what will be left to eat? Real
foods. Again, in general, most of your daily calories (about 90%) should contain homemade and fresh (or
frozen) meats, whole eggs, safe starches, vegetables, and fruit. Some grains and beans can also be eaten, but
they must be properly prepared (e.g., soaked overnight, thoroughly cooked).
Meats, Eggs, Cheeses, and Yogurts
Today, it seems popular to demonize meats, eggs, cheeses, and yogurts as unhealthy, which is odd since
humans have been eating these foods for thousands of years without health issues. In reality, these foods
provide an exceptional source of high-quality and complete protein, fat-soluble vitamins, some dietary
minerals, and essential fats. They are also your only natural source of vitamin B12.
Additionally, recent research has recently shown that eating whole eggs everyday can reduce waist size. So, if
you can tolerate eggs, try to eat at least three (3) eggs each day.
Overall, try to eat at least one (1) pound of meat, eggs, cheeses, and/or yogurt each day (of all kinds). See
food guide in Appendix D for a more detailed list of these foods.
Safe Starches
Carbohydrates are another popular whipping boy today, which is odd since humans have been successfully
eating starches (a form of complex carbohydrate) for at least 200,000 years. In fact, there are many non-
industrial societies around the world today who eat a lot of starches—comprising up to 90% of their daily
calories—while maintaining very low body weights and exceptional health throughout their entire lifetime
(e.g., Kitivans).
Of course, as with many things in the industrialized world, the problem with modern starches—or any
carbohydrate—has to do with how refined it is. Many “unsafe” starches have been refined to such a degree
that they can become problematic for those who are sedentary or have metabolic issues (e.g., insulin
resistance). On the other hand, “safe” starches are minimally processed (e.g., boiled, steamed, baked, or pan
fried), allowing them to supply calories with little to no toxins or anti-nutrients (e.g., phytic acid, WGA) of their
own.

Bryan Mayo| 11
During your training, safe starches will provide your primary source of “good” carbohydrates. You are free to
eat the following foods every day:
 Oates (not instant)
 Sweet Potato
 Taro
 White Potato
 White Rice
 Yam
As far as carbohydrate intake goes, it is important that you understand that your level of physical activity will
determine how much safe starch you should eat per day (this is discussed in the Your Meals section).
Non-Starchy Vegetables
Any vegetable that has little to no starch is considered non-starchy (e.g., leafy green vegetables). These foods
are your primary source of water-soluble vitamins (except vitamin B12, which can only be found in animal
foods), some dietary minerals, and non-essential (but healthful) phytonutrients.
Try to eat about 1-2 pounds of fresh (or frozen) non-starchy vegetables per day (of all kinds). See food guide
in Appendix D for a more detailed list of these foods.
Fruits
Unlike most sources of food, fruits are intentionally designed by to be eaten. This survival strategy allows the
seeds of stationary plants to be transported and fertilized by hungry animals. The flesh of edible fruits are an
important source of some water-soluble vitamins (except vitamin B12), some dietary minerals, and non-
essential (but healthful) phytonutrients. Like safe starches, whole fruits are considered a “good” carbohydrate.
Try to eat about one (1) pound of fresh (or frozen) fruit a day (of all kinds). See food guide in Appendix D for
a more detailed list.
Beans, Grains, Nuts, and Seeds
Beans, grains, and nuts are all different names for seeds of various plants. And since plants can’t physically
defend themselves from predators, they generally use potentially powerful poisons (e.g., cyanide in apple
seeds; risin in castor oil beans; goitrogens in soybeans) to ensure that their seeds survive long enough to
become plants themselves. If these seeds are designed to be swallowed (which is the strategy of fruit-bearing
plants), anti-nutrients will be added to the shell of the seed to ensure that they can’t be digested.
With all this talk of poisons and anti-nutrients, why do people eat seeds? Because, once they are properly
prepared to remove any unwanted chemicals (usually by being soaked in water overnight and then completely
cooked) you get a nutritious food that often contains several fat-soluble vitamins, dietary minerals, and
healthful phytonutrients.
Try to eat about 4-8 ounces of beans, grains, or nuts per day. See food guide in Appendix D for a more
detailed list of these foods.
Natural Oils/Fats
A natural oil or fat is one that humans have been consuming for thousands of years, or well before the rise of
now-common degenerative diseases. These oils are found naturally in the foods you eat or are carefully

extracted from animal or vegetable sources. These fats have proven themselves to be healthy when consumed
in moderation (less than a few tablespoons per day).
For the next six (6) weeks, sparingly use only the following natural oils or fats:
 Butter (w/o flavorings)
 Coconut Oil (virgin)
 Lard (not hydrogenated)
 Macadamia Nut Oil
 Olive Oil (extra virgin)
 Sesame Seed Oil
Nutritional Supplements
Recent evidence has shown that most Americans are deficient in vitamins A, B12, C, D3, E, and K2, as well as
the dietary minerals calcium, choline, magnesium, and potassium. This is likely due to the consumption of too
much highly-refined, nutrient-devoid fast/junk/convenience foods. And it seems that even mild deficiencies of
these nutrients can cause degenerative diseases, as well as drive obesity, a bigger waist size, and impair
exercise performance improvements.
To prevent nutritional deficiencies from slowing down your training progress, it is HIGHLY recommended that
you take the following supplements every day:
Nutrient Daily Dosage Notes
B-Vitamin Complex 1 serving
Choline 500 mg
Essential Fatty Acids 1-2 g Primarily omega-3 as high-quality fish oil.
Fiber 15 g As inulin. Divided into three 5 g doses.
Magnesium 500 mg
Potassium 1 g
Sodium 5 g
Trace Mineral Complex 1 serving
Vitamin A 8000 IU As retinol (NOT as beta carotene or carotenoids).
Vitamin B12 2000 mcg As methylcobalamin.
Vitamin C 1 gram With rose hips or other bioflavonoids.
Vitamin D3 5000 IU
Vitamin K2 250 mcg As MK-7. MK-4 requires a much higher dosage.
Vitamin E 400 IU As mixed tocopherols.
Water 64 oz Filtered. Can be artificially sweetened.
This may seem like a lot of pills, but due to the changes in how we grow food today, even real foods are much
less nutritious than they were just 50 years ago, making it difficult if not impossible to get optimal intakes of
your essential nutrients through food alone. As far as your PT test prep results are concerned, it is absolutely
necessary to eliminate any possible nutritional deficiencies before starting this program if you want to
maximize your weight loss, waist reduction, and strength/cardio performance improvement within a 6-week
timeframe.
Other Supplements
There are other supplements that you can use to manage hunger, cravings, stress, blood sugar, or support the
liver.

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Nutrient Daily Dosage Notes
Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) 600-1000 mg Controls inflammation; supports the liver.
Ginger Powder 2 g Controls blood sugar.
Gymnema Sylvestre 1 serving Controls sugar cravings; normalizes blood sugar.
Melatonin 5-6 mg Improves sleep quality.
Milk Thistle 400 mg Detoxifies the liver.
Schizandra Berry 1 serving Reduces stress response and supports liver.
Lithium Orotate 5 mg Normalizes mood; reduces emotional stress.
Your Meals
As mentioned before, your diet during your PT prep will largely be comprised of real foods. However, there
are some other aspects of your diet that you need to pay attention to get the best PT results.
When to Eat
Generally, I do not like paying much attention to calories for weight loss because I think that a healthy diet will
help anyone get rid of excess (fat) weight. However, since calorie balance is unavoidably connected to body
weight and waist size, and we are trying to get max points for the waist measurement within six (6) weeks,
during your PT prep program you should make sure that you are only eating enough calories every day to
optimize your current body weight. To help you control calorie intake without counting calories I suggest you
use intermittent modified fasting (IMF), which helps you reduce your calorie intake by only allowing you to eat
during a very small window of time.
Here are the basics of IMF:
 Eat only when inside your meal window. Since a person can only eat so many calories at one time, you
can easily control calorie intake by initially only eating within an 8-hour window. When you are within
this eating window you can eat as many healthy meals as you feel you need. You will only use IMF
Monday through Friday and eat normally on the weekends.
 Your first meal is the biggest. When your meal window starts, your first meal will be up to 50% of your
daily calories (which will usually be anywhere between 600-1000 calories). As with all your meals,
these calories should come from whole food sources.
 Your meals get smaller throughout your meal window. While your first meal is your biggest, each
successive meal will be smaller and smaller in terms of calories (usually about 10% to 15% of your daily
calories, or the size of typical snacks).
 Start your meal window after your workouts. After you work out your skeletal muscles and liver
become very “hungry” (especially for sugar), redirecting many of the calories from a meal that would
normally go into your fat stores. You can take advantage of this calorie partitioning effect by starting
your meal window following your workout so that most of the calories from your first meal (which,
again, is the biggest of the day) can go to recovering skeletal muscle and liver cells and not fat cells.
Also, this post-workout meal should also contain most of your carbohydrates for the day.

 Adjusting your meal window. The point of using IMF is to help you sustainably drop body weight
(mostly in the belly). Since body weight and calorie balance are connected, you can figure out if you are
eating too much just by looking at a weight scale. If your weight is not dropping fast enough (or at all)
then you will need to shorten your meal window by one (1) hour to reduce your overall daily calorie
intake. After a week, if this smaller meal window causes a slow drop in body weight, then maintain this
window size throughout your training. If not, then remove another hour and wait another week. Keep
doing this until you find a meal window size that helps you control your body weight. (Note: Do not go
below a 4-hour meal window.)
 What to eat when outside your meal window: Outside of your meal window you can consume the
following to control hunger and protect your lean muscle mass as you lose weight:
o Filtered Water. Since you are not eating very much you will need to drink a lot more water. Try
to consume up to 64 ounces each day. You can use zero-calorie flavorings if you need to.
o Coffee and Tea. Since the caffeine in coffee and tea can help you control hunger you can drink
up to three (3) cups of coffee and/or tea each day.
o Eat Two Protein Shakes as Meal Replacements. You are allowed to consume two (2) eight-
ounce high-protein shakes as a meal replacement (usually breakfast and lunch). These shakes
should contain a minimum of 24 grams of whey protein.
o Eat Non-Starchy Vegetables and/or Fruit. Another way to control hunger is by eating up to two
(2) pounds of non-starchy vegetables and/or one (1) pound of fruits (this does not include dried
fruits) per day.
 Eat normally on the weekends. On the weekends you are free to eat as many healthy meals as you
need to (that is, whenever you are hungry; no boredom eating). You can also get one (1) cheat meal if
you need it. But be careful not to overeat (use portion control and pre-meal protein shakes to control
hunger if necessary).
Protein Intake
Protein is one of the most important macronutrients that you can eat. In fact, if you don’t eat enough quality
protein each day, your brain will actually sacrifice calorie intake to get enough, meaning that you will overeat
as long as you are under-eating protein (this can actually happen even if you are getting enough protein on
paper, but this protein is low in quality or poorly absorbed).
It’s important to keep in mind that not all protein sources are equal. Animal proteins are the highest quality
(that is, they contain all the essential and conditionally essential amino acids the human body needs) and also
require minimal processing to become digestible (e.g., cooking). Plant proteins, on the other hand, are usually
not complete (except for potato and soy protein) and need to be paired with another protein to improve its
quality (e.g., combining an animal protein with a plant protein; combining two complementary plant proteins
like beans and rice). Most plant proteins also usually need to be properly prepared (e.g., soaked and cooked)
to improve their digestibly by removing anti-nutrients (e.g., phytic acid).

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Try to make sure that you consume at least 100 grams of quality protein every day. If you find it hard to hit
this number, a whey protein shake (made with 8-ounces of water) is an easy way to get an extra 24-25 grams
of high-quality protein. If you take this shake after your workouts you can also accelerate your recovery and
training results.
Carbohydrate Intake
If you are going to train intensely, then you will need carbohydrates in your diet. Your body’s main source of
high-power fuel is stored sugar. If you run low of this stored sugar, you will be forced to use fat, which releases
energy very slowly. Consequently, you will experience “bonking” or “hitting the wall” until your muscle cells
can start using sugar again.
But you can’t just eat any carbohydrate-containing food. As I mentioned before, not all carbohydrate sources
are “good.” You should get most (really all) of your carbs from safe starches and fruits, as well as some
properly prepared grains and beans. I refer to these collectively as “good” carbohydrates.
Also, at a minimum, everyone should consume at least 75 grams of “good” carbohydrates each day. Your
physical activity will then determine how many additional carbohydrates you need to eat. Use the equation
this equation to figure out how many grams of carbohydrates you need every day:
75 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑠 + (𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑥 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑏 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑟) = 𝑑𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑏 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒
This table shows you the carb intake multiplier you can use in the above equation (if you are following this
program then you will fall under the “Moderately Active” level):
Activity Level Carbohydrate Intake Multiplier (g/lbs)
Sedentary 0.00
Light Activity 0.50
Moderately Active 1.00
Very Active 1.25
Extremely Active 1.50
Example 1 A 150 pound sedentary person will consume 75 grams of carbohydrates per day.
75 g + (150 lbs x 0) = 75 grams
75 g + 0 g = 75 grams
Example 2 A 150 pound person who exercises an hour a day, 3-5 days a week (moderately active) will
consume about 225 grams of carbohydrates per day.
75 g + (150 lbs x 1.0) = 225 grams
75 g + 150 g = 225 grams
Example 3 A 150 pound person who exercises intensely several hours every day (extremely active) will
consume about 300 grams of carbohydrates per day.
75 g + (150 lbs x 1.5) = 300 grams

75 g + 225 g = 300 grams
Fat Intake
After you figure out your protein and carbohydrate intake, fat will make up the rest of your daily calories. And,
as with protein and carbohydrates, some fats are better than others. Most of your fat calories should be
primarily comprised of an equal mix of saturated and monounsaturated fats (from both animal and plant
sources). These two categories of fat are very stable, meaning that they can tolerate much of the abuse of
processing without becoming oxidized. Saturated and monounsaturated fats are also heat-tolerant, so you can
cook with them too (although each type of fat will have a different smoke point).
Polyunsaturated fats, which are mostly found in vegetable oils, are VERY delicate and can become oxidized
very easily when exposed to excessive heat, pressure, light, or chemicals. Since oxidized fats are very
unhealthy for you, minimize your consumption of these oils to no more than four percent (4%) of total daily
calories. (Note: You don’t want to completely avoid polyunsaturated oils because you need to eat about 1-2
grams of the essential omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids each day to stay healthy. Fatty fish and whole chicken
eggs are a good source of omega-3 and grains are a good source of omega-6.)
Diet Conformity
So what happens if you experience an incredible craving that just won’t go away no matter how hard you try
to ignore it? What do you do then? If you feel as if your hunger is becoming too strong, then allow yourself
one (1) free meal per week to bring it back under control. If you can, try to push this meal to the end of the
week.

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Chapter 3 - Lifestyle Overview
chapter three
Lifestyle Overview
 Good lifestyle choices are those that reduce chronic stress. Conversely, bad lifestyle
choices are those that drive chronic stress.
 One of the best ways to start improving your stress levels is through improved sleep
quality and duration.
 Social disconnection is known to be a killer, driving chronic stress as well as diseases
like heart disease and abdominal obesity.
 Chronic mental stress is as dangerous as chronic physical stress.
 Staying inside too much is stressful.
 Getting too little or too much exercise can be unhealthy.
 A chronically active immune system can drive chronic stress.
 Drinking too much alcohol and smoking cigarettes are both stressors that can impair
your PT test performance.
 Taking some medications for too long (especially corticosteroids) can be very powerful
sources of chronic stress.

Lifestyle Overview
n addition to cleaning up your diet and controlling your calorie intake with intermittent modified fasting
you will also need to make a few changes to your lifestyle to help quickly drop your waist circumference
and improve your exercise results. For the most part, these changes work their magic primarily by reducing
several common sources of chronic stress.
Improve Sleep Quality
Sleep is critically important to your overall health. It does this by helping you recover from the previous day’s
physical and mental abuse (otherwise known as Life). If you don’t get enough sleep every day, then this
damage can accumulate and drive chronic stress.
To combat this, make sure to get at least 7-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. This can be accomplished by:
 Removing blue light from artificial light sources at night. Your brain maintains a normal wake/sleep
cycle (called the circadian rhythm) that is primarily calibrated to daylight. Because the sky is blue
during the day, your eyes have special blue light receptors that synchronizes the wake-side of this
rhythm. Normally, you would only see blue light during the day. So, when the sun goes down, so too
does the amount of available blue light, which helps your brain know when it’s time to go to sleep. But
with artificial lights, you can see blue 24-hours a day, which can trick your brain into keeping you up
later than normal. This can shift your sleeping cycle several hours, meaning that you don’t get sleepy
until very late at night and can sleep well into the morning or afternoon. If you can’t sleep late, then
you end up only getting a couple of hours of sleep before slowly dragging yourself out of bed to start
your day. To prevent this cycle of misery, try to avoid watching TV for at least one (1) hour before
going to bed. You can also download a program called f.lux that will calibrate the color temperature of
your computer monitor (or laptop) to your local time zone, removing blue light after dusk and adding
it back after dawn.
 Making your bedroom completely dark. Your eyelids are not opaque, so they will let small amounts of
light enter your eyes when they are closed. This small amount of light can actually prevent you from
experiencing all the phases of sleep. As such, try to keep your room completely dark (especially
removing any source of blue light). If you can’t do this, try to buy a comfortable sleeping mask.
 Lowering the temperature of your bedroom. Many people like to sleep in a cold room. So if your
room is too hot, it can interrupt your sleep.
 Avoid refined sweets four (4) hours before bed. If you have poor blood sugar control, the spike and
crash often caused by refined sweets can result in a surge in adrenalin, causing a noticeable spike in
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heart rate to bring your blood sugar back up. Obviously, it is very hard to fall asleep when you heart is
racing.
 Taking melatonin just before going to bed. If all else fails, you can take melatonin, which is a
supplement of the hormone that tells your brain to go to sleep. If you decide to use melatonin, take 3-
6 mg about 30 minutes before you go to bed (and ONLY before going to bed). And don’t worry about
getting hooked on melatonin, it has not been shown to be habit forming or interfere with your own
melatonin production.
Become More Socially Connected
Humans evolved to be social creatures. This means that constantly being socially disconnected can drive
chronic stress (so much so that extreme social disconnection in childhood can permanently impact health as
adults). Social disconnection is such a powerful stressor that constant disconnection can actually shorten a
person’s lifespan by several years (sometimes by more than a decade).
To avoid this, try to make an effort to physically interact with friends and family on a regular basis. In fact, you
can prepare for your PT test with a friend or group of friends. It’s more fun and the added support can help
keep you focused on maximizing your results.
Emotionally Decompress
Constant emotional stress (e.g., anxiety or worry) can drive chronic stress in the same way that constant
physical injuries can. To defend against emotional stress, try to use mind-centering techniques like meditation
or yoga. Supplementing with lithium orotate and/or shizandra berry extract can also help with this mental
relaxation.
Get Outside More
In our modern world, it is not uncommon for a person to spend more than eight (8) hours a day inside. This is
not good for your health. In fact, researchers are discovering that the more humans physically disconnect from
nature, the more they suffer from the symptoms of chronic stress. So, every day, do something outside for at
least 30 minutes (it doesn’t matter if you are walking/hiking, running, weight lifting, or completing your daily
WOD [workout of the day for those not familiar with Crossfit]).
Watch Your Physical Activity
While you are training for your PT test (hopefully doing some of this training outside), make sure that you
don’t overdo it. It seems that too much exercise can be as stressful as too little. In general, you want to
exercise enough to burn about 1,000 calories each week (if you exercise less than this then your brain loses its
ability to control calorie intake and you will start to overeat). Also, when exercising, try to make sure that you
don’t burn more than 5,000 additional calories each week (being this active can cause overtraining, which will
produce a stress response). If you are following the exercise plans in this program (see Appendix E and F) then
you will be somewhere in-between these two extremes.

Improve Your Immunity
A constantly active immune system can drive chronic stress (via chronic inflammation). You can improve your
immune function by eating a healthy diet (see Diet Overview), avoiding nutritional deficiencies (see Diet
Overview), improving your gut health (with pre- and probiotics), intermittent fasting (see Diet Overview), and
controlling other forms of chronic stress (see Lifestyle Overview).
Quit Smoking
Constant smoking reduces lung capacity (which negatively affects your run times) and drives chronic stress
(which negatively affects your waist size). If you can’t quit, try to reduce your smoking frequency while
preparing for your PT test.
Quit Drinking Alcohol
Alcohol provides easily-absorbable calories (much like sugary drinks) and is a source of chronic stress when
consumed in excess, which can negatively impact your waist size. (However, an occasional drink every now
and again is not generally destructive to your health.)
Watch Overmedication
Chronic consumption of certain medications can overwhelm the liver (which is in charge of detoxification),
driving chronic stress. And corticosteroids can actually simulate all the side effects of chronic stress (since they
are the drug form of the stress hormone cortisol). During your PT test preparation, consider talking to your
doctor about taking a temporary break from any medication that you have been taking for several months
(especially corticosteroids). If you can’t avoid taking medications, try supplementing with alpha-lipoic acid
(ALA) and/or milk thistle to help support your liver’s detoxification efforts.

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Chapter 4 - Exercise Overview
chapter four
Exercise Overview
 The goal for your 1.5-mile run is to train to achieve a time that will get you at least 50
points on the PT test.
 Running is something we are all designed to do and is nothing more than a series of
hops linked together; however, running well is a skill that has to be learned and
practiced to be mastered.
 Good running form can be quickly developed through barefoot running on a treadmill.
 For the push-ups and sit-ups, the goal is to develop enough strength to get max points
in the PT test.
 The Grease the Groove technique can help you double the number of push-ups and sit-
ups that you can do in 60 seconds.
 Planks are an excellent way to improve your core strength, which is required for the
push-ups, sit-ups, and run.
 Allow yourself at least one day of rest per week.
 Don’t force yourself to train while injured. Take an extra day or two off to allow your
body to heal.

Exercise Overview
verall, you will be exercising six (6) days a week for no more than 45 minutes for each workout. Since
the PT test uses push-ups, sit-ups, and the run to measure physical fitness, this exercise program will
primarily concentrate on improving those exercise. Planks are also included to strengthen your core,
which is also important for improving your push-up, sit-up, and run performance.
1.5-Mile Run
Realistically, it will take much longer than six (6) weeks to make major improvements in your 1.5-mile run time
(depending on your current level of aerobic fitness, it could take a year or more of consistent training to max
out your run). However, with dedicated training it may be possible to improve your run time enough to get at
least 50 points on your next PT test. This is primarily accomplished through improvements to your running
form, as well as a steady bump in your level of aerobic fitness.
The PT Standard
The table below shows the minimum time that you have to get to earn at least 50 points on your 1.5-mile run
(by age group and gender). You should be training to beat these times by at least 15 seconds (as well as
maxing out the other components) if you want to get better than a 90 on your next PT test.
Age Group Male Female
<30 12:14 14:52
30-39 12:14 14:52
40-49 13:14 16:57
50-59 14:52 18:14
Enjoying Running Again
Although at times it may seem impossible to believe, everyone can run. In fact, according to running
enthusiast and author Christopher McDougall, we are all born to run. This seems to be a true: At a very young
age we all figure out how to walk, which is then very quickly followed by figuring out how to run. Although we
run awkwardly at first, eventually we all develop a similar natural, easy, and enjoyable running form.
But at some point during adolescence many of us stop running, eventually forgetting our natural running form
and replacing it with a form that just seems painful and exhausting. Understanding this, the first step towards
running faster is to relearn your natural running form, allowing you to enjoying running enough so that you
can stick to your training.
To get a good understanding of how to run more naturally I find it helpful to see how it differs from walking.
When we walk, we use an “inverted pendulum,” which means that we will naturally swing one leg forward,
land on the heel of our foot, and then drive the leg backwards with each stride. The simple mechanics of
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walking is so efficient that humans are capable of doing it for hours at a time without using much energy or
experiencing much fatigue.
Figure 1 – An example of walking gait. Notice that one foot is in contact with the ground at all times. This is the big difference between
walking and running.
But walking is only really suited to very slow paces (up to about 4-5 mph). As we continue to increase our
speed, we will eventually hit a point where walking becomes mechanically awkward and inefficient. It is at this
point that we start to feel a strong urge to “hop” forward. This forward hopping—or running—uses an
elaborate spring system comprised of the tendons and muscles in the lower legs and feet. This system is not
really used when walking.
Figure 2 – An example of running gait. Notice that during the middle of each stride both feet come off the ground.
While running isn’t anywhere as efficient as walking at lower speeds (below 5 mph), at faster speeds this
spring system can efficiently recycle as much as half of the potential energy we generate when running,
allowing fit individuals to run long distances at very fast paces before fatigue sets in. Top marathon runners,
for instance, can sustain an incredible 5 min/mile pace (or about 12 mph) for just over 2 hours before they
have to slow down.
But not everyone can just decide to complete a marathon with a good time (or run faster during their PT test)
without any dedicated preparation. So, while it seems that we are all designed to run, proper training is what

allows us to eventually run well. In other words, developing a truly efficient and effortless running form is a
skill that you have to learn and constantly practice to master.
For those who have never used this program, you can quickly develop your natural running form with
barefoot running on a treadmill (set to a 3-degree incline). This direct connection to the “ground” will help
you to automatically re-learn and memorize a more natural running form. A detailed breakdown of natural
running form can be found in Appendix B.
Before moving on, I want to say something about using minimalist running shoes while barefoot training.
Although these shoes have much less support and sole thickness than normal running shoes, they can still
allow you to have bad habits (e.g., breaking and coasting). If you can’t bring yourself to run completely
barefoot then you may run in socks (toe socks are especially comfortable to run in). After you complete your
initial running training—and for future PT prep training—it is highly encouraged that you use minimalist shoes
when running on a treadmill (Appendix A lists some minimalist shoe suggestions).
Running Faster
So once you have your running form down, how do you start getting faster? Again, more training. Except this
training will have more to do with:
 Optimizing your body weight. The lighter you are, the faster you will run.
 Optimizing your aerobic fitness. To run faster you need to generate most of your speed aerobically.
 Understanding running intensity. Understanding how to modulate your running intensity during your
run can ultimately help you to run faster by delaying the onset of fatigue.
Optimizing your Body Weight
The heavier you are, the more energy your muscles need to work to move you forward (and this goes for too
much fat or muscle). In general, every pound you gain or lose will add or subtract three (3) seconds from your
1.5-mile run time (respectively). Body weight improvements are accomplished by dietary and lifestyle
changes (see Diet and Lifestyle Overview).
Optimizing Your Aerobic Fitness
To keep this guide brief, I’ll avoid going into the finer details of how your aerobic (with oxygen) and anaerobic
(without oxygen) energy systems work. Instead, I’ll simply say that these two systems work together to power
all of your running (and all physical activities). Specifically:
 The aerobic energy systems can only support medium and slow running speeds.
 The anaerobic energy systems temporarily support your fast and max speeds.
As far as your PT test is concerned, it is your ability to generate energy with oxygen (that is, aerobically) that
is absolutely critical for improving your 1.5-mile run times. Why? Fatigue resistance. What is fatigue? That
unpleasant feeling that forces you to slow down. Although there are many things that can drive fatigue, the
two (2) biggest are:

Bryan Mayo| 25
 Sugar Fuel Depletion. Once you run out of your high-performance sugar fuel then you will have to slow
down until your sugar stores are replenished.
 Metabolic Waste Buildup. Even if you have plenty of fuel, if you build up too much metabolic waste
(e.g., lactic acid, heat, and carbon dioxide) then you will have to slow down to allow the body to
dispose of this waste.
And here is why you should care about this: The energy system you primarily use while running will ultimately
decide how quickly you experience fatigue.
If you primarily use your anaerobic energy systems to support your run, you will run very fast, but you will
quickly use up your sugar fuel and/or build up too much lactic acid (a form of metabolic waste that can cause
a burning sensation in your legs), which will both quickly drive fatigue (within minutes if you are running too
fast). If this fatigue gets bad enough, you will be forced to slow down to make the pain go away.
During your PT test, this means that if you run too fast during the beginning of your 1.5-mile run you will likely
suffer from fatigue by lap 3 or 4, slowing you down and forcing you to push as hard as you can to slowly make
your way towards the finish line.
There is a way to avoid all this pain and suffering: Primarily power your runs aerobically. Unlike your
anaerobic energy systems, your aerobic energy systems are fatigue resistant because they use sugar fuel
very efficiently and produce no lactic acid as metabolic waste.
But your aerobic energy systems have one major drawback: They can only support relatively slow running
speeds.
However, through consistent training you can improve how fast you can run aerobically, allowing you to
sustain faster speeds over longer distances before fatigue sets in. Again, you can see this idea demonstrated
by top marathon runners, who have such high levels of aerobic fitness (or cardio) that they can sustain
average running speeds of 11-12 mph for just over two hours! And this pace is supported almost entirely by
their aerobic energy systems.
Anaerobic Energy Systems Aerobic Energy Systems
Anaerobic CP Anaerobic Glycolytic Aerobic Glycolytic Aerobic Lypolytic
Fuel Used Creatine Phosphate Glycogen/Glucose Glucose Fatty Acids
Fuel Reserve (max effort) Few Seconds Few Minutes Many Minutes Many Hours
Waste Produced Heat Heat, Lactic Acid Heat, CO2, H2O Heat, H2O
Efficiency Low Low Medium High
Energy Delivery Rate Very Fast Fast Medium Slow
Speeds Supported Max Fast Medium Slow
Understanding Running Intensity/Speed
Now we get to the most confusing, but most important part to running faster: Understanding how your
running intensity (or speed) relates to your running endurance.

As mentioned in the previous section, your level of aerobic fitness and running speed will determine if your
runs are primarily supported aerobically and anaerobically. If you run too fast for your level of aerobic fitness
then you will quickly suffer from fatigue because you will be primarily using your fast but fatigue-prone
anaerobic energy systems. This ultimately results in a slower run time because this fatigue will force you to
slow down before you cross the finish line. So, if you want to achieve the fastest run times you need to use
aerobically-supported running speeds that will allow you to delay the onset of fatigue until just after you
cross the finish line.
This begs the question: How do you know if you are running too quickly for your level of aerobic fitness? By
monitoring your heart.
Figure 3 – It can be easier to understand running effort if you think of your heart as a car engine. Each number on the RPM meter (on
the right) represents a percentage of max heart rate (MHR), which is equivalent to running effort (as speed). At 60% MHR, your speed
and running effort are relatively low, so your “engine” efficiently uses energy (that is, it is primarily aerobic) and can sustain this pace for
long periods of time before fatigue sets in. As your running speed/intensity increases, so does your running effort and energy usage
(that is, you rely more and more on your fast but inefficient anaerobic energy systems).
You can consider your heart as your engine, much like an engine in car. And just like a car’s engine, running at
different speeds will change how quickly your heart has to beat (see figure 3 above). However, unlike a car,
your body uses two (2) different types of energy systems that are used to support three (3) different levels of
running speeds (Note: If you don’t know what max heart rate is, don’t worry, I’ll discuss it in the next section):
 Slow speeds. Primarily supported by your fat-burning aerobic energy system. This system produces
energy very efficiently and with little metabolic waste buildup, but at the expense of very slow energy
delivery. Consequently, this system can only support relatively slow running speeds at slower heart
rates (less than 75% of your max heart rate).
 Medium speeds. Supported by your sugar-burning aerobic energy system. This system produces
energy much less efficiently as your fat-burning aerobic system, but at a faster rate of energy delivery.
Consequently, this system can support relatively fast running speeds at medium heart rates (between

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75% and 90% of your max heart rate). It’s also important to note that this system will also supply a
sizable amount of energy at your faster speeds, which is when your anaerobic systems start to supply
most of your energy.
 Fast speeds. Primarily supported by your anaerobic energy systems. These systems deliver energy very
quickly, but at the expense of energy efficiency and metabolic waste buildup. Consequently, these
systems will support your fastest running speeds at faster heart rates (above 90% of your max heart
rate).
So, at slower aerobically-supported speeds your heart will beat relatively slowly (beating less than 90% of your
max heart rate). At faster anaerobically-supported speeds your heart will beat relatively faster (beating more
than 90% your max heart rate). But here is the important thing to keep in mind: Which of these two systems
you primarily use while running, and the speeds you can sustain for a given running distance, are entirely
based on your level of aerobic fitness.
When you are aerobically unfit, maximum aerobic speeds will be very slow (4-5 mph). This low level of aerobic
fitness will also limit how long you can sustain your faster anaerobic speeds. However, as your level of aerobic
fitness improves, so too do the speeds that you can run sustain anaerobically.
Essentially, what all this means is that if two runners with two different levels of aerobic fitness were running
at the same fast speed, the less aerobically fit runner would become fatigued more quickly because their heart
rate would be beating too fast (that is, they would be running more anaerobically). Put another way: The
higher your level of aerobic fitness the longer you can run at faster speeds before fatigue forces you to stop,
ultimately resulting in faster run times.
Figure 4 – An example of two different runners, with two different levels of aerobic fitness, running at the same level of effort. Notice
how the runner’s fitness correlates with running speed.
Like I said before, this stuff can be a little confusing. All you really have to know is that for your 1.5-mile run,
you want to keep your heart rate around 90% of your max heart rate for most of your laps. If your heart rate
goes above this heart rate before the middle of your run then you will be relying too much on your fatigue-
prone anaerobic energy systems to supply your speed, causing you to slow down before you cross the finish
line. However, by running at about 90% of your max heart rate for most of your run—which will require you to

run more slowly—you will rely more on your fatigue-resistant aerobic energy systems, allowing you to sustain
a decent running pace and leaving you a little speed left in your anaerobic energy systems to allow your pace
to pick up on the last lap for a strong finish before fatigue sets in.
To help you improve the speeds you can sustain aerobically you will be doing a lot of running that is based on
a certain percentage of your max heart rate. To complete this training you will need to monitor your heart rate
either directly through some kind of measuring device or indirectly through the talk test.
Direct Heart Rate Monitoring
To measure your running intensity you have to first figure out what your maximum heart rate (MHR) is. This
can be accomplished by subtracting your age from 220. For example:
A 20-year-old’s MHR would be 200 beats per minute (220 – 20 = 200 bpm)
A 40-year-old’s MHR would be 180 beats per minute (220 – 40 = 180 bpm)
To figure out your speed at a given percent of your max heart rate, multiply your MHR by that percentage. For
example:
85% MHR for a 20-year-old with a MHR of 200 is 170 bpm (200 x 0.85 = 170)
85% MHR for a 40-year-old with a MHR of 180 is 153 bpm (200 x 0.85 = 153)
So, to sustain a run an 85% MHR, a 20-year-old’s would find a speed that they can maintain at 170 bpm. For
the 40-year-old, it would be whatever speed they could maintain at 153 bpm. And you can use this approach
to determine the speed that can be maintained at any percentage of your max heart rate (e.g., 75% or 95%).
MHR % Intensity Primary Energy System Used Race Pace
<75% Low Aerobic Ultra Marathon
76%-85% Medium Aerobic Marathon
86%-90% High Aerobic/Anaerobic ½ Marathon, 10K
91%-95% Very High Aerobic/Anaerobic 5K, 1.5-Mile, 1 Mile
96%-100% Max Anaerobic 800m, 400m, 200m, 100m
Once you know how many heart beats per minute correlate with various percentages of your max heart rate,
you have to find some way to measure your heart rate. While you can use the heart rate monitors often found
on treadmills, it is highly recommended that you get a personal heart rate monitor that can continuously
display your heart rate (they can even figure your percentage of max heart rate for you). You can use the
cheaper smart phone heart rate monitoring apps or the much more expensive (and capable) running watches.
Either works just fine.
Indirect Heart Rate Monitoring
If you don’t want to buy or use a heart rate monitor during your training, there is another way to generally
gauge your level of running intensity: The talk test.
Researchers have found that the talk test is pretty good at accurately identifying your level of effort.

Bryan Mayo| 29
 Low Intensity. When your heart is beating relatively slowly (less than 75% of your max heart rate),
your breathing is easy, allowing you to have a conversation without needing to pause for a breath
(such as talking while walking at a fast but comfortable pace).
 Medium Intensity. When you start to approach your cruise speed (about 85% of your max heart rate),
your breathing will only allow you to speak a short sentence at a time.
 High Intensity. When you are just beyond your cruise speed (about 90% of your max heart rate) then
you will only be able to speak a few words at a time.
 Very High Intensity. As you get close to your max speeds (about 95% of your max heart rate) then you
will only be able to get a single word out at a time.
 Max Intensity. As you reach your max speed (96-100% of your max heart rate) you won’t be able to
speak at all.
Improving Your Speed Endurance
If you can’t sustain a very fast running speed aerobically, don’t worry: The more you train, the faster you can
improve your level of aerobic fitness, which will allow you to sustain faster speeds for longer distances. This is
accomplished through consistent training.
To that end, during your running training I will identify an intensity level (as a percentage of your max heart
rate) that will be a mix of fast (95% MHR), medium (85% MHR), and slow (75% of MHR) speeds. This is how
you maintain those intensities on a treadmill, road, or track:
1. Warm Up: Jog for five (5) minutes at a comfortable speed to warm up your aerobic energy systems.
After this warm up, allow your heart rate to recover to less than 60% MHR.
2. Find Your Target Speed: Over the course of the first five (5) minutes of your run, slowly increase your
speed until your heart rate stabilizes at your prescribed intensity (either 75%, 85%, or 95% of your
MHR). Maintain this speed for the duration of your walk or run regardless of what your heart rate does
after this point (over the course of your run metabolic waste buildup [e.g., heat] will cause a slow
creep in your heart rate, which is normal).
3. Keep Going: For all future workouts increase your speed only if your heart rate is below your target
intensity half way through your run. Maintain this speed for the other half of the run.
This simple approach to improving your speed endurance will produce a slow but steady increase in your
aerobic fitness, ultimately helping you achieve a 1.5-mile run time that should get you at least 50 points in
only six weeks (and if you can’t quite get it in six weeks, you can definitely do it with consistent training over
the following six months).
The 1.25-Mile Walk
If you have a run waiver then you will have to train for the 1.25-mile walk test. Although this alternate aerobic
test might seem easy, you have to sustain a pretty fast pace to get a passing time (about 5 mph). While it’s not
especially helpful to use barefoot training to improve your speed-walking form, developing your aerobic
fitness is nearly identical to the run training. Of course, you can’t run, however you can speed walk for the

times indicated in the exercise plans in the back of this ebook—or use the elliptical, cycle, or row machine—to
keep your max heart rate in-between 75% to 95% MHR during a given workout.
Push-ups and Sit-ups
As for the push-ups and sit-ups, you will simply use the Grease the Groove technique to increase your reps
(this technique is discussed shortly). Planks are included to improve core strength and are simply three (3) sets
of max holds for 1 minute.
The PT Standard
In the table below you will find the number of push-up and sit-up reps that are required to get max points (per
age group). During your training, try to build up to at least these maximums on your next PT test.
Male Female
Age Group Push-ups Sit-ups Push-ups Sit-ups
<30 67 58 47 54
30-39 57 54 46 45
40-49 44 50 38 41
50-59 44 46 35 32
Basic Push-up Form
Before you can train for your PT test you have to have enough strength to do 20 good form push-ups. Good
form is shown in the image below.
When in the up position:
 Posture: Make sure your body is straight, creating an imaginary line that starts at your head, moves
through your shoulders and hips, and end at your ankles.

Bryan Mayo| 31
 Hands: Place them directly under your shoulders. Placing them too close together puts too much
emphasis on your triceps (the back of your arm). Placing them too far apart puts too much emphasis
on your chest and shoulders.
 Arms: Keep them straight without locking your elbows.
When in the down position:
 Posture: Maintain your posture as you lower yourself towards the ground.
 Arms: Allow them to bend so that your upper arms are at 45-degree angles to your body, forming a
triangle when viewed from above (see top view of push-up down position on previous page). This
means that you will not let your elbows touch your body (this puts too much emphasis on your triceps)
or flair out (this puts too much emphasis on your chest and shoulders). You will also lower yourself
until your arms make a 90-degree angle at each elbow (see front view of push-up down position on
previous page). When viewed from the front, you should see an imaginary line that begins at one
elbow, moves through your shoulders, and ends at the other elbow.
If you find that you cannot maintain a straight line while doing your push-ups, or you don’t have enough
strength to lower yourself so that your arms are bent at 90-degree angles in the down position, then you will
need to build your push-up strength with modified push-ups (which are found in Appendix C).
Basic Sit-up Form
Just as with the push-ups, before you can train for your PT test you have to have enough strength to do 20
good form sit-ups. Good form is shown in the image below.
When in the down position:
 Legs: Your feet should be flat on the ground, about 10-12 inches from your butt. Your knees should be
bent at a 90-degree angle.
 Posture: Make sure your body is straight, creating an imaginary line that starts at your head, moves
through your shoulders, and ends at your hips.

 Hands: Cross them and place them directly on your shoulders (e.g., right hand on left shoulder; felt
hand on right shoulder).
When in the up position:
 Posture: Maintain your posture as you raise yourself off the ground.
 Arms: Touch your elbow to your upper thigh.
 Legs: Keep your feet on the ground.
If you find that you cannot maintain a good form while doing your sit-ups, or you don’t have enough strength
to do at least 20 reps in good form, then you will need to build your sit-up strength with modified sit-ups
(which are found in Appendix C).
Getting More Reps
Traditionally, if you wanted to improve the number of push-ups and sit-ups you could do, you would do lots
and lots of push-ups and sit-ups. You might even be encouraged to do hundreds of push-ups and sit-ups each
day trying to build the endurance strength necessary to get max points your PT test. But this approach often
exhausts the muscles used in each exercise (so much so that you will likely have a hard time maintaining
perfect form for many of your reps). Consequently, you see very little improvement on your PT test despite
weeks of preparation.
Grease the Grove, in the other hand, works smarter, requiring that you only do two (2) sets a day per
exercise, with each set separated by at least an hour, for five (5) days a week, until you achieve your desired
level of strength.
The beauty of this approach to building endurance strength is that you never truly exhaust your muscles or
central nervous system, allowing your brain to efficiently recruit as many muscle fibers as possible while
needing minimal recovery. This very quickly improves your neurological strength, allowing you to possibly
double your push-ups and sit-ups (or any exercise) in six (6) weeks.
Here’s how to use Grease the Groove for both modified and regular push-ups and sit-ups:
1. Do a Max Set: Sometime in the morning (e.g., as soon as you get to work), do as many reps as you can
with good form for both push-ups and sit-ups. Since you are doing the maximum reps that you can, this
first set is called the max set. After you complete this first set for both your push-ups and sit-ups, STOP
EXERCISING for at least 60 minutes.
2. Do a Half Set: For your second set (which, again, should be at least 60 minutes after your first set),
complete only half as many reps for your push-ups and sit-ups as you did for your max set (don’t do
any more than half, even you can). Since you are only doing half as many reps as your max set, this set
is called the half set. After this second set you are done for the day.
3. Repeat Throughout the Week: Repeat this process for each work day (typically Monday through
Friday) and rest one or two days on the weekends. Repeat each week until you achieve your desired
sit-ups and push-ups.

Bryan Mayo| 33
Planks
Planks are pretty straight forward and can do wonders for core strength (which is required for push-ups, sit-
ups, and the run). There are basically three (3) ways to make planks more challenging:
 Easy Planks. Accomplish planks on your elbows. If you can hold this position for one (1) minute then
move on to the medium planks.
 Medium Planks. Accomplish planks in the up position of the push-up. If you can hold this position for
one (1) minute then move on to the medium planks.
 Hard Planks. Accomplish planks in the down position of the push-up. Try to eventually hold this
position for 2-3 minutes.
If you find that you can’t hold a plank for a full minute, try to gain some elevation (e.g., do them on a table,
chair, or step). Once you can hold the plank in this modified position for at least a minute, try to make your
way back down to the floor.
Ultimately, you want to build your plank strength up from the easy planks, to the medium planks, and finally
to the hard planks. The hard planks will also do more than improve core strength, they will also build up
strength for the bottom part of the push-up (so you can confidently lower yourself until your arms are at 90-
degree angles).
Rest and Recovery
When it comes to improving fitness, rest is every bit as important as your workouts. If you don’t allow yourself
enough rest then you won’t fully recover from your workouts and you’ll stop improving. To prevent this, make
sure to keep your workouts under 45-60 minutes and completely rest 1-2 days per week.
Training Injuries
During your training you are likely to encounter the occasional injury. This is to be expected. If you find that
you develop foot or leg injuries when running or wrist or hip injuries when training for the push-ups and sit-
ups DO NOT push through intense pain; take it easy for a couple of workouts or take the day off completely.
The one thing you want to avoid while training is injuring yourself so badly that you cannot complete your PT
test.
Also, if you suffer from shin splints, I find that compression sleeves have a tremendous impact on accelerated
healing. You can wear the sleeves while you run for support and then at night to improve blood circulation.
Tracking Your Progress
Appendix E and F contain work sheets that will allow you to track your cardio and strength improvements.
Exercise Plan I is for those who have little to no experience with barefoot training and Exercise Plan II is for
those who hare avid runners or have some experience with barefoot/minimalist running.

Chapter 5 - PT Test Tips
chapter five
PT Test Tips
 When completing your push-ups and sit-ups use gravity to your advantage.
 When having your waist measured (1) make sure to stand up straight and (2) watch
what you eat before the test.
 Use good shoes!
 If you are afraid that you cannot force yourself to maintain a fast pace, use a pacer.
 While running for your PT test, remember to (1) use your improved form, (2) pick up
your feet, (3) know your time, (4) know your pace, (5) start slow and then pick up the
pace, and (6) watch your breathing.
 Listen to music to help you delay the onset of fatigue.

Bryan Mayo| 35
PT test Tips
fter you have completed your training there are many different things that you can do to maximize
your odds of success on the test itself. You don’t have to use all of the following tips, but many of them
can help you shave a little extra girth off your waist, get another 10 reps on your push-ups and sit-ups,
or drop an additional 30 seconds (or more) off your run time.
For the Strength Components
 Use Gravity to Your Advantage: To prevent wasting energy by slowly lowering yourself during the
push-up and sit-up tests, you can use gravity to allow you to quickly drop from the top to the bottom
position for both push-ups and sit-ups. You will only engage your muscles to catch yourself at the
bottom of each rep, powerfully throwing yourself up to the top position to complete each rep. This
technique allows you to briefly rest and recover as you drop from the top to the bottom position, as
well as enable you to cycle rapidly to potentially get as many as 100 correct push-ups or sit-ups within
60 seconds. However, keep in mind that this technique requires solid push-up and sit-up strength.
For the Body Composition Component
 Stand Tall: Make sure your posture is good during the test. Slouching can add an inch or two to your
measurement.
 Watch What You Eat: Don’t eat a big meal just before your test. This can cause your waist to naturally
expand to accommodate this food.
Just Before the Run/Walk Component
 Know the Environment: Be prepared for warmer or colder temperatures, wet or dry conditions, calm
or windy weather, and so on.
 Warm Up: Make sure that your aerobic energy system is primed and ready to go before you take your
test by jogging at a moderate pace for about five (5) minutes just before your test begins.
 Relax: Calm your mind. If you are mentally tense, your body will be tense, and that will waste precious
energy during your run.
 Take Salt: If you are prone to cramping during a run, take 1-2 grams of regular table salt 30 minutes
before your test starts.
 Hydrate: Make sure you drink enough water before your run. If you will be running when it is hot,
drink water that is as cold as you can tolerate.
A

 Know Your Run Time: Make sure you know what your 1.5-mile run time should be before you start
your test. This information allows you to stay on the right pace each lap during your PT test.
 Get a Good Pair of Running Shoes: Old shoes (or ones that aren’t designed for running) can impair
your running performance. You can remedy this problem by getting a new pair of shoes, preferably
ones that will compliment your style of running.
During the Run/Walk Component
 Use a Heart Rate Monitor: You can better control your running pace and energy usage if you know
what your heart rate is during your run. This will help keep you from running too fast too early.
 Watch Your Form: Make sure that your posture is straight, with your head and shoulders level and
your eyes looking straight ahead.
 Run Quietly: Remember to avoid braking by using an efficient foot strike (either fore- or mid-foot),
straight posture, and avoiding too much forward lean during your run.
 Remember to Move Your Arms: Keep your arms bent at 90 degrees and synchronized with your legs.
 Start Comfortable, Finish Strong: Start out with a comfortable pace (about 88%-90% of max heart rate,
or just over your cruise speed). Slowly increase your speed with each additional lap until you reach
about 95% to 98% of your maximum heart rate by the end of your last lap. And your last lap should be
the fastest you can sustain for 400 meters, with just enough energy left to near-sprint the last 100
meters.
 Control Your Breathing. If you can control your breathing, you can lower your heart rate, which can
help delay the onset of fatigue.
 Listen to Music: If the brain is distracted, then you may be able to delay the onset of fatigue, allowing
you to sustain faster paces over longer distances.
 Use a Pacer: Use your competitive nature to try and catch a slightly faster runner.

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