PCA/Fitness test

Don't underestimate the PCA. It's tough enough, even if you are very fit. It's a combination of things, fitness being one, however, you have obstacles to complete and if you kick a cone or knock something down or don't hit a mark then you have to redo that obstacle thus incurring time penalties.

For any ladies out there, and I've said this before, especially those on the petite side, get working on the strength. It's where the females fall down.

If you fail this you will not get in. If you fail this at the end of your course you will not graduate and you will get binned. Harsh but true.

Do plenty of HIIT training and get lifting. Watch the video online and familiarise yourself with the circuit. When you go to do your test you will be walked round the course and have each component explained to you and also what will incur a penalty. You will get 5 mins to practice any element of it you need to.

It's very unlikely that you'll get told your result on the day. So more waiting I'm afraid.

It's 3 laps of the circuit in 3:43 or less and an average of 26kgf over 20 seconds on the push/pull.

3:44 and you fail. 25kgf and you fail.

If you haven't been hitting the gym and plan to wait until you see if you get that far my advice is get your arse to the gym NOW. Be prepared.

There was a video on the join PSNI website but it seems to have disappeared and now there's just a diagram.

Your start point is at two cones with laser attached. Once you go through the cones and break the laser, the clock starts ticking.

You have a 10 metre sprint then you turn left round a cone and go into Station 1one which is a crawl. This is a short "tunnel" for want of a better word. It's about a metre wide and the tops made up of loose poles. Keep low through this, if you knock one of the poles down you will have to do it again.

Once through that you come to Station 2, the jump. This is across a standard gym mat. You must must touch the mat, again, if your feet touch it, then you'll have to redo it.

After this you have another short sprint, and onto Station 3 the stairs. This is to replicate getting into the back of a land rover. At the start and end of this obstacle is another loose pole, knock or touch the pole at either end and you will have to redo. This is one you don't want to catch as it's one of the biggest obstacles and to redo will cost you time. Keep low on the entrance and exit.

Once you come down the stairs on the other side you are at Station 4, an L shaped balance beam. There is a black line at either end of the beam and you must touch the black line at either end. There's also a cone in the L, to prevent you cutting the corner. Touch it or miss the black lines here and you'll have to redo.

You come off the beam to Station 5, which is the gate, and you have to climb up and over it and land on the other side.

Once over that you are onto Station 6, the weave. This involves, strangely enough, weaving around cones. Again clip or hit a cone and you'll be redoing this one.

Then another short dash will take you to Station 7, weighted cones. These are basically your bog standard traffic cone, however the bases are filled with sand. The are in a rectangular box, you lift them out of the box carry them around a cone and then you put them back. The cones must be inside the box. If you're outside the box then you can't just push them back in, you will have to pick them up, and do it again.

Then Station 8, the drag. This is a big canvas weighted dummy type thing. I think it's about 5 stone. You drag this forward and back between two white lines marked on the floor. All of the dummy must be over the white line at each end.

After this, you sprint 10 metres. Left round a cone and sprint 20 metres and that brings you back to the start finish point and you do the whole circuit again, twice.

Once you've completed your three laps you keep moving and go directly to the push pull machine. You can't get a drink or take a breather, it's straight onto it.

You don't actually push against a set weight, the machine is designed that it will match the force you exert on it. The examiner will ask you to do one test push forward and back before you start, there are beeps at each end.

The required standard is 26kgf average over 20 seconds. Give it loads of welly. Get a good strong stance and a good grip on the handles.

It's worth noting the push pull machine is fixed and not height adjustable.

Then that's it over!

The PTI will go round it with you but he/she will only be giving you instructions, and letting you know if you need to redo any part. It's normally "back!" if you make a mistake.
You will not get any indication of your time nor your score on the push pull.

Good luck!

Absolutely Dekkers. You will also be tiring by the time you hit lap 3 and more likely to slip up.
The PCA will challenge most people at different points, like you say, some spaces are tight for the big lads, whereas they'll be strong - those more slight will will able to get through the crawl and weave easier but may struggle with the drag and the push pull.

It's fair to say that all assessments you will face both in the recruitment process and once you're in training are designed to see how you are under pressure, it's just the nature of the business.

I'm afraid I've slacked off over the past couple months too. IST sort of knocked the motivation out of me and then I started making the usual excuses...

Be clean living from now on though. Promise.

student15 wrote: »

Portion control and consistent exercise!
Honestly get onto weights
They burn more fat than cardio
Also try make your workouts at least 45mins long and by 45mins I mean 45mins work! Not tweeting or boarding etc
Your body normally runs dry of glycogen( main source of energy) stores by around 30mins so afyer that it looks to pull energy from other areas. Hello fat burning! High energy weild but also requires a lot of oxygen to mobilise and use!
Hence why sweat is your fat crying

I actually don't have any fat to burn so was more into the weights. Not a fan of the bench though so was just doing dead lifts. Any good?

Was also doing a chin up technique where you raise your knees to chest level after you do the chin up. My God, the core was sore the next day!

whats the best way for slimmer people to bulk up?