71 in a minute is (edit: fucking) insane! My APFT score is currently at 280 (66 push in 2, 77 ups in 2, 13:30 mile) which is nowhere near satisfying for me. My goal of 300 (technical maximum) is close in sight, considering I somehow gained 60 points overall from my last one (a horrendous 220). After I hit 300 by maximizing all 3 events, you begin to supermax over 300 which is an ideal goal for me. Your physical grade at West Point doesn't hit the A+ mark until you reach over 300. Someone does hold our feet on the sit-ups, there are plenty of helpful methods on isolating obliques at a time to let your core rest and stuff like that, but if you try a shortcut and don't get all the way up then you just wasted a rep. The odds on my commission are completely unpredictable. I have no fucking clue, and I'm not sure when I'll find out :D Everything is baby steps at the moment. Right now, as you can tell by the quality of my writing, my #1 goal is a nap. Once you start running 2 miles, and then a nice 3-mile now and then, you will quickly feel the ability to take on longer distances. I used to never run more than a mile, now I'm signing up for 5Ks for the hell of it. It doesn't suck as much as you think, plan a fun route!
Woah, woops. I meant 71 push-ups in two minutes. Ha! That would be fucking insane. I edited the original. Right now I've relegated all weight lifting to a point in the future where I'm nearer a gym that I like. In the meantime it's been all soccer, school, and, of course, sleep. Amen to the sleep. I can't recommend enough power napping if you're the kind of person who can, which it sounds like you are. I set my phone alarm for 30 minutes, mute it, and in about 10 minutes I'm drifting, and I wake up superhumanly refreshed. The people who complain about feeling groggy after naps I find are generally doing it for more than 30 minutes. Hours in some cases. That's no bueno. By the way, that reading list is seriously awesome. I've read Kavalier and Clay and it's one of the top 10 best books I've ever read. And I'm a big fan of David McCullough. You have some great people looking out for you.
That's still fire, especially considering that they're military. Your triceps will thank you. Thanks for getting me hype about these books! I took leave this weekend to go home for labor day, hope to get started on the McCullough. I read the first pages of Kavalier and it seems cool but I will never get to read a book of that size this semester :(