West Virginia Police Academy Physical Requirements

To get into a West Virginia police academy, you have to meet the physical requirements set by state rule: 18 push-ups in one minute, 28 sit-ups in one minute, and a 1.5-mile run in 14 minutes and 36 seconds, all graded pass or fail.¹ You also need a current physician’s release to take the test, a full medical examination before academy entry, and clearance on vision, hearing, and cardiovascular standards. The fitness numbers are the same for every applicant regardless of age or gender.²

The Three Fitness Benchmarks

West Virginia Code of State Rules 149-2-8 sets a single physical floor for every entry-level candidate statewide, whether you are applying to the State Police, a sheriff’s office, or a municipal department. There is no sliding scale by age or sex, which catches some applicants off guard.²

The three scored events and their minimums:

Push-ups: 18 repetitions in one minute, with your back straight and your upper arms reaching parallel to the ground on each rep.
Sit-ups: 28 repetitions in one minute, with fingers locked behind the head and elbows touching the knees each time.
1.5-mile run: no more than 14 minutes and 36 seconds.

Scoring is strictly pass or fail. Miss the target on any one event and you fail the entire test. A strong run won’t offset weak push-ups, and reps that don’t meet the form standard simply won’t be counted by the instructor watching you.¹

Physician’s Release for Test Day

Before you can take the physical ability test, a licensed physician must examine you and sign a Physician’s Medical Release form within 30 days of your scheduled test date. Show up without it and you will not be allowed to participate, regardless of how prepared you are.³

You can get the form through your sponsoring agency or the West Virginia Division of Justice and Community Services website.³ The 30-day window is tighter than it sounds once you factor in scheduling a physician’s appointment and waiting on any lab work, so start early.

Full Medical Examination Before Academy Entry

Passing the fitness test is separate from the comprehensive medical exam every candidate must complete before entering an academy program. The employing agency selects and pays for the examining physician or medical testing company. At minimum, the exam includes a medical history, a physical, blood chemistry panel, complete blood count, urinalysis, tuberculosis screening, a resting electrocardiogram, and drug screening.²

The physician is looking for any condition that could prevent you from performing essential law enforcement functions. If something is flagged and further evaluation is needed to determine whether it actually affects your ability to do the job, that follow-up testing comes out of your pocket.²

Vision and Hearing Standards

Your uncorrected distance vision cannot be worse than 20/100 in your weaker eye, and your vision must be correctable to at least 20/30 in each eye. Glasses or contacts are allowed on duty as long as they don’t interfere with protective equipment such as gas masks or riot helmets. If you have successfully worn soft contact lenses for at least six months, the uncorrected standard doesn’t apply. After eye surgery such as radial keratotomy, you must wait at least six months for your vision to stabilize before you can be cleared.⁴

You also have to pass a controlled color discrimination test and show normal stereo depth perception at 80 ARC seconds or better.⁴

Hearing is measured with an audiometer. The average loss across the 500, 1,000, 2,000, and 3,000 Hertz frequencies cannot reach 25 decibels in either ear, and no single frequency can show a loss greater than 40 decibels.⁴

Cardiovascular and Other Conditions

Resting blood pressure must read at or below 140/90 mmHg on three consecutive readings. Controlled hypertension within those limits may still qualify, provided the medication doesn’t produce side effects that interfere with duty performance. The screening also evaluates for congenital heart disease, coronary artery disease, significant valve abnormalities, and other cardiac issues, along with respiratory conditions.⁴ Flagged conditions are “potentially excludable,” meaning they don’t automatically disqualify you but trigger a determination of whether the condition would prevent you from completing training and performing essential duties.

Age, Education, and Agency-Level Requirements

Physical fitness is one piece of the application. West Virginia law also requires every law enforcement candidate to be at least 18 years old and hold a high school diploma or its equivalent.⁵ Individual agencies routinely add their own requirements, such as a valid driver’s license, a clean criminal history, and U.S. citizenship. Check with the specific department you want to work for before you assume you qualify.

How to Prepare

The State Police recommends beginning a structured preparation program at least 12 weeks before your test date.¹ That timeline is realistic if you can already run a mile and a half comfortably and knock out a dozen push-ups. Starting from a lower baseline, give yourself 16 to 20 weeks.

Train the exercises exactly the way they will be scored. Push-ups done with a shallow range of motion at home won’t count on test day if your arms never reach parallel. Do sit-ups with fingers locked behind your head and elbows touching the knees. For the run, build your base with longer, slower distances before adding speed work, and aim to beat 14:36 by at least 30 seconds in training so weather or nerves on test day don’t push you over the line.

Talk to your physician before starting any new exercise program, especially if you have a condition that could surface during the medical screening. Finding out about a disqualifying issue after months of training is a worse outcome than catching it early.

1
West Virginia State Police. West Virginia State Police Physical Ability Standards
2
Legal Information Institute. West Virginia Code R 149-2-8 – Academy Entry Standards
3
West Virginia State Police. West Virginia State Police Basic Officer Application
4
West Virginia State Police. West Virginia State Police Medical Guidelines
5
West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 30-29-14