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T NeAPRT T T

if you follow whats n th manual,

th n th day you tak th t st w llb your as st day of tra n ng.

To give you an idea of how longSoldiers have been doing the cur-rent Army Physical Fitness Test,Olivia Newton-John was crooning Letsget physical on cassette tapes when thethree-event APFT was released in 1981.In the three decades since, the way people

exercise and the way the Army ghtshave changed so much that the Armysassessment of physical tness now seemsas quaint and dated as, well, music on cas-sette tape.

The Armys attempt to revise its physical training regimen began last Au-gust with the of cial release of TrainingCircular 3-22.20, Army Physical Readi-

ness Training , which replaced the old PTmanual, FM 21-20. Packed with progres-sive workouts that correlate directly to the

physical demands of 21st-century combatoperations, the new APRT doctrine wasdesigned to develop Soldiers strength,endurance and mobility while reducinginjuries during training.

Overhauling doctrine was just the

start. On March 1, the Army unveiled anew ve-event Army Physical ReadinessTest that is more than merely a change insemantics, said Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling,then the U.S. Army Training and DoctrineCommands deputy commanding generalfor Initial Military Training. (Days later,

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Training

Event 1:60-yard Progr ss v Shuttl RunASSeSSeS: Lower-body muscular strength; anaerobicendurance; and speed, agility and coordination.

HO TO DO iT: The Soldier runs forward 5 yards, grabsa block of wood, turns and runs back to the starting line,placing (not throwing) the block on the ground. TheSoldier then repeats, picking up blocks that are 10 yardsaway, then 15 yards away. The total distance is 60 yards.

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things youre being asked to do. In our case, Soldiers are being asked to becometactical athletes.

Unlike the old test, the ve newevents a 60-yard progressive shuttlerun, a 1-minute rower, a standing long

jump, a 1-minute push-up and a 1.5-miletimed run test strength, endurance andmobility throughout the entire body, upper and lower. The result is a better assess-ment of Soldiers capacity to endure physi-cal demands downrange, Hertling said.

The APFT that was established in thelate 1970s and incorporated in the early1980s was meant to be just a snapshot.It was not meant to be linked to what wewere trying to do to prepare our Soldiersfor combat. Unfortunately, in some cases,its become a be-all, end-all if you

could train to the test and pass the test,gosh you must be in great shape! But,none of the current things we do in theAPFT are linked to the kinds of stresseswe put ourselves through in combat.

In many units, scoring well on the PTtest took precedence over the units mis-sion requirements. As a result, many PTregimens focused solely on the test events

2 minutes of push-ups, 2 minutes of sit-ups and a 2-mile timed run.

But, the focus needs to be on trainingand not on testing, said Frank Palkoska,the director of the U.S. Army Physical Fit-ness School at Fort Jackson, S.C., whichdeveloped both the new APRT manualand test. The training piece is now morefunctional in nature than the old training inFM 21-20 was. It is based around and sup-

ports what Soldiers have to do when they perform combat operations; its focused onthe Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills.

The new test is based on years of research and was developed with the helpof an advisory board of subject-matter experts from inside and outside the Army.Physiologists, kinesiologists and repre-sentatives from the Air Force and MarineCorps helped shape the new test using themost current science.

The big thing about this test is thatits scienti cally proven to work, saidSgt. 1st Class Gabriel Lopez, the qualityassurance senior drill sergeant leader atthe U.S. Army Drill Sergeant School atFort Jackson and the advisory boards only

NCO. Thats the biggest thing itsvetted. FM 21-20 was really just a civilian

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Training

Event 2:1-m nut Row rASSeSSeS: Total-body muscularendurance and coordination (not just ones trunk).

HO TO DO iT: The Soldierstarts on his or her back witharms extended shoulder-widthoverhead and palms facinginward. The Soldier begins bysitting up while swinging thearms forward and bending at thehip and knees. At the end of the

motion, the arms will be parallelto the ground with palms facinginward, and the feet will be atand together on the ground.

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program that was kind of adopted by theArmy. But, weve come a long way in 30years, especially in physical tness. Somany people are so much smarter aboutthis than they were back then.

The working group was guided byseveral principles when recommendingthe events for the new test: Events had to

be performed by Soldiers of any age and both genders, had to be easy to administer anywhere, had to be based on exercisesalready featured in the training circular,and couldnt require any new equipment.

Youre going to be testing 17-year-olds in basic training, but youre alsogoing to be testing old guys like me 57-year-olds as they do their thing inthe operational force, Hertling said. So,its got to be something that everybody

can do, and also something we can do eas-ily, not only at places that have equipment,

but places removed that dont have equip-ment. One of the things discussed was wecouldnt incur a bill to buy things in order to administer the test.

The events were also selected to helpreduce injuries, Hertling said.

Some of the things weve seen over the last several years the high-speedrepetitions, the excessively long runs have caused injuries in our force, frankly.We think its time to do something aboutthat. One of the pieces of guidance I asked[the Physical Fitness School] to incor-

porate as they analyzed a new test and prepared to pilot a new test was to takeinto account a testing protocol that doesnot cause injuries, and theyve done that.

The new events are challenging butmore combat-relevant, said Staff Sgt. LuisHernandez, an instructor at the PhysicalFitness School.

On the rower, after the 30th one, youreally start to feel it. The purpose of thatexercise is to strengthen your core your abs, your obliques because when Sol-diers are out there carrying all that battlerattle, they need a strong core.

The running events were also retooledto mimic the types of running Soldiers aredoing downrange, said Staff Sgt. DanicaFoster, also an instructor at the PhysicalFitness School.

Compared to the old test, the newtest is a better measurement tool of your anaerobic tness. Anaerobic is when youneed to move short distances, like bursts

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Training

Event 3:Stand ng ong JumpASSeSSeS: Lower-body muscular strength and power.

HO TO DO iT: The Soldier begins at the starting linein a straddle stance, with the shoulders, knees and feetforming a straight vertical line. The Soldier then jumpsas far forward as possible, landing on both feet andmaintaining balance. The distance is measured from theheel or other body part that lands closest to thestarting line.

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of speed; aerobic is for long distances. So,the 60-yard progressive shuttle run is goodfor anaerobic.

That is the reason the 2-mile run wasshortened, Hertling said.

Scienti c research has shown thethreshold going from anaerobic to aerobic,where your body systems catch up andyou actually get into a steady state, hap-

pens at about the 11- or 12-minute mark.That equates to the average mile-and-a-half run time. The 2-mile run was a totallyaerobic event that allowed the bodyssystems to catch up, and those arent thesame systems you use in combat.

We want to change the Armys mindset on how we run, Palkoska added. Itsnot about long-distance, sustained running.Its shorter distance, but higher intensity.

Another feature of the new APRT isthat it is considered a test you cant trainfor. Since the events measure such a widegamut of the bodys muscular and energysystems, the easiest way to score well isto just do what the manual prescribes,Palkoska explained.

The old test was something youcould train for. In my 36 years in theArmy, I can tell you theres been quite afew instances of me hearing people say,Oh heck. The PT test is coming nextmonth. Ive got to really start training for it. So, they start cranking out push-upsand sit-ups, and go on 2-mile runs. Well,these new tests will hopefully ensure thatour Soldiers know that physical readi-ness and physical resilience is a 24/7/365requirement. Because you cant train for

these tests, theres going to be more of anemphasis on maintaining your conditionand trying to improve your condition at alltimes. If you follow whats in the manual,then the day you take the test will be your easiest day of training.

While the Army now knows whatthe test events are and how to adminis-ter them, one facet still being developedis scoring. Over the next few months,

between 7,000 and 10,000 Soldiers in atleast eight locations Armywide will pilotthe tests, and their scores will be analyzedthis summer to create norms for the testsof cial release. Also likely is the simpli-cation of the age groupings to ve cat-egories: under 30, 3039, 4049, 5059,and 60 and above. Men and women willcontinue to have different sets of scores.

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Training

Event 4:1-m nut Push-UpASSeSSeS: Upper-body muscularendurance and trunk stability.

HO TO DO iT: The Soldier startsin the front-leaning rest positionand begins the exercise bylowering the body until the upperarms are at least parallel to theground. The Soldier then returnsto the front-leaning rest position. The body must remain rigid andgenerally straight.

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Though a Soldiers APRT scores areimportant, Hertling hopes to put greater emphasis on the non-scorable aspects of a Soldiers physical abilities, especiallyhow they might relate to performance incombat.

Weve got a lot of folks who believethat if you score 290 or above on theAPFT, you are in great shape and preparedfor any combat mission, Hertling said.Were here to tell you thats not the case.For every person who scores 300, I canshow you an individual who cant do the

job in combat because they cant carry aload, or they cant hump at high altitudes.At the same time, there are some guys whoonly score a 220 on the current test whoare exactly the ones you want to hump theloads and go up the side of a mountain, be-

cause they might not be fast on that 2-milerun, but man, theyll go all day long like amountain goat.

A desire to assess these more wide-ranging physical skills led the PhysicalFitness School to devise a second test, theArmy Combat Readiness Test, which fo-cuses on the combat-speci c tasks Soldiersare required to perform when deployed.Similar to West Points legendary Indoor Obstacle Course Test and the MarinesCombat Fitness Test, yet rooted in theexercises found in the Armys new PRTmanual, the ACRT is designed to be used

by units about to deploy or by other unitswanting to assess their Soldiers readinessfor combat. Its events a 400-meter run,individual movement techniques, a shuttlesprint while carrying two loaded ammuni-

tion boxes, a 180-pound casualty drag, andan agility sprint are to be conducted inthe Army Combat Uniform while carryinga weapon and wearing a helmet.

When the focus turned to the combat physical tness test, the question was, nowwhat are you trying to measure? Whatarent you capturing in the rst one? Lo-

pez said. It had to be something you cangear to any Soldier, regardless of [militaryoccupational specialty], regardless of ageor gender. That was a big issue how dowe come up with a test that can accuratelymeasure this for every Soldier? And,again, you shouldnt have to train up for it, because everything should already be in

play within the PRT program.For what one test lacks in assess-

ing a component [of readiness], this other

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Training

Event 5:1.5-m l RunASSeSSeS: Lower-body muscularendurance, aerobic capacity,speed, stability and posture.

HO TO DO iT: The Soldier runs1.5 miles along a pre-determinedcourse. The 1.5-mile distance isconsidered the scienti c goldstandard to measure aerobiccapacity.

test makes up for it, Palkoska said. TheAPRT is a more generalized measurementand assessment of tness, whereas theACRT is more combat-focused, testingthe ability to get up, get down, stop, start,change direction, quick rushes all of those are Soldier tasks that we must do incombat in order to be successful.

Soldiers demonstrating the ACRT atFort Jackson in March found it to be aninvigorating, demanding course.

Its an awesome challenge, it reallyis, said Staff Sgt. Timothy Shoenfelt, aninstructor at the Physical Fitness School,as he gasped for air just after demonstrat-ing the test at full speed for the rst time.All the stuff Soldiers do every day inthe mornings for their PRT sessions, itsimplemented out here. Id like to think

Im in great shape, but it challenges a lotof muscle groups that havent really beenchallenged before. Its a smoker.

Whether youre infantry or a me-chanic or a medic, somewhere down theline, if youre on a patrol, you might endup having to do one of these drills, saidSgt. 1st Class Cornelius Trammell, also aninstructor at the Physical Fitness School.So, I think its very important every Sol-dier get involved with this training.

Indeed, units should be diving head-rst into the PRT manual now, before bothtests become of cial, Lopez said.

If units do the PRT program the waytheyre supposed to do it, youll be OK with either test. But, thats the issue rightnow; NCOs have to read the TC, theyhave to go on the Physical Fitness School

website and see the videos, then put it alltogether. You should not have to attendany class or any speci c school in order to understand how to do PRT. Its prettysimple; the book tells you to do step 1,step 2, step 3.

The doctrinal manual is founda-tional; its where you start, not whereyou end, Palkoska said. But, dont getyourself hurt. More is not better; better is

better. And, thats the foundation of that book: Its better training.

For an overview of TC 3-22.20, thenew PRT manual, read the August 2010issue of The NCO Journal , available at http://j.mp/ncoj-prt .

To contact Michael L. Lewis, email michael.lewis73@us.army.mil.

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