Posted on Jan 7, 2015
If PRT is mandated by the Army, why are units allowed to do what they want? Does this work against instilling discipline?
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Posted 10 y ago
Responses: 9
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I would have to agree that this kind of change is more than doctrinal; it's a culture change. It seems to me that there is a clash between the old school NCO's that learned to max a PT test by doing a bunch of push ups, sit ups, and running miles after miles daily and the younger soldiers that have grown up with CrossFit and myriad of other mixed interval training regimens.
The ones that are going to have the most effect in getting PRT to latch on are the team leaders and squad leaders. To that end, I've always felt that being an E5 SGT should start with a certification as a fitness trainer. Not some DA 87 from the Army, but a legitimate certificate of completion from a local college. This is essentially the work the Army is telling us to do; plan and develop a physical fitness regimen that will improve your team/squad's combat readiness. If we trained like football players, it would give us enough balance between strength, speed, agility and endurance to succeed as soldiers.
The ones that are going to have the most effect in getting PRT to latch on are the team leaders and squad leaders. To that end, I've always felt that being an E5 SGT should start with a certification as a fitness trainer. Not some DA 87 from the Army, but a legitimate certificate of completion from a local college. This is essentially the work the Army is telling us to do; plan and develop a physical fitness regimen that will improve your team/squad's combat readiness. If we trained like football players, it would give us enough balance between strength, speed, agility and endurance to succeed as soldiers.
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As a WLC instructor I always ask who does PRT at their respective units. When other Soldiers see they are all doing different things, the conversation usually turns to "Why are we doing PRT, or Crossfit, or MAW?" Why cant we just do our own thing? I have tried to explain the necessity for a baseline and that PRT, while it is mandatory, provides that baseline for different levels of fitness. I agree that some of the exercises are rather dumb or not physically challenging. However many of them are meant to work stabilizer muscles or flexibility.
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Units are allowed to do what they want because PRT only "maintains" physical fitness. If you need to pass a pt test and get stronger or faster, you need to go with a different program because prt will not develop you.
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SGT (Join to see)
I agree, SSG Justin McCoy and SSG Genaro Negrete. My highest scores ever were in my 9-month-long AIT where the only PT I did was unit PRT. Then I got to my first duty station where the only PRT we did was the 10 warm-up drills. My PT score dropped 30 points, and now I do PT on my own in addition to unit PT just to recover lost ground.
If you were already a PT stud, SPC Christopher Smith, maybe PRT didn't benefit you that much. For people like me, PRT works!
If you were already a PT stud, SPC Christopher Smith, maybe PRT didn't benefit you that much. For people like me, PRT works!
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SPC Christopher Smith
If it works for you I say go for it. I shared my personal belief, in AIT and Basic PRT didn't do much for me. I had to workout on my own in order to make sure I passed my PT test. I personally do not believe it is a great program, and I believe people have bought into it making it seem like the best thing under the sun.
I believe don't complain without offering a solution, so my solution is allow people and units the ability to do what they need to get passing scores. Ultimately trying the cookie cutter approach for physical fitness will only result in people failing.
I believe don't complain without offering a solution, so my solution is allow people and units the ability to do what they need to get passing scores. Ultimately trying the cookie cutter approach for physical fitness will only result in people failing.
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SSG Genaro Negrete
SPC Christopher Smith , the other side of the PRT coin is mitigating overuse injuries while doing PT. The time lost to profiles and recovery time can add up quickly across a battalion sized unit.
The culture change that needs to happen is to get away from doing pt in order to pass a pt test. The test has been given too much influence when it is only meant to gauge a unit's physical fitness readiness. But that leads into a whole other discussion about the APFT itself.
I'll leave it at this; no matter what the morning PT session involves, those that seek to improve will conduct PT on their own in a manner of their choosing. Hopefully they do this with someone who can challenge them to keep pushing their limits.
The culture change that needs to happen is to get away from doing pt in order to pass a pt test. The test has been given too much influence when it is only meant to gauge a unit's physical fitness readiness. But that leads into a whole other discussion about the APFT itself.
I'll leave it at this; no matter what the morning PT session involves, those that seek to improve will conduct PT on their own in a manner of their choosing. Hopefully they do this with someone who can challenge them to keep pushing their limits.
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SPC Christopher Smith
SSG Genaro Negrete I agree, APFT has become the thing we focus way too much attention on because we have allowed it to be one of the largest areas for promotion as far as points is concerned. Lets not dive into that right now though. Speaking on reducing overuse injuries, sticking to a static program, at least from what I have read and been lead through, will result in overuse issues. I believe we are trying too hard to solve this issue with a cookie cutter standard, although we all are not built the same, nor are our other variables the same (diet, genetics, etc.).
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