Am I the only one on here that thinks PRT is useless?

2015-05-05T09:12:39-04:00

I've been working out for a long time and I find that I could use my morning PT sessions doing something more effective. What are your thoughts?

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Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made May 5 at 2015 9:30 AM

2015-05-05T09:30:35-04:00

I would have to disagree with you PRT is great if done correctly to sustain a level of fitness. It will not make you score a 300 on your APFT but it will allow you to sustain. If you want to improve you need to take time of your own to workout. It is designed to bring weaker Soldiers up and sustain the strrong ones. As we know pt is an individual responsibility.

Response by SFC Michael Hasbun made May 5 at 2015 9:39 AM

2015-05-05T09:39:56-04:00

It's useless because no one is doing it right... There are FORSCOM units out there that are still doing 5 reps, and not deviating from 3 or 4 tables...

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made May 5 at 2015 9:48 AM

2015-05-05T09:48:18-04:00

Try the card game....every suit is assigned an excercise. Aces are 15, face cards 10, rest of cards are face value. Shuffle the cards and start flipping! Keep the jokers in the deck...when they come up that is 15 points plus whatever the next card is....I promise this will give you a good cardio and physical workout! Happy sweating!

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made May 5 at 2015 10:15 AM

2015-05-05T10:15:37-04:00

I miss the old fashioned let NCO's lead the PT, memorizing tables and repeating is not leadership. I think we lost a lot more than just PT standards when we poorly implemented PRT.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made May 5 at 2015 10:34 AM

2015-05-05T10:34:47-04:00

I was thinking about this this morning. We did prep drills, CD1&2, 4 for the core and recovery drills. I got NOTHING out of it. Maybe if it was the day before a PT test it would be fine but in a unit where people have low to failing PT scores I feel we could step it up. I'm used to high intensity work outs. Spartan work outs, tabatta etc. I understand PT is to sustain but if there's a plethora of over weight individuals that aren't improving...something should be ramped up.

Response by Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS made May 5 at 2015 12:10 PM

2015-05-05T12:10:11-04:00

Unit PT is "sustainment" as opposed "development."

It's great to believe that everyone is locked on and will go out and knock out PT on their own, however somewhere between a minority and the vast majority will let OPTEMPO shift PT to a secondary concern over their normal role, and they need a semi-rigid PT schedule just to keep from losing what they gained.

But, you can't make advances in large groups. It's just not possible. You need to be in much smaller groups to get better, because you have to focus on individual weaknesses in order to do that.

Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made May 5 at 2015 12:56 PM

2015-05-05T12:56:23-04:00

I have had conversations on PRT more times that I care to remember. While I am not the Army's biggest advocate for the program, I am a senior leader within the Army's ranks and I execute it as an assigned mission, with the greatest level of energy that I can.

That said, I can tell you that I spent one and a half years as an AIT Company 1SG and one year as an ALC 1SG and we planned and executed PRT daily during my time with both units. Within my AIT company I designed the PRT plan and it was not only progressive and detailed but also filled with rigor. I did not allow Soldiers to just show up and meander through the workout. I literally got in the middle of formations and pushed myself and other Soldiers. At the NCOES I put more ownership of the program on my SGLs but again, I stayed plugged in and ensure the intensity was kept high.

The program is prescriptive but not intended to limit those developing and executing plans with it. It is too easy to say that the regulation limits us but in reality, it is often us, as leaders, that are limiting ourselves. If you are not getting a single thing out of any workouts within the program I would ask that you look to see what level of intensity you are putting into it. There are many Soldiers that need to supplement daily PRT to achieve individual fitness goals and that is to be expected. Remember, the Army is not designed to make everyone super, it is designed to get everyone to a certain level and maintain. Super is on the individual.

Response by SGT Bryon Sergent made May 5 at 2015 1:04 PM

2015-05-05T13:04:50-04:00

Prt is useless. There is no stretching or warming up of the joints. It sucks. Bring back PT. Calisthenics and buddy pt and ruck marching, football, basketball, handball!

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made May 5 at 2015 11:35 PM

2015-05-05T23:35:00-04:00

PRT will smoke your bags if done correctly!! Like any other issue in the Army it is up to the NCOs to conduct the PRT session as described in FM 7-22. There is no "this is how I understand it" as the FM outlines how and what is supposed to be done.

Response by SFC Rapfeal Mayfield made May 6 at 2015 7:03 AM

2015-05-06T07:03:49-04:00

I don't think it's useless, but personally I do think i got more out of doing physical training the old way.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made May 17 at 2015 6:12 PM

2015-05-17T18:12:02-04:00

I miss old school PT....

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made May 29 at 2015 4:11 AM

2015-05-29T04:11:31-04:00

I think the main 10 prt stretches are fine, but when it comes to hip stability and military movement is when I face palm.

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 12 at 2015 3:08 AM

2015-06-12T03:08:45-04:00

I concur.

Response by SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL made Jun 29 at 2015 4:12 PM

2015-06-29T16:12:27-04:00

I like the FM 21-20, that's when Soldiers trained and went against the grain. "grass and guerrilla drills.

Response by SPC Candace Leach made Jul 1 at 2015 10:09 PM

2015-07-01T22:09:40-04:00

I find PRT to be useless because there is no stretching involved and some of the exercises are not challenging enough. Even I ended up pulling a quad muscle doing suicides and there was no proper stretching. I've done both Marine Corps PT and the Army PT and the Marine Corps PT is more challenging.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 8 at 2019 10:00 PM

2019-06-08T22:00:23-04:00

PRT became useless because of leaders who still have their units doing 5-repetitions, even though they should be at 10.

It's useless because instead of doing a proper Rear Lunge during Preparatory and Recovery Drills, Soldiers are doing a half-assed Calf Stretch Standing, and their leaders let them do it wrong. Then they complain they don't feel adequately warmed up.

It's useless because leaders let the "silly appearance" of the Hip Stability Drills and Power Skip distract them from their functional purpose, thus causing their Soldiers to miss the purpose behind the movements. Before Hill Sprints, I always have my teams do Hip Stability Drills, to get blood flow to that area, for increased mobility and performance. My warrant officer decides to show up for PT during my session, and thinks it's fine. The next week another leader ran the hill sprints day, but they skipped the Hip Stability Drills; we ran the same hills for the same amount of repetitions, but everyone was like "that was a much better session than last time, because I feel more tired." In reality, they decreased their performance potential due to having cold hips, which increased their perceived effort, but yet thought the workout was better because of the difficulty they had in performing the exact same hills...

PRT is an amazing system that allows for a high school graduate who knows squat about exercise science, to design a cookie cutter plan that implements progressive overload and other proven concepts into a daily exercise routine. Just like any rule, regulation, or law, it is only as effective as the level of enforcement it receives. I don't believe most units enforce PRT progression and proficiency any further past the Preparatory Drills.

PRT isn't designed to get everyone to 300 APFT scores; 300 is that high in order to establish a way to differentiate high performers versus those who only care to be mediocre (which is fine, because it still exceeds the Army standard). PRT is designed to establish and maintain a feasible (albeit mediocre) baseline for the massive amount of Soldiers that cycle through and are being instructed by leaders who are mostly uneducated on the topic of group exercise.

Response by CSM Darieus ZaGara made Jun 9 at 2019 6:55 AM

2019-06-09T06:55:42-04:00

First of all, we all know that given the choice manyvwould skip training all together given the opportunity, or perform exercises that do nothing for the body in the way that fitness experts have deemed appropriate for Soldiers. If you follow the progression performing all components appropriately you would find that the system works.

Do it (even if for no other reason that) as it is a directive and policy for the Army, you and your Soldiers will see marked improvement. Very seldom wil the collective perform fitness on their own in the way that they should.

Additionally PT starts the group dynamic off every day, putting Team in the forefront. The Army is made up of collectives that fall in line to perform a mission, it starts with PT. The motto, Army of one, lasted for about a minute, maybe less-I personally laughed when I saw it on TV. Thank you for your service.