Army Physical Fitness Test

[dsb]

dsb et al,

fine. Are you saying that from your experience you have NEVER met an exceptional athelete in the para's, marines or 'selection' who cannot do these times i have said? i mention a remarkable time i saw, i remember that was in boots, thats all.

Exceptional, infact i havent, i have seen some extremly fit blokes, at one point i would put me in that slot, but exceptional no, however exceptional imo would be world class, to pass selection you dont have to be superhuman you have to be very fit in body mind and sole and have the ability to keep going.


If so, i call into question your credentials as posted (any reason for this, look at most of my post in regard of the Army, i have nothing to hide), your morales and your integrity (Would be difficult to bring my integrity into question as i am an RMP and am as honest as they come). Simply put i have seen it, (Again where?) i have run sub 8 as a (Well done, i would hold you in high regard if you was a soldier of mine)'gash shag' (never a runner) and think your just doing the standard thing of post a load of blogs out of context to try and force a difference of opinion, the lowest form of debating imho. (Not a diffrence of oppinion just what i know to be true)

Infact look at my contact email, its an army which only serving soldiers and their spouses can get.

Tell me what Camp you work at and what Para Regiment you go running with i will call up their QMSI tomorrow and ask what the avarege time is for the PFT.

 

[dsb]

After reading this thread I decided to see what I could do. I like to think I'm somewhat fit and I am the right build for running but the only running I do is 5 mins on the treadmill as a warm up when I go to the gym and running for the bus

I did 10:17 and I was tired at the end. This was my first try and on a treadmill. I can't imagine doing it in under 8 mins but I'm going to see how much I can improve.

A good first crack, with correct training you will take 30sec of in a week, easy, remember that press ups ad sit ups are also in the test, you fail one you fail it all.

 

[Ben Cole]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7554293.stm

Interesting read...

However, it's mostly opinion written by a journalist.

It also mostly refers to cardio-vascular benefit which nobody here is debating.

The brief mention about bone issues is easily dismissed. Runners carry less weight than non runners and are generally healthier in all aspects most importantly diet so it wouldn't be surprising if no link could be found because the two sides would cancel each other out. Anybody serious enough about their well being to be a regular runner can be sure to be taking measures in all aspects of life which of course would slew any statistics.

To reiterate what I said earlier, a certain amount of running will be good to keep cartilage and fluids in healthy production. Too much running and you're on borrowed time. Again as mentioned earlier it's just common sense, we don't need to go round in circles with conflicting opinions.

Unfortunately at the age of 36 I get reminded of the body's limited capacity for repair every time I go for a road run instead of a gym visit. No amount of convienient "medical" testimony can sway me otherwise.

As a final note an even more serious cautionary tale. June 20th this year, My birthday, I got a call telling me one of my best friends had dropped dead of a heart attack whilst out on his DAILY lunchtime run. A life long fitness man carrying zero excess weight, CAA class one medical holder and he's dead at the age of 52. This won't stop me running but it does remind me why I do it.

 

[Uriel]

The press-ups thread reminded me to post this.

I was starting to find the gym a little uninspiring so I thought I'd set myself some slightly different targets to work towards - and get out in the sunshine more.

The army physical fitness test is time to run a mile and a half (officially on level ground), number of press-ups (good form) in two minutes and number of sit-ups (feet restrained with arms crossed over the chest) in two minutes.

The 'pass' figures for men are something like:

In serice requirements:
1.5 mile run: 10:30
2 minutes press-ups: 44
2 minutes sit-ups: 50

(source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3687350.stm and my mate in the army)

Well "call me Frank and send me to Alaska".

I've been trying to pass this arbitrary running target since starting this thread in 2008. Up until this weekend I'd never got the 1.5 mile run under 11 minutes.

Earlier this evening I just ran the mile and a half in 10:25. Then, not having expected to beat it, I remembered the army PFT thing and just knocked out 49 press-ups and 57 sit ups (the press ups and sit ups haven't been a problem for a while)

So I guess I was hoping to get there quicker than this (I was 28 when I started the thread, 37 now) - but I got there in the end.

(for a little context you can see some of the fun I've had trying to control my weight over the last few years here: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18149785)

 

[jernau_gergeh]

Brilliant mate, you achieved your goal and showed great perseverance, nice one.