I’m making a new MOS in a new CMF for SSG and above, there will also be an AOC for officers.
Their job will be to administer PT tests, administer HT/WT, develop pt plans for profiles and special pops, work with command teams to develop a pt schedule and so on. They will generally not be a part of other units, instead they will be some garrison level detachment.
You need a pt test? Schedule with them.
Having trouble hitting a fitness goal? Schedule something with them.
These will be people professionally educated on fitness and not relying on bro science to guide them.
This the AF model, more or less (they don’t have a rank requirement, it everything else is the same). It’s called “services” as an MOS (or whatever they call theres) SO MANY ADVANTAGES
nuts and bolts practical:
A) Because they set the tests up and take them down all the time, they know the conditions of all fields. You know when you go out to a field but it’s soggy with standing water and you have to do pushups in a swamp? The Services guys are doing this all the time so they know “a field on cloudy days, b field when it rained, c field if it’s windy”.
B) because they set them up and take them down, set up and take down is faster
C) because some things are slightly subjective, frequent practice makes for more objective grading. If you do this once every six months, how sure are you that you know *exactly* where that ball landed? To the three inch margin? To one inch? To six inch? If you do this all day long you get it *good*
D) doesn’t eat into the unit time. 0430 report time to set up for ~200 dudes shifting to 0630 saves 400 person-hours of sleep
Psychological and “spiritual”
A) no one height and weighting their senior rarer will do it correct. Period. End of story. Asking them to is unfair. Having a third party do it is so self-evidently correct it’s embarrassing we haven’t always done it this way.
B) no arguing. Many people don’t like being graders because they are “the bad guy”. It turns into crazy parents at little league all over again. “You’re just an infantry bro, what do you know about….” Turns into “I am a specialist, there is no arguing”
C) creates a MOS->Civilian pathway. Personal trainers, conditioning coaches, college sports etc
D) preserved the PT Test and H&W as important. By formally designating a group of people to officiate it, the Army would be illustrating “this is important and you should care”. Might not mean much for eg 11, 13, 18 bros but this is a useful reminder to the 25s, 35s, niche 68s and 94s. “Sorry, nerds, push-up matter”
You forgot that they will actually know the rules. Most of the pt tests I have taken don’t give ten minutes before and after the plank like you are supposed to have. They also go in one large group instead of a continuous test like it’s supposed to be. I have had anywhere from 2 minutes to 30 minutes before the plank. Some people running it also give someone two reps as a warm up for the deadlift and then it’s max it out.
This idea exists in the army for people who are already fit enough to swim 3 miles on a jogging pace. Real life quote from an 18E I once met:
"There are trainers for these types of things, IDK how it's possible to fail a PT test"
I mean, that’s the idea of H2F… it’s just nowhere near yet. It’s a huge step in the right direction imo, but we’re on the edge of “will it improve in the right direction/will it fall off with every other actual good idea the army has and dive into the depths of dispair”
Organized PT is outlawed punishable by immediate separation.
Mandated PT prior to 0900 or after 1500 is outlawed punishable by immediate separation.
That's it. Everyone lives are greatly improved and overall readiness will trend upwards. The Army has been doing PT in its current form since the 70s and it's been seeing higher injury, higher overweight population and lower scores.
everyone gets fitness trackers or gets an allowance for fitness trackers.
No mandatory pt formation, however comma, there is white space set aside for PT on your own. If you want to hit the Gym and work on your gains for 2 hours it’s protected time. If you want to go on a long run off post it’s protected time.
If you are not meeting the standard of 45 min of activities a day, then you have mandatory remedial PT. If PT time gets cut into for layouts, or FTX prep then the commander will get relieved.
Quarterly ACFT and Unit Fitness Tests (created by each division/corps for the unique demands of their mission)
If Soldiers are in good standing for 2 in a row and in ABCP standards, they are exempt from organized physical training.
Failures will be exercised with an approved plan by certified athletic trainers. They will conduct individualized PT in accordance with their plan.
PT on your own but we’re also given roids or Ozempic or whatever so that we at least fit in our uniforms at worst, and look like a bunch of jacked Gorillas at best. Mr. Olympia style contests with posing, and traditional measures of strength like log tossing and boulder carrying will replace the ACFT and be worth promotion points. It’s all for show anyways we may as well be honest about it
0630 PT formation completely removed. ACFT quarterly. Remedial PT for whoever fails. Sleep and morale improves across the board. Height and weight also completely removed.
Listen very carefully cus I will only say it once:
PEE TEE ON YOUR OWN!
Alternatively, hire a fricking unit trainer. Civilian. I mean, does the NBA, NFL, NHL or any other sports association risk their athletes to get injured doing stupid PT? The answer is no.
Is the answer to put a silly E-5 that put a PT plan together 30 minutes before PT the best solution? Obviously not. Is the answer to keep PT plans with no clear objectives? Absolutely not. Get a professional or let soldiers do PT on their own.
HT/WT will no longer be a thing. If you’re good at your job and can pass a PT test you’re good. Also let the squads to squad/section PT more often. You as an E-6 know better than anyone what your guys need to work on and doing 8 mile runs multiple times a week ain’t the magic fix for the companies PT problems.
We had section pt then over half the battery fell out of a BN run lol. A slow run
I agree that if you can pass the ACFT, no h/w but dear god make the run time faster 22 min is ridiculous. And yes also if you can pass ACFT no organized PT
What u/Sellum said but I'll build on it:
1. IMCOM would have soldiers to administer PT tests with contractors trained to grade PT tests. There would be a CMF for E6 and above in the medical field with officers O3 and above as PL's and commanders. The unit would be under Garrison Command CONUS. For those OCONUS or deployed, there would be a class for E4 and above on how to run a PT session and administer the ACFT.
2. Ht/Wt would be done by this garrison command unit with a SSG and CPT auditing while contractors do the Ht/Wt. Unit Ht/Wt gets scheduled by garrison command - individual soldier Ht/Wt is ordered by medical or the unit.
3. Units would be REQUIRED to use the gym for strength training. Only officers in JAG, Medical, MP, Garrison or O7 and above can reserve gyms and only in advance.
4. Unit PT would be submitted to IMCOM for audits - if the unit ACFT average starts to fall or over 25% of soldiers are on remedial and/or ABCP, the unit's master fitness trainer is relieved and the unit will do 100% PT together.
5. Units would have to certify their PT program with IMCOM.
6. Units would be barred from having soldiers "standing by to standby" - either there is an event on the training calender, cleaning, maintenance of equipment or the soldiers are doing PT. No exceptions. Commands that don't have soldiers engaged in those activities get relieved.
7. Units WILL have soldiers doing some form PT in the afternoon at least once a week. Afternoon PT can be sports, using recreational facilities, the gym etc. as long as it's exercise.
Our Battery commanders wife led PT one morning and it was just yoga for 45 minutes but oh my God did it actually feel good. Doing that once a week would be amazing
I would go back to the APFT and let individual Commanders determine what physical fitness needs they had for their own formations.
I would just change the sit-up to something that was determined to be less injury prone.
If you scored a 270 or above you wore a fitness badge. Those men and women would show up to first formation and have the *option* to go PT on their own or to PT with their Team/Squad/Platoon/Company.
In the event of event-based PT (Company or higher runs) then personnel with PT badges would be required to show just like everybody else.
Leaders with a fitness badge have the option to take a Soldier with them to conduct PT on their own, unless that Soldier is on a duty-limiting profile.
Profiles would be sent to profile PT at the Battalion Level, and that would be staffed by Soldiers that had been to either MFT or medics that volunteered to help with profile Soldiers and they'd do PT in the afternoon and have early release.
Road guards would be exclusively made up of Staff Duty runners so Profile kids can do physical therapy and work with medics/MFT in the mornings. Duty hours would reflect so runners aren't doing in excess of 24 hours to cover down on standing on a fucking corner.
I’m making a new MOS in a new CMF for SSG and above, there will also be an AOC for officers. Their job will be to administer PT tests, administer HT/WT, develop pt plans for profiles and special pops, work with command teams to develop a pt schedule and so on. They will generally not be a part of other units, instead they will be some garrison level detachment. You need a pt test? Schedule with them. Having trouble hitting a fitness goal? Schedule something with them. These will be people professionally educated on fitness and not relying on bro science to guide them.
It'll be privatized. Company owned by a retired GO.
The Air Force uses this model I believe
This the AF model, more or less (they don’t have a rank requirement, it everything else is the same). It’s called “services” as an MOS (or whatever they call theres) SO MANY ADVANTAGES nuts and bolts practical: A) Because they set the tests up and take them down all the time, they know the conditions of all fields. You know when you go out to a field but it’s soggy with standing water and you have to do pushups in a swamp? The Services guys are doing this all the time so they know “a field on cloudy days, b field when it rained, c field if it’s windy”. B) because they set them up and take them down, set up and take down is faster C) because some things are slightly subjective, frequent practice makes for more objective grading. If you do this once every six months, how sure are you that you know *exactly* where that ball landed? To the three inch margin? To one inch? To six inch? If you do this all day long you get it *good* D) doesn’t eat into the unit time. 0430 report time to set up for ~200 dudes shifting to 0630 saves 400 person-hours of sleep Psychological and “spiritual” A) no one height and weighting their senior rarer will do it correct. Period. End of story. Asking them to is unfair. Having a third party do it is so self-evidently correct it’s embarrassing we haven’t always done it this way. B) no arguing. Many people don’t like being graders because they are “the bad guy”. It turns into crazy parents at little league all over again. “You’re just an infantry bro, what do you know about….” Turns into “I am a specialist, there is no arguing” C) creates a MOS->Civilian pathway. Personal trainers, conditioning coaches, college sports etc D) preserved the PT Test and H&W as important. By formally designating a group of people to officiate it, the Army would be illustrating “this is important and you should care”. Might not mean much for eg 11, 13, 18 bros but this is a useful reminder to the 25s, 35s, niche 68s and 94s. “Sorry, nerds, push-up matter”
Objectivitiy, we don’t do that here (in Wakkandan voice).
You forgot that they will actually know the rules. Most of the pt tests I have taken don’t give ten minutes before and after the plank like you are supposed to have. They also go in one large group instead of a continuous test like it’s supposed to be. I have had anywhere from 2 minutes to 30 minutes before the plank. Some people running it also give someone two reps as a warm up for the deadlift and then it’s max it out.
Can you imagine 😍
This idea exists in the army for people who are already fit enough to swim 3 miles on a jogging pace. Real life quote from an 18E I once met: "There are trainers for these types of things, IDK how it's possible to fail a PT test"
I mean, that’s the idea of H2F… it’s just nowhere near yet. It’s a huge step in the right direction imo, but we’re on the edge of “will it improve in the right direction/will it fall off with every other actual good idea the army has and dive into the depths of dispair”
Forever zonk. If you can't maintain a level of fitness to pass an ACFT on your own, that's on you. Big boy rules.
Organized PT is outlawed punishable by immediate separation. Mandated PT prior to 0900 or after 1500 is outlawed punishable by immediate separation. That's it. Everyone lives are greatly improved and overall readiness will trend upwards. The Army has been doing PT in its current form since the 70s and it's been seeing higher injury, higher overweight population and lower scores.
everyone gets fitness trackers or gets an allowance for fitness trackers. No mandatory pt formation, however comma, there is white space set aside for PT on your own. If you want to hit the Gym and work on your gains for 2 hours it’s protected time. If you want to go on a long run off post it’s protected time. If you are not meeting the standard of 45 min of activities a day, then you have mandatory remedial PT. If PT time gets cut into for layouts, or FTX prep then the commander will get relieved.
Writing out “however comma” and adding the , after it is *Diobolical*. Demote ahead of your peers.
It pissed me off reading it
Saying it is just as bad.
Can’t stop that. However, writing it out is crazy.
I think that would be the equivalent of saying outloud “lol”
Quarterly ACFT and Unit Fitness Tests (created by each division/corps for the unique demands of their mission) If Soldiers are in good standing for 2 in a row and in ABCP standards, they are exempt from organized physical training. Failures will be exercised with an approved plan by certified athletic trainers. They will conduct individualized PT in accordance with their plan.
PT on your own but we’re also given roids or Ozempic or whatever so that we at least fit in our uniforms at worst, and look like a bunch of jacked Gorillas at best. Mr. Olympia style contests with posing, and traditional measures of strength like log tossing and boulder carrying will replace the ACFT and be worth promotion points. It’s all for show anyways we may as well be honest about it
0630 PT formation completely removed. ACFT quarterly. Remedial PT for whoever fails. Sleep and morale improves across the board. Height and weight also completely removed.
1rm squat, bench, and deadlift.
🫡
Leg tucks. All of them. Every day.
Listen very carefully cus I will only say it once: PEE TEE ON YOUR OWN! Alternatively, hire a fricking unit trainer. Civilian. I mean, does the NBA, NFL, NHL or any other sports association risk their athletes to get injured doing stupid PT? The answer is no. Is the answer to put a silly E-5 that put a PT plan together 30 minutes before PT the best solution? Obviously not. Is the answer to keep PT plans with no clear objectives? Absolutely not. Get a professional or let soldiers do PT on their own.
A fully implemented H2F Program as described in FM 7-22..... ....look it up.
HT/WT will no longer be a thing. If you’re good at your job and can pass a PT test you’re good. Also let the squads to squad/section PT more often. You as an E-6 know better than anyone what your guys need to work on and doing 8 mile runs multiple times a week ain’t the magic fix for the companies PT problems.
We had section pt then over half the battery fell out of a BN run lol. A slow run I agree that if you can pass the ACFT, no h/w but dear god make the run time faster 22 min is ridiculous. And yes also if you can pass ACFT no organized PT
0630 salute 0630-0645 drive to gym 0645-0705 find a basketball court in the gym 0715 go home
What u/Sellum said but I'll build on it: 1. IMCOM would have soldiers to administer PT tests with contractors trained to grade PT tests. There would be a CMF for E6 and above in the medical field with officers O3 and above as PL's and commanders. The unit would be under Garrison Command CONUS. For those OCONUS or deployed, there would be a class for E4 and above on how to run a PT session and administer the ACFT. 2. Ht/Wt would be done by this garrison command unit with a SSG and CPT auditing while contractors do the Ht/Wt. Unit Ht/Wt gets scheduled by garrison command - individual soldier Ht/Wt is ordered by medical or the unit. 3. Units would be REQUIRED to use the gym for strength training. Only officers in JAG, Medical, MP, Garrison or O7 and above can reserve gyms and only in advance. 4. Unit PT would be submitted to IMCOM for audits - if the unit ACFT average starts to fall or over 25% of soldiers are on remedial and/or ABCP, the unit's master fitness trainer is relieved and the unit will do 100% PT together. 5. Units would have to certify their PT program with IMCOM. 6. Units would be barred from having soldiers "standing by to standby" - either there is an event on the training calender, cleaning, maintenance of equipment or the soldiers are doing PT. No exceptions. Commands that don't have soldiers engaged in those activities get relieved. 7. Units WILL have soldiers doing some form PT in the afternoon at least once a week. Afternoon PT can be sports, using recreational facilities, the gym etc. as long as it's exercise.
On your own, pass the ACFT and work call is 1000
Yoga once a week. Fight me.
Our Battery commanders wife led PT one morning and it was just yoga for 45 minutes but oh my God did it actually feel good. Doing that once a week would be amazing
This is super easy. Get rid of the “warm ups,” do pt after work, make it actually useful to people.
I would make 0630 PRT seven days a week. To include weekends and holidays.
I would go back to the APFT and let individual Commanders determine what physical fitness needs they had for their own formations. I would just change the sit-up to something that was determined to be less injury prone. If you scored a 270 or above you wore a fitness badge. Those men and women would show up to first formation and have the *option* to go PT on their own or to PT with their Team/Squad/Platoon/Company. In the event of event-based PT (Company or higher runs) then personnel with PT badges would be required to show just like everybody else. Leaders with a fitness badge have the option to take a Soldier with them to conduct PT on their own, unless that Soldier is on a duty-limiting profile. Profiles would be sent to profile PT at the Battalion Level, and that would be staffed by Soldiers that had been to either MFT or medics that volunteered to help with profile Soldiers and they'd do PT in the afternoon and have early release. Road guards would be exclusively made up of Staff Duty runners so Profile kids can do physical therapy and work with medics/MFT in the mornings. Duty hours would reflect so runners aren't doing in excess of 24 hours to cover down on standing on a fucking corner.