Now, a new regimen is on the rise. Coinciding with an increased awareness of military readiness, the Army's Physical Readiness Training may become the standard for soldiers' fitness training and testing.
The current Army Physical Fitness Test consists of two minutes each of push- ups and sit-ups, plus a two- mile run. It demands basic aspects of fitness and is easy to administer. But an emphasis on this test resulted in a similarly limited training program: extremely demanding on recruits in poor condition, ignoring differences in individuals and their job requirements, risking injury from muscle imbalances or overuse.
The proposed Army Physical Readiness Training program would include exercises for evaluating fitness, but the emphasis would shift from "test" to "readiness." Developed at the Army Physical Fitness School at Fort Benning, Ga., the program echoes the "functional fitness" trend in civilian health clubs.
"What we've tried to do is look at it from a more holistic standpoint and make a soldier more physically well- rounded and, at the same time, reduce injury," said Lt. Col. Bill Rieger, commandant of the Fort Benning school. "It can be applied in civilians, but maybe not to the standard we're doing it, because there's not the precision."
The new approach draws on current research within military agencies and also classic military training, calisthenics and even some popular approaches, such as yoga and Pilates. "Yoga is an advanced form of calisthenics," Rieger said, "and Pilates is a great thing."
Incorporating strength, endurance and mobility training, the new system has a toughening phase and a sustaining phase. The first develops -- very slowly -- fundamental skills and basic fitness, addressing differences in how soldiers progress. The second phase improves readiness related to duty position.
In both, exercises often correspond to situations soldiers might encounter on regular duty or in the battlefield. Hanging from a bar and being able to lock one's feet over that bar compares to the strength needed to get out of a foxhole. Squatting and liftinan translate to carrying a casualty in a litter. Learning to manipulate a weight overhead can apply to stockingboxes on a shelf or putting luggage in an airplane's overhead bin.
Physical Readiness Training gives plenty of attention to the body's abdominal, back and hip muscles.
Although the proposed training manual awaits approval, perhaps this summer, and it may be a couple of years before the program is in full use, some training began in 2000.