APFT, where A is for Arctic
All All MECA BackblastsFebruary 11th, 2016
9 men posted in the gloom for the 3rd rendition of the Army PFT. It went a little something like this:
Disclaimer
Warm-up
Mosey to testing center prominade, with some high-knees and toy soldiers to liven things up.
15xSSH
10xCP
10xMountain Climbers
10xMerkins
10xWindmill
Shoulder circles front/back and small/big to catch our breath.
PFT
Index cards distributed for returning cadets, Sparky was lone PAX wondering what this was all about. Short description with demo of allowed push up and situp, but you know I didn’t count those in my repetitions. Push up, upper arms parallel with ground on way down, can’t rest on ground. Sit up, hands clasped behind head, must break plane of spine on the situp, and any rest must be made in the upright and locked position. Go! Partner up, for two minutes of situps, switch-a-roo, two more. All do push-ups at once.
Final stage was 2 mile run, down to Harris Road MS track, 4 laps, and return. (Sparknut seemed to not know the route which explains his scorching times from November.) No falls, no broken bones, but no best times either. Uh, well maybe. Near as I could tell, the bus no. 6 was running a little rich, may need fuel injection inspection. Other buses all running normally as best as I could inhale.
Results
| Name | Situps | Pushups | 2 Mile Run |
| Schnitzel | 24 | 59 | 17:50 |
| Bagheera | 51 | 55 | 14:59 |
| Stretchy | 60 | 62 | 21:50 |
| Sugar | 37 | 65 | 16:50 |
| Three | 16 | 60 | 21:22 |
| Whatley | 49 | 80 | 18:00 |
| Marie | 42 | 75 | 17:25 |
| Sparky | 32 | 80 | 19:10 |
| Sparknut | 65 | 98 | 15:12 |
Follow link below to see how you measure up to America’s finest. Based on age, you have to do so many situps/pushups and run under certain time to pass basic training, then score higher to pass adv infantry training.
Moleskin
I like this for 2 reasons, well 3. Its pretty easy to Q. Secondly, its some kind of a gauge to see how we’re improving physically. But most of all, provides a morning to reflect on the fine men in the military who train and work tirelessly for our freedom. Thank you!
- 5K for Cox Mill high school girl killed in boating accident, coming up in April on the greenway. Marie suggested a strong F3 showing.
- Anniversary dinner, see banner on website.
- Mud run coming up in April. I’ll drive clown car to arrive just as mud runners finish to down a few long necks with them runners.
- Tclaps to Sparky for coming back fresh off recovery of broken ribs. This workout’s been known to cause broken ribs.
Aye.
8 Comments on “APFT, where A is for Arctic”
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I blame my poor performance on the cold. I repeat, father time and old man winter conspired against me. But I will make amends with the next installment of APFT. Schnitzel, when will that be so we can all look forward to it (not)?
@Marie – we may be good until next fall, say Veterans Day for the next PFT. Might be closer to 50 degrees for optimal performance. Like you suggested, maybe we work this style of sit-ups in to Mary every so often.
@Sparknut – Kudos to sniffing the century mark on the push-up portion. You’ll be there in November!
@Schnitzel – I do appreciate this one, but I’m always afraid to find out the truth about my condition. I prefer to use the denial method, which allows me to believe my 2 mile run time has improved by 10% simply because I waited 3 months and then tried again, with no particular training. That makes sense – right?
For the record, I discovered that the cold does indeed slow you down. The ideal running temperature is 50 deg. A drop from 50 deg to 20, like today will result in a 3% slower time. For me, that is a difference of 27 seconds. I hope that makes us feel a little better! I’ve included the address to the article below if you want to check it out – sorry I don’t know how to do the hyperlink thing.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/553188-the-effects-of-cold-temperatures-on-running-time/
@Schnitzel – BTW: I appreciate the engine performance commentary!
Sorry I missed guys. Hand and wrist still hurting from last weekend. Looks like I’m on ir a bit longer and headed to the dr.
Maybe I can cruise next week instead. Any pressure on the hand is let’s say less than steallar
Thanks for keeping this up for us @Schnitzel. Nice work as always.
@Sparknut – good job on the research for our excuses. Now anything other than 50 degrees – I have one!!!
Here is the link for the Stride for Shiny 5k Marie was talking about. It’s right in our AO. I think it’s be great if make strong showing! Great cause. http://coxmillathletics.org/2016/01/28/first-annual-stride-for-shiny-5k/
Great workout. I love every part of it. Gotta work on those pushups!
@Sparknut great job of sticking right behind me on that run. Confidentially, if it had gone on for another minute or so, I would’ve quit.