Pass the NEW Navy PRT: Jumpstart your physical readiness with this 12-week strategy!

BLUF: This program is set up to prepare your body to meet the physical requirements of the Navy PRT with as little time commitment as possible.

After a year without Physical Readiness Tests (PRTs), gyms being closed, and command PT at a minimum, Cycle 1 of 2021 is going to be rough for many sailors. In an effort to help as many as possible transition back into the PFA cycle and prevent any negative career effects, I have created a workout plan for everyone that needs guidance to pass in spring 2021.

What has changed and what you need to pay attention to:

Curl ups are gone and planks have replaced them (along with the counting)! In case you haven’t done a plank recently, it is one of the only exercises that seem to stop time. With planks, you want to use your entire body. That means that you should be flexing all of your muscles, but most importantly your abdominals, lower back, upper back, lats and glutes! The official scoring requirements have not been released yet; however, Navy leadership has stated that scoring tables will start at 1 minute and max out at 3 minutes and 30 seconds (or what will seem like an eternity).

Additionally, the plank portion is going to have an effect on your push up score. Have you seen push up form degrade as the core gets tired in the first 30 seconds of the test resulting in a room full of BUTTS sticking high in the air? Well, the push up is just additional time holding the plank position. This is why preparing your body for the planks is crucial!

The Program

How it works:

For all of the tested events, form is crucial and will save you much more effort than grinding through with bad form. So, if you are unsure of proper form, ASK! Plan to begin this program at least 12 FULL WEEKS before your PRT. But, if you didn’t and you are finding this as your command posted the 10 week notice, skip weeks 5 & 6 (we all procrastinate).

· When you see “3 sets of:”, perform exercise A followed by exercise B with a maximum of 30 seconds rest in between. Then rest 2 minutes between sets.

· Plank form should be a straight line from shoulders to hips to ankles with weight resting on forearms and toes. Remember to squeeze those key muscles mentioned above!

· Push up form should be the same as the plank except weight on your hands instead of forearms. NO HEAD BOBBIN! If you need to split up the reps, do so. You will be thankful you did later.

· Hand release push ups are exactly as they sound. Perform a push up until your chest touches the deck and lift your hands up slightly from the ground. THIS IS NOT A REST! Hands back to the deck and push your body up.

· For the cardio portion of each workout you should use the same exercise you will for the test (i.e. run, bike, swim, row- if authorized). For hard effort, you should not be able to say more than 5-7 words aloud during the exercise. For moderate effort, you should only be able to speak a sentence or two aloud. During easy effort, you should be having a casual conversation with your workout buddy (6 feet away of course).

· If you can already exceed the time for planks or reps for push ups, increase the numbers but make sure you do not do a max set unless it is specified. Leave about 5 seconds or 2-5 push ups in the tank in order to perform all sets.

Make sure to add your own warm up and cool down based on individual needs. Workouts should take between 40 and 55 minutes (including warm up and cool down) with shorter workouts in the earlier weeks and longer workouts towards the end of the program.

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