Big Changes to the NAVY- PRT in 2020
Planking will soon be included in the NAVY PRT
Rumors have been circulating for a while, but its now official. There are changes ahead for the Navy PRT. Crunches are out , planking is in. Thats right, soon planking will officially be in the NAVY-PRT.
Its been years since the Navy has made a change to their Physical Readiness Test and this change is a big one. No longer will Navy personnel be expected to hammer their bodies back and forth, risking injury to hip flexors and backs, crunching up in order to get a good score. Instead sailors will be asked to hold their bodies in a straight line, supported by fore arms against the ground or extended, legs and core muscles engaged for as long as they can . There are still some details to be worked out as far as minimum and maximum times among age and gender groups. navy-prt.com will post these numbers as soon as they become available.
The Navy chose to make this change as a move towards more accurately measuring soldiers functional fitness. Functional fitness and movements are exercises that train different muscles to work together rather than isolating one group.
Physiology of planking
Planking for example engages your back, shoulder, abdominal pelvis and even leg muscles. Specific target groups include; erector spinae, transverse abdominis, rectus femoris, obliquus internus, tibialis anterior, tensor fasciae latae, rhombodius, tricep brachii and deltoids. Thats alot of muscles used!
Crunches, by comparison, only test the strength of the rectus abdominis. The repeated use of this test has been shown to cause injury and strain of hip flexors and exacerbate back pain.
Planking in the Navy PRT
So what? Serving in the Navy you are constantly asked to push, pull, lift and carry, all tasks that require strong, stable core muscles. Studies show that increasing core strength decreases your chance of injury! Increasing your core strength enhances your ability to do your job well. Planking will soon be in the NAVY-PRT. Its simple, no equipment required and it can be done with out partner. Set a S.M.A.R.T Goal and add core strength exercises to your work out.
Continue to follow navy-prt.com for planking work out plans!
Hey great website! I have 2 questions 1 what will the standards be for planking for sailors over 60?
Also will the pushups be the same? Are there any new charts for PFT for people over 60 the ones I found are from 2012
thanks Rob
What are the standards for the plank? 2 minutes, 3 minutes? We need to start practicing.
The standards have not yet been released. We will publish updates as soon as they are available!
Hi Mike
Scores for planks are the same for male and female midshipmen. To earn the full 100 points on the event, they must hold the move for four minutes and 20 seconds. The lowest passing score they can earn is 60 points if they hold a plank for one minute and 45 seconds
So my question is what will be first? Push-ups or planks? Because doing planks first is going to tire out our shoulders and then the push-up score will be affected negatively. Also I’ve been hearing rumors of push-ups being done to cadence. Is this true?
Great question- Its not clear yet the order but as soon as that information is released we will post it.
Hi Anthony!
Scores for planks are the same for male and female midshipmen. To earn the full 100 points on the event, they must hold the move for four minutes and 20 seconds. The lowest passing score they can earn is 60 points if they hold a plank for one minute and 45 seconds
I believe we should have a pull up test instead of a plank. The push up in essence is a moving plank. With a pull up and push up combination we have opposing muscle groups being challenged–a push and a pull.
Hi James! Thanks for the input! I agree with your rational- but the advantage of the plank is that it measures on smaller increments. There is a big difference between zero pull ups and 1 pull up.
All good but the numbers should be different for older vs younger.
All good but the time should be different for older vs younger.
Good point, Age should be a consideration when measuring outcomes