Run, do push ups and sit-ups. Boring, yeah but that's what the test is. Practice like you play. I practically guarantee your unit failure rate will drop if you keep that up weekly for 6 months.
I don't know anyone in my shop that doesn't max push ups and sit ups, but we all know the run takes a lot more work to ace. Interrupting the run can affect good habits like stride, posture and pace.
It will never be good for all ability groups. Getting everyone to show up at the base gym at a certain time and then release them after 30 mins - hour is my preferred model.
Agree with this, when I was in squadrons that had group pt, my score went down. When I PT'd on my own, PT score went up. The best a supervisor can do is help a troop find a exercise regiment that works for them to pass the test, and then help them stick to it
This. When my unit switched from group PT to solo PT scores went up, so did morale. And injuries decreased as well - actual injuries and trips to the doc after group PT
Unpopular opinion but a 5K. It's simple, straightforward, and gets people to work on the part of the PT test worth the most points. Do 1 or 2 a month and everybody should be able to pass
Agreed. Its really good to if you can do it with running 10 laps or whatever distance your track is. If you can do a down and back or one big 5k loop. People will complain but theyll complain about anything really.
I miss Beale 5ks. We'd finish the run, shower and then head to the bowling alley to eat the delicious thing known as 'the mess.' Hash browns, bacon, sausage, shredded cheese and covered in gravy. Add eggs for some extra pleasure.
I like to get in, get it done, and go home. So when I run PT sessions, it’s usually a lap around the track; pushups, sit-ups, pull-ups, then another lap… x6. Designed to hit testing goals, and you get out of it what you put in. All without killing the rest of the week’s personal workouts you might have in the gym.
Working out is a form of personal hygiene in my opinion. So group PT is a lot like getting everyone together to brush their teeth. For the vast majority of people, it's a complete waste of time no matter how fun you try to make it. It's brushing your teeth, it's not supposed to be fun it's just something you have to do. Just let people do it at home and they'll do it better and much more efficiently. There will be a few people who don't do it unless you force them to, but at this stage in life I think it's hopeless to reform them and it's best to just let them face the consequences of not taking care of themselves.
I loathe group PT. My favorite was when we’d meet for accountability and do warm up stretches or something and then do our own thing for the next hour.
Though I had numerous people over different units I’ve been at love the card deck game. Basically aces mean you run a lap. Hearts is squats, diamonds are pushups, clubs flutter kicks, and spades mountain climbers. You can literally pick whatever exercise you want though. Jokers can be an exercise of the persons choosing. I’d just lay all the cards out and people (in a circle) can choose whatever card and then put it in the box. I think people liked it because you didn’t know what was next and you could “pick” anything.
Do team workouts and pair folks up that normally may not hangout or interact in the office and make them somewhat difficult but also something achievable.
Shared hardship is one of the easiest ways to bring a group together.
Don’t let all of the gym rats do the event together, break teams up so each group has a shared workload.
People will complain no matter what you ask them to do for PT because for some reason the AF finds no value in physical fitness and overall health. Just going to the gym and letting people do their own individual workouts for 30mins is a waste of everyone’s time.
Some of the stuff we’ve done is a 1.5 mile run with a medicine ball, 12# or more, 3 people to a team, teams shares a single ball between the team. Whole team has to finish together.
A AMRAP work out and each team keeps tally on how many times they’ve completed the cycle.
Hero WODs as a team, must do equal parts of each exercise except for any run portions, each member must complete any run or buy-in or penalty on their own.
100% about competition. Even better if there is a prize.
OP-One workout I did was a Points workout where each exercise was valued a certain amount of points and the team with the most points won. We did it for about 30-40 mins or so. I had a wide variety of cardio, calisthenics, and strength exercises with varying levels of difficulty. Definitely allowed people to strategize and play to their strengths.
Sharks and minnows
- Penalty Box where a PTL cycles through workouts for captured minnows. (Nothing leg heavy you sadist)
- Reset when you have the same amount of minnows as sharks
- Last people on the field are the new sharks.
Always provide alternatives for people on profile.
This is honestly one of the best ways to help your folks. Mandatory PT at the gym, everyone checks-in, stretch out, maybe a quick 5 minute calesthenic warm-up, then release for 45 mins to workout on your own. Everyone meet back up, 5 minute cooldown stretch while the boss goes over whatever agenda for the day/week, then roll out.
The hardest part of working out for a lot of folks who don't exercise is digging out the motivation to actually drive there.
I used to run 4x400 relays. Divide your group so you’ll get teams of 4, then choose your speed demons as team captains. Let them pick the rest of their teams after that.
Run a relay, then let the winning team (or top 2 if a large group) go home.
Repeat.
Modified deck of cards workout: Play poker.
Divide into 4 teams. Each team sends a representative up to draw each card. The WHOLE group does all the workouts for the cards drawn, then the member falls back in and another comes forward.
You (the dealer) also draws a card each round. Again, everyone does the workout.
After 5 cards (or 7, if you want to go extra hard) compare best hands.
If the dealer has the best hand, everyone is released for self PT for the remainder of the hour.
Otherwise, the winning team is released for their own workout, remaining teams come in for another hand. Rinse and repeat.
I like to leave the jokers in. They’re wild cards for the hand, but cost 10 burpees.
If the first card of the entire round is one of those jokers, everyone does their 10 burpees and then gets released for self PT the rest of the hour.
There’s a ton of room to add variation to this. Different exercises, different variations of poker, etc. I like that it keeps everyone somewhat engaged in what’s happening, and that it gives everyone an opportunity to address a large group since I have the member who drew the card call out the exercise and number of repetitions.
My section likes to do a Monday morning group session, running 3/4 mi down the board walk to the beach (Tyndall), doing 4-6 rotations of 100m down and back, then 4 movements (push up, flutter kicks, body squat, plank, etc), repeat, then run 3/4mi back up the board walk to the parking lot we started at. It can def suck, but build some mental toughness, plus you’re on the beach.
If you want to encourage team work then the lap/exercise workout where you and a partner go back and forth. So while I run a lap, you’re doing sit ups and then push ups/run, squats, etc. then we swap and go for a few rounds depending on how much you want them to run.
I'm a PTL for my squadron, and my PT plans are creative but effective. Our UPFM got approval from our squadron cc to make last Friday of the month a morale sports day at the sports complex. So that's one less day of planning. Additionally, my squadron allows for exemption to mandatory squadron PT for those with 90+ scores on their most recent PT test. After the command team briefs announcements, most of the people leave the site to do their own workouts.
The PT plans I've made were designed for smaller groups of less than 40 people. But they can be scaled up or down. Additionally, an OST was embedded in my squadron. One of the members is a strength training coach who helped with planning warm-ups and cooldowns. The final ingredient was my creativity. Here are some PT plans I created and still use:
1. Circuit Workout.
After a 10-minute warm-up, the members split into small teams of 4-8. Each team starts the circuit at a different spot on the circuit. Cones are placed in a 4x4 or 4x5 grid. Each row has a targeted body part workout. 1st row is legs, 2nd is arms, 3rd is legs, 4th is core. Example row for leg workouts: 20x Squats > 20x Glute Bridges > 5x 4-count Iron Mikes > 10x Squat Jumps. Everyone does the workout on the cone at a self pace, but the team only moves on when everyone is done with the reps. Once the team finishes Squat Jumps, they do a shuttle run (can't call them suicides anymore 🙁) before moving to the next row. The goal is to run the circuit with your team and make it back to your starting cone.
2. California Mile Run.
After a 15-minute warmup, half of the PT group goes to one side of the track while the other half starts the other side. The goal is to run half of the track, then walk across the middle part to run again. Instead of running 4 full laps, it's 8 half laps. This exercise is meant to help build speed without worry of fatigue since you can walk back to the start half and run until you reach halfway.
3. Playing Cards PT.
Have everyone spread out in a PT area marked by cones. The PTL has a deck of cards. Each number/letter corresponds to a specific workout and the number of reps. The goal is to get through all 54 cards. 2s are 2x Burpees. 3s - 3 Hand-release Push-ups. 4s- 1x 4-count Iron Mike. 5s- Diamond Push-ups. 6s - Cross-legged Reverse Crunches. 7s - 7 Glute Bridges. 8s - 8 Dead Bugs. 9s - 9 seconds Plank Hold. 10s - 10 Push-ups. Jacks - 10x Jumping Jacks. Queens - 10x Calf Raises. Kings - 10x Flutter Kicks. Aces - 1x lap around PT area. Jokers - Wildcards (pick your workout).
These are only a few ideas I've come up with. I've found that if you make a game out of PT with an end goal to play for, then it becomes more motivating and exciting while also being challenging. I hope you found this post helpful.
Save your buddy drills.
Make a list of 5 calisthenic exercises that rotate major muscle groups. Let’s call them exercises 1-5.
Split every one into two groups, with each person having a partner from the other group. Let’s call them group A and B.
While the A person runs a lap, the B person does exercise 1 until A gets back. The A person then does exercise 1 while B runs a lap.
Then they move down the list. A runs, B does exercise 2, etc.
I *hate* SQ PT, especially if it’s sports because I’m just not a coordinated person. I get it’s “1.5 hours away from work” but now that I sit in a different position, I feel like it’s a genuine waste of time. Hold something useful for a PFA! Because volleyball or wallyball every time isn’t it…now I get 1-2x a month is NOT going to set you up to pass a PFA, but I’ve found some of my favorite workouts from stepping away from just volleyball or 3-point shoot outs.
I used to run remedial Pt at my old base and held 30-45 min circuits/stretches, we’d do C25K run intervals on certain days. partner workouts, 1 person would run a lap while the other did an exercise then tag out and swap exercises, 3 min rest in between. I’d make it competitions, partners each had 1 minute to do as many of an exercise then whichever team had the most repetitions got to stretch early instead of running a lap with the group. You can make it fun while actually putting in work.
People struggle the most with running, just a normal run would be easy, and good for people.
Run, do push ups and sit-ups. Boring, yeah but that's what the test is. Practice like you play. I practically guarantee your unit failure rate will drop if you keep that up weekly for 6 months.
I don't know anyone in my shop that doesn't max push ups and sit ups, but we all know the run takes a lot more work to ace. Interrupting the run can affect good habits like stride, posture and pace.
Waffle House
It will never be good for all ability groups. Getting everyone to show up at the base gym at a certain time and then release them after 30 mins - hour is my preferred model.
Agree with this, when I was in squadrons that had group pt, my score went down. When I PT'd on my own, PT score went up. The best a supervisor can do is help a troop find a exercise regiment that works for them to pass the test, and then help them stick to it
This. When my unit switched from group PT to solo PT scores went up, so did morale. And injuries decreased as well - actual injuries and trips to the doc after group PT
Unpopular opinion but a 5K. It's simple, straightforward, and gets people to work on the part of the PT test worth the most points. Do 1 or 2 a month and everybody should be able to pass
Agreed. Its really good to if you can do it with running 10 laps or whatever distance your track is. If you can do a down and back or one big 5k loop. People will complain but theyll complain about anything really.
That, and it gets me out of the office for a couple hours! Love that
I miss Beale 5ks. We'd finish the run, shower and then head to the bowling alley to eat the delicious thing known as 'the mess.' Hash browns, bacon, sausage, shredded cheese and covered in gravy. Add eggs for some extra pleasure.
I like to get in, get it done, and go home. So when I run PT sessions, it’s usually a lap around the track; pushups, sit-ups, pull-ups, then another lap… x6. Designed to hit testing goals, and you get out of it what you put in. All without killing the rest of the week’s personal workouts you might have in the gym.
Favorite group PT exercise... I don't think I've ever put those four words together in the same sentence, much less in that order.
The group pt I like is when everyone goes to the gym and everyone gets to do their own thing. 🙂
Group PT *is* a waste of time. That being said, things to do in a synchronous group: yoga. Doing a full on 30 minute yoga sesh is dope.
So much flatulence though
It’s not always. It’s good to get out of the shop, and if done right, can be fun.
Working out is a form of personal hygiene in my opinion. So group PT is a lot like getting everyone together to brush their teeth. For the vast majority of people, it's a complete waste of time no matter how fun you try to make it. It's brushing your teeth, it's not supposed to be fun it's just something you have to do. Just let people do it at home and they'll do it better and much more efficiently. There will be a few people who don't do it unless you force them to, but at this stage in life I think it's hopeless to reform them and it's best to just let them face the consequences of not taking care of themselves.
Fod walk
I loathe group PT. My favorite was when we’d meet for accountability and do warm up stretches or something and then do our own thing for the next hour. Though I had numerous people over different units I’ve been at love the card deck game. Basically aces mean you run a lap. Hearts is squats, diamonds are pushups, clubs flutter kicks, and spades mountain climbers. You can literally pick whatever exercise you want though. Jokers can be an exercise of the persons choosing. I’d just lay all the cards out and people (in a circle) can choose whatever card and then put it in the box. I think people liked it because you didn’t know what was next and you could “pick” anything.
Do team workouts and pair folks up that normally may not hangout or interact in the office and make them somewhat difficult but also something achievable. Shared hardship is one of the easiest ways to bring a group together. Don’t let all of the gym rats do the event together, break teams up so each group has a shared workload. People will complain no matter what you ask them to do for PT because for some reason the AF finds no value in physical fitness and overall health. Just going to the gym and letting people do their own individual workouts for 30mins is a waste of everyone’s time.
Do you have ideas of team workouts that you could share?
Some of the stuff we’ve done is a 1.5 mile run with a medicine ball, 12# or more, 3 people to a team, teams shares a single ball between the team. Whole team has to finish together. A AMRAP work out and each team keeps tally on how many times they’ve completed the cycle. Hero WODs as a team, must do equal parts of each exercise except for any run portions, each member must complete any run or buy-in or penalty on their own.
Some sort of sport. Competition seems to be the best motivator in every unit I’ve ever been a part of. Way better than some HIIT workout at least.
100% about competition. Even better if there is a prize. OP-One workout I did was a Points workout where each exercise was valued a certain amount of points and the team with the most points won. We did it for about 30-40 mins or so. I had a wide variety of cardio, calisthenics, and strength exercises with varying levels of difficulty. Definitely allowed people to strategize and play to their strengths.
Yep. Do rapid fire type sports where losers have to do X muscle movement. Nothing crazy but like 20 pushups or 30 crunches… etc.
you have to keep the teams small though. If you get too many people out there you have a gaggle of people just standing around.
Sharks and minnows - Penalty Box where a PTL cycles through workouts for captured minnows. (Nothing leg heavy you sadist) - Reset when you have the same amount of minnows as sharks - Last people on the field are the new sharks. Always provide alternatives for people on profile.
Yoga. Everyone can benefit from it
Self PT
This is honestly one of the best ways to help your folks. Mandatory PT at the gym, everyone checks-in, stretch out, maybe a quick 5 minute calesthenic warm-up, then release for 45 mins to workout on your own. Everyone meet back up, 5 minute cooldown stretch while the boss goes over whatever agenda for the day/week, then roll out. The hardest part of working out for a lot of folks who don't exercise is digging out the motivation to actually drive there.
12oz curls.
4-mile run.
Hooah
Ultimate frisbee
I used to run 4x400 relays. Divide your group so you’ll get teams of 4, then choose your speed demons as team captains. Let them pick the rest of their teams after that. Run a relay, then let the winning team (or top 2 if a large group) go home. Repeat.
That is the most brilliant "prize at the end" motive I've heard.
Some special forces people would tell you, "It pays to be a winner."
Yes
Last Airman Up Tabatas Combat Soccer Freeze tag Dice Roll
A run off base so I can go home before the slow people
Modified deck of cards workout: Play poker. Divide into 4 teams. Each team sends a representative up to draw each card. The WHOLE group does all the workouts for the cards drawn, then the member falls back in and another comes forward. You (the dealer) also draws a card each round. Again, everyone does the workout. After 5 cards (or 7, if you want to go extra hard) compare best hands. If the dealer has the best hand, everyone is released for self PT for the remainder of the hour. Otherwise, the winning team is released for their own workout, remaining teams come in for another hand. Rinse and repeat. I like to leave the jokers in. They’re wild cards for the hand, but cost 10 burpees. If the first card of the entire round is one of those jokers, everyone does their 10 burpees and then gets released for self PT the rest of the hour. There’s a ton of room to add variation to this. Different exercises, different variations of poker, etc. I like that it keeps everyone somewhat engaged in what’s happening, and that it gives everyone an opportunity to address a large group since I have the member who drew the card call out the exercise and number of repetitions.
I like to sharks and minnows bc it’s basically “fun” sprints. People tend to run a little harder and faster with an objective.
My section likes to do a Monday morning group session, running 3/4 mi down the board walk to the beach (Tyndall), doing 4-6 rotations of 100m down and back, then 4 movements (push up, flutter kicks, body squat, plank, etc), repeat, then run 3/4mi back up the board walk to the parking lot we started at. It can def suck, but build some mental toughness, plus you’re on the beach.
let the 90 or above people PT on their own. Make everyone else do things to benefit their PT score.
Mandatory 1 hour at the gym, 30 mins cardio, 30 mins strength
Is there an option to abolish group pt? I pick that one.
Only Wallyball
If you want to encourage team work then the lap/exercise workout where you and a partner go back and forth. So while I run a lap, you’re doing sit ups and then push ups/run, squats, etc. then we swap and go for a few rounds depending on how much you want them to run.
I'm a PTL for my squadron, and my PT plans are creative but effective. Our UPFM got approval from our squadron cc to make last Friday of the month a morale sports day at the sports complex. So that's one less day of planning. Additionally, my squadron allows for exemption to mandatory squadron PT for those with 90+ scores on their most recent PT test. After the command team briefs announcements, most of the people leave the site to do their own workouts. The PT plans I've made were designed for smaller groups of less than 40 people. But they can be scaled up or down. Additionally, an OST was embedded in my squadron. One of the members is a strength training coach who helped with planning warm-ups and cooldowns. The final ingredient was my creativity. Here are some PT plans I created and still use: 1. Circuit Workout. After a 10-minute warm-up, the members split into small teams of 4-8. Each team starts the circuit at a different spot on the circuit. Cones are placed in a 4x4 or 4x5 grid. Each row has a targeted body part workout. 1st row is legs, 2nd is arms, 3rd is legs, 4th is core. Example row for leg workouts: 20x Squats > 20x Glute Bridges > 5x 4-count Iron Mikes > 10x Squat Jumps. Everyone does the workout on the cone at a self pace, but the team only moves on when everyone is done with the reps. Once the team finishes Squat Jumps, they do a shuttle run (can't call them suicides anymore 🙁) before moving to the next row. The goal is to run the circuit with your team and make it back to your starting cone. 2. California Mile Run. After a 15-minute warmup, half of the PT group goes to one side of the track while the other half starts the other side. The goal is to run half of the track, then walk across the middle part to run again. Instead of running 4 full laps, it's 8 half laps. This exercise is meant to help build speed without worry of fatigue since you can walk back to the start half and run until you reach halfway. 3. Playing Cards PT. Have everyone spread out in a PT area marked by cones. The PTL has a deck of cards. Each number/letter corresponds to a specific workout and the number of reps. The goal is to get through all 54 cards. 2s are 2x Burpees. 3s - 3 Hand-release Push-ups. 4s- 1x 4-count Iron Mike. 5s- Diamond Push-ups. 6s - Cross-legged Reverse Crunches. 7s - 7 Glute Bridges. 8s - 8 Dead Bugs. 9s - 9 seconds Plank Hold. 10s - 10 Push-ups. Jacks - 10x Jumping Jacks. Queens - 10x Calf Raises. Kings - 10x Flutter Kicks. Aces - 1x lap around PT area. Jokers - Wildcards (pick your workout). These are only a few ideas I've come up with. I've found that if you make a game out of PT with an end goal to play for, then it becomes more motivating and exciting while also being challenging. I hope you found this post helpful.
Dodgeball
Save your buddy drills. Make a list of 5 calisthenic exercises that rotate major muscle groups. Let’s call them exercises 1-5. Split every one into two groups, with each person having a partner from the other group. Let’s call them group A and B. While the A person runs a lap, the B person does exercise 1 until A gets back. The A person then does exercise 1 while B runs a lap. Then they move down the list. A runs, B does exercise 2, etc.
Just look up stuff, and try to leave the goofy stuff we did in BMT out
Soccer is usually fun.
I *hate* SQ PT, especially if it’s sports because I’m just not a coordinated person. I get it’s “1.5 hours away from work” but now that I sit in a different position, I feel like it’s a genuine waste of time. Hold something useful for a PFA! Because volleyball or wallyball every time isn’t it…now I get 1-2x a month is NOT going to set you up to pass a PFA, but I’ve found some of my favorite workouts from stepping away from just volleyball or 3-point shoot outs. I used to run remedial Pt at my old base and held 30-45 min circuits/stretches, we’d do C25K run intervals on certain days. partner workouts, 1 person would run a lap while the other did an exercise then tag out and swap exercises, 3 min rest in between. I’d make it competitions, partners each had 1 minute to do as many of an exercise then whichever team had the most repetitions got to stretch early instead of running a lap with the group. You can make it fun while actually putting in work.
Sir, this is a Wendys
A mock PT test. It takes 30-40 minutes and then two hours to shower and be back at work.