Army PRT Exercises – Physical Readiness Training to Get Fit!

Army PRT Exercises – Introduction

What are the Army PRT exercises?

There aren’t too many situations where your fitness could be the difference between life and death.

That all changes if you join the army or any other branch of the armed services.

While a lot of warfare is mechanized (tanks, artillery, helicopters, warships, etc.), it still often comes down to “boots on the ground” and the ability to engage the enemy face to face.

For that reason, if you want to join the army, you need to be physically fit when you sign up, and your instructors will ensure that, by the end of basic training, you are even fitter.

Being “gym fit” is no bad thing if you are thinking of joining the army, but being able to breeze through spin class or your next biceps and triceps workout probably won’t prepare you for the demands of army life.

Army Physical Readiness Training (APRT) is the army’s own system for getting you ready to start basic training. ¹

It’s a straightforward series of exercises you can do anywhere and anytime.

While it’s aimed at potential soldiers, it’s also a useful no-frills workout that’s ideal for civilians too.

Needing no equipment, it’s an excuse-free program and ideal for home exercisers.

In this article, we detail the APRT and also discuss how else you can get fit at home and even for the army!

What Is The APRT?

The Army PRT is a series of ten bodyweight exercises designed to increase muscular endurance and general fitness.

It’s meant to be done to cadence, which means in time with the commands of an instructor.

This usually involves four movements of each exercise per rep, and a set of five “army reps” is actually 20 regular reps.

The exercises that make up the APRT are:

Bend and Reach: 5 repetitions
Rear Lunge: 5 repetitions per leg
High Jumper: 5 repetitions
Rower: 5 repetitions
Squat Bender: 5 repetitions
Windmill: 5 repetitions
Forward Lunge: 5 repetitions per leg
Prone Row: 5 repetitions
Bent-Leg Body Twist: 5 repetitions per side
Push-Up: 5 repetitions

Typically, you only do one circuit of these exercises, but, as the saying goes, you should train hard to fight easy.

Do additional rounds or more reps as you get fitter to develop even higher levels of conditioning and endurance.

As with any workout, you need to warm up before you begin.

Start with some light cardio, e.g., jogging or jump rope, followed by some dynamic mobility and stretching exercises for your major muscles and joints.

Army PRT Exercises Descriptions

Get the most from this workout by doing each exercise correctly.

Incorrect form could lead to injury while making the exercises less effective.

Also, if you DO join the army, your instructors will not tolerate poor exercise technique, so you can save yourself some grief by doing the movements correctly from the start!

Move quickly from one exercise to the next:

#1. Bend and Reach

Target muscles: Legs, lower back, shoulders

This exercise is essentially a warm-up for your hips and lower back.

It will also raise your heart rate.

Think of this one as a bodyweight Romanian deadlift or kettlebell swing.

How to do it:

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, arms above your head.
Brace your abs.
Hinging from your hips and with knees slightly bent, reach down and through your legs.
Do not round your lower back excessively.
Stand back up and repeat.

#2. Rear Lunge

Target muscles: Legs

Lunges work all the muscles that make up your legs, namely the gluteus maximus, hamstrings, and lower back.

They’re also good for balance.

Army training invariably involves a lot of running, and lunges are an excellent way to prepare your body for that particular activity.

How to do it:

Stand with your feet shoulder to hip-width apart.
Put your hands on your hips and brace your core.
Take a large step back and bend your legs, lowering your rear knee down toward the floor.
Push off your back leg and return to the starting position.
Do your next rep leading with the opposite leg.

Note: Army lunges tend not to involve as much leg bending as regular lunges. This could mean they’re actually less effective than the type of lunge you’ll see in most gyms. Bend your legs for a more effective leg workout, but remember that APRT lunges involve keeping your rear leg almost straight.

#3. High Jumper

Target muscles: Lower body

Like lunges, this exercise engages all your lower body muscles.

It’s a jumping exercise, so it will also increase explosive power while increasing your heart and breathing rate.

Try and do this exercise on a forgiving surface such as grass to avoid injury.

How to do it:

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
Bend your knees and swing your arms backward.
Swing your arms forward and up to shoulder height as you jump into the air.
Land, swing your arms back again, but this time raise them above your head as you jump.
Alternate between these two different arm swing variations for the duration of your set.

#4. Rower

Target Muscles: Core

This exercise works your abs and hip flexors.

Unlike crunches, it involves a large range of motion that will keep your heart and breathing rate elevated.

How to do it:

Lie on your back with your arms extended above your head.
Brace your abs.
Bend your legs and raise your arms until you are balanced on your butt/lower back.
Touch your feet to the floor.
Without pausing, straighten your legs, lie back down, and repeat.

#5. Squat Bender

Target muscles: Lower body

The squat bender is basically a combination of squats and Romanian deadlifts.

This is a nice pairing of exercises that works all of your lower body muscles while delivering an effective cardiovascular workout.

How to do it:

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, hands on your hips.
Brace your core.
Bend your legs and squat down until your thighs are roughly parallel to the floor.
Simultaneously extend your arms out in front of you at shoulder height.
Stand back up and lower your arms.
Next, hinge forward from the hips and reach down with straight arms to just below your knees.
Stand back up.
Alternate between these two exercises for the required number of reps.

#6. Windmill

Target muscles: Core

The windmill is a mobility and core exercise.

It’s a bit “old school” and not something you’ll see done in gyms, but it’s not a strenuous exercise, so it’s a sort of active recovery before your next APRT movement.

How to do it:

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, arms raised to the side, hands level with your shoulders.
Reach down and touch the outside of your leg with the opposite arm, twisting your torso and reaching up and behind you at the same time.
Return to the starting position and repeat on the opposite side.

#7. Forward Lunge

Target muscles: Legs

It’s lunge time again!

This time you’ll be going forward instead of backward.

As before, army lunges tend to involve keeping one leg quite straight but feel free to bend your knees more if you prefer.

How to do it:

Stand with your feet shoulder to hip-width apart.
Put your hands on your hips and brace your core.
Take a large step forward and bend your legs, lowering your rear knee down toward the floor.
Push off your front leg and return to the starting position.
Do your next rep leading with the opposite leg.

#8. Prone Row

Target muscles: Upper and lower back

Unless you have a pull-up bar (and can do pull-ups!), it’s not always easy to work your back using bodyweight exercise.

The prone rower is a decent upper and lower back exercise, but if you can do pull-ups, it would be worth adding them to your APRT workout.

How to do it:

Lie on your front with your body straight and arms extended in front of you.
Lift your head, chest, and shoulders off the floor, bending your arms and pulling your hands into your shoulders.
Lie back down while simultaneously extending your arms and repeat.

#9. Bent-Leg Body Twist

Target muscles: Core

This exercise works your core, especially your obliques, and is a good mobilizer for the lumbar spine.

How to do it:

Lie on your back with your legs bent and shins parallel to the floor.
Rest your arms on the floor, so they form a T-shape with your body.
Brace your core.
Keeping your legs bent, rotate your hips and lower your knees down toward the floor.
Return to the center and then lower your legs to the opposite side.
Continue alternating sides for the required number of reps.

#10. Push-Up

Target muscles: Chest, shoulders, arms

No army workout would be complete without some push-ups.

If you DO join the army, expect to do a lot of them!

Doing push-ups to cadence is challenging, so make sure you put plenty of effort into this exercise.

How to do it:

Squat down and place your hands on the floor, so your fingers are pointing forward, shoulder-width apart.
Jump your feet out and back, so your body is straight.
Brace your abs.
Bend your arms and lower your chest to within an inch of the floor.
Push yourself back up and repeat.
You can do push-ups on your knees to make them more manageable.

Army PRT Exercises FAQ

1. How often should I do the APRT exercises?

To get the most from the Army PRT exercises workout, you should do it at least three times a week, e.g., Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

But, because it takes less than ten minutes to complete, you could even do it daily.

2. What about running?

Especially in infantry units, soldiers get from A to B by running or marching.

Because of this, it’s worth including running in your workouts.

You could run one day and do the APRT exercises the next or do your APRT exercises and then run.

It’s important to vary your workouts to include short, medium, and long runs to develop a broad spectrum of running fitness.

For example:

5-10 km ( 3.1 to 6.2 miles )– slow pace
1-3 km ( .6 to 1.86 miles )– medium pace
50-200 meters ( 55 yards to 1/10th of a mile, roughly half of a full lap around a standard track ) – fast pace (interval training)

3. Can/should I lift weights too?

Lifting weights can and should be part of your army preparations, but don’t train like a bodybuilder.

The last thing you need is lots of big, heavy muscle mass that makes running and marching harder than it already is.

Instead, focus more on building strength by doing low reps with heavy weights or light weights for high reps to develop your endurance.

Concentrate on compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, overhead presses, pull-ups, rows, and bench presses.

Isolation exercises like biceps curls and calf raises are less beneficial.

Full-body workouts will probably be more effective than split routines.

4. How do I cool down after the APRT?

The usual way to cool down after any workout is with a few minutes of light cardio followed by some gentle stretches for the muscles you have just trained.

The army leaves no detail to chance and has created a “recovery drill” to help return your body to its pre-exercise state.

The recovery drill consists of five stretches, each held for a prescribed time.

Check out the videos below for details of the preparation and recovery PRT drills:

US Army PRT Exercises Preparation Drill

Recovery Drill for Army PRT Exercises Workout

Army PRT Exercises – Wrapping Up

Whether you are thinking about joining the army, have already signed up, or are just looking for a no-frills bodyweight workout to do at home, the APRT is a good choice.

Like any program, it’s not without flaws, and it’s not ideal for everyone, but done regularly, it will help build your essential fitness and endurance.

Best of all, you don’t need any exercise equipment to do it, and you should be able to complete this workout, including a warm-up and cool-down, in 30 minutes or less.

Footnotes:

¹ U.S. Army Physical Readiness Training Information

Army PRT Exercises – Physical Readiness Training to Get Fit!