A Look at the U.S. Army's Physical Fitness and Training Culture

In the Army, one notices the cultural impact and influence between physical fitness and soldiers. In the Army, every soldier is required to maintain a high level of physical fitness. To this extent, formal physical training, (also known as PT) is conducted five days a week. In addition, the culture of the Army stresses and rewards those who strive to improve their own physical fitness. From daily training to casual conversation to leadership, physical fitness permeates many levels of the Army, and this article takes a look at the physical fitness culture of the Army.

Across most units, physical training is conducted Monday through Friday, starts between 6:00-6:30, and lasts for at least an hour. In the unit I was assigned, our physical training week looked like this:

Monday - 3-4 mile run
Tuesday - Upper Body Training / Gym
Wednesday - 3-4 mile run / Sprints / Circuit Training
Thursday - Abdominal Muscle Training / Gym
Friday - 4-5 mile run / Sports Day

On Monday we would open with a warm-up run to start the week. On Tuesday, we would conduct upper body exercises or meet as a group and go to the gym. Wednesday would be another run, or alternatively sprints or circuit training. Thursday was another gym day, or we would conduct abdominal exercises for an hour. Finally, Friday would be either a long run to end the week or a sports day where physical training was done "for fun".

The majority of physical training events and activities come from the Army's physical training manual, known as FM 21-20. However, Non-Commissioned Officers (NCO's) leading training can be creative and devise new techniques to enhance and add variety to the weekly training regimen. For example, during one of our upper body training sessions, a very creative NCO led us in an hour-long upper-body strength session simply using chairs.