British Army Fitness Test

The British Army is considered around the world as the most professional army in the world and to be the best you need to have a good level of fitness.  Interested in joining the British Army? Just interested in trying out their test to see how you fair? then check out the 3 main tests below:

Two Minute Press-Up Test:

The press up is a great indicator of upper body strength, as it utilises most of the major muscle groups in the upper body.  Do as many ress ups as you can in the 2min period, you may need to take  a rest or two during the 2min test where you can kneel up, shake off the arms and get on with the press ups again.

Soldiers do a lot of press ups – they are a key element of military physical training. With a straight body, arms slightly wider than shoulder width apart and on your hands and toes.  have your fingers facing forwards, back and body in a straight line and slightly look ahead.

Lower your body to the floor and stop when your chest is one inch from the floor and then straighten the arms to return to the full upright press-up position.  This is considered a full press up and counts as one rep (repetition).

	Age/Sex
Results	29 & Under		30-34		35-39		40-44
	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F
Excellent	72+	46+	70+	41+	68+	37+	62+	33+
Very Good	53-71	30-45	51-69	26-40	50-67	23-36	44-61	22-32
Good	44-52	21-29	41-50	19-25	39-49	16-22	35-43	15-21
Average	34-43	13-20	31-40	11-18	29-38	10-15	26-34	9-14
Below Average	0-33	0-12	0-30	0-10	0-28	0-9	0-25	0-8
	Age/Sex
Results	45-49		50-54		55-59
	M	F	M	F	M	F
Excellent	55+	31+	51+	28+	47+	24+
Very Good	38-54	20-30	34-50	17-27	30-46	14-23
Good	29-37	13-19	25-33	11-16	21-29	8-13
Average	21-28	6-12	16-24	5-10	12-20	4-7
Below Average	0-20	0-5	0-15	0-4	0-11	0-3

 

Two Minute Sit-Up Test:

The sit-up is a great measure of trunk and abdominal endurance strength. The army sit-up test is performed with the feet anchored by a partner.  For a repetition to count you must lay back on the floor, with feet flat on floor at hip width and anchored down by a partner, then cross your arms across your chest (a good idea is to grip your shirt at the shoulders so that your hands dont come away from your shoulders).

The start position should have our head laying on the floor, then on the way up the elbows should touch your knees and then return back to the floor with the head touching the floor to complete a repetition.

 

2.4km (1.5mile) Run Test: What used to be called the BFT (Basic Fitness Test)

The 2.4km (1.5mile) run has been part of the army physical training tests for over 20yrs and is used to assess aerobic fitness of all potential recruits and is part of the annual fitness test.

It gives a great way of assessing and monitoring progress in your fitness as a test outside of the army too and something I put all my clients through on a regular basis to assess their fitness.

First walk or jog 800m to warm up, then time yourself running the 2.4km distance which should be done on hard surface and flat.  If you use a running track then 2.4km is 6 laps of the track.

As for the above fitness tests, it is age and gender friendly for you to give yourself a benchmark and see how you fare against others of your age and gender and what your minimum bench mark should be for your age.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Category: Health News, Military Fitness