Aus Army Basic PT Assessment in the 80's

[OlDigger]

Hi Everyone,

I need some help in winning a bet with my boss.

When I went through 1RTB back in 1986 the PT assessment consisted of a 5km run, dead arm heaves, and sit-ups. From memory the A pass was 80 sit-ups in 2 minutes and 20 dead arm heaves.

He seems to think this is crap based on what his son has recently done at Kapooka, beep test etc.

If there are any other ex-australian army on the forum that could confirm this for me I would be greatly appreciative..

Cheers
Ol Digger

 

[DavidDCM]

I'm afraid I cannot help you, but out of curiosity: What is a dead arm heave? Not even Google knows this term.

 

[lopez]

i assume that they don't give you a dead arm before making you do some chin up like activity.

i think it is like a chin up but you fully extend your arms(if that is not how they are performed normally ) for each lift.

 

[Marc 1]

Pretty much correct by my memory - wasn't it also a sub 20 minute 5 clicker and 40 push-ups?

Dead heave is one where you start from a dead hang with your ams fully extended, then without doing anything like jackknifing your legs or swinging your body like a trapeze artist get your chin over the bar in one movement, then back down to a dead hang.

Bloody things were killers and if you were built like a brick outhouse, bloody nearly caused many a big man to fail his BFT's (Basic Fitness Test). As I remember it the minimum requirement was 8 heaves - a mate of mine who weighed near on 100kg's, fit enough to play Union in the Australian U-19's trained for 18 months at RMC and only just scraped in the heaves before graduating. This guy could put a 100kg bloke over each shoulder and run the 100m in around 20 secs. Yet, you would get some of the little whippets about 5 foot 3 and all skin and bones ripping out 20 plus heaves no worries. All about power to weight ratio's not a great indication of outright strength.