BY SHANNON BASS AND JENNIFER LEE

Adapt and Overcome.

This philosophy is something we learn while doing endurance events. It’s a way of thinking we take past the event itself and apply to our daily lives. You guys now get to put this into practice well before your event!

With the change to traditional push-ups and sit-ups for the Team Assessment 2021 PT test, we have some things we are changing and adding.

CHANGES TO THE COMPETE PT CHALLENGE

First, we are changing the Compete PT Challenge. We are removing the hand release push-ups and moving to regular push-ups. We are removing the butterfly sit-ups and moving to regular sit-ups. We will have the same focus on correct form and making sure you hit the standard.

While GORUCK has not provided any specifics on the standards, we will follow the standards of the Army Physical Fitness Test, which are widely published. These are the standards that have been used previously for GORUCK Selection. We have copied the standards below, read these carefully!

Second, since a timed 12 miler has been added to the initial PT test, we recommend adding a short timed ruck to your training once a week. Ideally, this is a four mile ruck in 60 minutes. If you don’t have time, make it a two mile ruck in 30 minutes. This would be with a ruck at your event weight. The goal here is to make sure you know how a 15 minute mile feels, so you know how fast to go out for the 12 miler at TA. Do not be lulled into telling yourself that at TA you have 3.5 hours to complete the 12 miles. Train for 3 hours to account for issues you might have – bathroom stops, foot issues, gear issues. Assume this will be done at the start point, which will mean 12 loops of the park.

Third, we challenge you to complete 100 push-ups and 100 sit-ups every day.

Use this Google Doc to log these reps.

This is not a requirement for Compete, but if you are training for TA, these reps will be the most important part of getting to the PT test requirements. We encourage you to do these throughout the day, perhaps 4 sets of 25, rather than try to do 100 all at one time. If you miss one day, make it up with extra reps the next day.

If you are asking why all this extra effort about the PT test, I want to remind you of all the times you have watched Selection and seen people fail the PT test. You have said, perhaps out loud, “how can people show up and fail this part? It’s the only part they knew for sure would happen!” Do NOT be one of those people!

TEAM ASSESSMENT PT TEST

The GORUCK PT Test #1 is the first event of GORUCK Team Assessment. Minimum standards to continue to the rest of GORUCK Team Assessment are as follows:

OPEN

• Push-ups: 55 in 2 min (110 total as a team)
• Sit-ups: 65 in 2 min (130 as a team)
• 12 Mile Ruck: 3 hours and 30 min (you must stay together)
• SCORING: If you hit 45 out of the 55 push-ups, but your partner hits 65 push-ups, your team will have passed the PT Test.

FEMALE

• Push-ups: 35 in 2 min (70 total as a team)
• Sit-ups: 45 in 2 min (90 as a team)
• 12 Mile Ruck: 3 hours and 30 min (you must stay together)
• SCORING: If you hit 25 out of the 35 push-ups, but your partner hits 45 push-ups, your team will have passed the PT Test.

TEAM SUCCESS: You and your partner must meet all the team requirements to pass PT Test #1. If you do not, you will both receive a Performance Failure (PF). 3 PF strikes and you’re out of the event.

ARMY SIT-UPS

ON THE COMMAND “GET SET”, ASSUME THE STARTING POSITION BY LYING ON YOUR BACK WITH YOUR KNEES BENT AT A 90-DEGREE ANGLE.

YOUR FEET MAY BE TOGETHER OR UP TO 12 INCHES APART. ANOTHER PERSON WILL HOLD YOUR ANKLES WITH THE HANDS ONLY. NO OTHER METHOD OF BRACING OR HOLDING THE FEET IS AUTHORIZED. THE HEEL IS THE ONLY PART OF YOUR FOOT THAT MUST STAY IN CONTACT WITH THE GROUND.

YOUR FINGERS MUST BE INTERLOCKED BEHIND YOUR HEAD AND THE BACKS OF YOUR HANDS MUST TOUCH THE GROUND. YOUR ARMS AND ELBOWS NEED NOT TOUCH THE GROUND.

ON THE COMMAND “GO”, BEGIN RAISING YOUR UPPER BODY FORWARD TO, OR BEYOND, THE VERTICAL POSITION. THE VERTICAL POSITION MEANS THAT THE BASE OF YOUR NECK IS ABOVE THE BASE OF YOUR SPINE. AFTER YOU HAVE REACHED OR SURPASSED THE VERTICAL POSITION, LOWER YOUR BODY UNTIL THE BOTTOM OF YOUR SHOULDER BLADES TOUCH THE GROUND.

YOUR HEAD, HANDS, ARMS, OR ELBOWS DO NOT HAVE TO TOUCH THE GROUND.

A REPETITION WILL NOT COUNT IF YOU FAIL TO REACH THE VERTICAL POSITION, FAIL TO KEEP YOUR FINGERS INTERLOCKED BEHIND YOUR HEAD, ARCH OR BOW YOUR BACK AND RAISE YOUR BUTTOCKS OFF THE GROUND TO RAISE YOUR UPPER BODY, OR LET YOUR KNEES EXCEED A 90-DEGREE ANGLE.

THE UP POSITION IS THE ONLY AUTHORIZED REST POSITION. IF YOU STOP AND REST IN THE DOWN (STARTING) POSITION, THE EVENT WILL BE TERMINATED. AS LONG AS YOU MAKE A CONTINUOUS PHYSICAL EFFORT TO SIT UP, THE EVENT WILL NOT BE TERMINATED.

YOU MAY NOT USE YOUR HANDS OR ANY OTHER MEANS TO PULL OR PUSH YOURSELF UP TO THE UP (RESTING) POSITION OR TO HOLD YOURSELF IN THE REST POSITION. IF YOU DO SO, YOUR PERFORMANCE IN THE EVENT WILL BE TERMINATED. CORRECT PERFORMANCE IS IMPORTANT. YOU WILL HAVE TWO MINUTES TO PERFORM AS MANY SIT-UPS AS YOU CAN.

ARMY PUSH-UPS

ON THE COMMAND ‘GET SET,’ ASSUME THE FRONT-LEANING REST POSITION BY PLACING YOUR HANDS WHERE THEY ARE COMFORTABLE FOR YOU. YOUR FEET MAY BE TOGETHER OR UP TO 12 INCHES APART.

WHEN VIEWED FROM THE SIDE, YOUR BODY SHOULD FORM A GENERALLY STRAIGHT LINE FROM YOUR SHOULDERS TO YOUR ANKLES. ON THE COMMAND ‘GO,’ BEGIN THE PUSH-UP BY BENDING YOUR ELBOWS AND LOWERING YOUR ENTIRE BODY AS A SINGLE UNIT UNTIL YOUR UPPER ARMS ARE AT LEAST PARALLEL TO THE GROUND. THEN, RETURN TO THE STARTING POSITION BY RAISING YOUR ENTIRE BODY UNTIL YOUR ARMS ARE FULLY EXTENDED.

YOUR BODY MUST REMAIN RIGID IN A GENERALLY STRAIGHT LINE AND MOVE AS A UNIT WHILE PERFORMING EACH REPETITION.

IF YOU FAIL TO KEEP YOUR BODY GENERALLY STRAIGHT, TO LOWER YOUR WHOLE BODY UNTIL YOUR UPPER ARMS ARE AT LEAST PARALLEL TO THE GROUND, OR TO EXTEND YOUR ARMS COMPLETELY, THAT REPETITION WILL NOT COUNT.

AN ALTERED, FRONT-LEANING REST POSITION IS THE ONLY AUTHORIZED REST POSITION. THAT IS, YOU MAY SAG IN THE MIDDLE OR FLEX YOUR BACK. WHEN FLEXING YOUR BACK, YOU MAY BEND YOUR KNEES, BUT NOT TO SUCH AN EXTENT THAT YOU ARE SUPPORTING MOST OF YOUR BODY WEIGHT WITH YOUR LEGS. IF THIS OCCURS, YOUR PERFORMANCE WILL BE TERMINATED.

YOU MUST RETURN TO, AND PAUSE IN, THE CORRECT STARTING POSITION BEFORE CONTINUING. IF YOU REST ON THE GROUND OR RAISE EITHER HAND OR FOOT FROM THE GROUND, YOUR PERFORMANCE WILL BE TERMINATED.

YOU MAY REPOSITION YOUR HANDS AND/OR FEET DURING THE EVENT AS LONG AS THEY REMAIN IN CONTACT WITH THE GROUND AT ALL TIMES. CORRECT PERFORMANCE IS IMPORTANT. YOU WILL HAVE TWO MINUTES IN WHICH TO DO AS MANY PUSH-UPS AS YOU CAN.