The Army Times has a great article by a certified fitness trainer who points out everything that is wrong about Army fitness with ideas to fix it. I have copy and pasted the whole article below since it is behind the Army Times pay wall. Unfortunately I do not see much changing until the Army does away with maximum Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) scores. As long as leaders are partly judged by APFT scores they will continue to have their troops conduct exercises that promote injury. If troops reach the minimum score on a APFT and pass height and weight why should they be pushed further to do exercises that cause long term injuries? They instead should be taught better all-around fitness which prevents long-term injuries and a healthy lifestyle which is what the author of this article promotes:
Never have I seen so many young adults with musculoskeletal injuries until I joined the United States Army. And I’m not referring to basic training where some injuries are expected; I’m speaking of the active Army. Specifically, the airborne infantry is my point of reference, the part of the Army most of my experience is in. Many of these injuries are preventable.
Some of the blame can be placed on the individual solider from this new “inside” generation; however, much of the blame must be placed on the Army. I was even more surprised at the amount of injuries I saw in basic training considering the moderate (dare I say low) intensity of the training regimen, but that was not so much the fault of the Army.
I enlisted in the Army with a bachelor of science degree, having been a certified personal trainer and martial arts instructor prior to joining. In basic training, I was taught PRT (Physical Readiness Training), the Army’s exercise program. It had many great exercises that are usually only seen from exercise professionals (surprise, it was designed by them). Most soldiers do not think very highly of PRT because it will not take one to a high level of fitness. What it is designed to do is to create proper movement and muscle balance in a soldier’s body. [Army Times]
