SF Testing Burst/Recovery

During my time in Special Forces (early 90s), we were subject to the same physical training test (APFT) that the rest of the Army took to determine fitness. It was only three events: max pushups in 2 minutes, max sit-ups in 2 minutes and a 2 mile run for time. It had a sliding scale based on age and gender and once you hit the maximum (e.g., 92 pushups was 100 points), anything over that was irrelevant. It did not account for strength, speed or burst/recovery stamina--which are really the things a soldier needs in abundance. The sole virtues of the APFT were 1) it was easy to administer, and 2) it was at least a standard, something the World outside of the military did not have. Sadly, as easy as the APFT is, I doubt that 90% of the civilian population could pass it.

But things have changed. Apparently it is not Army policy (yet), but the SF world is using its own test now, called the Upper Body Round Robin. Here is the full description of the UBBR.  It consists of 11 events, has no sliding scale (except for a % weight adjustment on the bench press) and requires both a shuttle run (speed) and a five mile run (endurance). It features three separate events that require body weight strength management (pullups, kipups and rope climb). Truly a Burst/Recovery tester that I cannot wait to try.