Couple questions about Army OBLC (PT and heavy lifting)

[JoeSchmo]

I have a couple questions about PT and heavy lifting in Army AMEDD OBLC. I can get around good and have passed the physical, but I do get concerned sometimes about my prior hernias.

1. Is the APFT about as hard as it gets with respect to physical activity? What do we do for normal PT after that? How much jumping around and difficult footwork stuff? Is there an obstacle course or is it basically stretching and running?

2. What is the heaviest thing we will lift? A person to carry them or perhaps drag them to simulate a battlefield casualty?

3. When are we weighed? Is it the day of the APFT?

Any input would be appreciated. Thank you.

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[elderjack21]

I have a couple questions about PT and heavy lifting in Army AMEDD OBLC. I can get around good and have passed the physical, but I do get concerned sometimes about my prior hernias.

1. Is the APFT about as hard as it gets with respect to physical activity? What do we do for normal PT after that? How much jumping around and difficult footwork stuff? Is there an obstacle course or is it basically stretching and running?

2. What is the heaviest thing we will lift? A person to carry them or perhaps drag them to simulate a battlefield casualty?

3. When are we weighed? Is it the day of the APFT?

Any input would be appreciated. Thank you.

I haven't completed AMEDD OBC, but have completed another OBC and many other army courses.

1. APFT is usually a light day in respect to PT, but it may be different for AMEDD given the generally "softer" population in AMEDD. Obstacle courses are pretty standard everywhere.

2. Carrying a person is probably the heaviest thing you will ever lift. Logs, large rucksacks, etc would be some of the other things you may carry.

3. Typically you are weighed right after your APFT which is usually done in the morning, early. You should be at your lowest weight at this point in the day, especially after the APFT.

 

[psychbender]

I'm at Ft Sam now, so I can tell you about what we've done this year.

1) Those that fail the APFT will be placed in remedial PT based on your run times, and PT on extra days while at the FOB (while your buddies are doing combatives). PT at Ft Sam will be done by platoons for those that passed, and by remedial groups for those that didn't. Scheduled PT is thus highly variable. Some might do Indian runs for 30 minutes, followed by a good upper body workout, while others would do a very general workout (flutter kicks, pushups, pullups, side-straddle hops, a bit of running, etc), and still others would largely just stretch and do a light jog. There is not a lot of "jumping around and difficult footwork stuff." During one of the FTXs, there is an obstacle course that you go to. You'll split yourselves up into groups of ~10-15 and do one obstacle at a time as a group (as in, everyone in your group goes over the wall individually, then you all walk over to the next obstacle). You didn't even have to do all of the obstacles, as it was really more of a "this is an obstacle course...just wanted to give you guys an idea of what one is like." It really wasn't hard, but that is where we had one person medevaced for an ankle fx.

2) There has not been a lot of heavy lifting. At one PT, we had to fireman carry one of our squadmates, but it was only about 50 feet. Some have had to lift and carry more, but not everyone needs to.

3) We were weighed early on the first day, with the APFT being the third day.

 

[JoeSchmo]

Thank you very much for the detailed description. It was helpful.