{"id":45782,"date":"2020-01-02T19:59:53","date_gmt":"2020-01-02T19:59:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/01\/02\/prt-shift-what-you-need-to-know-now-about-planking-and-rowing\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T20:12:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T20:12:16","slug":"prt-shift-what-you-need-to-know-now-about-planking-and-rowing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2020\/01\/02\/prt-shift-what-you-need-to-know-now-about-planking-and-rowing\/","title":{"rendered":"PRT shift: What you need to know now about planking and rowing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Navy is replacing the spine crushing sit-up with the plank on its physical readiness test<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lt. Cmdr. Melissa Laird, a research physiologist who works for the 21st Century Sailor Office<\/a> in behavior, development and performance, spoke with Navy Times about what\u2019s driving the shift and offered tips about how to prepare to ace it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really happy to introduce the plank,\u201d Laird said. \u201cThere\u2019s kind of been an evolution in the fitness world to really start adopting training programs that really are using a lot more functional movements and functional fitness training. That kind of differs for some of the traditional strength training in the past which is more focused on isolating one particular muscle group.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Functional fitness exercises<\/a> train muscles to work together and can make everyday tasks easier to perform. The Navy turned to the plank<\/a> because it strengthens the core without requiring flexing muscles and joints and repeating the exercise is less likely to exacerbate lower back injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe plank actually uses about twice the musculature that a traditional curl-up does,\u201d Laird said. “It\u2019s really great at strengthening your core, giving you better posture and then really enhancing your ability to do your job. We know our sailors really train to the test. If we want them to build core strength, and we want them to do planks, then we should really test them in that modality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A strengthened core is important, not only for every day life, but for sailors on the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of the shipboard tasks involve lift, pull, push and carry and really, that is using your core as a stabilizer,\u201d Laird said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson announced the shift in May, including the addition of a two kilometer row test as an alternative to the cardio portion of the PRT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The change isn\u2019t expected to be made until the second half of 2020, Navy officials have said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t