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[Editor's Note: In 1997 the Army announced that new Army Physical Ritness Test standards had been established and would be put into effect in October of this year. This article explains the reasons for the change and how they were established.]
IN the 1990s the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command was directed to review the 1984 APFT standards to see if they were still valid for the Army.
The five-year study -- conducted by the Army Physical Fitness School, the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, the Army Medical Department and the Army Research Institute - culminated in the 1998 standards.
Using demographics provided by the Defense Manpower Data Center, researchers visited 12 Army posts and assessed the fitness of 2,588 soldiers using the current APFT.
The study showed that soldiers, particularly women, had improved their performances since the 1984 APFT standards were established and that the physical performance gap between the sexes appears to be closing.
The study also revealed that APFT point values were inflated for the women's sit-up and two-mile run events and favored men in the...