repetition.
You have to execute three continuous reps with the same weight. If you lose control of the hex bar, you can retest at a lower weight — but you only get one additional chance. If you successfully complete three reps on your first try, you can choose to take another attempt at a higher weight. If you fail at the higher weight, no big deal; your grader counts your lower-weight score instead.
Your grader can call out a safety violation. For example, if you allow your knees to move together, round your back or shoulders, or lose your balance, he or she can stop the event and tell you to go to another lane with a lower weight. If your grader sends you to another lane, it doesn’t count against you.
Standing Power Throw
The Standing Power Throw represents your ability to execute quick, explosive movements that you may use to move equipment or people. You use a 10-pound medicine ball for this test event, which works muscles in your legs, core, shoulders, and back. Figure 2-2 shows which muscles you use for the SPT.
The STP requires you to hold the medicine ball at hip level while you’re standing with your heels at the starting line. You can prepare to throw while flexing at your trunk, knees, and hips while you lower the ball between your legs. Figure 2-3 shows the STP from start to finish.
You get two chances to show your stuff on the STP. You grasp the ball, lower it between your legs (like a kid at a bowling alley), and use your reserves of explosive power to throw it over your head and behind your back.
© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
FIGURE 2-2: Muscles used in the Standing Power Throw.
You can’t put your heels on or over the starting line during the STP, but your feet can leave the ground when you throw. If your feet touch the line (even when you land), your grader gives you a raw score of 0.0 meters, and it counts as your first shot. If you fault on your second attempt by stepping on or over the line, you get another raw score of 0.0 meters. In that case, you get one final attempt — only because your first two were faults — and if you fault again, your event is terminated as a failure. (If you have a valid score on either the first or second throw, you don’t get that third attempt.)
You only get two attempts at the STP, which means you have to throw your best each time — without throwing out your back. Training is essential for the STP, and not just by throwing a medicine ball behind your head. Check out Chapter 8 for exercises that improve your performance on this event.
Zack McCrory
FIGURE 2-3: The Standing Power Throw.
Hand Release Push-Up – Arm Extension
The Hand Release Push-Up – Arm Extension measures your upper body endurance. It represents repetitive and sustained pushing you may use during wartime operations, like shoving away a combatant, moving obstacles, or pushing a disabled vehicle. This one’s all about body weight, which you’re already equipped with when you show up on test day. Figure 2-4 shows which muscles you put to the test during this two-minute event.
© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
FIGURE 2-4: Muscles used in the Hand Release Push-Up – Arm Extension.
This muscular endurance event requires plenty of front and back core strength. One push-up takes four separate movements, but you do them all smoothly without pause. You start from the ground, push yourself up, bend your elbows to lower your body to the ground, pick up your hands and make a T with your arms, and bring your arms back to the starting position. Then (finally), you’ve completed one repetition. Figure 2-5 shows the HRP from beginning to end.
Zack McCrory
FIGURE 2-5: The Hand Release Push-Up – Arm Extension.
The starting position for the HRP — where you are on the command of “Get set” — is the prone position on the ground. Your hands have to be flat, and your index fingers must be inside the outer edges of your shoulders (which makes it a lot like a tricep push-up). Your chest, hips, and thighs have to be flat on the ground, and your toes have to be on the ground with your ankles flexed. Your feet can be
