Rockport Walk
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Rockport Walk
Any one else out there done this new RAF Rockport Walk fitness test? Did mine this week and it seemed good, but 8 out of 10 of us failed it on having too high heart rates! Scores the PTIs gave us all seemed much lower than those we got using online VO2 calculators as well?!
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Yes, replacement for the bike test.
Did my fitness test this morning (passed !) and the PTI happened to mention they did a trial group of 30 people on the Rockport machine, of which only two passed !
Did my fitness test this morning (passed !) and the PTI happened to mention they did a trial group of 30 people on the Rockport machine, of which only two passed !
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Just done it. The dog was behind me for 3/4 and then got her second wind and was leading. Went passed the finishing post like a train. had to tie her up while I took a breather (measured my pulse).
If I change my sex I move up to Good but as that is not possible I have two other choices. If I lose 10lbs then that in no good but if I improve by a minute then I move up a grade.
The answer is for couch potatoes to move faster and not lose weight!
If I change my sex I move up to Good but as that is not possible I have two other choices. If I lose 10lbs then that in no good but if I improve by a minute then I move up a grade.
The answer is for couch potatoes to move faster and not lose weight!
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The Rockport Test is not a new thing and has been in use for years. As with the bike test, (relatively) low impact and no twisting are the main benefits, allowing testing of those with dodgy ankles or knees.
However, talking to one of the PTIs before XMas, my understanding is that the RAF is not employing this test in its pure form, but is measuring HR during the last quarter of the test rather than at the end. I don't have the details and will of course bow to someone with actual experience.
The test MUST NOT be conducted on a treadmill - it gives false results (more fails if memory serves).
As often, Google is your friend:
The Rockport Fitness Test
but as I say, the intention was to do it slightly differently. How many stations have 400m tracks for example? (3 I think). I haven't seen anything published on the subject. No doubt there's a DIN or something out there.
Edited to add that the indicative VO2max requirements are the same as before.
However, talking to one of the PTIs before XMas, my understanding is that the RAF is not employing this test in its pure form, but is measuring HR during the last quarter of the test rather than at the end. I don't have the details and will of course bow to someone with actual experience.
The test MUST NOT be conducted on a treadmill - it gives false results (more fails if memory serves).
As often, Google is your friend:
The Rockport Fitness Test
but as I say, the intention was to do it slightly differently. How many stations have 400m tracks for example? (3 I think). I haven't seen anything published on the subject. No doubt there's a DIN or something out there.
Edited to add that the indicative VO2max requirements are the same as before.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
The Rockport Fitness Test
Edited to add that the indicative VO2max requirements are the same as before.
Edited to add that the indicative VO2max requirements are the same as before.
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IIRC the 'measurement' is taken throughout the last 400 yards in the RAF test. I will find out soon enough 
Why they cannot simply put a fiqure on a 1.5 mile flat surface run I will never know. That they expose themselves to (distance) objective achieved but test failed do to heart rate is bizarre, especially when apparently a single cup of coffee is known to put performance in jeapody.
I can recall a pre-CSRO course phys test. Several laps of a football pitch within 15 mins. Job done, happy days and who gives a sh** if I am hanging out of my ar*e afterwards. Surely the unfortunate death of Chris Moran is testimony to the fact that an active sportsman is not immune to a premature death.
Why they cannot simply put a fiqure on a 1.5 mile flat surface run I will never know. That they expose themselves to (distance) objective achieved but test failed do to heart rate is bizarre, especially when apparently a single cup of coffee is known to put performance in jeapody.
I can recall a pre-CSRO course phys test. Several laps of a football pitch within 15 mins. Job done, happy days and who gives a sh** if I am hanging out of my ar*e afterwards. Surely the unfortunate death of Chris Moran is testimony to the fact that an active sportsman is not immune to a premature death.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Christopher Moran, 54, is believed to have suffered heart failure while completing the running stage of the event at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.
And after Sir Chris followed SAC Darren Foster from the JFACHQ - also at RAF High Wycombe.
RAF man dies after collapsing at HQ Air Command in Naphill (From Bucks Free Press)
He was just 26 and fit and healthy young man.
Bl00dy Mirror Technicians!
RAF man dies after collapsing at HQ Air Command in Naphill (From Bucks Free Press)
He was just 26 and fit and healthy young man.
Bl00dy Mirror Technicians!
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Take a well-known and easily understood product and 'improve' it out of all recognition.
HTF can you take a measurement throughout the last 400 yards? Do you have someone hanging on your wrist measuring your pulse? Do they multiple the time for the last 400 yards and multiply it by 4.4?
If you are going more slowly in that last quarter but you have a high PR then your readings will be low - fail. If OTOH you speed walk that last section your PR will be high but your time short. Which will be better?
I just span my figures, cutting the time by one minute and upping my heart rate by 15% returns the same VO. Cutting the time but for a lower PR increase gives an improved VO compared with the full mile. So, start slow, keep your PR down then leg it over the last 400. Job done.
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You go round the course 4 times, on the 3rd pass you hold out your arm and they press start on the watch and same again to stop recording when you pass 4th time.
All of us had worked out our target times and HRs using the online calculators for it, but as I said the scores the PTIs gave using their spreadsheet all gave much lower results and loads of fails!
All of us had worked out our target times and HRs using the online calculators for it, but as I said the scores the PTIs gave using their spreadsheet all gave much lower results and loads of fails!
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PN:
The Rockport test/tables should produce a measure of VO2Max in ml of O2 per kg body weight. The level reached on the existing shuttle run is simply read-off against age in the RAF tables to give Excellent Pass//Good Pass//Pass//Fail. For someone over 45, the requirement for a Green Pass is, I think, 7.07-9.02.
However, in the Loughborough Multi-stage Fitness Test of 1987 (based on work published by Leger and Lambert in 1982); these figures were then used against a high correlation graph to provide a figure for estimated VO2Max in ml of O2 per kg. See here for the tables:
MSFT VO2 Max Tables
So a result of 7-07 is indicative of a VO2 Max of between 38.5 and 39.2 ml of O2 per kg.
The PTI I spoke to before the test was introduced stated that the standards were the same for the Bike Test, 'adapted' Rockport Test and shuttle Run.
I would be interested in reading the research on which the 'adapted test' is being based, but as I said, I have seen nothing to date. Anyone care to share? Or post a link to an Intranet source?
STH
How do the RAF VO2max compare with those on the link, ie what constutes a pass?
However, in the Loughborough Multi-stage Fitness Test of 1987 (based on work published by Leger and Lambert in 1982); these figures were then used against a high correlation graph to provide a figure for estimated VO2Max in ml of O2 per kg. See here for the tables:
MSFT VO2 Max Tables
So a result of 7-07 is indicative of a VO2 Max of between 38.5 and 39.2 ml of O2 per kg.
The PTI I spoke to before the test was introduced stated that the standards were the same for the Bike Test, 'adapted' Rockport Test and shuttle Run.
I would be interested in reading the research on which the 'adapted test' is being based, but as I said, I have seen nothing to date. Anyone care to share? Or post a link to an Intranet source?
STH
An 'adapted test' yet again 
- and of course the HR monitors and stopwatches will all have a valid calibration certificate, after all peoples careers could be affected .....
- and of course the HR monitors and stopwatches will all have a valid calibration certificate, after all peoples careers could be affected .....
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As someone who was over 40 when compulsory fitness tests were introduced, I have come to a couple of conclusions over the years.
Firstly, the RPW is a more accurate than the bleep test or the mile and a half run at accurately measuring a person’s fitness. This can be borne out by the amount of people who fail a RPW, but are then told to do the run/bleep test as it doesn’t require any monitoring, you just have to achieve a “level” (I can just see the PTIs now all saying “not me guv”). The downside of this is that old unfit people die everywhere annoying the gym cleaner.
Secondly, the RPW does not allow for “body types”. I have stood next to someone who plays rugby every week and is as fit as a butchers dog, but he weighs 16 stone. You know and I know that that guy could run in circles all day without breaking into a sweat but to the computer he’s “overweight”. The answer to that one is exercise less and lose muscle mass, simples!
So in conclusion, do the RPW if you’re skinny and old but not if you are fit and muscled, do the bleep/run if you are “overweight” and fit or about to have a heart attack and don’t want anyone to know, or lastly, be female and get lots longer to complete the test (I suspect that one is going to be really hard to achieve but the image of the stoning scene from “life of Brian”, but in reverse, springs to mind).
I’ve done (passed) my last one ever and I’m off for a ciggy, so enjoy!
Firstly, the RPW is a more accurate than the bleep test or the mile and a half run at accurately measuring a person’s fitness. This can be borne out by the amount of people who fail a RPW, but are then told to do the run/bleep test as it doesn’t require any monitoring, you just have to achieve a “level” (I can just see the PTIs now all saying “not me guv”). The downside of this is that old unfit people die everywhere annoying the gym cleaner.
Secondly, the RPW does not allow for “body types”. I have stood next to someone who plays rugby every week and is as fit as a butchers dog, but he weighs 16 stone. You know and I know that that guy could run in circles all day without breaking into a sweat but to the computer he’s “overweight”. The answer to that one is exercise less and lose muscle mass, simples!
So in conclusion, do the RPW if you’re skinny and old but not if you are fit and muscled, do the bleep/run if you are “overweight” and fit or about to have a heart attack and don’t want anyone to know, or lastly, be female and get lots longer to complete the test (I suspect that one is going to be really hard to achieve but the image of the stoning scene from “life of Brian”, but in reverse, springs to mind).
I’ve done (passed) my last one ever and I’m off for a ciggy, so enjoy!
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
OG, I got 'caught' when I was in my 30s but then the fitness fad died away. when it re-emerged I managed to stay just one year ahead of the game and did my last 'run', which I passed, when I was 44. As it happens the PTIs had pulled a flanker and the 1.5 miles was a little short. Better, the half-way point also crept back.
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I have been on the 'bike test' for the last few years due to knee injuries sustained playing representative bloody sport!!! Always passed at the 'light blue' level. Today however, I took the new RPW and failed!! P****D OFF would not suffice. The PTI's brief was useless in the extreme, and as I was unaware of the online calculator, I set off unaware as to what was really expected. I started off last of 6 but finished first, by quite a way. After the 'fail' result was delivered, after 51 press ups!!! I asked the two PTIs present how I could have improved my performance, they both had absolutely no idea!! The only thing they were interested in was filling out the paperwork for my impending MAA and getting my 12 week rehab brief done. Having put my figures into the online calculator it seems that a 20 sec improvement would have had me home and dry. So I now have formal action on my record and 12 weeks worth of boring, boring gym to look forward to!! All for 20 seconds!! All for the PTIs having not a clue what they are doing. A further note is how can I have passed previous tests(bike) with ease but then fail on a newly brought in test? For the record five out of the six of us failed!!
As per one previous comment, are the heart rate watches calibrated? I have personally just written to Polar to ask them what their accuracy figures are. Also I note that the heart straps we used are not linked to the watches, they are the cheap versions which can interact with anyone else close by. I'm sure all very interesting for any lawyer!!
As you can probably tell I am highly p****d off with the whole affair, I'm sorry for the rant, I dont even feel any better about it!!
As per one previous comment, are the heart rate watches calibrated? I have personally just written to Polar to ask them what their accuracy figures are. Also I note that the heart straps we used are not linked to the watches, they are the cheap versions which can interact with anyone else close by. I'm sure all very interesting for any lawyer!!
As you can probably tell I am highly p****d off with the whole affair, I'm sorry for the rant, I dont even feel any better about it!!
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TI
Do you have your figures? (Time Weight HR (+ Age + Sex!))
Have you tried putting them into one of the on-line calculators? See here, but there are others:
Rockport Calculator
Compare your figures obtained from the calculator with the requirement based on the existing Shuttle Run (see my earlier post for links) - the standards should be the same.
Not relevant to you, but contrary to some studies (eg Nieman, 1999), for some people, the treadmill produces significantly different results than the track, but the impression I get from on here is that it is being administered in different ways at different units (or is this weather dependant?).
If the results you obtain online are different from what the PTIs are telling you, you should start kicking up a fuss. If not, will they let you re-take the test? Or does computer say no?
I do find it astonishing that you go from Light Blue to fail unless something has changed significantly over the last 12 mths.
STH
Do you have your figures? (Time Weight HR (+ Age + Sex!))
Have you tried putting them into one of the on-line calculators? See here, but there are others:
Rockport Calculator
Compare your figures obtained from the calculator with the requirement based on the existing Shuttle Run (see my earlier post for links) - the standards should be the same.
Not relevant to you, but contrary to some studies (eg Nieman, 1999), for some people, the treadmill produces significantly different results than the track, but the impression I get from on here is that it is being administered in different ways at different units (or is this weather dependant?).
If the results you obtain online are different from what the PTIs are telling you, you should start kicking up a fuss. If not, will they let you re-take the test? Or does computer say no?
I do find it astonishing that you go from Light Blue to fail unless something has changed significantly over the last 12 mths.
STH
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
TI use the calculator and play around with the numbers. Besides going faster try going heavier.
If you increase your weight but maintain your speed your VO2 goes up.
Now suppose you weighed 80 kg at the start of the walk and 'sweated' off 10 kg on the walk
If you increase your weight but maintain your speed your VO2 goes up.
Now suppose you weighed 80 kg at the start of the walk and 'sweated' off 10 kg on the walk
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Taxi.Idge,
As you probably guessed from my previous post I have only ever done the Rockport Walk, mostly as my silent protest that an 18 girl gets longer than me to run a mile and a half.
The Navy have been doing the RW for as long as over 40s have been tested (2003ish I think), so if you want good advice from PTIs who know how to structure a fitness package to pass the RPW, then they are your guys.
The PTIs at Culdrose always gave me good advice for my division when they failed, but I'm sure the, "I'm old enough to be your dad and I passed" also helped to embarrass them fit.
Cheers
As you probably guessed from my previous post I have only ever done the Rockport Walk, mostly as my silent protest that an 18 girl gets longer than me to run a mile and a half.
The Navy have been doing the RW for as long as over 40s have been tested (2003ish I think), so if you want good advice from PTIs who know how to structure a fitness package to pass the RPW, then they are your guys.
The PTIs at Culdrose always gave me good advice for my division when they failed, but I'm sure the, "I'm old enough to be your dad and I passed" also helped to embarrass them fit.
Cheers
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Hold on a sec...
If I change just the age (by 30 years younger, say, from 53 to 23) my score goes from average to excellent. Same weight, same time, same heart rate and same sex (ooh er, missus)
So, what am I missing? I am 30 years older, but performing just as well as a young spunk trumpet, but getting a gasher score.
So, what am I missing? I am 30 years older, but performing just as well as a young spunk trumpet, but getting a gasher score.