Ready for Labour and Defence of the USSR

Ready for Labour and Defence of the USSR (Russian: «Готов к труду и обороне СССР» Gotov k trudu i oborone SSSR), abbreviated as GTO (Russian: ГТО) was the All-Union physical culture training programme, introduced in the USSR on March 11, 1931 on the initiative of the Komsomol.

This level had a separate name - "Be Ready for Labour and Defence of the USSR" (Russian: "Будь готов к труду и обороне СССР"), abbreviated as "BGTO".

Such disciplines as "crawling over", "speedy foot march", "throwing a bunch of grenades", "rope (also pole and tree) climbing", "carrying over a cartridge box", various martial arts were introduced.

The 1946 revision, along with the GTO's importance for military and labour activities, emphasized its health protection aspect.

The major changes in the GTO programme were done in 1972, after thorough scientific testing and approval of how it was to be put into practice, carried out by the All-Union NII of Physical Culture.

On the fourth level, "Physical perfection", there was also a special GTO With Honours golden badge, awarded to those, who fulfilled all norms required for the golden badge of the fourth level and was the First Class Sportsman in one sports discipline or the Second-Class Sportsman in two disciplines.

In 1979 the sixth level was introduced - "Ready for the start" (Russian: "К стартам готов") - for boys and girls 7–9 years of age.

On March 24, 2014 president Vladimir Putin signed a decree to restore GTO in modern Russian Federation under the same traditional name: Ready for Labour and Defence [ru].