Where is Your Fitness Program Taking You?

By LTC Steven H. Bullock
Physical Therapy Staff Officer

Physical fitness is a very important part of your health. Not only does your level of physical fitness have a direct impact on your combat readiness, physically fit Soldiers are much less likely to get physical injuries and more likely to have enjoyable, productive lives. Exercise sessions don't have to be long to get fit, but they do have to be regular and carefully planned.

Just because a Soldier must meet Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) standards every six months does not mean that the exercise program should only focus on the events of the PT test. Whether you do unit or personal PT you should be engaged in a lifetime program of regular vigorous exercise that balances strength, agility, and endurance and allows for proper rest and recovery. Test your exercise program against these scientifically sound principles of exercise.

Your Exercise Program Should:

Be Progressive - The intensity of your exercise session must be gradually increased to safely and effectively improve your physical performance. Remember, there are many times throughout life that you may have to modify your training and begin slowly again, like after an illness, when recovering from an injury, or returning from deployment or a field exercise.

Be Regular - Regular exercise sessions (3-5 times per week) improve performance and reduce your chances of getting a sports injury on the weekends because of too little activity during the week.

Provide Overload - In order to improve you must gradually push yourself beyond the normal demands placed on your body. This is true for both strength and endurance.

Provide Variety - Spread the stress of exercise over the entire body by varying the types of exercises (that utilize different parts of the body) you do throughout the week. Variety also keeps up motivation.

Allow Recovery - The body is strengthened during periods of rest between exercise bouts. Rest between activities, good sleep habits, and proper nutrition help the body rebuild. Studies show that pushing yourself day after day may not only cause injury but can REDUCE your fitness level. A general rule of thumb is to allow 48 hours between similar workouts.

Be Balanced - Your exercise program should include low-intensity endurance activities (such as running, biking, swimming, or stair climbing), high-intensity endurance activities (such as sprints or intervals while running, cycling, swimming, or climbing), muscular strength and endurance (resistance exercises such as lifting weights or your own body weight), and agility training (activities that develop agility, balance, coordination, flexibility, posture, stability, speed, and power such as agility drills and individual movement techniques.) Use the sample fitness schedule as a guide.

Be Specific - The activities you perform during your exercise sessions should be specific to your goals. You may want more upper body strength to reach your job or mission related goals without injury - not just to achieve the highest score on the APFT.

Be Precise - Perform all muscle strengthening exercises slowly while holding your trunk straight and firm. The quality of your training may be more important than the quantity. Performing any activity sloppily or hurried is much less effective and may cause injury.

Warming Up (Preparing for Activity)

Before exercising or playing a sport, do a 5 minute warm-up that contains some of the same movements as the exercise or sport in which you'll be engaging. For example, if you are going for a run you might start out by walking at a brisk pace on your way to your desired training speed. (Note: Specific static stretching is not necessary during warm-up if adequate active preparation is carried out.)

Cooling Down (Recovering from Activity)

Always cool down after every exercise session. A cool-down is basically the reverse of a warm-up and gives your heart rate a chance to come down to a normal level. If desired, stretches to improve flexibility during cool-down should be performed for at least 30 seconds without bouncing.

Source: Where is Your Fitness Program Taking You?; PR 36-04; December 6, 2004; PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE, U.S. ARMY CENTER FOR HEALTH PROMOTION AND PREVENTIVE MEDICINE, ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, MARYLAND 21010-5403; For more information, call 410-436-2088/800-222-9698/FAX 410-436-4784