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New fitness program developed

  • Published
  • By Mike W. Ray
  • Tinker Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  A program that "focuses on all components of fitness" has been designed by a Tinker exercise physiologist to assist Airmen in meeting and obtaining passing scores on their fitness assessments.

"We are looking for people who have had previous failures on their fitness tests, and others who just want to improve their health and fitness," said Traci Fuhrman, of the 72nd Aerospace Medicine Squadron. "However, active duty members with previous fitness test failures have priority in the program."

Ms. Fuhrman said her program targets all components of fitness, including aerobic conditioning, muscle conditioning, core and stretching. "We will do various running drills, aerobic conditioning on spin bikes, circuit training (different types of exercises), strength training and core conditioning," she said. Each participant will be closely monitored and data will be collected on their rates of improvement.

Participants in her Fitness Improvement Training program will meet for an hour a day five days a week (Monday through Friday) for four weeks. The next session will start Nov. 26 and will continue through Dec. 21. Afterward, the program will be extended to six weeks, Ms. Fuhrman said. The first program of 2013 will start Jan. 7 and continue through Feb. 15.

Participants will be expected to sign a memorandum pledging that they are committed to participate in the program in its entirety and will be held accountable for their attendance, Ms. Fuhrman emphasized. "Their First Sergeant and supervisor must sign the memo, too," she added.

The class will be limited to 25 active-duty personnel and five physical training leaders. "This class will provide PT leaders advanced training with hands-on experience," Ms. Fuhrman said. "They will receive the tools and knowledge they need to take back to their units and lead their own safe and effective PT."

The FIT program also will provide health education and enhanced physical fitness training to enable Airmen to obtain passing scores on fitness assessment tests, to decrease each participating Airman's body mass index (a ratio of weight to height), and to lower the number of duty-limiting incidents attributed to injuries.

Unit Fitness Program Managers can enroll potential candidates on the Health and Wellness Center scheduler, and information about the program also is on the "Fit to Fight" website under the UFPM toolkit.

Ms. Fuhrman's program is a follow-on to an eight-week Air Force Medical Service exercise physiology research project that concluded Oct. 5.

The test subjects scored at or under 45 points on the aerobic portion of their fitness tests, and were at risk of failing the exam. The 30 participants included 28 members of the 3rd Combat Communications Group and two Airmen from the 960th Airborne Air Control Squadron.

The at-risk Airmen engaged in an exercise program for an hour a day, five days each week. Three days a week they performed various running drills and the other two days they worked out on spin bikes.

Two dozen Airmen completed the program, and 20 of them, 83 percent, improved their 1.5-mile run times, records reflect.

The most dramatic improvement was an individual who raised his fitness assessment test score by 37.87 percent: from 60.2 to 83.

One test subject improved his time on the 1.5-mile run from 15 minutes flat to 11:47, a reduction of 3:13, or 27 percent. Another individual made the mile and a half run in 15:28 the first time, but lowered it to 12:26, an improvement of 3:02, or almost 20 percent faster.

Data from the research project was reported to the Air Force Health Promotion Office, Ms. Fuhrman said. It is not known when or if the project will become a standardized Health and Wellness Center program Air Force-wide.