HomeNewsArticle Display

Airmen participate in aerobics research project

  • Published
  • By Mike W. Ray
  • Tinker Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  The 72nd Medical Group at Tinker Air Force Base is participating in a research project designed to improve the health of Airmen who have duty-limiting conditions or are struggling with fitness tests.

According to Karen Blackwell, a health educator and Chief of Health Promotion in the 72nd Aerospace Medicine Squadron, the target group for the research project is individuals from the 3rd Combat Communications Group who have scored at or under 45 on the aerobic portion of their fitness tests. These individuals are at risk of failing the test now or in the near future, she said.

The at-risk Airmen engage in an exercise program for one hour a day, five days each week. Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings they perform various running drills on the base track around the football field, while Tuesday and Thursday mornings they work out on spin bikes at the fitness center in Bldg. 216. The hour-long sessions are held under the guidance of Traci Fuhrman, an exercise physiologist in the 72nd AMDS.

Airman 1st Class Todd Caldwell, a client systems technician with the 34th Combat Communications Squadron who is helping Ms. Fuhrman administer the research project, said the program has "a regular attendance" of approximately two dozen individuals.

"Preliminary results are promising," Ms. Blackwell said. One person increased his aerobics score from 60 to 83 points in just one month, she said. The average improvement is 3-to-5 percent after a month, she said. "Only two or three people didn't improve at all."

On the first day of the program the participants ran a mile and a half, and their times were recorded, Airman Caldwell recalled. After a month they ran a mile and a half again "and we compared those results against their earlier times," he said. "We had individual improvements in times of up to 21 percent in one month, and overall we had an average improvement of 5.45 percent."

Even a few active-duty members who typically score well on their fitness tests are participating in the project in order to boost their scores even higher, Ms. Fuhrman said.
Airman Caldwell said some individuals improved their PT test scores as much as 13.73 percent, "demonstrating that improving their run times can elevate their PT scores." The run accounts for 60 percent of the total PT score, he said.

The initial phase of the initiative began in August and will continue for eight weeks, but the program was developed with "sustainment in mind," the Air Force Medical Service reported. All bases participating in the project are expected to report their results by Oct. 5. It is not known when the project will become a standardized Health and Wellness Center program Air Force-wide, Ms. Blackwell said.

Stage 1 of the program focuses on the "lower end" of the heart rate, Ms. Fuhrman said. Individuals at 65-75 percent of their target range gradually increase their heart rate throughout the program "in a safe and effective manner."

Stage 2 will be "different intensities" of workouts. Stage 3 will focus on "the higher end" of the heart rates, or those individuals whose heart rate is 85-95 percent of their target range, she said. "Most of these people are 20 to 35 years old and have a heart rate in the 170s to 180s during a vigorous workout."

"We use the Karvonen formula to calculate an Airman's target heart rate range," Ms. Fuhrman added.

Data from the research project is reported to the Air Force Health Promotion Office.
Safe and effective physical activity has "undisputed benefit" to physical and mental health, mission readiness, and resilience, AFMS leadership maintains. "Exercise is medicine," AFMS contends.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports strong research evidence that physical activity in adults is associated with lower risks of early death, heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, adverse blood lipid profile, metabolic syndrome, colon and breast cancers.

Physical activity also can prevent weight gain, assist weight loss when combined with diet, prevent falls, reduce depression and improve cognitive function.

The 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines published by the USDHHS recommend that adults engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity each week.