| MASTER
FITNESS TRAINERS
A Master Fitness Trainer (MFT) is a soldier who has completed
either the four-week active-component, two-week reserve-component, or US Military
Academy’s MFT course work. Although called “masters,” MFTs are simply soldiers
who know about all aspects of physical fitness training and how soldiers’ bodies
function. Most importantly, since MFTs are taught to design individual and unit
programs, they should be used by commanders as special staff assistants for this
purpose.
MFTs can do the following:
• Assess the physical fitness levels
of individuals and units.
• Analyze the unit's mission-related tasks and develop
sound fitness training programs to support those tasks.
• Train other trainers
to conduct sound, safe physical training.
• Understand the structure and function
of the human body, especially as it relates to exercise. Components
of Fitness
Physical fitness is the ability to function effectively in
physical work, training, and other activities and still have enough energy left
over to handle any emergencies which may arise.
The components of physical
fitness are as follows:
• Cardiorespiratory (CR) endurance- the efficiency
with which the body delivers oxygen and nutrients needed for muscular activity
and transports waste products from the cells.
• Muscular strength - the greatest
amount of force a muscle or muscle group can exert in a single effort.
• Muscular
endurance - the ability of a muscle or muscle group to perform repeated movements
with a sub-maximal force for extended periods of times.
• Flexibility-the
ability to move the joints (for example, elbow, knee) or any group of joints through
an entire, normal range of motion.
• Body composition-the amount of body fat
a soldier has in comparison to his total body mass.
Improving the first three
components of fitness listed above will have a positive impact on body composition
and will result in less fat. Excessive body fat detracts from the other fitness
components, reduces performance, detracts from appearance, and negatively affects
one’s health.
Factors such as speed, agility, muscle power, eye-hand coordination,
and eye-foot coordination are classified as components of “motor” fitness. These
factors affect a soldier’s survivability on the battlefield. Appropriate training
can improve these factors within the limits of each soldier’s potential. The Army’s
fitness program seeks to improve or maintain all the components of physical and
motor fitness through sound, progressive, mission-specific physical training for
individuals and units. Principles
of Exercise
Adherence to certain basic exercise principles is important
for developing an effective program. The principles of exercise apply to everyone
at all levels of physical training, from the Olympic-caliber athlete to the weekend
jogger. They also apply to fitness training for military personnel.
These
basic principles of exercise must be followed:
• Regularity. To achieve
a training effect, a person must exercise of ten. One should strive to exercise
each of the first four fitness components at least three times a week. Infrequent
exercise can do more harm than good. Regularity is also important in resting,
sleeping, and following a good diet.
• Progression. The intensity (how
hard) and/or duration (how long) of exercise must gradually increase to improve
the level of fitness.
• Balance. To be effective, a program should include
activities that address all the fitness components, since overemphasizing any
one of them may hurt the others.
• Variety. Providing a variety of activities
reduces boredom and increases motivation and progress.
• Specificity.
Training must be geared toward specific goals. For example, soldiers become better
runners if their training emphasizes running. Although swimming is great exercise,
it does not improve a 2-mile-run time as much as a running program does.
•
Recovery. A hard day of training for a given component of fitness should be followed
by an easier training day or rest day for that component and/or muscle group(s)
to help permit recovery. Another way to allow recovery is to alternate the muscle
groups exercised every other day, especially when training for strength and/or
muscle endurance.
• Overload. The work load of each exercise session must
exceed the normal demands placed on the body in order to bring about a training
effect. FITT
Factors
Certain factors must be part of any fitness training program
for it to be successful. These factors are Frequency, Intensity, Time, and Type.
The acronym FITT makes it easier to remember them. (See Figure 1- 1.) 
FREQUENCY
Army Regulation 350-15 specifies that vigorous physical fitness training will
be conducted 3 to 5 times per week. For optimal results, commanders must strive
to conduct 5 days of physical training per week. Ideally, at least three exercise
sessions for CR fitness, muscle endurance, muscle strength, and flexibility should
be performed each week to improve fitness levels. Thus, for example, to obtain
maximum gains in muscular strength, soldiers should have at least three strength-training
sessions per week. Three physical activity periods a week, however, with only
one session each of cardiorespiratory, strength, and flexibility training will
not improve any of these three components.
With some planning, a training
program for the average soldier can be developed which provides fairly equal emphasis
on all the components of physical fitness. The following training program serves
as an example.
In the first week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are devoted
to CR fitness, and Tuesday and Thursday are devoted to muscle endurance and strength.
During the second week, the training days are flip-flopped: muscle endurance and
strength are trained on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and CR fitness is trained
on Tuesday and Thursday. Stretching exercises are done in every training session
to enhance flexibility. By training continuously in this manner, equal emphasis
can be given to developing muscular endurance and strength and to CR fitness while
training five days per week.
If the unit’s mission requires it, some muscular
and some CR training can be done during each daily training session as long as
a “hard day/recovery day” approach is used. For example, if a unit has a hard
run on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, it may also choose to run on Tuesday and
Thursday. However, on Tuesday and Thursday the intensity and/or distance/time
should be reduced to allow recovery. Depending on the time available for each
session and the way training sessions are conducted, all components of fitness
can be developed using a three-day-per-week schedule. However, a five-day-per-week
program is much better than three per week. (See Training Program in Chapter 10.)
Numerous other approaches can be taken when tailoring a fitness program to meet
a unit’s mission as long as the principles of exercise are not violated.
Such
programs, when coupled with good nutrition, will help keep soldiers fit to win. INTENSITY
Training at the right intensity is the biggest problem in unit programs. The intensity
should vary with the type of exercise being done. Exercise for CR development
must be strenuous enough to elevate the heart rate to between 60 and 90 percent
of the heart rate reserve (HRR). (The calculation of percent HRR is explained
in Chapter 2.) Those with low fitness levels should start exercising at a lower
training heart rate (THR) of about 60 percent of HRR.
For muscular strength
and endurance, intensity refers to the percentage of the maximum resistance that
is used for a given exercise. When determining intensity in a strength-training
program, it is easier to refer to a “repetition maximum” or “RM.” For example,
a 1O-RM is the maximum weight that can be correctly lifted 10 times. An 8-12 RM
is the weight that can be lifted 8 to 12 times correctly. Doing an exercise “correctly”
means moving the weight steadily and with proper form without getting help from
other muscle groups by jerking, bending, or twisting the body. For the average
person who wants to improve both muscular strength and endurance, an 8-12 RM is
best.
The person who wants to concentrate on muscular strength should use
weights which let him do three to seven repetitions before his muscles fatigue.
Thus, for strength development, the weight used should be a 3-7 RM. On the other
hand, the person who wants to concentrate on muscular endurance should use a 12+
RM. When using a 12+ RM as the training intensity, the more repetitions performed
per set, over time, the greater will be the improvement in muscular endurance.
Conversely, the greater the number of repetitions performed, the smaller will
be the gains in strength. For example, a person who regularly trains with a weight
which lets him do 100 repetitions per exercise (a 1OO-RM) greatly increases his
muscular endurance but minimally improves his muscular strength. (See Chapter
3 for information on resistance training.)
All exercise sessions should include
stretching during the warm-up and cool-down. One should stretch so there is slight
discomfort, but no pain, when the movement is taken beyond the normal range of
motion. (See Chapter 4 for information on stretching.) TIME
Like intensity, the time spent exercising depends on the type of exercise being
done. At least 20 to 30 continuous minutes of intense exercise must be used in
order to improve cardiorespiratory endurance.
For muscular endurance and strength,
exercise time equates to the number of repetitions done. For the average soldier,
8 to 12 repetitions with enough resistance to cause muscle failure improves both
muscular endurance and strength. As soldiers progress, they will make better strength
gains by doing two or three sets of each resistance exercise.
Flexibility
exercises or stretches should be held for varying times depending on the objective
of the session. For warming-up, such as before a run, each stretch should be held
for 10 to 15 seconds. To improve flexibility, it is best to do stretching during
the cooldown, with each stretch held for 30 to 60 seconds. If flexibility improvement
is a major goal, at least one session per week should be devoted to developing
it. TYPE
Type refers to the kind of exercise performed. When choosing the type, the commander
should consider the principle of specificity. For example, to improve his soldiers’
levels of CR fitness (the major fitness component in the 2-mile run), he should
have them do CR types of exercises. These are discussed in Chapter 2.
Ways
to train for muscular strength and endurance are addressed in Chapter 3, while
Chapter 4 discusses flexibility. These chapters will help commanders
design
programs which are tailor-made to their soldiers’ needs. The basic rule is that
to improve performance, one must practice the particular exercise, activity, or
skill he wants to improve. For example, to be good at push-ups, one must do pushups.
No other exercise will improve push-up performance as effectively. Warm-up
and Cool-Down
One must prepare the body before taking part in organized
PT, unit sports competition, or vigorous physical activity. A warm-up may help
prevent injuries and maximize performance. The warm-up increases the body’s internal
temperature and the heart rate. The chance of getting injured decreases when the
heart, muscles, ligaments, and tendons are properly prepared for exertion. A warm-up
should include some running-in-place or slow jogging, stretching, and calisthenics.
It should last five to seven minutes and should occur just before the CR or muscular
endurance and strength part of the workout. After a proper warm-up, soldiers are
ready for a more intense conditioning activity.
Soldiers should cool down
properly after each exercise period, regardless of the type of workout. The cool-down
serves to gradually slow the heart rate and helps prevent pooling of the blood
in the legs and feet. During exercise, the muscles squeeze the blood through the
veins. This helps return the blood to the heart. After exercise, however, the
muscles relax and no longer do this, and the blood can accumulate in the legs
and feet. This can cause a person to faint. A good cool-down will help avoid this
possibility.
Soldiers should walk and stretch until their heart rates return
to less than 100 beats per minute (BPM) and heavy sweating stops. This usually
happens five to seven minutes after the conditioning session.
Continue to Phases of Fitness Conditioning |
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