Posted on Jul 11, 2015
Fat to Fight: Are Current Fitness Standards Good Enough?
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"Per Army Regulation 600-9, males are allowed Body Fat percentages from 20-26% based on age. Females are allowed 28-34%."
Pass a PT test, meet height & weight requirements (or comply with these grueling standards). Check those two blocks and you're clear to go eat a cheeseburger pizza covered in Doritos with a six-pack of beer. Every service has a similar standard. When it comes to the health of the force, is that the right standard?
You've encountered diehard adherents to Paleo, Clean Eating and Whole 30. You might even be one of them, because the health benefits are unparalleled. Then you walk into an on-post food court full of fat bombs: Burger King, Taco John, Anthony's Pizza (Go ahead and argue that Subway Chicken & Bacon Ranch Melt on Monterey Cheddar is pushing you to peak fitness).
What is the right fitness standard for your service? How should we shape the on-post environment to support the lifestyle that level of fitness requires?
Pass a PT test, meet height & weight requirements (or comply with these grueling standards). Check those two blocks and you're clear to go eat a cheeseburger pizza covered in Doritos with a six-pack of beer. Every service has a similar standard. When it comes to the health of the force, is that the right standard?
You've encountered diehard adherents to Paleo, Clean Eating and Whole 30. You might even be one of them, because the health benefits are unparalleled. Then you walk into an on-post food court full of fat bombs: Burger King, Taco John, Anthony's Pizza (Go ahead and argue that Subway Chicken & Bacon Ranch Melt on Monterey Cheddar is pushing you to peak fitness).
What is the right fitness standard for your service? How should we shape the on-post environment to support the lifestyle that level of fitness requires?
Fitness
APFT
Height and Weight
Eating and Diet
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 17
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Our APFT doesn't measure strength. It measures our muscular endurance based in a percentage of our body weight based on the specific exercise we're performing. Whether we maintain standards for the fitness tests or transition to a newer version that's tailored more to individual body styles, muscular endurance still needs to be maintained.
Different body types process foods differently. I have no problem maintaining a higher than average APFT score while eating nothing but crap and focusing my PT on being able to do a given task for a long duration as opposed to how much weight I can lift.
In my experience overseas, how strong I am has not come in to play. Our patrols requires us to be able to endure hours of movement on foot with what we felt we needed on our backs. I feel as though history has also shown that endurance plays a key role in success.
Different body types process foods differently. I have no problem maintaining a higher than average APFT score while eating nothing but crap and focusing my PT on being able to do a given task for a long duration as opposed to how much weight I can lift.
In my experience overseas, how strong I am has not come in to play. Our patrols requires us to be able to endure hours of movement on foot with what we felt we needed on our backs. I feel as though history has also shown that endurance plays a key role in success.
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There are a few things you have to consider. I hate healthy food. I love Taco Bell and will eat there often. I also love coke. But do to my lifestyle choices I have to radically off set those. For me that means hours in the gym and hour long runs. But I realize the need for balance. If I didn't eat so bad I would most likely have a six pack. But dem' chicken quesadillas keep getting in the way. But I don't have any issues with my fitness at all. I consistently score above 270. Now, I do get taped. I blame for the fact that I lift also.
But what we have so much of an issue with is a lack of understanding in how we eat and how our style affects our performance. Do I abuse the system. I do. I don't disagree. I should eat better so I could run less. But I do realize that I have to balance it out. I don't eat so bad that I consistently gain weight and if I can't get to the gym to burn the calories I intake less. We need to really help our soldiers with this. If a soldier is failing at PT it will be their lack of motivation when it comes to fitness and their over indulgence on food. If they could just find that balance and maintain we wouldn't be where we are today.
On a side note the worst I have got so far was getting up to 220 knowing I was going to deploy to Iraq. I should be about 185-190. But I knew I was going to missing all that food. But while deployed I dropped to about 185. I also did my 2 mile run in 11:59. At our base I came in 7th on a 10 mile run with a time of 1 hour and 14 mins. So I made up for it. At least until I got home.
But what we have so much of an issue with is a lack of understanding in how we eat and how our style affects our performance. Do I abuse the system. I do. I don't disagree. I should eat better so I could run less. But I do realize that I have to balance it out. I don't eat so bad that I consistently gain weight and if I can't get to the gym to burn the calories I intake less. We need to really help our soldiers with this. If a soldier is failing at PT it will be their lack of motivation when it comes to fitness and their over indulgence on food. If they could just find that balance and maintain we wouldn't be where we are today.
On a side note the worst I have got so far was getting up to 220 knowing I was going to deploy to Iraq. I should be about 185-190. But I knew I was going to missing all that food. But while deployed I dropped to about 185. I also did my 2 mile run in 11:59. At our base I came in 7th on a 10 mile run with a time of 1 hour and 14 mins. So I made up for it. At least until I got home.
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LTC Stephen C.
It's a slippery slope you're on, CPT (Join to see), and take it from an old retired guy, who knows! I basically had the same mindset as you, just different fast foods. As I got older, though, it became harder to meet the bar. So from the time I was a mid-major until I retired, I did the APFT every weekday. I did push ups and sit ups at home, and then met a buddy for the two mile run. Did all this before heading off to work! I kept weight in check, and the annual APFT was just another day.
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CPT (Join to see)
LTC Stephen C. - I will say the one thing that really helps me is that I really enjoy running. I can run for hours if I have the time. If I didn't like running I would be screwed. Sometimes I will run more than go to the gym. It just depends on where I am sitting at.
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It's not the standards that are the problem, it's enforcement of them. With that said, this seems to be changing. I've seen several people get politely asked to retire over the last year(O-4s and O-5) because they couldn't make weight/tape. For years it was kind of overlooked, especially (it seems) on the medical side. But doesn't look like it is anymore.
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