Basic Training
Fighting Shape
The New Army Boot Camp
“What we were finding was that the soldiers we’re getting in today’s Army are not in as good shape as they used to be. This is not just an Army issue. This is a national issue.”
— Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, overseer of basic training for the Army.
“Between 1995 and 2008, the proportion of potential recruits who failed their physicals each year because they were overweight rose nearly 70 percent.”
— from "Too Fat to Fight," a report by a group of retired generals and admirals published earlier this year.
Both quotations published in a New York Times report today on the army's new boot camp training, which involves a lot more yoga and Pilates and a lot fewer long runs and other drills that are likely to injure new-to-fitness soldiers-in-training.
Basic Training
Tony Horton of P90X Pooh-Poohs Pushups
"The days of push ups, sit ups and long runs in the military are over....I know inclusion of yoga in military training sounds a tad alien [but] yoga magnifies the positive effects of strength and cardiovascular exercises. It's lubricating all the major joints and reduces the potential for injury."
— Tony Horton, the creator of the P90X workout series, advising U.S. military leaders to adopt yoga as a major component of military fitness.
Newslinks
Army Basic Training Adopts New Ab-Blasting Routine
Rolling out this month at Army Basic Training installations around the country: A whole new workout. Out — five mile runs and bayonet drills. In — core-strengthening twists and zigzag sprints. "We don't run five miles in combat, but you run across the street every day. I'm not training long-distance runners. I'm training warriors," says Frank Palkoska, head of the Army's Fitness School at Fort Jackson.
Wake Up Call
On Memorial Day
Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
~John Wooden
Image: Members of the 32nd and 33rd Company's Women's Army Auxiliary Corps basketball team, playing a game of basketball, Fort Huachuca Arizona.