Victory Fitness Program: Influence of the US Army's Emerging Physical Readiness Training Doctrine on Fitness and Injuries in Basic Combat Training.

摘要

The Victory Fitness (VF) Program examined fitness and injury outcomes during the initial 'toughening phase' of Physical Readiness Training (PRT). PRT is the U.S. Army's emerging physical training doctrine. A Basic Combat Training (BCT) battalion which implemented PRT (VF battalion, n = 1284) was compared to a battalion which used traditional BCT physical training (the Control battalion, n = 1275) during the 9-week BCT cycle. PRT exercises included precision calisthenics, dumbbell drills, movement drills, 30-second run/30-second walk (interval training), ability group runs, and flexibility training. On the first administration of the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) taken for record, the VF group had a greater proportion of trainees passing than the Control Group (men: 85% vs. 81%, p = 0.04; women: 80% vs. 70%, p < 0.01). After all administrations of the record APFT, the VF group had fewer APFT failures than the Control group among the women (1.6% vs. 4.6%, p < 0.01) but not the men (1.6% vs. 2.8%, p = 0. 18). On push-up raw scores, Control men and women improved more than the VF men (p < 0.01) and women (p < 0.01), although the VF group scores exceeded minimum BCT passing values. On sit-up raw scores there were no differences between the VF and Control men (p = 0.21) but the VF women improved more than the Control women (p < 0.01). There were no differences in improvements in 2-mile run times between the VF and Control men (p = 0.15) or women (p = 0.54). Battalion differences in injury rates were examined using Cox regression (a survival analysis technique), which controlled for initial differences in demographics, fitness, and training-related variables. The relative risk of an injury of any type was 37% higher in the Control men (p = 0.02) and 35% higher in the Control women (p < 0.01), compared to the VF men and women.