These Soldiers get you fit for duty

These Soldiers get you fit for duty

After a grueling 19 days of intense professional instruction, 39 Fort Irwin Soldiers earned a new Army Skill Identifier as Master Fitness Trainers here, Sept. 4.

The new master fitness trainers will serve as special advisers to their unit commanders, bridging the gap between medical staff and unit physical readiness programs in accordance with current Army doctrine and regulations.

"The goal of a master fitness trainer is to work with the medical staff," said Capt. Todd Jones, a master fitness trainer with United States Army Physical Fitness School, Victory College, Fort Jackson, S.C. "If say, a Soldier has a lower extremity injury, nothing is stopping them from doing a pushup. So, the MFT will ask specific questions unique to each medical case to maintain a robust physical unit readiness program."

Jones is part of an Army mobile training team, which provides balanced training programs based on the concepts of physical fitness and readiness to propel the Army to a more agile and ready force.

"The Army doesn't want you to be the Hulk, or that marathon runner," Jones said. "The Army expects you to be agile, but strong enough to quickly react to a dangerous situation."

A typical day for a master fitness trainee begins in the morning with a period of instruction on a new exercise followed by an exhausting physical readiness training session. The afternoon transitions into a classroom-based instruction on topics, such as: the science of exercise; nutrition; exercise training principles; exercise prescription, and; the development of individual and unit physical readiness programs.

The morning of Aug. 26, training day 12 for class 14-737, presented a unique insight on a drill set called guerilla drills. A guerilla drill involves three exercises: the shoulder roll, lunge walk and shoulder carry -- exercises that relate to what Soldier's might encounter during combat.

Sgt. Joseph Wilson, one of the new master fitness trainers with A Troop, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, said his favorite exercise is the shoulder carry.

"The shoulder carry relates to how we fight, and being able to move an individual across the battle field is a very important skill," Wilson said.

To be selected as a MFT, students must pass the Army Physical Fitness Test with a minimum score of 240 points and a minimum of 80 points in each event. Students must be in compliance with body composition standards as specified in Army Regulation 600-9.