Fit Nation program to help Soldiers

By Amanga Ravenstein, 1st Inf. Div. PostFebruary 7, 2019

A new program geared toward helping Soldiers meet their fitness goals has been released by Irwin Army Community Hospital. Fit Nation is a comprehensive multidisciplinary health, wellness and fitness initiative according to Stafford Gosser, Fit Nation project lead.

"Fit Nation is geared toward ABCP, army body composition program failures, and Army Physical Fitness Test failures," he said. "We initially started in 1st Sustainment Brigade because, statistically, sustainment has higher injury rates. So, we're looking at (musculoskeletal) rates as well."

Fit Nation consists of three 12-week phases, each focusing on different aspects of strength and conditioning.

"I use the acronym R.EP.R.," he said. "And that gives a better indication of what we're doing in each phase. So, the first R is reconditioning. EP is enhanced performance, that's the second phase. And then the third phase is resiliency."

According to the briefing packet provided, after the initial metrics are collected on each participant, as well as any primary care concerns being addressed, they are then moved into beginning phase one of the program.

In phase one, reconditioning, participants work on improving their gross level of fitness, primarily improvements in body composition and push-ups, sit-ups and the two-mile run of the APFT, according to the packet.

"The basis of this, especially considering the population we're serving, is there's going to be that reconditioning component where we're going to focus initially on building up strength endurance, looking at the mobility and mechanics, and then aerobic and anaerobic endurance," he said. "Keep in mind that programming throughout the program is intended to be low impact and low compressive load."

In phase two, enhanced performance, the rationale is that a performance emphasis will reduce injury prevalence, enhance combat effectiveness, and in addition improve resiliency should an actual injury occur, according to the packet.

"If you look at a lot of the upper level leadership or some of the institutions that cater specifically to what they call this tactical population, they're referring to Soldiers as tactical athletes -- and they are athletes," he said. "So, we want to look at improving maximal strength, tactical performance and then further developing aerobic and anaerobic capacity. An additional focus of that enhanced performance phase is number one, focusing on events that are going to be covered under the new (Army Combat Fitness Test) and number two, is giving that Soldier the tools necessary to take back what they've learned and apply that back at their unit. So, we want to more or less turn them into a subject matter expert so they will know how to effectively apply the principles implemented during their time in the program."

Phase three, resiliency, focuses on sustained healthy behaviors, derived from a sense of worth, ability and confidence so the individual will begin to take ownership of their own physical training regimen and readiness, the packet states.

"I think the overall emphasis and what sets Fit Nation apart from almost any other program that's out there, because there's several other programs that might be similar in nature, is focusing on autonomy and self-efficacy," he said. "So, for looking at self-efficacy, giving them the confidence to be able to go into the gym and do some of the structural movements, a little bit heavier, like the deadlift on the ACFT. (We're) talking about autonomy, putting the ownership of fitness back on the Soldier. So, leading into the last phase of resiliency, that's where they come back, it's kind of like train the trainer and they actually administer or help oversee their own phase one and phase two, in essence they're the strength coaches."

The multidisciplinary team the participants will interact with include primary care, a strength coach, physical therapy, occupational therapy, nutrition, sports psychology, the Army Wellness Center and program staff at Kansas State University, the packet states.

Gosser praised K-State and their participation in the program saying they really need to be recognized for the large part they play in the program.

"They've just contributed so much to Fit Nation," he said. "Not only the development of the program, but execution. For example, Dr. (Phillip) Vardiman comes and actually helps out at the Fit Nation sessions, twice a week. And this is a guy that is an athletic training spotter for the NFL. And he's helping people get into and out of bands on pull-ups and stuff.

Vardiman, associate professor and director of the Athletic Training Program at K-State, said the partnership between the university and Fort Riley is one that has built a long tradition.

"My involvement with the K-State-Fort Riley partnership was started with the help of Art DeGroat, from K-State's Military Affairs Innovation Center," he said. "When I got here in 2015, he did an amazing job of connecting me with great people.

"It has taken a few years to dial in the Fit Nation project to get to where it is now," he said. "The support that we have received from IACH command, and Stafford Gosser, as well as the numerous other partners in IACH that have helped facilitate the partnership, has been critical to our success.

So may individuals have supported us adding up to a huge team effort from IACH to support Fit Nation. Lt. Col. (Donald) Sexton (IACH deputy commander for administration) was instrumental in helping us achieve a data sharing agreement between Fort Riley and K-State. So that K-State can help with the research and statistical analyses of the soldiers participating in Fit Nation and help the Army provide evidence of the effectiveness of this program. We are excited about the research side of it. But overall, we are very excited to help the Soldiers of Fort Riley any way we can, it's a great project."

Soldiers wanting to participate in the Fit Nation program need to contact Stafford Gosser by email at stafford.j.gosser.civ@mail.mil.