San
Diego, CA - Although
maintaining a healthy weight is a requirement for
members of the military, they too are struggling
with the problem of obesity.
The
New York Times reported that in 1997 4,372
members of the military were discharged for being
overweight(1).
The Department of Defense has sought ways to prevent
this problem and maintain combat readiness through
programs like "Operation Be Fit" launched in 1998
to encourage personnel to exercise outside their
units' normal Physical Training (PT) regiment. Even
so, ten years later, the number of soldiers discharged
for failing to meet weight requirements has increased
threefold.
A
new fitness program, however, called Emergency
Responder Training (ERT) offered by the TrainChange
Fitness Studio in San Diego has gotten soldiers
from the 96th Military Police Battalion eager to
exercise on a regular basis.
"It's
motivating and something different," said Staff
Sergeant Widjaja when asked what he likes about
the training. Unlike traditional forms of PT done
in the military where soldiers run laps around a
field and perform calisthenics, ERT takes place
in an old renovated warehouse.
When
you walk into the cardio room the first thing you
notice is that the windows, walls and ceiling are
painted black. Surprisingly, once class starts and
the fluorescent lights are off the room immediately
comes to life with an assortment of strobe lights
synchronized to music. It's like being at a trendy
nightclub in the middle of the day.
But,
don't let the ambiance fool you--there's nothing
foo-foo about their training.
Workouts
begin with 15 minutes of indoor cycling where a
TrainChange instructor calls out drills in cadence
to music and soldiers maneuver up and down on stationary
bikes while calling out cadence.
"The
sessions take you beyond failure which regular PT
doesn't do," says Sergeant First Class Resto who
serves as a Military Police Officer for the 96th.
"[Like combat] you will go beyond your abilities."