The Relationship Between Army Physical Fitness and Functional Capacities in Infantry Members of the Slovenian Armed Forces
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Jožef Šimenko [1] ; Bogdan Kovcan [3] ; Primoz Pori [2] ; Janez Vodicar [2] ; Miha Vodicar [4] ; Vedran Hadzic [2]
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[1] University of Essex
University of Essex
Colchester District, Reino Unido
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[2] University of Ljubljana
University of Ljubljana
Eslovenia
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[3] Slovenian Armed Forces, Ljubljana, Slovenia
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[4] Department of Orthopedic Surgery, University Medical Center Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
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- Localización: Journal of strength and conditioning research: the research journal of the NSCA, ISSN 1064-8011, Vol. 35, Nº. 12, 2021, págs. 3506-3512
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
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Resumen
The primary purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between traditional army physical fitness test (APFT) and a novel functional testing battery that included countermovement jump (CMJ) testing, stork balANce test, pUll-ups, single leg hAmstring bridge test, and loaded prone pLank test-MANUAL battery. The secondary purpose was to explore additional baseline fitness aspects traditionally not covered by APFT. This cross-sectional study involved 181 Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF) infantry members (age 31.4 +/- 6.1 years) that were tested using both the regular annual APFT and the MANUAL battery (testing was conducted 2 weeks apart). At the significance level of p <= 0.05, significant but weak associations between the MANUAL testing battery and APFT battery (0.2 <= r < 0.5; p <= 0.05) were observed. The MANUAL battery has highlighted possible hamstring (less than 20 repetitions on a single leg bridge test in 26% of SAF infantry members) and posterior shoulder pull-up muscle weakness (mean score 5 +/- 4 pull-ups). Functional predictors from the MANUAL explained only 33.6% of the APFT score (R2 = 0.336). Significant predictors of APFT score were single leg hamstring left (p = 0.048), loaded plank (p = 0.049), number of pull-ups (p < 0.001), CMJ (p = 0.01), and loaded CMJ (p = 0.026). The findings suggest that higher APFT marks are associated with better performance on the MANUAL tests and indicate the problem of hamstring and pull-up muscle weakness. The general recommendation is that the physical condition military programs should include more exercises to strengthen those muscle groups.
