WWII set modern fitness standards

BY JOHN HANC

Special to Newsday

September 25, 2007

No one doubted their courage. No one questioned their resolve or = willingness=20 to fight.

But their physical fitness? Well, that was another=20 story.

As America's role in World War II is re-examined this week = by=20 director Ken Burns in his PBS documentary "The War," it's important to = remember=20 that the Americans who marched off to fight fascism couldn't march very = far at=20 first; but they learned.

Before Pearl Harbor, and in earlier = years, the=20 Army had boasted of the high physical standards of its recruits. When = the draft=20 began, and as manpower needs dramatically increased, they couldn't be so = picky.=20 Whipping millions of men of various shapes and sizes into uniformly peak = condition - and doing it quickly - became a top priority for the=20 military.

The philosophy and program used to do it was = conceptualized=20 long before Dec. 7, 1941. "The vision for what they had to do to = physically=20 prepare themselves for war in the 1940s was conceived at the turn of the = century," explains Army fitness expert Ed Thomas, a professor of = exercise=20 science at Graceland University in Iowa.

German = connection

Indeed,=20 the man responsible for the fitness philosophy that prepared the = Americans of=20 1941 to beat Japan and Germany was of German descent himself- and relied = on a=20 system common in the land of his forebears.

Herman J. Koehler, a=20 Milwaukee native and champion gymnast, was in charge of cadet physical = training=20 at West Point for almost 40 years, from 1885 to his retirement in 1924. = Koehler=20 redesigned the academy's physical training, with an emphasis on = "body-weight"=20 exercises, medicine balls, Indian clubs and agility ladders, the kind of = European-style training he had learned from his German-born father and=20 uncle.

Koehler's students grew up to become the officer corps of = World=20 War II. So it's no surprise that by the 1940s, the training and fitness = of=20 individual recruits was measured by their performance in body-weight = exercises,=20 the same calisthenics regimen Koehler had institutionalized at West = Point=20 earlier.

Consider it the beginning of the "drop and give me 20" = era:=20 Soldiers did mass formation push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks and other=20 body-weight movements, some of which, according to Thomas, were designed = to=20 mimic combat movements.

Example: The squat jump or thrust, which = trains=20 the soldier to crouch, stand, fire and crouch back down. "World War II = forced=20 our experts to think of fitness as a functional activity," Thomas says, = much in=20 the way Koehler had envisioned it. (Koehler is considered the father of = Army=20 physical training. Its Physical Fitness School in Fort Benning, Ga., is = named=20 after him.)

Cornerstone: long marches

Long-distance = marches and=20 hikes were a cornerstone of the training for combat infantrymen in World = War II.=20 In 1943, the War Department mandated 25- mile marches in full equipment = for each=20 soldier younger than 40; and some units took pride in exceeding that = distance.=20 In his 1987 book, "G.I.: The American Soldier in World War II," = (Scribner,=20 $19.95), historian Lee Kennett writes of one infantry regiment covering = 62 miles=20 in full gear in 29 hours, without a man falling out (and for that, = received a=20 commendation from Gen. George Marshall).

One of the most dreaded = aspects=20 of the infantryman's regimen was what today might be called "functional" = training: the obstacle course. While the exact layout varied from base = to base,=20 a typical course, according to Kennett, required a soldier with a rifle = and=20 30-pound pack to mount an 8-foot wall, slide down a 10- foot pole, leap = through=20 a flaming trench, weave through a series of pickets, crawl through a = water main,=20 climb a 10-foot rope, clamber over a 5-foot fence, swing by a rope = across a=20 7-foot ditch, mount a 12-foot ladder and descend, charge over a = 4-foot-high=20 breastwork, walk a 20-foot catwalk 12 inches wide and 7 feet high, swing = hand=20 over hand along a 5-foot horizontal ladder, slither under a fence, climb = another=20 and cross the finish line at a sprint - all in less than 5 = minutes.

Good=20 preparation for combat

There was more than unit pride and = citations=20 involved in mastering this. World War II was in large part an = infantrymen's=20 fight, and although few would remember their 30-mile hikes or obstacle = course=20 challenges fondly, the ability of the GI to slog through war-torn France = and=20 Germany in 1944-45 probably was due in large part to the forced marches = and=20 obstacle courses of their training camps in 1942-43.

Koehler's = disciples=20 were not the only influential voices on the physical readiness of the = soldiers.=20 Barbell manufacturer Bob Hoffman was a World War I veteran, an ardent = patriot,=20 and one of the earliest and most vocal advocates of weight training. = Through the=20 pages of his magazine, Strength & Health, he inspired many young men = in the=20 1930s to lift weights, and later, extolled their value in the fight = against=20 fascism.

Thomas says some Army bases bought Hoffman's York = Barbell sets=20 during the war, and integrated weight lifting into training. Hoffman had = no=20 doubt about their influence. "Our country was saved ... on the football = fields,=20 baseball fields and in the gymnasiums, backyards and home of those who = trained=20 with weights," he wrote after the war. "Many of our heroes were barbell=20 men."

Few women, in or out of uniform, would have thought about = lifting=20 weights in that era. But their physical fitness was important, too, as = many went=20 to work during the war; and all endured shortages of various = staples.

A=20 1943 publication, House & Garden's Wartime Manual for the Home, = devoted a=20 chapter to keeping fit during wartime. "In order to contribute our = utmost to the=20 war effort, each one of us must be at our physical and mental best," the = authors=20 advise. "Everyone knows the rules for keeping fit - eat well, sleep = well, and=20 get enough diversion to stay mentally and physically in shape." Those=20 fitness-enhancing diversions include activities that, while fun, = probably=20 wouldn't be recommended today by your cardiologist, including Chinese = checkers=20 and bridge, or "Ping Pong ... for the strenuous."

Yet, the one = piece of=20 exercise advice offered by the editors of House & Gardens in 1943 = sounds=20 like something you could read on any public health organization's Web = site=20 today: "Walking is one of the finest and cheapest ways of keeping fit. = ... Try=20 to cover at least three miles walking every day - walking, not=20 strolling."

With all this walking, marching and jumping over = flaming=20 trenches, just how fit did America become during World War II? The = strength of=20 the Greatest Generation can't really be gauged by the number of push-ups = they=20 did or how many miles they logged.

"I've talked to many World War = II=20 veterans," Thomas says. "The training was tough, but they knew why. They = were=20 going to a terrible place."

The fact that most of them returned,=20 victorious, suggests that they were indeed fit for duty.

CAN YOU = PASS=20 IT?

Think you're as fit as the average infantryman during World = War=20 II?

In 1946, a year after the fighting ended, the Army issued new = physical fitness guidelines that reflected improved performance as = measured=20 during the war years.

Here's the test, and

what would be=20 considered superior scores on each exercise, done = continuously:

Pull-ups,=20 7-9

Squat thrusts, 30 in 60 seconds

Push-ups, = 30

Sit-ups,=20 with legs straight, held by partner, and elbow touching alternate knee = on each=20 repetition, 51

300-yard run, 46-48 seconds

For complete = scoring=20 tables and more details on the test, go to: ihpra.org = /military.htm.

-=20 JOHN HANC

Newsday.com

WWII set modern fitness standards