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Airmen
tackle tougher physical fitness standards KUNSAN
AIR BASE, South Korea — It’s a rainy Monday afternoon here and the base gym
is jammed with airmen doing push-ups, lifting weights, shooting baskets and
running on the treadmill. Every
room is crowded, and in some, nearly every machine or workout station seems
occupied. But
these fitness enthusiasts didn’t just show up at the gym around the same time
to get in an afternoon workout. This was official U.S. Air Force business. In
this case, members of Kunsan’s 8th Mission Support Squadron gathered for group
physical training, better known as unit PT. The
Air Force toughened its physical fitness standards in January, requiring airmen
to perform PT at least three times a week while making push-ups, sit-ups and a
1.5-mile run the core of the program. “I
think it’s working out great — I’ve lost 30 pounds … a whole lot fitter
than when I first came here,” said Master Sgt. Timothy Talbot, a manpower
analyst and PT leader with the squadron. “The actual fitness level of the
people that I work with has improved.” For
airmen struggling with the new standards, the toughest part is hardly a secret. “It
would probably be the run,” Talbot said. “Before, the mile-and-a-half run
was part of our fitness test but it was a one-time-a-year deal — you didn’t
really prepare for it. You just went out there. Compared to now, when we
actually train for the mile-and-a-half run.” Because
the 8th Fighter Wing initiated a training program several months before the
official January debut of the new standards, many airmen are doing well, some
already comfortable running two miles or more. But
others have come to Kunsan only recently, and from bases where no early workout
regimen was in place. “We encourage them to take it slow at first,” Talbot
said. And
the squadron is making one of the 30-minute run sessions a “14 out-16 back”
routine, meaning airmen run in one direction for 14 minutes, then the other way
for the final 16 minutes, always at their own pace. “I’m
pacin’ myself,” said Staff Sgt. Latrice Harris, who works in personnel
relocation for the squadron. At her previous base, “we really didn’t do PT
like we do here … At first, it was hard. You’re out there running, not
giving up.” Initially,
she found the new running requirement “a shock back to reality.” But
Harris stays with it because she thinks that airmen can’t afford to be out of
shape, especially when they’re subject to deployments to world trouble spots
in the post-Sept. 11 era. “Just
being fit to fight, being ready to fight, you’re not goin’ to be losing your
breath after two or three minutes’ runnin,’” she said. |