Email   Print   Share By Pfc. Amy M. Lane, 4th Sust. Bde. Public Affairs

Facebook Digg Delicious July 22, 2010 | Sports

There’s no warmup phase to the P90X training program. Soldiers from the 53rd QM Co., 553rd CSSB, 4th Sust. Bde., 13th ESC, use the popular physical fitness DVD once a week to get in shape. Spc. Ann Marie White, 553rd CSSB

To help break the monotonous cycle of the everyday physical fitness, Soldiers from the 53rd QM Co., 553rd CSSB, 4th Sust. Bde., 13th ESC, use the popular physical fitness DVD called P90X to get in shape.

With the goal of improving the company’s average Army Physical Fitness Test score, the 53rd Quartermaster Company, 553rd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 4th Sustainment Brigade, 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), is the first company in the Wrangler Brigade to use the P90X physical training program every Thursday morning.

The Leopard Battalion unit, which has maintained an average APFT score of 251 points out of a possible 300, is enjoying the change to its regular PT program.

“I feel the new program breaks the monotonous cycle of the everyday PT,” Spc. Jason White said. “I look forward to the P90X days, I feel that my body has a challenge and it boosts my energy.”

The P90X program is designed to help rehabilitate anyone who may have endured an injury; it also challenges the physically fit. The program helps participants avoid weight loss plateaus, while building muscle and losing weight by keeping the body in a state of flux – requiring it to move from one workout to the next. That causes muscle confusion when the muscles are used in different, unexpected ways and the workouts are switched up.

“Since starting the program, we have noticed an advance in the Soldiers’ ability to do push-ups and an increase in their respiratory fitness,” said Sgt. Virgil Frye, the 53rd’s noncommissioned officer in charge of training.

Frye assembled an audio and video display to play the DVD. The 60-minute routine motivates Soldiers and has sparked new interest in PT. The company has seen mass participation, with so many Soldiers wanting to try P90X.

“We have such exceptional participation that we are moving to two days a week, by Soldiers’ request,” Frye said. “We are also planning to upgrade to two screens and two projectors.”

Other companies within the brigade have followed suit by adding P90X to their PT regimen. Frye said Soldiers seem to enjoy the new approach, and that increased fitness is valuable to Soldiers’ confidence.

(Editor’s Note: Spc. Ann Marie White from the 553rd CSSB contributed to this story.)