Rue, C. A., Myers, S. D., Coakley, S. L., Ashdown, K., Lee, B. J., Hale, B. J., Siddall, A. G., Needham-Beck, S., Hinde, K., Osofa, J. I., Walke, F. S., Fieldhouse, A., Vine, C., Doherty, J., Flood, T. R., Walker, E. F., Wardle, S. L., Greeves, J. P. and Blacke, S. D. (2023) Changes in Physical Performance during British Army Junior Entry, British Army Standard Entry, and Royal Air Force Basic Training. Changes in Physical Performance during British Army Junior Entry, British Army Standard Entry, and Royal Air Force Basic Training. ISSN 2633-3775
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Abstract
Introduction: To quantify changes in physical performance in men and women during British Army Junior Entry (Army-JE), Standard Entry (Army-SE), and Royal Air Force (RAF) Basic Training (BT). Design: Prospective longitudinal study. Methods: 381 participants [(339 men, 42 women) n=141 Army-JE; n=132 Army-SE; n=108 RAF] completed a 2-km Run, Medicine Ball Throw (MBT) and isometric Mid-Thigh Pull (MTP), pre- and post-BT. To examine changes in pre- to post- BT physical test performance, for each course, paired students t-tests, and Wilcoxon tests were applied to normally and non-normally distributed data respectively; with effect sizes reported as Cohen’s D and with rank biserial correlations, respectively. A one-way between-subjects ANOVA (or Welch ANOVA for non-normally distributed data) compared performance between quartiles based on test performance pre-BT. Where the main tests statistic, p value and effect sizes identified likely effect of quartile, post-hoc comparisons were made using Games-Howell tests with Tukey’s p value. Data are presented as mean ± standard deviation, statistical significance set at p<0.05. Results: During BT, 2-km run time improved by 13±46 (-2.1±8.1%), 30±64 (-4.8±12.3%), and 24±27 s (-4.5±5.1%) for Army-JE, Army-SE, and RAF, respectively (all p<0.005). MBT distance increased by 0.27±0.28 m (6.8±7.0%) for Army-JE (p<0.001) and 0.07±0.46 m (2.3±10.9%) for Army-SE (p=0.040), but decreased by 0.08±0.27 m (-1.4±6.0%) for RAF (p=0.002). MTP force increased by 80±281 N (10.8±27.6%) for Army-JE (p<0.001) and did not change for Army-SE (-36±295 N, -0.7±20.6%, p=0.144) or RAF (-9±208 N, 1.0±17.0, p=0.603). For all tests and cohorts, participants in the lowest quartile of pre-BT performance scores demonstrated greater improvements, compared with participants in the highest quartile (except Army-JE MBT; ∆% change similar between all quartiles). Conclusions: Changes in physical performance were observed for the three fitness tests following the different BT courses, but recruits with the lowest strength and aerobic fitness experienced greatest improvements.
Publication Type: | Articles |
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Uncontrolled Keywords: | physical performance, army, fitness, occupation & industrial medicine, sports medicine, physiology |
Subjects: | U Military Science > U Military Science (General) |
Divisions: | Research Centres > Occupational Performance Research Group |
Depositing User: | Carla Rue |
Date Deposited: | 17 Jan 2023 16:57 |
Last Modified: | 28 Dec 2023 01:10 |
URI: | https://eprints_test.chi.ac.uk/id/eprint/6666 |