The results: Not once did our taping match the dunk test results. We then compared those results to the tape testing methods used by the four services. Following service-specific protocols, we taped 10 active-duty troops stationed in the Pacific Northwest and then had them undergo hydrostatic "dunk tank" testing - considered among the gold standards for determining actual body fat composition. So we decided to evaluate the tape test for ourselves. Their complaints mostly fell on deaf ears inside a military command structure looking for a quick, one-size-fits-all method of measuring the fat and fitness levels of millions of troops. Troops have long complained the tape test is unfair, an inaccurate gauge of fitness with an outsized impact on their careers. Most point to a test known as the "skin fold" or "pinch" method using calipers - still relatively easy to perform - for more accurate results. "The problem with the tape test is that it doesn't account for muscle, it just accounts for size." Jordan Moon, director of the Sports Science Center Research Institute in Denver. awful for people who are very muscular," says Dr.
But while the tape test is cheap and easy to administer, many complain that it's not accurate - a claim backed by top experts. Or unfit - everyone knows that guy who looks chunky but can bench press a Mini Cooper, and outrun it, too.Īll of the services use a simple tape test to make the call on who's too fat. Just because you weigh more than most troops doesn't mean you're necessarily fat. In fiscal 2012, more than 1,300 airmen were discharged for failing to meet service fitness standards, a 400 percent increase since more rigorous standards were implemented.įiguring out who is too fat to fight, however, is easier said than done. Now, though, for every 100 PRT failures, there are 149 body composition failures.Īir Force: Last year, 1.9 percent of airmen flunked their body composition test. In 2004, for every 100 sailors who failed the PRT, 105 failed the body composition assessment. Navy: Failing the body composition portion of the overall physical fitness assessment is more common than failing the physical readiness test, and it's becoming even more so.
0 kommentar(er)
