Health-and-Fitness online information.

It happens twice a year, no matter where you are stationed or what your rank may be. The Navy's physical fitness assessment, or PFA, will be around as long as there is a Navy. So I always wonder why it causes so much shock in our ranks every spring and fall.

Typically, as we inch closer to the test, medical usually sees a mad dash of Sailors looking for a possible waiver, which rarely pans out. Those not hitting their local clinic hastily dive headfirst into their semi-annual crash diets, as they hope to shed those extra 10 to 15 pounds in two weeks.

Finally, the dreaded day arrives, and our commands quickly divide into "the three groups."

Group one is usually the command's serious athletes. They tend to breeze through the entire test like an assembly of Olympic champions. Group two is understandably the largest group. They are the Sailors who are able to squeeze in the occasional workout during their work week. For the test, they will definitely pass. But, the following day you will find them languishing in severe pain.

And then there is Group three. I like to think of this group as the "I know I'm going on remedial" group. To the Navy's credit, this group is almost always small, but why does it even have to exist at all?

We don't all have to be world-class athletes, but we shouldn't go into shock and freeze when faced with a one and-a-half mile run. Why not make fitness a part of our lives? Why not seriously approach PT as a command one hour a day, three times a week, no matter what? We shouldn't just have a group stretch before breaking off into the aforementioned "three groups." How about having one large group working together in an intense workout, helping one another to keep going?

If this idea were strictly enforced at every command, everyone would realize fitness training has its place in our daily routine--just like eating, drinking and brushing our teeth. The fact that the overall benefits from proper exercise can be life changing should be what counts, not physical appearance.

According to the National Institutes of Health, regular physical exercise can help people reduce anxiety levels, manage stress, alleviate depression and improve overall quality of life. It can also reduce the risks of heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes, colon cancer and breast cancer.

There are so many reasons to exercise that entire books have been written on the topic. But if Sailors can find just one benefit, that should be enough to help them, start an exercise program and take steps to improve their health.

If every command throughout the Navy took this approach, then those two sometimes-dreaded days of the year would seem just like any other day in the Navy.

# posted by Medical Information : 1:42 AM