Fitness for Operational Requirements of CAF Employment ( FORCE )

[OceanBonfire]

I am currently training for the FORCE test and am I can do the sandbag lift and the loaded shuttle in half the time required with more weight and higher lifts, however I cannot seem to get my 20-Metre Rushes times down below 51 seconds. My specific issue seems to be not getting up fast enough after slapping the ground.

...

Similar issue: I'm very fit and I did a mock FORCE test at my gym. Nailed all the other timed events in about half the time but I did the 20m rushes in 48-49 seconds.

 

[PuckChaser]

Similar issue: I'm very fit and I did a mock FORCE test at my gym. Nailed all the other timed events in about half the time but I did the 20m rushes in 48-49 seconds.

All the other times are easy to attain in half the time. How many pushups can you do? Getting up with speed is like an explosive pushup. You may also be slow getting to the ground, which will waste time.

 

[Humphrey Bogart]

Similar issue: I'm very fit and I did a mock FORCE test at my gym. Nailed all the other timed events in about half the time but I did the 20m rushes in 48-49 seconds.

Maybe you aren't as fit as you think you are? 

 

[OceanBonfire]

All the other times are easy to attain in half the time. How many pushups can you do? Getting up with speed is like an explosive pushup. You may also be slow getting to the ground, which will waste time.

30 pushups without slowing down. I'm starting to slow down after 30. I was concerned about staying behind the line when I'm on the ground. I'm thinking about focusing on burpees for improvement.

Maybe you aren't as fit as you think you are?

Yeah, possibly.

 

[PuckChaser]

Burpees, although terribly evil, will help.

 

[camrose]

Looking for some input... I am applying to the Army reserves and training for the fitness test. I am at a point where I can easily do 3 of 4 but can't get the sandbag drag. I'm pretty fit, athletic and healthy but weigh barely 90 lbs and about 4'10" - is this even doable for someone my size? I joined the local base gym and have been going to their FORCE training classes and getting pretty frustrated that I can only get the drag barely 1/2 way. My test is scheduled for 2 weeks and I'm thinking just to cancel. Hints anyone?

 

[Jarnhamar]

Cut the weight in half when you're doing the practice drags and work on your technique. Once you have it down add more weight.

 

[cld617]

Looking for some input... I am applying to the Army reserves and training for the fitness test. I am at a point where I can easily do 3 of 4 but can't get the sandbag drag. I'm pretty fit, athletic and healthy but weigh barely 90 lbs and about 4'10" - is this even doable for someone my size? I joined the local base gym and have been going to their FORCE training classes and getting pretty frustrated that I can only get the drag barely 1/2 way. My test is scheduled for 2 weeks and I'm thinking just to cancel. Hints anyone?

What kind of training are you doing? For someone your size, you really need to be doing some strength focused training like squats and deadlifts to make up the difference. Not only to pass your PT test, but you're going to be at a significant disadvantage when it comes to just moving objects throughout your career.

 

[Navy_Pete]

Physics suck sometimes, but there are people that size that pass it. It's basically leg strength so squats etc help, and starting with low weights to do practice drags.

I'm built like a lever with another 18" on you, so feel your pain.  It can be a pain to get the bags moving, but you just got to dig down and giver!  Keep working at it and don't give up and you'll be good!  No quick solution, but like everything else, hard work and a good attitude will get you there.

 

[BeyondTheNow]

Make sure you’re using what weight you DO have to its best advantage also. Lean back, almost to where you think your heals will go out from under you, but not quite. Use your body weight to help counteract the weight you’re trying to pull. At your size, it’ll be tough, but yes, it CAN be done. Technique is vitally important.

 

[OceanBonfire]

Update: Silly me. I rewatched the video and I noticed I was doing the 20m rush wrong. At every 20m mark, I was laying down outside of the 20m "distance", similar to the starting point, instead of laying down inside the 20m "distance". Therefore I was adding time and distance. I, properly, re-simulated the 20m rush and got it at 39 seconds.

 

[Deleted member 89807]

Hi, with the force test is there blood pressure readings before and after that affect of you passed overall?

Thanks

 

[Furniture]

I care about the CAF. It bothers me that we are know as the poorest, fattest, most unprofessional looking military in a first world country. 

Your experience of international operations is vastly different from mine. Any time I have worked with NATO/Allied forces we are looked at as consummate professionals, though we are generally the oldest and least fit. I think the lest fit part is in large part because of the oldest part. We are very old as far as militaries go, but that's a topic for a different thread.

As to uniforms, I couldn't order new ones from our system because they were all out of stock.( I ordered new 3s weeks in advance, and still had to wait two weeks to get them after I arrived in Ottawa) I had to go to a Canex three hours away to get a new beret.  I shouldn't have to spend my own money for a silly hat that is supposed to be issued, but to have to go to a different base just to get one is embarrassing. So when the troops have a faded "nondescript" beret maybe they are trying, and our system is failing them. Perhaps after years of the system letting them down with uniforms many people have given up...

For those mentioning orders and fitness, I challenge you to prove that anyone you think it too fat hasn't met the required standard. If your want a "looks good in uniform" standard than that needs to be the standard.
Otherwise to quote a classic:

"What do I think? Let me tell you what I think, Stan. If you want me to wear thirty-seven pieces of flair like your pretty boy Brian over there, then why don't you just make the minimum thirty-seven pieces of flair?"

 

[dimsum]

For those mentioning orders and fitness, I challenge you to prove that anyone you think it too fat hasn't met the required standard. If your want a "looks good in uniform" standard than that needs to be the standard.

That's a very good point.  If the CAF thinks the standard is too low (i.e. people are too fat) then raise the fitness standard.  Then we'll be in US military territory of "tape tests" and BMI nonsense.

 

[OldSolduer]

That's a very good point.  If the CAF thinks the standard is too low (i.e. people are too fat) then raise the fitness standard.  Then we'll be in US military territory of "tape tests" and BMI nonsense.

The BMI thing was done in the early 80s and was dropped.
It rewarded thin unfit people and discredited quite a few people who were fit but a bit chunkier.

 

[Humphrey Bogart]

The BMI thing was done in the early 80s and was dropped.
It rewarded thin unfit people and discredited quite a few people who were fit but a bit chunkier.

BMI is an outdated way of measuring health, it is an indicator but if someone's BMI is high, the military should ask "why is it high?"  Too often we settle for the lowest common denominator.

 

[Navy_Pete]

I hate the BMI; grew up being told I was dangerously underweight and unhealthy (despite doing track, rugby, heavy physical labour etc), which really helps when you are an already shy teen that lacks self confidence. It's an overly simplistic system based on weak science that is misused all the time. It only applies for a specific body type, doesn't work for anyone that is naturally wiry, heavily muscled, or other similar variations.

I assume the uniform is tailored to fit no one well; usually have to go up a few sizes of pants for it to fit on the legs, so looks wonky even after some tailoring, and the shirts aren't any better. Not sure how they manage to be hugely loose around the waist, big around the arms, but tight on the shoulders and riding up the armpits.  Their virtual models must have some really weird proportions not found in nature. The only thing consistent about them is that they never fit well.  Really weird when I can normally buy off the rack stuff no problem and not need any tailoring (with the exception of non-tapered shirts). How people look in uniform should taken with a grain of salt as they make everyone look terrible.

 

[Eye In The Sky]

BMI is still used as part of aircrew medicals...

I challenge you to prove that anyone you think it too fat hasn't met the required standard

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest the 'minimum standard' accepted now in the FORCE test isn't really much of a standard at all.  I'm sure there are people who pass it every year that aren't anywhere near "fit".  Let's be serious here...our acceptable PT standard is actually really low. 

We have some seriously overweight and out-of-shape people in the CAF, I don't see how anyone could seriously deny that.

 

[FJAG]

The BMI thing was done in the early 80s and was dropped.
It rewarded thin unfit people and discredited quite a few people who were fit but a bit chunkier.

Ditto on that. We had one young officer in the unit  who looked obese and really pooched the BMI (and who as a result , quite unfairly, became a constant target of the Bde Comd) but was one of the fittest guys in the unit.

:cheers:

 

[Navy_Pete]

BMI is still used as part of aircrew medicals...

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest the 'minimum standard' accepted now in the FORCE test isn't really much of a standard at all.  I'm sure there are people who pass it every year that aren't anywhere near "fit".  Let's be serious here...our acceptable PT standard is actually really low. 

Ironically thanks to physics being overweight actually makes the sandbag drag easier, as you can let your mass do more of the work when you lean back.  Have seen someone with good technique for quickly getting up and down again actually walk the 'stop/drop/jazz hands' portion.  (I suspect for that one I probably resemble a stunned giraffe falling over and scrambling to get back up)

Glad they went with something more task orientated, but find it's one of those tests where you have to train for the specific movements to really improve the test results (like the belly flop). Because it's time based, kind of an odd one to track progress as well, which is one of those things that is good for fitness motivation. Also need a 28.5" waist measurement to hit the max score, and pretty sure that my skeleton is bigger than that.  Passing is easy but no real motivation to do much more than bang it out without an injury now that I'm older with a messed up back.