Remedial Fitness Program

[Tim Day]

Has anyone instituted a program or other means of assisting new cadets who don't meet the PT standard for Curry to increase their fitness levels? This may not be an explicit CAP role, however, I'd like to know if there are resources folks have used to successfully help people.

[PHall]

Kinda hard to get someone in shape when you only see them once a week.

[Ned]

Lt Col Day,

There are a lot of great resources out there, but start with our own CAP Pamphelt 52-18, the Cadet Physical Fitness Program, which talks about things like nutrition and helping cadets meet the goals and standards of the program.

I'd also suggest a quick meeting with the cadet's PE instructor(s) at school.  Few students have PE daily these days, but the PE teachers are professionals with experience and training in helping youth achieve fitness.  If you can share with them the standards the cadet needs to achieve for the Curry, they will almost certainly be able to suggest a program for the cadet/student that will lead to success, as well as potentially providing some individualized coaching and assistance.

(I get the impression that relatively few middle or high school students go to their PE teachers anymore to specficially get guidance on how to improve their fitness.  I think the coaches will be overjoyed to have a student come to them for help.)

There was a period of time that I struggled on the Army's APFT.  I looked around for various programs that would help me improve.  But ultimately, if I was being tested on pushups, situps, and running, I found the best program to improve involved a lot of pushups, situps, and running.

Thank you for watching out for your future Curry cadets!

Ned Lee

[Tim Day]

Ned,

I appreciate the suggestion to meet with the cadet's PE instructor. I'll speak to the cadet's parents about setting up an appointment.

I appreciate the CAPP 52-18 but I'm looking for how units have successfully implemented programs that have addressed the issue of our new cadets who do not meet those minimum standards and likely will not without some sort of the "...coaching and encouragement" the pamphlet states will be needed for some cadets.   

For example, has anyone created a weekly PT activity outside of meetings (Saturdays, etc)? Special classes for those who aren't making it? How have people balanced the need to tailor the coaching and encouragement with the acute self-consciousness of a 12-14 year old who doesn't meet the standard?

[Brit_in_CAP]

We adopted the 'engage the school' concept and it generally works.  We also insist that every cadet participates in PT, every month, no exceptions unless sick or waivered.  I had a cadet from another wing who transferred to us, and he being a senior grade was found to be organizing the monthly PT with no intent to participate as he had 'passed for his next grade'.  He also expressed astonishment that the adult staff were even involved as his previous staff had not been.  Finally, he had to be taken aside for counseling when he said he was amazed to find officers who led from the front...

I took that rather personally as did the Deputy Commander.  We both make a point of leading the drills and the run or, in my case, being the 'whipper in'..  

Getting back to the thread...We did have a suggestion from a senior cadet, later senior member, that we run some form of Saturday PT or evening PT.  In the end, we did not do this because we were unable to guarantee proper supervision.  One thing we do try to do is to not always run just the PT testing; some times, we'll have some flag football, soccer drills, volleyball etc to encourage more activity.

Where we have had great success is an informal program taken by our Deputy Commander and the Cadet Flight Commander; both of them have been trained in giving exercise classes - he in the Army Reserve and the cadet via her school program - and they take a cadet who is struggling and show them how to perform the exercise correctly, in cadence where appropriate.  Each week they check on the cadet to see how they're doing and we measure the improvement each month.  The Cadet Flight Commander also leads some of the other activities on PT night, which the cadets really enjoy as it involves some 'games for points' and not just exercises.

[SamFranklin]

There's a run-walk plan for the mile run in the New Cadet Guide.  Page 6. 

http://capmembers.com/media/cms/New_Cadet_Guide_Collected__Reduced_15A1D3E72608D.pdf

[Walkman]

I see basically two kinds of cadets at the moment. The first category are those that are or have been active in some sort of sports and have a baseline understanding about exercise and keeping in shape. They know they have to do at least a little bit of exercise daily to pass the PT test. They've had parents and coaches over the years that established and encouraged a physically healthy mindset (for the most part). CAdets in this category usually don't have much trouble passing their PT test just doing PT once a month in the unit.

The second category are cadets who have not really been involved in any sort of organized athletics or exercise aside from PE in school. Many times these cadets don't do well in PE and they don't have any adult influences outside of the gym teacher guiding them. They also often have a mindet of "I can't" when it comes to physical activity.

This is where a good CAP unit can really make a difference in their lives. I'm working on having a short PT session for every weekly meeting (except for Blues night). 15 minutes at the meeting with proper instruction and encouragement can being to establish the correct thinking about regularity of exercise and healthy lifestyles. It also allows for them to have more frequent encouragement from their peers. In PS class at school, they may not have the rest of the class cheering them on to try harder and that they can do it, which reinforces the "I can't" attitude. During squadron PT, the whole unit should be cheering everyone on.

Another thing to help is to have one of the other cadets from the first category take them under their wing and mentor them. With proper guidance from a good SM, the mentee cadet can really help that cadet change their mindset of exercise. We had a great c/CC in UTWG that was like that. We has a state champ cross country runner, and one year he came in first during NCC for the mile run. Dude was fast. When he wasn't doing his actual PT test run, he would hang back with the slower runners and help them stay motivated. Not in a Gunny Hartman way, but the right way.