Lifestyle Activity to Improve Fitness Among National Guard

The overall goal of this study randomized controlled study is to positively influence the readiness posture of Army National Guard personnel by increasing physical activity and physical fitness and reducing coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors through the integration of moderate to high intensity physical activity into their current military and civilian lifestyle. Specifically, the focus of this Army National Guard-Active For Life Program is to increase the probability of long-term adherence by designing the program to fit the lifestyle of national guard personnel. This program will be compared to the traditional Army Physical Fitness Program. The proposed study will be driven by two specific aims.

The primary aim of this study is to test the effectiveness of the Army National Guard- Active For Life Program to increase moderate to high intensity physical activity and improve cardiorespiratory fitness in Army National Guard personnel compared with the traditional Army Physical Fitness Program. We hypothesize that compared to the traditional Army Physical Fitness Program, those individuals participating in the 12-week Active for Life Program and its subsequent 12-week maintenance program will demonstrate greater improvements at week 12 and a sustainment of those improvements at week 24 in moderate to high intensity physical activity, the 2-mile run of the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT), and the total score on the APFT test. The secondary aim of this study is to compare changes in CHD risk factors from baseline to 12- and 24- weeks and differences in changes between the Active For Life Program and the traditional Army Physical Fitness Program.

The Active For Life Program uses a 3-phase approach: phase one utilizes a pedometer as a motivator to accumulate 10,000 steps a day through military and civilian lifestyle activities; phase 2 uses an accelerometer to increase the intensity of the activities; and phase 3 focuses on sustaining activity gains, i.e. adopting a physically active lifestyle. A behavioral-based intervention will be delivered by telephone, mailings and monthly meetings. The control group will follow the traditional Army Physical Fitness Program. Findings of this research provide the scientific basis for a time efficient program that improves physical fitness with potential for broad application in the Army National Guard and other services.

Final report is available on NTRL: https://ntrl.ntis.gov/NTRL/dashboard/searchResults/titleDetail/PB2011100...