Should Physical Training be the first event on the training schedule?

When i have an over weight Soldier or a Soldier that can not pass the APFT the first thing we talk about it their diet. reason being most of the time they are meal card holders and the defac is not a very healthy place to eat food it cheep not cooked well and just fatty. i would love to not have to talk about their diet but they learn nothing in the nutrition class because it is only a check the box 1 hour class. in my experience once they are eating right and loosing weight they can pass a PT Test much easier. so i do agree this should be the main focus of a first line leader. 

Sir, if I may caveat to your recent post... I completely agree. I have held the title of 'director' in the civilian sector with LA Fitness gyms. I work with a lot of soldiers in my unit currently looking to improve their APFT scores. It is unfortunate, but I do believe we need to incorporate 'more' education about health and fitness. In my opinion, 'Army Move' should not be a program just geared towards overweight soldiers, but should be a consistent part of soldier readiness. As a current Army reservist, I am disappointed to see so many unfit soldiers.It doesn't necessarily have to mean, count calories and find a temporary fix before their next APFT. Let's educate our fellow soldiers. Eating throughout the day doesn't need to be a 'negative' thing. Let's increase metabolism and focus on healthier snacks. I am non-believer in fad diets. I DO support a healthy lifestyle. Too often, I see soldiers that think they need to count calories, but then they are eating foods with no nutritional value. 

I agree the Army Command environment seems so focused as a whole on putting check marks in boxes.  It also Caters often times to "Gym Rats" who only real value often times to the military as a whole is the fact that they can pass a PT test with a 300.   It  is also seen in line unit that there are several soldiers who score high on a PT test, but if you watch as they perform the situps, that they are clearly “popping” their butts.  While the soldier in the lane next to them is doing them slow and perfect, but does not get the same encouragement as he is not a star.  We as a unit are in a sense encouraging out soldiers to “cheat.”

I agree with being physically in shape enough to take a PT test to standard.  But learning how to do a repetition and do it well does not measure overall physical fitness.  This is why so many Soldiers spend time doing Crossfit and other regimes not sponsored by the Military.

I have been counseled and have counseled soldiers with this blanket statement, “A Fit soldier is a healthy soldier.”  So we do acknowledge the relevance and relationship of the two.  However the Army Physical Fitness Gurus fail to recognize metabolism that go with body types.    As can be seen at this URL: http://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/body-types-ectomorph-mesomorph-endomorph.html there are clearly 3 types.  But when a soldier is lacking we treat them all as Mesomorphs with an average metabolism and little difficulty gaining muscle.  I don’t know how many times I have been told to just do more pushups and that will increase your score.  To lose weight just watch your calorie intake and take a supplement.  As you can clearly see, being an atypical Endomorph that is not the right answer.

We as a whole, not including the medical community, fail to also recognize a myriad of health issues, such as bad thyroid or low testosterone.  These inhibit all sorts of things, such as inability to lose weight and to recover quickly from a stringent work out.  What we do though is discriminate “bigger” people no matter what expertise and experience they bring to the fight.  We harass them into depression and then wonder why they continue to not meet the standard.  To answer this…we continue to harass them.  Then question our command on why we are sitting in the 4th Suicide prevention class of the year.

As a signal “guy” I often find it hard to even find time to sleep; needless to say find time to work out when supporting mission critical communications.  I am happy meeting the minimum score.  That is not to say I don’t desire to have a better score.  It is just saying for the time I put in I am glad I can make it to standard.  With all the additional training Signal Folks have to do and maintain it is no wonder it is hard for the Army to retain highly trained individuals.  Mind you these same individuals with this high end expertise training can make a lot more money on the outside.  They are in the Army because some spark and desire to serve keeps them here.  I think our commands need to be more in tune with job and skill performance while helping a soldier gain a healthy body that is physically fit as well through support and proper guidance.  Not counseling and threats or counseling and repeated punitive physical training.