At Luke, it’s gospel to preach combat fitness - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

At Luke, it’s gospel to preach combat fitness

Airmen keep calling Sherri Biringer — all with the same question: How can we get combat fitness training centers like the ones she oversees at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz.?

As fitness specialist supervisor for the 56th Force Support Squadron, Biringer is the one to ask. She has helped open Luke’s four combat fitness venues — the newest one on Jan. 21.

Three are gyms and the fourth is an outdoor area. The gyms have machines and weights as well as classes in wrestling, self-defense and CrossFit, a commercial fitness regimen popular with elite athletes and used widely by other services and law enforcement agencies.

“I have been in contact with 10 bases,” said Biringer, who oversees the 35 certified CrossFit instructors at Luke who teach 100 to 150 airmen a day. “They are interested in how we built [the combat fitness venues], how we funded them and the certification for the instructors.”

So far, at least seven bases besides Luke are offering formal CrossFit training, according to company officials: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio; Ramstein Air Base, Germany; Bolling Air Force Base, Washington, D.C.; Dover Air Force Base, Del.; Moody Air Force Base, Ga.; Buckley Air Force Base, Col.; and MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.

Luke introduced the Air Force to CrossFit in late 2008, shortly after base commander Brig. Gen. Kurt Neubauer arrived. He began the workout program during a deployment in Iraq, he said, and decided his airmen deserved every opportunity to be as fit as they could be.

Another CrossFit center opened just this year at Wright-Patterson. Jarvis Gym, outfitted with $35,000 in equipment, started holding its first CrossFit classes Jan. 7. Now there are seven classes a day, and they’re increasing in size as the program catches on, said Capt. Ed Schlegel, the lead CrossFit instructor at Wright-Patterson.

A month before Jarvis, Tech. Sgt. Matt Doornbos started CrossFit training on his own. Sticking with the program is easier now with classes on base, and Doornbos estimates his legs are already 30 percent stronger and he has more energy and better endurance, too.

“I’m already down 10 pounds and I can see the muscle definition in my legs and arms coming out,” he said.

Wright-Pat officials approved funding for Jarvis after they saw the combat responsibilities of their airmen deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, said Chief Master Sgt. John Hoffman, command chief of the 88th Air Base Wing.

“As our roles and missions are changing a lot and we are expected to do more [joint expeditionary taskings] … this is a wonderful addition to [an airman’s] fitness regime,” he said.

Combat fitness, though, is not all about CrossFit, the fitness specialists stressed. Luke, for example played host Nov. 3 to about 30 airmen taking a course called Range Fitness. After exercising — in boots, helmets and Kevlar — to get their heart rates above 145 beats a minute, the participants had to shoot at targets. They were scored on accuracy.

“It really tests how you will react to the stress out there,” said Rob Shaul, a Coast Guard officer-turned-strength coach who led the course. “It’s a lot different when things are flying at you and your heart rate starts going than just shooting at the range.”

Range Fitness doesn’t focus only on shooting; it’s about developing the fitness to perform fine motor skills under duress.

Shaul also works with Air Force tactical air control parties, or TACPs, and pararescuemen, better know as PJs. He tested PJs on inserting an IV and the TACPs on setting up antennas.

“It’s all about how they will react when it matters. When they are wearing their kit and helmets, not their running shoes and shorts,” he said.

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