Getting into ‘PT’ shape Published June 19, 2009 By Irvin Gourdine 43rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. -- Imagine constantly running up and down a 100-by-60 yard field. That's what a typical soccer player does every time he steps on to the field. Soccer players have to be in great shape since they must stay in constant motion on a field that size. Now imagine the kind of workout soccer players do to stay in such good shape. Downsize the workout soccer players do, and it is similar to the 2nd Airlift Squadron's Warrior Fit physical training improvement program. Chief Master Sgt. Phillip Poole, 43rd Operations Group superintendent, started this program in 2002 to improve the PT scores of airmen within his squadron. Going on seven years strong, the Warrior Fit program has become a mainstay on Pope. Airmen from various squadrons along with spouses, FTAC Airmen, civilians and dependents have all participated in the program. "Other squadron PT leaders have come out to watch what we do and then included some of the workouts in their PT training", said Chief Poole. The key to the workouts is working your muscles until they're sore and pushing yourself to continue. Each day is a different workout targeting different muscle groups. Push-up Day With these grueling workouts a participant can expect to do about 330 Push-ups in a 20-minute time period. There are many different kinds of Push-ups involved in this workout, with different names like creed, ratchet, quarter, six-pack, spider man, curbside, popup, one-arm bandit, crossover, super fly, solar plexus and the segment Push-up, which is the least favorite workout amongst participants. Abs Day Like Push-up day, a participant should expect to do many odd named sit-hops like ratchet, popup, six-pack, slow burn, elevated, quarter, rabbit, micro-burst, plank, swimmer's bridge, lateral bridge and the praying mantis. There are approximately 285 sit-hops done in this day, and it is the only workout day that doesn't involve running. Sprint Day Sprinting is the reason for such success in Warrior Fit. Workouts consist of sprinting as few as 50 yards to as long as 600 yards combination exercises like the maze, spider, X-box, last person up sprint, sprint forward sprints and mini to max sprints. There are also timed sprints and 16 140-yard sprints. Some sprint days are known as combo sprint days, which is when other exercises are performed between each sprint. Quad Day This day focuses on lower quads and calves. Workouts include the skier's squat, the frogger, clock froggers, flops, curbside crawlers, breakdown, spider, giant step, scissors, advanced/reverser skier's squat, holding up the wall and various leg lifts. Honor Day Honor Day is the most popular of all the workout days. Participants run six miles while completing every type of Warrior Fit sprint while paying tribute to memorials on base. Those memorials are for Lt. Col. Jay Zeamer, Lt. Joseph Sarnoski, Master Sgt. Gary Chancellor, Tech. Sgts. Will Jefferson and Ryan Gonzales and Senior Airman Ashton Goodman. During the run they perform what is known as a 21-gun salute, where they do 21 popup Push-ups at each memorial. For an individual to graduate Warrior Fit they must meet Air Force PT standards. After graduating, individuals are recognized by an amped up workout session where every exercise is taken to its max. About 50 percent of individuals participating in Warrior Fit have already graduated. More than 40 percent of the individuals who participate are already in good shape, but that wasn't the case for Tech Sgt. Gary Bradshaw, 2nd Airlift Squadron. He has seen his PT score increase from 31.20 in August 2008 to 78.50 in May 2009. He improved his push-ups from 20 to 52, crunches from 27 to 51 and his 1.5 mile time of 17:27 decrease to 12:42. "The workouts that are included in Warrior fit are pretty diverse--lots of running, different types of push-ups and sit-ups. Trust me you do not get bored", Sergeant Bradshaw said. "Most of all I've noticed that almost all the workouts use your own body mass against you. No expensive props or videos, just old-fashioned, in your face PT." He is the 50th Airman who met the Air Force physical fitness standards through the Warrior Fit PT program. Sergeant Bradshaw said if it weren't for this program, his career would have been in jeopardy. " For once in my career, I'm looking forward to my next PT test", he said.