The Relationship Between Army Physical Fitness and Functional Capacities in Infantry Members of the Slovenian Armed Forces

ABSTRACT: Šimenko, J, Kovčan, B, Pori, P, Vodičar, J, Vodičar, M, and Hadžić, V. The Relationship between army physical fitness and functional capacities in infantry members of the Slovenian Armed Forces. J Strength Cond Res 35(12): 3506-3512, 2021-The primary purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between traditional army physical fitness test (APFT) and a novel functional testing battery that included countermovement jump (CMJ) testing, stork balANce test, pUll-ups, single leg hAmstring bridge test, and loaded prone pLank test-MANUAL battery. The secondary purpose was to explore additional baseline fitness aspects traditionally not covered by APFT. This cross-sectional study involved 181 Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF) infantry members (age 31.4 ± 6.1 years) that were tested using both the regular annual APFT and the MANUAL battery (testing was conducted 2 weeks apart). At the significance level of p ≤ 0.05, significant but weak associations between the MANUAL testing battery and APFT battery (0.2 ≤ r < 0.5; p ≤ 0.05) were observed. The MANUAL battery has highlighted possible hamstring (less than 20 repetitions on a single leg bridge test in 26% of SAF infantry members) and posterior shoulder pull-up muscle weakness (mean score 5 ± 4 pull-ups). Functional predictors from the MANUAL explained only 33.6% of the APFT score (R2 = 0.336). Significant predictors of APFT score were single leg hamstring left (p = 0.048), loaded plank (p = 0.049), number of pull-ups (p < 0.001), CMJ (p = 0.01), and loaded CMJ (p = 0.026). The findings suggest that higher APFT marks are associated with better performance on the MANUAL tests and indicate the problem of hamstring and pull-up muscle weakness. The general recommendation is that the physical condition military programs should include more exercises to strengthen those muscle groups.