USAF axes the bicycle aerobics test

General Jumper released a policy this week, that all Airmen will
axe the high-tech bicycle aerobics test, and the troops will
return to jogging, push-ups, and sit-ups by 1 January 2004.

Basically the Air Force has axed the last of General McPeaks crap,
and is back online to the days before his social engineering (and
uniform engineering).

The big change, will be in application. The chain of command will
enforce compliance, and not the squadron staff. If an Airman can't
run a mile, or do sit-ups and push-ups, it will be up to his/her
supervisor to fix it. If another 400 people are pushed out the gate
for being too fat, then at least 400 people will have failed in their
duties as leaders (and all that entails career-wise).

That was some of the most wasted money and effort ever followed closely by
"Quality AF", now the money and effort is being wasted on the dogma of "Risk
Management" that is not bad in itself except they've made kingdoms of dogma
and it has become its own entity like all the other boondoggles.
Thats my 2 cents after 20+.
Dave


"S. Sampson" wrote in message
.. .
General Jumper released a policy this week, that all Airmen will
axe the high-tech bicycle aerobics test, and the troops will
return to jogging, push-ups, and sit-ups by 1 January 2004.

Basically the Air Force has axed the last of General McPeaks crap,
and is back online to the days before his social engineering (and
uniform engineering).

The big change, will be in application. The chain of command will
enforce compliance, and not the squadron staff. If an Airman can't
run a mile, or do sit-ups and push-ups, it will be up to his/her
supervisor to fix it. If another 400 people are pushed out the gate
for being too fat, then at least 400 people will have failed in their
duties as leaders (and all that entails career-wise).

"S. Sampson" wrote in message
.. .
General Jumper released a policy this week, that all Airmen will
axe the high-tech bicycle aerobics test, and the troops will
return to jogging, push-ups, and sit-ups by 1 January 2004.

Basically the Air Force has axed the last of General McPeaks crap,
and is back online to the days before his social engineering (and
uniform engineering).

The big change, will be in application. The chain of command will
enforce compliance, and not the squadron staff. If an Airman can't
run a mile, or do sit-ups and push-ups, it will be up to his/her
supervisor to fix it. If another 400 people are pushed out the gate
for being too fat, then at least 400 people will have failed in their
duties as leaders (and all that entails career-wise).

That bicycle test was the dumbest thing ever. We had a marathoner fail, and
a 'drive 1 mile to work smoker/drunk' pass with flying colors.

The people administering it had no clue about cycling dynamics (No, the seat
needs to be this* high, not low enough that my knees hit my chin).

As far as a 'failed leader...sometimes, there is nothing you can do. We had
a guy on the fatboy program, long ago. Got bad enough that he was required
to eat all his meals at the hospital. This he did. In between, he was
sneaking pizzas. Sometimes 2 a day.

We tried. Short of putting the guy in CC, jail, or having him live in
someones living room....nothing would work. He got tossed eventually.

Pete

"Pete" wrote

As far as a 'failed leader...sometimes, there is nothing you can do.

We had the "Commanders 10% Club." If you got to within 10% of
your max weight, you reported to the Gym 3 days a week (even
deployed to Iceland, Bolivia, or Saudi). and then you did aerobics for
an hour, or we jogged at least 1.5 miles after calisthenics. I think it
was a great idea, and very popular. The only excuse was mission
planning or flying. I have an idea that that is what Jumper has in mind
for leadership. That is, the squadron will focus on programs to make
exercise part of the everyday life of today's Airmen.

We had a lot of racket-ball types in the squadron, and I think the
number of people who were on the fat boy/girl program could be
counted on one hand. The rule was, that if you were on the program,
then you were ineligible for promotion, and re-enlistment. I know of
one guy who got booted at 18 years when the commander refused to
let him re-enlist. He never showed up at the 10% club meetings, and
failed to lose weight. His supervisor was nowhere to be found, and
it's these guys, who I think that Jumper wants to get rid of as well.

In my day, exercise was a personal responsibility, and failure meant
that you were personally defective, even if the squadron had no
aerobic programs, or culture of physical training. I don't think
Jumper wants to go back to that, from what I read.

In article ,
S. Sampson wrote:
"Pete" wrote
As far as a 'failed leader...sometimes, there is nothing you can do.

We had the "Commanders 10% Club." If you got to within 10% of
your max weight, you reported to the Gym 3 days a week (even
deployed to Iceland, Bolivia, or Saudi). and then you did aerobics for
an hour, or we jogged at least 1.5 miles after calisthenics. I think it
was a great idea, and very popular...

So the max wasn't really the max, eh, but 10% below the max was actually
the max... I can see the approach now ...

HHQ: your maximum weight is 200 lbs - some insurance guys made these numbers
up but we're gonna use 'em - what's it matter that these numbers
are based on the dietary intakes of people over the last 100 years -
and yes, we know that muscle weighs more than fat - but we're gonna
use 'em anyway cuz we *like* rules.
MAJCOM: your maximum weight is 180 lbs - we take off 10%!
NAF: your maximum weight is 175 lbs - we want a buffer before the commanders
get fired.
WING: your maximum weight is 170 lbs - and you have to join the O'Club to
get promoted.
SQUADRON: Listen up! Any porkies weighing over 165 will not be allowed to
eat lunch - or breakfast - now stay healthy and be happy! Oh
yeah - pay your Club bills.
FLIGHT: You! Yeah, you, lard boy - you obviously eat too much - what do you
weigh? 160!! Good God man, lay off the marshmallows. Now get out
of here and go fly those jets - be sure to make me look good now!
Oh yeah, you're gonna pull double duty until you're a respectable
150 like Worm Boy here. BTW, everyone *will* be at the Club tonight
and *will* listen to the Safety puke's talk about "realistic
zero-accident training" and the Social Action weanie's discussion
of "tolerance in the kinder and gentler AF". Now go get 'em
killers!
JETJOCKEY: ... must eat more aspartame ... which diet pills
are non-detectable? Work. Sleep. No food. Work ...
FLIGHTDOC: No, I don't know why you have trouble staying awake and doing
your job well. Maybe you should eat more and study your
profession and ignore that other stuff.
PROMOTIONBOARD: ... a prime example of poor team attitude - make him a
mister ... good Lord, look at the mustache on that man ...
and he's not skinny! WGAS what his bomb scores are - bombs
on target are old-school - we gotta look good in the shower
and have a "balanced force" first and foremost!

Don't laugh. For years I had to watch my weight as the max for my height 6'
2" was 218, ideal was 176 and I hovered around 205 all the time. Then I got
sick and lost a lot of weight. With exercise to recover, I got down to 178
when I weighed in at Brooks when I went to get back on flying status. The
first thing the flight surgeon told me was "you need to gain about 20
pounds." The doctors didn't even believe the weights in the regs.

Les

"Billy Harvey" wrote in message
...
In article ,
S. Sampson wrote:
"Pete" wrote
As far as a 'failed leader...sometimes, there is nothing you can do.

We had the "Commanders 10% Club." If you got to within 10% of
your max weight, you reported to the Gym 3 days a week (even
deployed to Iceland, Bolivia, or Saudi). and then you did aerobics for
an hour, or we jogged at least 1.5 miles after calisthenics. I think it
was a great idea, and very popular...

So the max wasn't really the max, eh, but 10% below the max was actually
the max... I can see the approach now ...

HHQ: your maximum weight is 200 lbs - some insurance guys made these
numbers
up but we're gonna use 'em - what's it matter that these numbers
are based on the dietary intakes of people over the last 100 years -
and yes, we know that muscle weighs more than fat - but we're gonna
use 'em anyway cuz we *like* rules.
MAJCOM: your maximum weight is 180 lbs - we take off 10%!
NAF: your maximum weight is 175 lbs - we want a buffer before the
commanders
get fired.
WING: your maximum weight is 170 lbs - and you have to join the O'Club to
get promoted.
SQUADRON: Listen up! Any porkies weighing over 165 will not be allowed to
eat lunch - or breakfast - now stay healthy and be happy! Oh
yeah - pay your Club bills.
FLIGHT: You! Yeah, you, lard boy - you obviously eat too much - what do
you
weigh? 160!! Good God man, lay off the marshmallows. Now get
out
of here and go fly those jets - be sure to make me look good now!
Oh yeah, you're gonna pull double duty until you're a respectable
150 like Worm Boy here. BTW, everyone *will* be at the Club
tonight
and *will* listen to the Safety puke's talk about "realistic
zero-accident training" and the Social Action weanie's discussion
of "tolerance in the kinder and gentler AF". Now go get 'em
killers!
JETJOCKEY: ... must eat more aspartame ... which diet pills
are non-detectable? Work. Sleep. No food. Work ...
FLIGHTDOC: No, I don't know why you have trouble staying awake and doing
your job well. Maybe you should eat more and study your
profession and ignore that other stuff.
PROMOTIONBOARD: ... a prime example of poor team attitude - make him a
mister ... good Lord, look at the mustache on that man ...
and he's not skinny! WGAS what his bomb scores are - bombs
on target are old-school - we gotta look good in the shower
and have a "balanced force" first and foremost!

"Les Matheson" wrote
Don't laugh. For years I had to watch my weight as the max for my height 6'
2" was 218, ideal was 176 and I hovered around 205 all the time. Then I got
sick and lost a lot of weight. With exercise to recover, I got down to 178
when I weighed in at Brooks when I went to get back on flying status. The
first thing the flight surgeon told me was "you need to gain about 20
pounds." The doctors didn't even believe the weights in the regs.

Doctors are always giving NCO's weight waivers. General Jumper, as part of
his new program, says that doctors and staff don't get a vote, only the chain
of command gets a vote (who I'm sure will weigh the doctors opinions).

"Pete" wrote in message
...

"S. Sampson" wrote in message
.. .
General Jumper released a policy this week, that all Airmen will
axe the high-tech bicycle aerobics test, and the troops will
return to jogging, push-ups, and sit-ups by 1 January 2004.

Basically the Air Force has axed the last of General McPeaks crap,
and is back online to the days before his social engineering (and
uniform engineering).

The big change, will be in application. The chain of command will
enforce compliance, and not the squadron staff. If an Airman can't
run a mile, or do sit-ups and push-ups, it will be up to his/her
supervisor to fix it. If another 400 people are pushed out the gate
for being too fat, then at least 400 people will have failed in their
duties as leaders (and all that entails career-wise).

That bicycle test was the dumbest thing ever. We had a marathoner fail,
and
a 'drive 1 mile to work smoker/drunk' pass with flying colors.

The people administering it had no clue about cycling dynamics (No, the
seat
needs to be this* high, not low enough that my knees hit my chin).

As far as a 'failed leader...sometimes, there is nothing you can do. We
had
a guy on the fatboy program, long ago. Got bad enough that he was required
to eat all his meals at the hospital. This he did. In between, he was
sneaking pizzas. Sometimes 2 a day.

Sometimes it's just that persons tough luck to be born a fat person. If
thats the case the only solution is to medically discharge him.



We tried. Short of putting the guy in CC, jail, or having him live in
someones living room....nothing would work. He got tossed eventually.

Pete

It's not the last- we still have composite wings and a business suit for a
uniform.

Hopefully the General will go back to the old "four pocket" dress blues
eventually too !
Just my 2 cents

Jim
SAC Cop
78-88

Fit To Fight

Our superb Total Force performance in Operations
ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM secured
our reputation as the greatest Air Force in the world. We
should all take great pride in that. Our execution of the war plan
was also consistent with our core values. Integrity, in that we
upheld the highest standards of performance, learned from the
things we could have done better, and will make ourselves better
as a result; service before self, in that 40,000 warriors deployed
forward, supported by thousands more back home, to do the right
thing for the people of Iraq and to play our part in the joint air, land,
and sea effort; and excellence, in that we demonstrated the ability to
plan and execute air and space missions with a degree of precision
never before achieved. When looking at our Air Force overall, I am
very pleased. One aspect of our Total Force that does need
improvement, however, is our physical fitness.

About ten years ago, we transitioned to fitness testing based on the
cycle ergometry test. This was done to preclude injuries experienced in
the previous 1.5-mile run format. It was also deemed a more precise and
high-tech way to measure aerobic performance. My belief is that we are
a much different Air Force today. We deploy to all regions of the world,
living in tent cities and working on flight lines in extremes of temperatures.
Some of our airmen today are operating from inside Iraq, subject to attack,
and could be called upon to help defend the base, a trend that will surely
increase in the growing expeditionary nature of our business. The amount
of energy we devote to our fitness programs is not consistent with the
growing demands of our warrior culture. It's time to change that.

We will soon release a new fitness program that gets back to the basics
of running, sit-ups, and pushups. There will be accommodations made
for those who aren't able to run for legitimate reasons. The cycle ergometry
test may still be used for those not medically cleared to run. We are planning
to issue physical training (PT) gear as part of the program and to put
responsibility for PT in the chain of command, not with the medical community
or the commander's support staff. I expect this effort to be led from the top,
starting with commanders and senior NCOs, and I expect those who have
trouble meeting the standards to be helped by others in their unit until they do
meet the standard. Physical fitness should also be an area of concern for the
Air Force civil servants. I encourage the civilian members of our Air Force
organizations to join with their uniformed peers in participating in this program.

While we have weight and body fat standards that we must meet, there will be some,
weightlifters in particular, who may be perfectly fit but not meet these standards. This
is where I expect commanders to step in and make a decision. Everyone will have to
pass the commander's eyeball test about how fit we are to wear the uniform. Every
year we muster out about 400 people from our Air Force because of fitness issues.
We should ask ourselves how many of those people were really trying to meet the
standard and how many leaders and supervisors took an active part -- getting out
and running with them, etc. -- in helping them meet the standard.

We will start this program on 1 January 2004 so there is plenty of time for us to get
ready. You can use me as a benchmark. I am currently recovering from abdominal
surgery and am not allowed to run for another two weeks. I won't be able to do any
sit-ups for another month. During the first week in January I plan to lead all Air Force
General Officers in the Pentagon and the Washington, DC area in the PT test. During
the same week, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Murray will do the same thing
with our Command Chiefs in the area. We will follow that with the colonels, the
remaining chief master sergeants, etc. We will ask the MAJCOM commanders to
lead similar efforts as their operational situations allow.

I think all of us can agree that we were disappointed with the fitness standards we found
when we came into the operational Air Force. We expected to be required to sustain
the standards required in basic training, the Air Force Academy, ROTC, or Officer
Training School. Let's not disappoint ourselves any longer. The message is simple:
if you are out of shape, fix it. If you have people in your squadron who need help, help
them. January 2004 is the date. Be ready.

General Jumper