JBLM soldiers working to ‘maintain (physical) readiness’ using virtual home workouts
When COVID-19 caused a shut down of normal base operations on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Isaiah Phelps, lead strength and conditioning coach for the 5th battalion, 3rd field artillery regiment, had to rethink how he could help soldiers maintain physical fitness without access to equipment.
“We had to think about what can they do with just their body weight,” Phelps said. “What can they do that offers variation so it doesn’t get monotonous and offers fluctuating stressors throughout the week?”
The coaches opted for a five-day workout model with instructional videos on Instagram and Facebook that soldiers could do in their own homes with no equipment or using household items like chairs, tables, potted plants or books.
Ryan Jernstrom started his job as the 5-3 FAB assistant strength and conditioning coach in March. The COVID-19 pandemic had already caused JBLM to go to “mission essential,” meaning Jernstrom began his job from home. His fiancee helped him record videos of the workouts in their apartment. He didn’t meet any of the soldiers he’d be working with or Phelps until June 1, but the soldiers already recognized Jernstrom as the “social media guy.”
“People recognize me and they felt way more comfortable with me because they saw the videos,” Jernstrom said. “So now there’s already trust there and I’m not just some random guy walking around.”
Jernstrom and Phelps are civilian trainers and work with soldiers as part of Heath and Holistic Fitness, a program the Army implemented in 2018. They were already part of reworking the physical training program for the 5-3 FAB alongside Capt. Samantha Morgan, the H2F program coordinator and the battalion’s physical therapist.
Morgan said H2F is trying to implement a culture change in the Army, where soldiers ask for help not only when they’re instructed to or when they’re in trouble. She said they’re trying to make sure soldiers maintain physical, emotional and mental wellness that lasts beyond their career in the military.
While soldiers weren’t able to do physical training in person, the H2F team was concerned soldiers wouldn’t keep up with daily workouts, and that too many additional stressors would hurt their ability to focus on what the Army calls “maintaining readiness.”
“COVID is stressful enough,” Phelps said. “So how do we give them just a little bit of fitness every day while not adding to their everyday stress.”
The H2F program also focuses on emotional and mental well-being. Morgan said that was a chief concern of the team once they weren’t seeing soldiers every day.
“In our unit we have everyone from an 18-year-old soldier who just came in and might live in the barracks to people with kids and a spouse who may or may not have a job,” Morgan said. “Our goal was just to see if we could help them just get through this an easier.”
In early June, soldiers were able to get back to physical training primarily in person. Phelps said there’s been more engagement and better communication between them and the soldiers.
“That’s one positive of what’s happened, is that they want to seek out more resources,” Phelps said. “There are a lot more questions because they essentially missed four months of training with weights and with us around, but one of the huge misconceptions among the soldiers is they think they can make up for the time they lost.”
Phelps said they had to work slowly to increase intensity during workouts to prevent injuries, but getting back into the same or greater physical fitness is not going to happen quickly.
For the most part, people seemed to be jumping back into normal routines, albeit at a reduced capacity.
“Normal PT you’d have 20 to 80 people doing the same exercises at the same time,” Morgan said. “Now we’re doing fire team-sized elements, which means no more than five people are doing a workout together at one time.”
But after positive cases of COVID-19 started to rise in Pierce County, and JBLM reported reaching a record number of cases on the installation, most soldiers are back to virtual physical training.
The 5-3 FAB are able to have groups of two to three using equipment in a “Gym in a Box.” The GIB is in a small shipping container and includes everything from kettlebells to a hex bar and battle ropes.
But Morgan said the virtual workouts are important so they can reach soldiers where they are.
“For people who don’t live in the barracks or have kids who are home from school and aren’t able to get childcare we have those home workouts,” Morgan said. She added that home workouts are also convenient when soldiers are away from JBLM.
“We have some big exercises where we’ll have people all over, so, our emphasis is still going to be putting the content on social media because that’s an easy way for soldiers to have access to us.”
