Effects of Task-Specific and Strength Training on Simulated Military Task Performance in Soldiers

• Main Authors: Tommi Ojanen, Keijo Häkkinen, Jaakko Hanhikoski, Heikki Kyröläinen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-10-01
• Series: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Subjects: neuromuscular performance; strength training; task-specific; occupational test; military; soldier
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/21/8000

A soldier’s occupational physical task requirements are diverse and varied. However, the type of physical training that most effectively improves soldiers’ occupational task requirements has not been studied previously. The purpose of this study was to determine the important strength characteristics for soldiers during a repeated simulated military task course, and the type of training that may be effective to improve these abilities during a specialized military training period. Forty-two (<i>n</i> = 42) soldiers participated in the study. They were divided into three training groups; a soldier task-specific training group (TSG, <i>n</i> = 17), a strength training group (STG, <i>n</i> = 15), and a control group (CON, <i>n</i> = 10). Participants were measured before (PRE), middle (MID) and after (POST) the 12-week training intervention for strength performance and simulated military task test. Simulated military task performance improved significantly in TSG and STG between the PRE and MID measurements (from 9.4 to 15.7%). TSG and STG improved in various spilt times, especially in strength tasks; casualty drag (from 8.3 to 13.6%) and kettlebell carry (from 13.2 to 22.4%) between the PRE and MID measurements. The present study showed that both the training of TSG and STG were more effective than the training of CON (control group) in terms of improving the performance in the repeated simulated military task course. The present study showed that training of TSG was as effective as STG to improve repeated simulated military task course time. Therefore, an optimal training combination should include high-intensity simulated military task field training and strength training programmed with consideration of the military training phase and environmental possibilities.