Retired sergeant major shares his PT knowledge

  • Published
  • By Airman Alex Martinez
  • 90th Space Wing Public Affairs
The importance of maintaining proficient physical fitness is critical for service members. They have to be able to deploy on short notice and perform any tasks brought before them in a deployed environment. 

There are many ways to reach this level of fitness, and a program at Warren that can help Airmen meet the minimum requirements of Air Force physical fitness and exceed the requirements in just eight weeks. 

For those eight weeks, participants' limits are tested on what they can achieve physically. Many different combinations of exercises are used and all relate to the three basic exercises of push-ups, sit-ups and running. 

"You will not only pass your fitness test, you'll max it out," said Steve Walls, an Army sergeant major who retired in 1998. 

Sgt. Maj. Walls designed the program using his Army experiences, such as serving in Vietnam and being a drill sergeant in the 1980s. 

"I've been doing this for almost four years now," Sgt. Maj. Walls said. "The idea just bloomed from my time spent in the service." 

The rigorous eight weeks sets participants up for success in many ways other than just increasing the amount of times they can do an exercise. Proper stretching and proper technique are instructed for best results. 

"The Army uses a different technique than the Air Force does," said Lt. Col. David Alcorn, 90th Missile Security Forces Squadron commander. "You learn to perfect the technique of the exercises. It builds your form up." 

Colonel Alcorn completed the program in November and said it's important to stay in shape because in a deployed environment he would want to know that the person next to him is in shape to do the mission. 

"I wanted to do the program because I'm going into a career field that requires a lot of physical fitness, so I want to be on the same level as the males in the training," said Senior Airman Angela Burns, 37th Helicopter Squadron, who also completed the program in November. 

Colonel Alcorn and Airman Burns were in the program at the same time and both reached a level that was outstanding in Army physical fitness. In addition to passing their personal goals, they received the Army Physical Fitness Excellence Badge, which requires people to score higher then a 90 percent in all fields of the Army physical fitness test. 

"I surpassed my goal," Airman Burns said. "I would recommend to anyone who is going to do the program to stick with it. It's worth the payoff." 

Any service member may join the program and should start on the program's first week, which focuses mostly on teaching the techniques. The next program begins May 2, 2007 at 5:30 a.m. in Independence Hall and will continue every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.