Effect a period of selective military training on physical fitness, body mass index, mental health and mood in officer students

One of the main parts of the military exercises is to prepare physically training. There are not any detailed knowledge of the effectiveness of training programs on psychological and fitness indicators of the officer students till now. This study was investigated the influence of the 12-week military’s training on fitness, body mass index, mental health and mood officer students.

A quasi-experimental trial was conducted in this field. Ninety student officers from one of the military universities, Entrance 2010, were selected. Seventy individuals in the experimental group and 20 subjects in control group were recruited. Aerobic performance, agility, muscular endurance and body mass index were measured in the early period (first week), medium term (sixth week) and at the end of the course (twelfth week).. Mental health and temperament scales of the questionnaire were assessed by Goldberg (GHQ-28) questionnaire and Brooms respectively.

A course of military selective training was a significant effect on the aerobic performance (the 1600 m run test time), agility performance (time of test 4x9 m run), and muscular endurance performance (test scores of sit up and pull up) on the experimental group (p=0.000). While there was no significant effect into their body mass index, mental health and mood scores.

The findings were based on the physical performance indicators in the combination with behavioral and physical indicators as more sensitive to military exercises. And the development of fitness indicators and a negative impact on the behavioral indicators of this exercise is beneficial for the officer students.