Inadequate calorie consumption adversely affects performance and injury frequency in Military Initial Entry Training.
The College of Exercise Science is proud to serve our military servicemembers and their families, and is vested in their success as they enter initial training, actively serve, or transition as veterans.
To date, the American population has become less active due to changes in lifestyle factors such as increases in screentime in the place of physical activity, reductions in physically active jobs, and reduced active transportation. Consequently, fitness levels of civilians entering military service are lower, as evidenced by increases in failure rates on the initial fitness assessment. Initial Entry Training (IET) is a mentally and physically demanding military training program designed to transform civilians into soldiers. Adequate dietary intake is imperative for promoting adaptation and prevention of musculoskeletal injury in response to large volumes of physical training. A study of 111 male soldiers, conducted by Jeremy McAdam, Kaitlin McGinnis, Rian Ory et al, uncovered that male IET soldiers did not consume adequate calories and nutrients to meet training needs during red phase (weeks one through three). This directly affected soldier performance and increased injury frequency. The estimated total daily energy expenditure was on average 3238 ± 457 kcals/d during weeks two and three of IET. The good news is that we now can help those entering into service to prepare by knowing that a baseline of 3,300 calories on average should be the target daily caloric intake through the initial three weeks of IET training. Sufficient caloric intake will support performance and reduce injury through the entire process.
Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 201815:55
