Explaining Performance on Military Tasks in the Canadian Armed Forces: The Importance of Morphological and Physical Fitness Characteristics.

ABSTRACT

Several occupations apply physical fitness tests to assess occupational physical performance to confirm that their employees meet minimum physical employment standards. Knowledge about factors affecting performance on these physical fitness tests could provide valuable information concerning mode of training. The main purpose of this study was to determine which morphological and/or physiological characteristics could explain overall performance outcome on six complex military tasks used to measure Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members' occupational fitness. Measures of morphology (height, weight, and body composition) and physical fitness (grip strength, shuttle run time, and plank time etc.), together with performance on six common military tasks were recorded from female (n = 127) and male (n = 294) CAF members. Results showed large differences in both morphology and physical fitness between top and bottom performers in both the male and female group. Despite large differences in morphology, multiple linear regression analyses showed that measures of upper body strength and aerobic capacity could explain a large part of the performance variability in both the male and female group. This study showed that total performance on the CAF military physical fitness test is dependent on physical fitness rather than morphology.