Alaska Guardsmen participate in Master Fitness Trainer Course

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Story by Pfc. Grace Nechanicky
Alaska National Guard Public Affairs

Twenty Alaska Army National Guard and active duty U.S. Army Soldiers are participating in the Master Fitness Trainer Course that was offered here by instructors from Fort Benning, Georgia starting July 14, 2019.

The purpose of the MFT program is to train Soldiers in strength and resistance programs, enabling them to then train the Soldiers within their units.

Every unit has an MFT, who is the individual responsible for planning and executing the physical readiness training for the unit. Trainers are required to complete this course in order to be fully qualified to train and design exercises for Soldiers in their units.

“All of our training has some form of progression so we’re following our big four principles: specificity, overload, progression and variation,” said Staff Sgt. Mark White, Master Fitness Trainer Course NCOIC, “We’re trying to program an overload at a progressive level that can meet their specific demands and that can give them enough variables so that they’re going to continue making training.”

According to White, the purpose of the MFT program is to ensure Soldiers stay physically fit and healthy overall. The program participants not only learn about how to exercise more effectively and efficiently, but they learn how to build on top of base principles and teach other Soldiers to do the same.

“We’re talking about training Soldiers to progress throughout their career and maintain a high level of physical fitness, for a 20-year career,” he said.

Soldiers in the course also learned about nutritional information, rehabilitation and conditioning.

Before the “hands-on portion” with the instructors from Fort Benning, Soldiers completed a two-week distance learning portion of the course.

The course is two weeks long and will wrap up July 28.

“States that are supporting this program are doing phenomenal work,” said White, “The MFTs we see that have been helping out Soldiers on individual levels, as well as unit levels, have been making great progress.”

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