Soldier Self-Evaluation

Athletes are focused on optimizing their performance to beat their competition.

Soldiers should do the same to overmatch the enemy.

The steps below are designed to help Patriot Brigade Soldiers evaluate their physical and non-physical readiness and identify where he or she may need improvement. Additionally, it's an educational tool to help Soldiers understand all five domains of readiness and their connection to performance.

Identify Your Physical Fitness Need

The Army is no stranger to physical training and a good place for Soldiers to start is to identify the physical abilities, or areas of physical fitness, a tactical athlete needs to be proficient in. A tactical athlete needs a good balance of strength, power, speed, mobility, and endurance. Once a Soldier has identified areas of improvement, he or she can work through the following steps to optimize training and performance.

Participate in Appropriate Training

Leaders and Soldiers must ensure the physical training program they are implementing or following is designed in a progressive fashion to meet the desired performance enhancement. This concept applies to Soldier-skill training and physical fitness.

Fuel and Hydrate for Training

Soldier fueling and hydration needs are based on daily training, the specific performance demands, and individual background. Soldiers must consume adequate nutrients to support the physical training sessions, physical performance during assessments and other Soldier-skills, and recovery.

If the Soldier is doing appropriate training and consuming adequate nutrients to support that training, the expected result is for performance to improve and body composition to adjust and reflect the physical training stimuli.

But what if a Soldier is not seeing the progress he is expecting? What if his fitness level is decreasing? What if he is losing muscle and gaining fat?

Identify Lifestyle Factors that Interfere with Performance

Recovery and performance are also directly impacted by things beyond physical training programming and nutrition. This includes mental, sleep, and spiritual readiness. For the body to heal, recover, and perform optimally, the Soldier must constantly examine all areas of his life to ensure he is getting adequate and good quality sleep, that he is managing the stressors of work and life, and that he is minimizing his exposure to toxins, such as alcohol, tobacco, and air pollution, that impair body function. Additionally, ignoring physical injury or illness can impair progress. Soldiers should work to prevent injuries and then utilize H2F physical therapy services to treat them and get back in the fight!

Set Goals and Monitor Your Progress

After reviewing the areas of health and fitness in your life, begin identifying specific behaviors to improve. When it comes to goal setting and improving your health behaviors, we recommend starting with one or two goals using the SMART goal framework.

To monitor your progress, review this checklist periodically. Remember that all five domains (physical, nutritional, sleep, spiritual, and mental) are interconnected. If we ignore one area, the others are likely to suffer; however, as you meet your SMART goals in one area, the other domains are likely to improve as well!

Prepare for Upcoming Task-Specific Performance

For every task-specific performance event for the tactical athlete, the Patriot H2F Team is prepared to assist Soldiers in optimizing their performance. Visit H2F today to find out how our team can prepare for everything from field training exercises to a day on the range to special forces selection or EIB/ESB/EFMB.