JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- Members of the Alpha Warrior team stopped by the Joint Base during their Air Force Tour, at the Doughboy gym, here May 22-23, 2017.
The athletes held a challenge promoting functional fitness and obstacle training on their Battle Rig that service members from every branch were able to try their luck at.
“Functional fitness is being able to adapt your training methods and regimen to activities that you face,” said Kevin Klein, Alpha Warrior athlete. “You hear the term functional fitness all the time, there is no more functional adaptability than what you see in obstacle training.”
The Battle Rig included five lanes of obstacles, testing the competitor’s mental and physical strength.
“I like challenging myself physically with different opportunities like these,” said Tech. Sgt. James Mitchell, Financial Management Flight chief. “It was definitely much more difficult than I thought it would be.”
The Alpha Warrior team will visit every Air Force Base around the globe to host an event and drop off a rig. Each region will host a competition and send their top qualifiers to meet in the Air Force wide competition.
“Obstacle training and functional fitness helps you, being able to use your body, being able to adapt to things coming at you and being able to know where you’re at in space,” said Klein. about how the battle rig will help train service members better.
“The top male and female from each regional will meet in San Antonio, Texas and compete on our four acre Alpha Warrior Challenge Course,” added Klein. “It’s about 50 times bigger than the rig we have here today, and much more challenging.”
Alpha Warrior hopes to bring Battle Rigs to all military installations and hold a competition in which the services face off against one another.
“What we are shooting for is turning this into a {Defense Department} wide competition,” said Klein. “We’re excited to see the Air Force Going up against the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Army and the Coast Guard.”