News

Lifting leads Airman from PT woes to the record books

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman William Johnson
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  
Twice a year, or for some, once a year, Airmen are required to pass the Air Force fitness assessment. For some, this entails anxiety and stress as they take on as many workouts as they can before the test, hoping for the best.

However, an Airman from the 436th Security Forces Squadron found the sport of powerlifting to not only increase her overall health and fitness, but took her from a failing assessment score to scoring consistently over 90 and holding six national and six Delaware state powerlifting records.

“I kind of stumbled across powerlifting,” said Staff Sgt. Janice Aninsman, 436th SFS intelligence and force protection NCO in charge. “I struggled with PT before and I thought I basically needed to make a complete life change. I just started getting into the gym and at first, I didn’t know what I was doing. However, I really got into lifting and I really just wanted to be strong; I wanted to lift the most. It didn’t matter who that guy over there was, I just want to lift more than he did.”

Aninsman found an Air Force role model and powerlifter, Capt. Alanna Casey, through the social media platform Instagram. After meeting face-to-face with Casey and receiving some tips and pointers, Aninsman competed in her first unsanctioned powerlifting meet at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar.

“I ended up getting first at Al Udeid for women,” said Aninsman. “That really gave me a boost of confidence. So when I got back from my deployment, I immediately found a sanctioned event in Virginia that I went to and competed in and that was kind of the big start for me to get into powerlifting.”

After competing in her third competition in an unsanctioned event at Dover AFB, Aninsman traveled to Orlando, Florida, March 19-20, 2016, to compete in the Military National Powerlifting Championships. She arrived competing in only her second sanctioned event, but left with numerous records.

Aninsman said because of her training routines and competing at the national level, it has taken away her anxieties related to the fitness assessment.

“I think because I have competed nationally, where I was pound-for-pound going against other females for a national record, that the stress inoculation has immensely helped with the stress of the PT test,” said Aninsman. “Regardless of how good of shape you’re in, I think everyone in the military has that little bit of anxiety when it comes to their PT test because of how much it can affect your career. Having the training and the knowledge I have now, it takes that anxiety and stress out of it because I know I’ve done much harder things.”

There are many factors to Aninsman training regimen that carry over to ensure a passing fitness assessment score. Some are obvious, such as how the bench-press helps with push-ups and squats and deadlifts increase her leg strength, cutting down her run time. But one factor of the fitness assessment has helped with Aninsman’s powerlifting training, the sit-up.

“I worked sit-ups into my program because core strength is essential for deadlifting and squatting,” said Aninsman. “If you have a weak core and it isn’t strong enough to keep your body erect and you put 300 pounds on your back, you’re going to get seriously injured.”

Since powerlifting training is both physically and emotionally demanding, Aninsman said that she has developed a no-quit attitude, an attitude needed for Airmen in security forces.

“Being security forces, I have to correlate the training to the nature of the job, like if I have to go hands on with somebody,” said Aninsman. “Obviously they’re not trying to lose against a police officer so I have to make sure that I don’t have that quitting mentality.”

Aninsman admits to being highly competitive and always wanting to win at everything she attempts. For now, with 12 records to her name, her biggest competition may only be herself.

“Whenever I want to quit, I always ask myself, ‘Are the other girls quitting? Do I want to be in first place? Do I want another medal? Do I want to keep my records?’” said Aninsman. “So while I’m not out there to beat everybody on my PT test, I am always trying to do better than I did on my last test.”