90 in 90—Go for it! Published April 18, 2012 By Lt. Col. Gregory Cullison 436th Medical Support Squadron DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. -- I used to be an athlete, having run track and cross country in high school and college. Running was easy and fun. After college, however, I stopped running competitively, and eventually quit running at all, except for an occasional 5K or weekend jog. A few years later, when I was in the Army, physical training was a daily part of the routine, and running was obviously part of it. I became a pretty good runner again during my Army years, and was able to complete two miles in under 13 minutes in my early 30s. When I became an Air Force officer in 1995, there was no PT test. We had something called cycle ergometry, though, which earned the Air Force a fair amount of ridicule by our sister services. In 2004, our Air Force started a bona fide Physical Fitness test, and we have been slowly but surely changing the culture ever since. The biggest difference between the Army and the Air Force regarding PT is that Air Force units do not generally begin each duty day with unit PT. For me, the result was that my workouts frequently did not happen. A thousand excuses from job responsibilities to family time can be cited and workouts lost out in the competition for precious time. I was always able to pass. My scores have consistently been in the high 70s and low 80s. In December, I scored an 85, partially made possible by consistent performance against a reduced standard--I turned 50 last fall. I decided then that I needed to break into the elusive 90s. I knew I could do it; I just needed a regular workout regimen and some discipline to follow it. Right after my test, I heard about the Health and Wellness Center's (HAWC) plans to begin an exercise program known as 90 in 90. John Walters, an Exercise Physiologist at the Dover Air Force Base, Del., HAWC, designed the program to "increase strength and speed, while changing your body composition from fat to muscle." Turns out that was exactly what I needed, and precisely what anyone needs to achieve in order to do well on the PT test. So I signed up. We started in mid-January. The workouts were every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at noon, and normally took less than 45 minutes per session. Monday is a track workout, focusing on speed and endurance, and generally involves circuit training to improve muscular endurance. Wednesdays are in the Fitness Center, where we do three different circuit training workouts and we try to beat our time from the last running of each one. Friday is always a 5K run. The first week or two was tough, but the workouts started getting a little easier. Everyone showed marked increase in their fitness level, improved performance on the timed workouts, and we all started losing pounds, inches, and body fat percentage on the monthly body composition checks. The program works. Everyone who actively participated improved their test scores in all components of the test, some with dramatic results. As an example, I lost 15 pounds and scored a 98 on my PT test a couple weeks ago. And all I did was follow the program--I could have done more, but I just did the workouts. The best part is that we had fun. The class ended last week, but quite a few of us are still going to work out during our 90 in 90 scheduled time. Walters is always there to coach us on, and he sends daily motivational emails to all of us to keep us feeling good about what we are doing. For me, running is easy and fun again, almost like back in college. Walters is beginning a new 90 in 90 class Apr. 30, and I urge anyone who strives to achieve breakthrough improvement on the PT test to sign up. Whether you are scoring in the 70s or 80s, and want to get above 90, or you got a 95 and want to get 100, 90 in 90 will help get you there. He is increasing the class size from 50 to 100 participants for this class. Just do it! Stop into the HAWC to sign up; you will be glad you did.