Force plate vertical jump scans are not a valid proxy for physical fitness in US special warfare trainees
Background: The United States Air Force Special Warfare Training Wing (SWTW) administers a comprehensive physical fitness test to active duty Airmen entering the Special Warfare training pipeline. The Sparta Science™ system utilizes proprietary software to analyze the force-time curve of a vertical...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Physiology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2022.966970/full |
| _version_ | 1798017960761098240 |
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| author | W. Casan Scott W. Casan Scott Ben R. Hando Ben R. Hando Cody R. Butler John D. Mata Jacob F. Bryant Siddhartha S. Angadi |
| author_facet | W. Casan Scott W. Casan Scott Ben R. Hando Ben R. Hando Cody R. Butler John D. Mata Jacob F. Bryant Siddhartha S. Angadi |
| author_sort | W. Casan Scott |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: The United States Air Force Special Warfare Training Wing (SWTW) administers a comprehensive physical fitness test to active duty Airmen entering the Special Warfare training pipeline. The Sparta Science™ system utilizes proprietary software to analyze the force-time curve of a vertical jump and purports to serve as a proxy for traditional military fitness tests. The Sparta Science™ system produces four proprietary metrics, including the Sparta™ Score, which is correlated to high magnitudes of force production purportedly performance. This study investigated how Sparta™ Jump Scans correlate to components of a physical fitness test utilized within the SW training pipeline.Methods: At the entry and exit of an 8-week Special Warfare Training Wing preparatory course (SW PREP), 643 trainees completed both an initial and final Sparta™ Jump Scan and a Candidate Fitness Test (CFT). The Candidate Fitness Test consists of eight components and tests several different domains of fitness including strength, power, muscular endurance, swimming proficiency, and cardiovascular fitness. Paired t-tests were used to determine if Sparta™ Jump Scan metrics and CFT components changed during SW PREP. Sparta™ Score’s correlation was assessed against every other Sparta™ Jump Scan metric and all CFT fitness measures.Results: This study found that the Sparta™ Jump Scan metrics decline slightly over SW PREP (p < 0.05; negligible-small effect size), while most CFT measures improve (p < 0.05; small-medium effect size). Changes in Sparta™ Jump Scan metrics did not reflect the changes in CFT performance over SW PREP (r2: 0.00–0.03).Conclusion: The Sparta™ Score was not correlated to the most tactically-relevant fitness measures (rucking and swimming), and only weakly correlated with the only jumping measure on the fitness test, the standing broad jump. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T16:16:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-097e4fee29154e98b1f5b510eb3aa1c8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-042X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T16:16:07Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Physiology |
| spelling | doaj.art-097e4fee29154e98b1f5b510eb3aa1c82022-12-22T04:14:32ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Physiology1664-042X2022-11-011310.3389/fphys.2022.966970966970Force plate vertical jump scans are not a valid proxy for physical fitness in US special warfare traineesW. Casan Scott0W. Casan Scott1Ben R. Hando2Ben R. Hando3Cody R. Butler4John D. Mata5Jacob F. Bryant6Siddhartha S. Angadi7US Air Force Special Warfare Training Wing, San Antonio, TX, United StatesNational Council on Compensation Insurance, Boca Raton, FL, United StatesUS Air Force Special Warfare Training Wing, San Antonio, TX, United StatesKennell & Associates, Inc., Fall Church, VA, United StatesUS Air Force Special Warfare Training Wing, San Antonio, TX, United StatesUS Air Force Special Warfare Training Wing, San Antonio, TX, United StatesUS Air Force Special Warfare Training Wing, San Antonio, TX, United StatesDepartment of Kinesiology, School of Education and Human Development, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United StatesBackground: The United States Air Force Special Warfare Training Wing (SWTW) administers a comprehensive physical fitness test to active duty Airmen entering the Special Warfare training pipeline. The Sparta Science™ system utilizes proprietary software to analyze the force-time curve of a vertical jump and purports to serve as a proxy for traditional military fitness tests. The Sparta Science™ system produces four proprietary metrics, including the Sparta™ Score, which is correlated to high magnitudes of force production purportedly performance. This study investigated how Sparta™ Jump Scans correlate to components of a physical fitness test utilized within the SW training pipeline.Methods: At the entry and exit of an 8-week Special Warfare Training Wing preparatory course (SW PREP), 643 trainees completed both an initial and final Sparta™ Jump Scan and a Candidate Fitness Test (CFT). The Candidate Fitness Test consists of eight components and tests several different domains of fitness including strength, power, muscular endurance, swimming proficiency, and cardiovascular fitness. Paired t-tests were used to determine if Sparta™ Jump Scan metrics and CFT components changed during SW PREP. Sparta™ Score’s correlation was assessed against every other Sparta™ Jump Scan metric and all CFT fitness measures.Results: This study found that the Sparta™ Jump Scan metrics decline slightly over SW PREP (p < 0.05; negligible-small effect size), while most CFT measures improve (p < 0.05; small-medium effect size). Changes in Sparta™ Jump Scan metrics did not reflect the changes in CFT performance over SW PREP (r2: 0.00–0.03).Conclusion: The Sparta™ Score was not correlated to the most tactically-relevant fitness measures (rucking and swimming), and only weakly correlated with the only jumping measure on the fitness test, the standing broad jump.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2022.966970/fulltacticalperformancetestingmilitarySOFKPI |
| spellingShingle | W. Casan Scott W. Casan Scott Ben R. Hando Ben R. Hando Cody R. Butler John D. Mata Jacob F. Bryant Siddhartha S. Angadi Force plate vertical jump scans are not a valid proxy for physical fitness in US special warfare trainees Frontiers in Physiology tactical performance testing military SOF KPI |
| title | Force plate vertical jump scans are not a valid proxy for physical fitness in US special warfare trainees |
| title_full | Force plate vertical jump scans are not a valid proxy for physical fitness in US special warfare trainees |
| title_fullStr | Force plate vertical jump scans are not a valid proxy for physical fitness in US special warfare trainees |
| title_full_unstemmed | Force plate vertical jump scans are not a valid proxy for physical fitness in US special warfare trainees |
| title_short | Force plate vertical jump scans are not a valid proxy for physical fitness in US special warfare trainees |
| title_sort | force plate vertical jump scans are not a valid proxy for physical fitness in us special warfare trainees |
| topic | tactical performance testing military SOF KPI |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2022.966970/full |
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