DVIDS – News – Fort Eustis Gym Leads the Way in Holistic Health and Fitness

JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. – The Holistic Health and Fitness (H2F) of the future is already up and running at Fort Eustis’ McClellan Fitness Center, thanks to the 733d Force Support Squadron.

In addition to training classes led by a team of master fitness trainers, sports and fitness instructors Maverick Donnell and Laura Garganis, renovations to the strength and conditioning training area transform McClellan into a training support facility for the Army Combat Fitness Test. This Air Force-led joint base team at Fort Eustis will upgrade McClellan’s gym and trainers at minimal cost to grow with the Army’s H2F programs, organizing, installing and personalizing them. achieved success on the level.

“We did everything out of pocket. The only thing we really bought was the flooring and artificial turf,” said Donna Fontes, 733rd Mission Support Group FSS director. “Everything else was moved and rebuilt to set up the gym as a functional fitness area.”

Across the Army, facilities are planned for each Soldier Performance Readiness Center (SPRC), but JBLE-Eustis is not one of the first bases on the list.

“It will be many years before we have an SPRC at Fort Eustis,” Fontes said.

During that time, Fontes and his team reviewed existing SPRC requirements and what was already in place at Fort Eustis to create a functioning H2F support system.

H2F is a five-pillar system developed to optimize readiness, reduce injury rates, improve post-injury rehabilitation, and increase overall Army efficiency. The pillars are sleep preparation, physical preparation, mental preparation, nutritional preparation, and spiritual preparation. SPRC supports all pillars with trained, full-time staff.

Fontes said the 733d FSS sent sports and fitness instructors Maverick Donnell and Laura Gurganis to the U.S. Army Master Fitness Trainer class because Air Force-certified strength and conditioning personnel positions were already in place at the fitness center. It is said that he did. Fort Jackson, South Carolina’s Physical Fitness School is adding more certifications to meet the Army’s needs.

Additionally, with guidance from the Army’s master fitness and holistic health experts and utilizing functional strength training and weightlifting equipment already in place, McClellan Gym was transformed into an ACFT training center and more.

“We are not H2F or the Army. We do not do ACFT testing, but we support these programs,” she said. “If you exercise, eat well, connect mentally and spiritually, and get enough sleep, everything connects. My team was very excited and inspired by it.”

Throughout the installation, these locations were in place and only needed to be connected.

“We have ancillary support, and we have locations within the facility such as the Army Wellness Center, the Commander Readiness Recovery Council (CR2C), the Army Health Center physical therapist, nutritionist, all of which are here. “We renovated the gym, we created a space in McClellan to make it more functional and aligned with our intent,” she said. “We then scheduled a specific day to bring together physical therapists, nutritionists, and other community resources to facilitate the launch of the program here in Fort Eustis.”

The strength and conditioning trainers brought in a full unit and worked with the U.S. Army Center for Initial Military Training to develop an eight-week program to improve the Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT).

“This functional movement training program has taken the unit from well below the baseline ACFT scores to well above it,” Fontes said. It was great for them, but it was great for us too. We were able to be on the cutting edge of a major cultural change for the Army and help our team deliver results. ”

Trainers shared multiple success stories.

“I walked up to people and basically helped change their score within five minutes,” Donnell said. “We are constantly training so we are looking at what works better and how to improve and modify.”

He gave the example of improving his “standing power throw” score, one of the six requirements of the ACFT. Tips such as throwing the ball as soon as you pick it up rather than setting it up, keeping your arms straight, and where to release for more power and trajectory.

“Depending on the group, we do different training,” Gurganis said. “Some units have goals of better operations or improving ACFT, and some joint units have different needs. It’s all about balance. Life is all about balance.”

All of this fits into supporting the Army’s H2F program and the base as it evolves.

“We will continue to support this program and evolve our facility. Functional fitness is a goal at this point in our strategic plan, and we have talked with everyone across our facilities to ensure that here at Ft. We will continue to ensure that we continue to provide maximum support to the people of Eustis to perform optimally and prepare for the future,” Fontes said. “It’s a win-win for all of us.”

For more information about McClellan Fitness Center and to schedule unit training programs, visit https://jble-eustismwr.com/fitness/mcclellan-fitness-center/.

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