Soldiers’ load carriage performance in high mountains: a physiological study (original) (raw)

Metabolic Costs of Military Load Carriage over Complex Terrain

Military medicine, 2018

Dismounted military operations often involve prolonged load carriage over complex terrain, which can result in excessive metabolic costs that can directly impair soldiers' performance. Although estimating these demands is a critical interest for mission planning purposes, it is unclear whether existing estimation equations developed from controlled laboratory- and field-based studies accurately account for energy costs of traveling over complex terrain. This study investigated the accuracy of the following equations for military populations when applied to data collected over complex terrain with two different levels of load carriage: American College of Sports Medicine (2002), Givoni and Goldman (1971), Jobe and White (2009), Minetti et al (2002), Pandolf et al (1977), and Santee et al (2003). Nine active duty military personnel (age 21 ± 3 yr; height 1.72 ± 0.07 m; body mass 83.4 ± 12.9 kg; VO2 max 47.8 ± 3.9 mL/kg/min) were monitored during load carriage (with loads equal to ...

The Role of Strength and Power During Performance of High Intensity Military Tasks Under Heavy Load Carriage

U.S. Army Medical Department journal

Previous research has investigated the physiological determinants of heavy load carriage while performing medium to long distance road marching, yet research examining the physiological underpinnings of high-intensity battlefield tasks is limited. This study sought to examine the role of strength and power during high-intensity combat tasks under heavy load carriage. Eighteen recreationally trained men (mean±SD: age, 21±2 years; height, 172±6 cm; weight, 80±13 kg) participated in this study and performed an anaerobic combat course under 2 randomized experimental conditions; unloaded and loaded. Subjects performed 3 trials under each condition on separate days, with a 5-minute rest between each trial. In the unloaded trial, subjects wore a uniform with boots weighing approximately 3.2 kg. During the loaded trial, in addition to the uniform and boots, subjects wore Interceptor body armor (6.94 kg-9.10 kg) and a MOLLE rucksack weighing 30 kg. The course consisted of 3 consecutive tasks...