Importance of Staying Fit and Strong as an Army Reserve Soldier

Joining the Army Reserve is an exciting way of contributing to Australia's defence system, provides excellent adventures and experiences while naturally helping you to stay on top of your fitness game.

As a part-time soldier, you can spend time on training exercises, and when your skills are needed, you can get called up to help out with work.  After finishing with the task, you return to your civilian life and carry on as usual.
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On the one hand, this can give you the best of both worlds. You can experience being a soldier from time to time, but also build your own lifestyle in the interim period, raise a family or travel, whatever is your goal.

On the other hand, it can make it more challenging to conduct both parts of your life unless you have a working strategy that serves "both lives" best. During the non-military life phases, one of the biggest struggles army reserve soldiers report is to keep up military standard levels of fitness.
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Depending on your civilian life you built for yourself, you may be too busy with work, travel and/or family and find it hard to make time for regular exercise.  Structuring your days, so you never let yourself lapse is essential to maintain your strength, stamina, shape and condition.
When the next call comes, you need to be physically prepared for the task when the Army Reserve requires you for many reasons, here we listed four of the most important factors you should keep in mind to help you stay fit and active.

1. You Still Perform Many of the Same Duties as Full-time Soldiers

The fact that you are only part-time in the Army doesn't mean that you get a free pass on duty. You're still required to do the same work as full-time military personnel and meet exactly the same expectations. In that sense, staying military fit for full-time soldiers is less of a challenge, because it's part of their daily life.
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If you don't take ownership and workout regularly when off duty, you could really struggle with the task at hand when you are called in, because your body is not prepared for the physical demand. You will also still need to meet the fitness tests regularly, which sometimes means you will need to attend training camps. Imagine skipping exercise for a few weeks only, then suddenly having to perform a beep test.

2. You Never Know When You Might Be Needed

The thing about being a member of the Army Reserve is that you can't know for sure when you might be needed. There are a variety of reasons you may be called in, whether it's dealing with an emergency at home or you're sent to another country to help, the tasks will be varied and pose different levels of demand on your body.
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When there's a task to be completed and the Army calls, you don't get much warning before you must leave. Purely because often the job emerges as an emergency and you may need to move at very short notice.  If you haven't been training up till then, you won't have time to get up to scratch again suddenly.

3. Injuries Are More Likely If You Don't Keep Fit

One of the most significant risks, if you don't maintain a high level of fitness, is that your body will be more prone to injuries. If you're not physically fit but are suddenly required to perform very strenuous tasks, there's a high risk that you could hurt yourself in a variety of ways.

Injuries such as knee or back injuries that come from lacking the strength and stamina that you require could be more than just a little twinge. Some of them might affect you permanently, perhaps even limiting what you can do for the Army Reserve in the future.
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Statistics show that most of the injuries suffered by Australian Army Reserve Soldiers occur at the knee. Most of these injuries can be prevented by keeping up a regular strength and conditioning regime, which is one of the fundamental methods we embrace at The Barracks Gym.

4. Keeping Fit Keeps You Happy in Civilian Life Too

​After all, it's not only the army and the soldier in you that will benefit from a high level of physical fitness. Your civilian life, your friends and family will thank you for staying able, agile, strong and fit, and both your physical and mental health will soar.
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If you have a desk job or need a little help to get used to being home after a mission, meeting up with others in the same situation to work out will keep your mindset, your health and it's a great way to socialise with others in the Reserve too. The Barracks Gym provides that space for anybody who is looking to workout smart and stay on the ball with their fitness.
 
Regular exercise helps you to stay fit so that you're always prepared and can stay safe and perform well when you're needed. If you'd like to find out more about our facility, or just have any questions about how to stay on track while off-duty, feel free to send a message.