Body Fat Waivers Scrapped

[EM1]

This one's pretty near and dear to my heart. I've never had to use it, but I've come really close, and I've known a lot of divers who used it all the time.

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2010/04/navy_body_fat_041810w/

Force shaping I think.

 

[C420sailor]

So that's the end of the rope and choke?

 

[Afterburner209]

I just got nailed for this. I performed all good-high my last PRT but I'm too heavy (lift weights too much I guess). So no more gym, more running, and the navy said I have to go on a weight loss plan.

“a [body composition assessment] failure could not be correlated to any particular body structure or type.” I guess all my life thinking I was stocky has been a lie.

 

[Kycntryboy]

God D@MNIT I'm BIG BONED!!! .... On a related note, you still have to tape out if over the guidelines, but as long as your within limits (i.e. 22%) your good is the way I read it. I've had to get taped for every PRT now for 6 years. You either look good in uniform or you look like crap.

 

[scoolbubba]

I've been getting roped and choked since ROTC. I don't think this means the end of that, just the end of waivers for people who exceed the rope and choke standards yet still pass the PRT. As it is, I've cut the lifting of weights back to almost nil and have been crushing the treadmill. fml.

 

[Afterburner209]

One of the guys doing the rope and choke told me that the bigger your neck is, the lower the BMI reads in their calculations. Time for some neck crunches.

 

[Floppy_D]

They used to waive up to (I think) 26% for guys based on excellent or outstanding scores. I've never made weight; I've always rope and choked. The BMI is based on a neck-to-waist ratio. So fat-necked bastards like myself have an advantage.

 

[EM1]

God D@MNIT I'm BIG BONED!!! .... On a related note, you still have to tape out if over the guidelines, but as long as your within limits (i.e. 22%) your good is the way I read it. I've had to get taped for every PRT now for 6 years. You either look good in uniform or you look like crap.

A lot of divers and spec war people I know have taped in over 22% but were able to score an excellent or outstanding. (I've come close myself at 22% several times). Getting taped doesn't bother me, what really chaps my ass about this is that these waivers have allowed many very qualified people to stay in (1500 or so last year alone), but PERS has said that

The exemption affected a relatively small number of members and is not seen as necessary to maintain mission readiness

as though it really doesn't matter so long as the number of people forced out is small, disregard the fact that they can score close to 300 on the PFA or that if a real body fat measurment was done they would come in much lower. The rope and choke isn't accurate, and it's forcing good sailors out.

 

[Ducky]

Perhaps if the salad dressing served on ships was less than 400 Calories this might not be as big of an issue. Also many bases have no healthy food options. The galley is not open enough hours and I would hardly consider it healthy.

 

[twobecrazy]

One of the guys doing the rope and choke told me that the bigger your neck is, the lower the BMI reads in their calculations. Time for some neck crunches.

That's somewhat true. How the rope and choke works is you measure at the center of the navel parallel to the ground and subtract from that number the measurement of the neck. This gives you a number and then you just read off the chart the percent body fat of the individual. I have read somewhere that although for some individuals this is completely inaccurate it is still a very good indicator for the average individual. Here is a website for the proper procedures although this is an outdated manual it is still the process used.

http://doni.daps.dla.mil/Directives/06000%20Medical%20and%20Dental%20Services/06-100%20General%20Physical%20Fitness/6110.1H.pdf

Also, this is not a BMI measurement. According to my height/weight standards my BMI rates me at extremely obese but that is not accurate at all. I don't know too many obese individuals that can run 6-7 miles a day or workout everyday like I do.

 

[BarrettRC8]

Why have height and weight at all? If someone looks like a bag of ass in uniform that should be that.

 

[Bevo16]

Perhaps if the salad dressing served on ships was less than 400 Calories this might not be as big of an issue. Also many bases have no healthy food options. The galley is not open enough hours and I would hardly consider it healthy.

Maybe we could get the FDA to pass laws to make our food taste like shit, then we would be less tempted to eat it....Oh, wait, they are already doing that.

Well, at least they aren't banning guns.

 

[phrogdriver]

Because there has to be some kind of objective standard, otherwise the rule will be applied inconsistently.

I'd really prefer that the services actually invest in the gear and training to accurately measure body fat if that's the standard one's measured against. I don't think guys should get penalized for hitting the gym too much if their BF% is low and they're meeting the other PT standards. On the other hand, you shouldn't get a pass for being "big-boned" if your bones are covered in gravy and fat.

One should always be subject to military appearance standards if one looks like ass even if he's under BF%, e.g. the "skinny fat man" type. At least that's what the Marine Corps tries to do.

 

[scoolbubba]

Because there has to be some kind of objective standard, otherwise the rule will be applied inconsistently.

I'd really prefer that the services actually invest in the gear and training to accurately measure body fat if that's the standard one's measured against. I don't think guys should get penalized for hitting the gym too much if their BF% is low and they're meeting the other PT standards. On the other hand, you shouldn't get a pass for being "big-boned" if your bones are covered in gravy and fat.

One should always be subject to military appearance standards if one looks like ass even if he's under BF%, e.g. the "skinny fat man" type. At least that's what the Marine Corps tries to do.

Yep. Calipers and the training to do a skin fold test properly are not expensive. It is more invasive than the rope and choke, but more accurate as well.

 

[CommodoreMid]

Perhaps if the salad dressing served on ships was less than 400 Calories this might not be as big of an issue. Also many bases have no healthy food options. The galley is not open enough hours and I would hardly consider it healthy.

+1,000,000 on that. I never know whether to laugh or cry every time I go into the VP-30 geedunk and they have a chicken tender salad listed on the "healthy options" menu. Fail.