The IDF Championship in Combat Fitness/Photo: report
In the last few days, 14 soldiers enlisted in the IDF and began their combat training on the way to becoming fighters. Well, what? You must be asking, almost every week soldiers enlist in the IDF. However, these soldiers were disqualified by the army from serving in combat units due to their weight, and thanks to their strong will and the mobilization of the Ono academic community, the IDF gained 14 new fighters, who for five weeks gave everything they could to change the decree that prevented them from becoming combatants - And they succeeded.
According to data from the World Health Organization, there is a significant increase in the obesity trend in the world and in Israel in particular. Studies published in recent years, on the weight of teenagers in the First Order, indicate a very worrying trend of an increase in the percentage of abnormal obesity and the percentage of teenagers who are unable to enlist for combat service or are exempt From service in general.
As a result of these data, in each recruitment cycle for the IDF, a large number of military personnel who were accepted in the first order for combat service, arrive on the day of their enlistment with an abnormal weight that has increased significantly from the first order and does not allow for combat service (BMI over 35).
5 weeks of hard work. The "Runners for the Battle" program/the Ono Academic Conference
Over the past few years, these soldiers experience low spirits and are sent home to deferment of service with instructions to lose weight and arrive in the next recruitment cycle, without any support or tools to help them in the process.
The success rates for these boys to lose weight on their own until the next recruitment date are low, just like the success rates of the various diets. Studies have already shown that only about 5 percent of people who have done one diet or another manage to maintain their new weight. Past data has shown that without support, only about 50% of the militiamen who are sent to postpone service meet their goals, and thus the IDF loses dozens of motivated fighters every year.
There is no one who understands this issue better than the head of sports specialization at the Ono Academic Kirya,
Prof. Avi Moyal
, Colonel in the military, who during his military service served as the head of the combat fitness department in the IDF. When asked by the Meitav unit to help 14 boys enlist in the war, he picked up the gauntlet, and together with his professional team built a five-week plan with one goal - to get the army to agree to recruit those boys into the war after they were rejected due to their excess weight.
Together with a professional team of combat fitness officers in the reserves led by
Lt. Col. (ret.) Efrat Broza-Yitzhaki
and
Major (ret.) Omri Ronan
, and accompanied by a professional nutritionist and other officers, Moyal led "Racem Lekarbi", a first-of-its-kind aid project For those candidates for military recruitment.
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The program also included quite a few lectures that helped the participants to strengthen themselves mentally/the academic reading
"The IDF would have lost many potential fighters." Prof. Avi Moyal/Ono Academic College
How did the team manage to make the future soldiers shed tens of kilograms from their bodies in five weeks, and give them the knowledge to continue, so that those kilograms do not return? Mostly hard work. "The program we built included a personal daily meeting of each of the boys with a nutritionist," says Prof. Moyal. "In addition to that, every day they went through two fitness training sessions. In each training session, they worked on other muscle components. In addition to that, there were many personal conversations, with me and others, to make sure they were keeping up with the load and the plan."
In addition, for each of the program participants, a personal effort bar was written with clear goals for the end of the program. Each according to his weight and abilities. In addition to the grueling fitness training, the future fighters participated in professional lectures with members of the Military Intelligence Unit.
Thus, after receiving a 45 profile on the day of their recruitment due to being overweight, within five weeks, 14 program participants were awarded a 97 profile, and were able to fulfill their goal - to become soldiers in the IDF .
"Throughout the years, I always wanted to become a warrior, but every time I tried - I failed," says
Ido
, who took part in the project. "I received the serious kappa on the day of the recruitment, so they lowered my profile to 45 because of my weight. It was very important for me to be a fighter because these are the values I grew up with, the love of the homeland, its defense and contribution to the country. In addition, after my brother was wounded in Gaza, I felt that I had to be combat.
"Being a fighter for me is not giving up on myself"
"I kept asking myself why the army doesn't want to help people like me, who want to be combative but can't lose weight. Then I heard about the program and of course I joined. I arrived weighing 124 kg. After five difficult weeks, I left here weighing 99 kg.
What did you take from the program, what will continue with you?
"What I took from the program for life is the title of a healthy lifestyle, many friends for life and, of course, guides. My message to people like me is that the very fact that you are losing weight and fighting the urge to eat sweets and fattening things is already a kind of warrior. Being a fighter for me means not giving up on myself and always striving for excellence. No matter how hard it is for you - don't give up.
Ido started training as a fighter in Nahal in the last few days.
David
also
struggled with his weight all his life. "Throughout the years I have constantly experienced ups and downs and it never ends. When I heard about the program, I realized that I had received a golden opportunity from the army, I received tools, guidance and most importantly - a tremendous opportunity that not every soldier gets.
"On the day of the recruitment, when I weighed 152 kg, my profile was taken down and I realized that I could not be a fighter. But the war spurred me on to do what I had failed to do in my entire life - lose weight.
"The program itself was intense - training every day, face-to-face meetings that include very intense training. It's hard to get into such a rigid discipline of nutrition. The hardest thing for me was training. What about me and the training? But every day, like clockwork, I woke up and trained in Zoom, with an open camera David
shed 12 kg, and by the time his combat training begins, he intends to lose more according to a plan he received from the program's professionals.
"Today, at the end of the process, the 14 participants in the program lost a total of 250 kg, while increasing muscle mass and improving physical abilities. 12 out of the 14 (85%) meet the conditions for military recruitment, two more have significantly lost weight and will continue the process until reaching their personal goals and the next military recruitment," adds Moyal and emphasizes, "without this program - the IDF would have lost many potential fighters ".
More on the same topic:
obesity
combat
IDF