OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. -- After the holiday season, it is not unusual for many Americans to become more body conscious. This often leads to New Year’s resolutions to become healthier and improve their fitness.
The Offutt Health Promotion Office and the fitness center developed a program called the Eight-Week Bod Pod Challenge. The contest is offered year-round and begins for each person when they have their first appointment.
“Once they conduct their initial Bod Pod appointment, we provide them their results along with an informational handout that addresses anything and everything associated with what they could consider doing to improve their body composition,” said Roger Nelson, 55th Medical Group health promotion director.
Everyone has a 20-minute initial appointment and then a follow-up appointment eight weeks later. Participants are highly encouraged to join in any health promotion classes offered during the eight weeks. They cover a variety of topics, including diet and exercise, motivation, the emotional control and stress.
Although the challenge is conducted throughout the year, only those who begin their journey in January can compete for gift cards.
“Gift cards are given out to the top three male and female participants who obtain the greatest percentage of improvement in their body composition over the course of eight weeks,” said Nelson. “The program started because it's an opportunity for us to help all participants thrive as well enhance the mission readiness of all active-duty participants.
This year’s winner, Tech. Sgt. Jeffrey Craig, 45th Reconnaissance Squadron airborne systems engineer and noncommissioned officer in charge of standardizations and evaluations shop, went from 17% body fat on his initial bod pod evaluation down to 11.6%, which signified a 31.7% improvement. Craig faced some challenges during this task, but says this program was what he needed to stay on course and reach his goal.
“I knew I needed to get rid of some excess body fat and I thought the competition would be a great way to challenge myself and give me extra motivation in the process,” said Craig. “The timeline helped me stay committed to my exercise routine, diet plan and having the exact metrics from the bod pod assessment made it much easier to determine what my goals were going to become.”
The HPO and fitness center staff have conducted 692 appointments for the program since its inception. During this year’s contest, there were 160 participants. HPO staff members are expecting to process over 800 appointments this year.
Gift cards will be available again in January 2023, but anyone who wants to participate in the challenge can sign up at any time. To register for a Bod Pod appointment and/or the Eight-Week Bod Pod Challenge, call 402-294-5977.