Few studies have reported the amount of physical activity (PA) and its associations to physical performance of warfighters during military field training (MFT). The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in neuromuscular performance and PA among male Finnish Army conscripts during a 21-d MFT and to evaluate their recovery during 4 d after MFT.
Body composition and physical performance were measured four times during the study (before MFT (PRE), after 12 d (MID), post training (POST) and after 4 d of recovery (RECO)). PA was measured throughout MFT in a group of healthy young male conscripts (n=49) by using a tri-axial accelerometer. The study was approved by the Finnish Defence Forces and was granted ethics approval by the Ethics Committee of the University of Jyväskylä.
Body mass declined significantly from 73.5 ± 8.7 to 71.6 ± 8.2 kg, but it recovered close to the PRE values (73.0 ± 8.3 kg). The same trend was also found in skeletal muscle mass and fat mass. The change in body mass and in skeletal muscle mass correlated negatively with the change in vigorous physical activity (r = -0.374, p = 0.016, and r = -0.337, p = 0.031, respectively). Muscular endurance decreased significantly (p