Physical Training – An Experience to Remember

Report by Lance Corporal Tan Wen Jie, Michael of 12^th Kuala Lumpur Company. Photos by Corporal Jack Lim Kuan Wei. Chart & Pictures from BB Malaysia website & Google.

SENTUL, KUALA LUMPUR – The Physical Training Award is just one of more than 40 awards in Boys’ Brigade Malaysia. The aim of physical training is to strengthen the physical and mental aspects of participants. Moreover, it was also one of the regular activities when the foundation of The Boys’ Brigade had just started. In our company, the members taking part in this award have to go through a guided course which will take several months before sitting for a practical test.

I took this badge work last year. The first session started with the basic principles of physical training talk which was given by our very own instructor, Coach Valter Woo. He shared with us about the 5 basic principles of physical training:

• Overload Principle
• FITT (which stands for Frequency, Intensity, Time & Type) Principle
• Specificity
• Rest & Recover
• Use or Lose Principle

Body Mass Index (BMI) Chart

He also explained the importance of warm-ups (reduce risk of injury and aches that come with exercise while assisting circulatory system in pumping oxygen-rich blood to working muscles) as required by the BB Handbook. He then explained the essence of the Body Mass Index (BMI) which is dependent on age, height, weight. This is used to analyse our standard of performance appropriate to our natural abilities.   

The regular physical training session would include various workouts and exercises starting with a warm-up, followed by a series of fitness training such as push-ups, sit-ups, long jump, high jump, planks et cetera and a warm down at the end of the session. The whole session would take approximately an hour.

   

Also during various camps there would be short physical training sessions organized by Coach Valter. At the end of every session, an obstacle course would be designed in which the members have to complete within a limited amount of time.

I was really delighted that I have achieved the Basic Physical Training Award as all my hard work paid off. I am now currently undertaking the Advanced Physical Training Award together with a few others.