Evaluation of an indoor standardized obstacle course for Canadian infantry personnel.

This study compared performance on an indoor standardized obstacle course (ISOC) to laboratory measures of fitness recognized as important in the performance of infantry tasks. The course involves 19 obstacles consisting of running, crawling, scaling, pulling, lifting, carrying and pushing activities arranged in sequential order. Forty-three healthy males between 21 and 31 years of age participated in the study. Performance scores on the ISOC were found to be significantly (p less than 0.01) and positively correlated to maximal aerobic power (MAP), muscular strength and endurance and anaerobic lactic power, and negatively correlated to indices of body fat. Stepwise multiple regression analysis indicated that 81% of the variance in ISOC performance time was accounted for by MAP, a strength index, anaerobic lactic power and sum of four skinfolds.