Festus Guard unit enlists personal trainer to help with fitness program

By Bill Phelan
Unit Public Affairs Representative

FESTUS, Mo. - A Festus-based Missouri National Guard unit has taken its fitness program to a whole new level.

For several months now, Company G of the Guard's Recruit Sustainment Program has enlisted the help of Mandy Clubb, a personal trainer, as part of the unit's regular monthly fitness drill. Master Sgt. Timothy Davis, the Recruiting Area 7 noncommissioned officer in charge, was instrumental in bringing Clubb to the Festus Armory.

"I was working out at Total Body Fitness in Festus and Mandy was there working as an aerobics instructor," Davis said. "So I asked her if she would be willing to give a class to my RSP Soldiers and she said she would love to."

Thus began a working relationship between Clubb, 30, of Festus, and about 60 young National Guard recruits.

"I usually do two circuits with the Soldiers," said Clubb. "The first will be a super-hard cardio program with eight or nine stations. It's pretty grueling. Then we'll have several stations where we work on the body core - all abdominal work."

While a company of Soldiers is a much larger group than Clubb is accustomed to working with, she relishes the opportunity to put the recruits through creative workout programs that are not part of regular drill.

"I got the inspiration to do some teamwork games, which are good for cardio but are fun at the same time," Clubb said. "I try to do something fun as opposed to sit-ups and pushups - something the Army wouldn't normally do."

During a recent drill, Clubb had the Soldiers engage in a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors over a row of Styrofoam cups. Each Soldier who won the game was required to take a cup and run to a designated area and place the cup on the floor. This was repeated until all the cups had been collected.

Capt. Mike Roberts, the 27th Recruit and Retention Battalion's operations and training officer for eastern Missouri, said the training highlighted the extra effort Missouri puts into preparing its recruits for training.

"I just want to make sure that the training is going well and that it falls into the requirements of the training schedule," Roberts said. "This just goes to show that the time and effort put into RSP training really pays off. It seems kind of funny, but it also seems to be a very satisfying and enjoyable experience for most of the Soldiers."

Indeed, most of the Soldiers seemed eager to participate despite having drilled in the intense outdoor heat for a majority of the day, a fact not lost on Davis.

"Mandy thrives on the opportunity to try and create new things to avoid the same old routine," Davis said. "That's part if the reason why I wanted to involve her. When you bring in a qualified fitness instructor like Mandy it gives these young Soldiers a different outlook on physical fitness - that there are things you can do as an individual to keep fit outside of what we do in the Army. That was the whole intent."

As for Clubb, working out with the troops gives her the opportunity to do something she cannot do at the gym; shout at her clients.

"I love doing this because I get to yell," she said smiling. "I'm normally pretty quite but here I can yell and challenge the Soldiers and that gets me motivated."

For more information about the Missouri National Guard, please call 1-800-GoGuard or visit www.moguard.com.