The Army recently announced that its overall health and fitness program will now expand from a select 111 brigades to the entire Army.
Since its inception in 2018 with a pilot program, the Holistic Health and Fitness program, or H2F, has sought to educate and improve soldiers’ physical, mental, nutritional, spiritual and sleep performance.
To this end, the force has established brigade-level civilian teams of nearly two dozen personnel, including an H2F program director; directors of nutrition, injury control and mental health; registered dietitians; physiotherapists; athletic trainers; strength coaches; cognitive performance specialists and occupational therapists.
Leger will accelerate the creation of a holistic health and fitness program
The brigades also receive fitness equipment such as kettlebells, exercise bikes and various other equipment.
The Army’s initial goal was to resource its 110 combat brigades by 2030. As H2F is rolled out across the service, Army Times spoke with officials from the Training and Doctrine Command’s Center for Initial Military Training, which oversees the program, about where the service is at. now.
Here’s a look at the numbers.
Fifty active duty brigades now have H2F Performance Teams. This includes a mix of combat units, such as infantry, armor and Stryker brigades, and support units, such as military police, medical, engineering, training and support brigades.
The service expects to have performance teams fully deployed to the original 111 select brigades, or 47% of the Army’s total brigades, by fiscal year 2027.
The remaining 53% of the Army’s brigades will see performance teams starting in FY 2028. The goal is to complete all team lineups by fiscal year 2032, officials said.
“The overall model will have an H2F Area Support Team that would be responsible for several units on an installation that do not already have an H2F Performance Team,” said Dr. Kevin Bigelman, deputy director of H2F.
The Army Reserve will begin seeing performance teams in their units in fiscal year 2026. All 28 Army Reserve commands and divisions will have the teams by fiscal year 2030.
At the same time, the Army is developing an H2F Soldier Performance Management System, or H2FMS, to help Soldiers and leaders measure, assess and improve their individual and unit fitness, performance and health, Bigelman said.
Funding for the team supporting the first 111 brigades is already included in the 2026-2030 budget plans, officials said.
An H2F Performance Team is estimated to cost $3 million annually to operate and $2.5 million to maintain, officials said. A team for an Army National Guard or Reserve unit costs about $1.3 million to field and $1 million to maintain.
“The initial return on investment shows that H2F is paying for itself as it reduces musculoskeletal injuries, reduces the number of non-deployable vehicles and helps soldiers who do get injured return to duty faster,” Bigelman said.
Initial data comparing brigades with H2F assets to brigades without assets shows:
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Although the rate of musculoskeletal injuries (MKSI) has increased in the military, brigades with H2F Performance Teams have a 14% lower increase in MSKI and a 30% lower increase in MSKI over 90 days.
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23% higher pass rate for the Army Combat Fitness Test.
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27% more soldiers qualifying as marksmanship experts.
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22% lower increase in behavioral health reports.
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502% lower increase in substance abuse profiles.
Source: Center for Initial Military Training
The military doesn’t just rely on civilian experts to advise its teams. Senior leaders want Soldiers to be in charge of physical training, but also to have a working knowledge of the other H2F domains.
In October 2023, the Army changed its Master Fitness Trainer course to the H2F Integrator course and renamed its Physical Fitness School the H2F Academy.
The student instruction program includes:
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Develop training programs to optimize performance potential and reduce the risk of injury.
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Coach and improve movement patterns.
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Fuel for performance in everyday life and for physically demanding tasks.
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Practice stress management techniques.
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Learn to search for and connect to a greater purpose.
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Apply rest, recovery and sleep foundations to complement training programs.
Source: Center for Initial Military Training
The Academy graduated 754 H2F integrators last year, officials said.
But to extend its reach, the Army has also provided satellite training in H2F for Guard and Reserve participants. That has resulted in an additional 611 H2F integrators, for a total of 1,365 integrators now in the military.
