The 5BX (Five Basic Exercises) Plan is an exercise program developed for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) by Bill Orban in the late 1950s, first published in 1961.[1]
The RCAF asked Orban to develop a fitness program for their pilots, a third of whom were not considered fit to fly at the time. The plan was innovative in two respects. Firstly, it did not require access to specialized equipment. Many RCAF pilots were located in remote bases in northern Canada, with no access to gymnasium facilities, so it was important to offer a means of keeping fit without their use. Secondly, the plan only required 11 minutes per day to be spent on the exercises.
While performing research in Illinois, Orban had noticed that, when testing oxygen intake, long periods of exercise did not necessarily lead to significant improvement. This led him to the conclusion that the intensity of exercise was more important to improving fitness than the amount of time spent on it. This aspect of the plan drew a negative reaction from others in the field but the 5BX program proved its worth in the three years of testing that the RCAF performed before releasing the program.[2].
The 5BX Plan is composed of six charts arranged in increasing order of difficulty. Each chart is composed of five exercises that are performed within 11 minutes. The first 4 basic exercises are Calisthenics and the last an Aerobic exercise. As you progress within the system the number of each type of exercise that must be performed increases and the difficulty of each exercise increases.
The exercises are no longer performed by the service (2008), and are considered unnecessarily hazardous in part because they are unsupervised.[3] Many exercise physiologists consider the sit-up in the higher levels to be capable of causing spinal injury, and therefore unsuitable for an unsupervised program. The sit-up exercise can be replaced with the more modern crunch (exercise)
Contents |
Exercises
Throughout the charts and levels, the 5 exercises are the same, but more difficult variations are introduced.
- Stretching
- Sit-up
- Back extension
- Press-up
- Running in place or Walking
Popularity
Twenty-three million copies of the 5BX booklet were sold to the Canadian public. It became popular around the world and was translated into 13 languages. Orban, creating the program as a public servant, received no additional income from the success of the plan.[4]
The 5BX plan was developed for men. A corresponding program was developed for women under the name XBX (Ten Basic Exercises).
John Walker's book The Hacker's Diet contains a simplified version, that is claimed to be suitable for everyone. [5]
Len Deighton's novel "Only When I Larf" contains a reference to this program.
In a CBC Radio interview in 1970, George Burns remarked that he was devoted to the RCAF exercise plan and performed the exercises every morning.
References
- ^ "The Royal Canadian Air Force 5Bx program for men, booklet, 1961
- ^ "The Royal Canadian Air Force 5Bx program for men, 3rd edition, booklet, 1975
- ^ ibid. CBC web article, notes.
- ^ An interview with Bill Orban, Ottawa Citizen Monday, July 15, 2002
- ^ The fitness ladder, The Hacker's Diet November 2005
See also
External links
- The 5BX and XBX programs are available for free here
- Paid site Introduction to gettingfitagain
- 1961 CBC radio interview with RCAF
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Categories: Royal Canadian Air Force | Exercise |
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