Abstract:

Students at the University of Defence, in the current accredited bachelor's and master's studies, are being prepared for basic command positions. In these positions platoon commanders, deputy company commanders and others, will be under constant pressure, and so it is necessary to incorporate elements that develop psychophysical condition in their studies.

The question thus arises: "How does one approach the development of the basic competencies of a military professional and a leader in the field of psychophysical condition?" At present, there is no methodological framework for the development of the psychophysical condition of military professionals or the doctrine of leadership at the Ministry of Defence. This question, therefore, addresses a yet unresolved issue.

To address this problem, an innovative training program for the development of students' psychophysical condition was created. The first two stages of this program are divided into maintenance and construction.

The first stage uses the maintenance of psychophysical condition and emotional stability using the methods developed by Wim Hof and the technique of Quick coherence. The second stage focusses on the construction of mental resilience, deepening the technique of Quick coherence and the Heart Math technique.

The above-mentioned training program can serve not only to develop psychophysical condition but also as a symbolic graduation between individual semesters or years. Older graduates of the program would pass on their competencies, rights and responsibilities to their younger colleagues. Moreover, the data that derives from this program can be used in selection procedures for specific positions within the military through the identification physiological and mental qualities of potential applicants. This program is applicable to the training of military professionals and its simple methodology makes it a practical tool for the development of psychophysical condition. As such, this program effectively helps with the personal and professional development of a military professional.

Recently collected data confirms that the training program improves mental performance amongst military professionals and participants in this research and that this effect depends on the modulation of the autonomic nervous system. Participants showed increased (16-21%) results on attention tests after the training program.

Keywords:

Leadership, psychophysical condition, coherence, autonomic nervous system, military professional, development.