A ribbon cutting ceremony was held for the Navy's first Navy Operational Fitness and Fueling System (NOFFS) Zone at Morton Hall Gymnasium on Naval Submarine Base New London (SUBASE), Jan 12.

The NOFFS Zone project at Morton Hall cost $165,000 and includes an indoor turf area, battle ropes, tire flipping, weight lifting, box jumping, and other movement based activities.

Originally designed for Sailors to continually be physically active while not having access to a fitness facility or equipment, NOFFS has been undergoing a rebranding since 2014, and aims to instruct Sailors how to physically train effectively and safely, and make healthy nutritional choices in both shore and operational environments.

"NOFFS mimics the same type of motions done on the waterfront like pushing, pulling, and lifting," said Capt. Paul Whitescarver, commanding officer of SUBASE. "We want to prevent injuries in the future, and it's pretty awesome for SUBASE New London to open the first NOFFS Zone."

Additional pilot NOFFS Zones opening in the future include, Naval Base Kitsap - Bangor, Naval Base Ventura County, Naval Station Norfolk, and Naval Air Station Pensacola.

"The equipment will be the same, but the look may not be," said Tunde Ridley, Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) section head of Navy Fitness and a world-class track athlete. "When you walk into a NOFFS Zone, you'll know. There are specific areas for pillar prep, movement prep, strength/workout and regeneration.

The original NOFFS Operational program released in 2009 provided Sailors with resistance bands that could easily be taken out to sea, or at home, requiring minimal space.

"Many people associate NOFFS with a bag of rubber bands, but we wanted to give people another look at what NOFFS really is, an entire system including the facility, nutrition and cell phone application where you can still have the virtual trainer if an MWR Fitness trainer isn't available in person," said Ridley. "The program focuses on resiliency and eliminating musculoskeletal injuries, and provides a program to where Sailors or anyone who wanted to use it didn't have to think about it. We eliminate the guesswork."

Ridley also noted that a tactical athlete needs more than a program with a set start and end, and needs a continuum of exercise programming. NOFFS MWR Fitness Professionals are certified to provide custom programming to meet the needs of patrons, units or groups. This custom programming covers the full continuum of exercise goals including corrective exercise all the way to maximum power programming.

"A lot of people are excited about giving these old MWR fitness facilities the opportunities to rebrand and resell what NOFFS is," said Ridley. "We are hoping that the NOFFS Zone will strengthen the working relationship between units, commands, and MWR fitness professionals as we are here to assist and train."

Ridley also said there are four different NOFFS series available, Operational, Strength, Endurance and Sandbag, combined with the cell-phone application, makes NOFFS easily portable to train with from home, deployed, or in a fitness facility.

"I'm proud that SUBASE New London is the first to open a NOFFS Zone," said Whitescarver. "The visibility of the new NOFFS Zone is going to be great for the waterfront and everyone else on the base."

MWR trainers at Morton Hall will be hosting classes seven times a week, and the NOFFS Zone is available for individual and command use. For more information, please call MWR at (860) 694-2298.

The NOFFS application is available for both Android and iOS, and can be found at www.navyfitness.org


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