Exercise: A Novel Treatment for Combat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Participants will engage in 3 aerobic and resistance exercise sessions (\~60-75 min total per session) weekly for 8 consecutive weeks. Aerobic exercise will be performed for 30 minutes on a treadmill 3 times weekly. Before beginning, 10 min of stretches will be performed. Each exercise bout will begin and end with a 5-min warm-up and 5-min cool-down on the treadmill, not included in the prescribed exercise duration. Eight resistance exercises will be performed immediately following the aerobic exercise: lat pulldown, triceps pushdown, seated chest press, upright row, bicep curls, leg press, shoulder press, and abdominal crunches. Participants will perform two sets of 10 repetitions of each. A rest interval of 60 seconds will be taken between exercises. Research staff will initially assist the participants in choosing the proper resistance to use, and weight will be increased once 15 repetitions can be performed while maintaining proper form.

Participants will engage in stretching sessions that will focus on whole-body flexibility. Participants will perform 3 sessions per week (\~60 min) of 3 sets of 14 stretches focused on the muscle groups targeted by the exercise training (i.e., deltoids, pectorals, lats, forearms and biceps, triceps, quadriceps, hamstrings, and groins). Each stretch will be performed for 20 seconds and a rest interval of 60 seconds will be taken between each set.