This is the story I teased in my previous article about connecting physical fitness testing to disaster prevention.

I will start with the conclusion. When I changed the angle, people started to take action.

People who wouldn’t exercise for the sake of ‘health’ participated when the angle was ‘disaster prevention.’ I was able to get local government officials to listen to me, and the departments I could talk to and the venues I could enter expanded. In this article, I will talk about the struggles I faced leading up to this, what changed, and what was surprising and didn’t go well when I tried it.

There were people who wouldn’t come for exercise for the sake of ‘health’

The trigger was the wall of people who wouldn’t come to exercise.

Even when we held health classes or measurement sessions, it was difficult to get people who weren’t interested in exercise to come. I was worried about that.

So, as a company, we took the initiative to connect physical fitness testing to ‘disaster prevention.’ That is Disaster Mitigation Physical Fitness Testing®.

What we measure in Disaster Mitigation Physical Fitness Testing®

Disaster Mitigation Physical Fitness Testing® is an initiative that checks whether you have a ‘body that can move’ during a disaster through five measurements. Each of the five measurements corresponds to movements during a disaster.

• Chair stand: Going up and down stairs when elevators stop, and evacuating to a safe place (leg strength and explosive power)

• One-leg stand: Standing still in the darkness of a power outage or on top of rubble (balance)

• Supply transport: Carrying water and emergency evacuation bags (carrying strength and walking stability)

• Four-direction step: Dodging falling objects and changing direction quickly (quickness and judgment)

• Squat tap (low-posture movement): Continuing to evacuate in a low posture through smoke from a fire (endurance and coordination of limbs)

The results are returned as a guide for thinking about the ease of evacuation. It is not a test to predict whether you can escape during a disaster.

The reason we named it ‘disaster mitigation’ rather than ‘disaster prevention’ is based on the idea that even if it is difficult to prevent the disaster itself, each person’s physical strength can reduce the damage.

The departments I could talk to expanded from health to disaster prevention and crisis management

By using the angle of disaster prevention, there were three changes in my conversations with local governments.

1. They listened to me

When I said ‘disaster prevention,’ they were interested. I received reactions from officials saying, ‘We had thought about stockpiling, but we hadn’t thought about physical strength.’

2. The range of departments I could talk to expanded

In addition to health and sports departments, I was able to talk to disaster prevention and crisis management departments. I approached the disaster prevention and crisis management departments by saying, ‘This is an initiative to measure whether people can move on their own two feet during an evacuation.’

3. I was included in disaster drills and events

I was able to have Disaster Mitigation Physical Fitness Testing® included as part of disaster drills and local events.

Why did they take action when I used the term ‘disaster prevention’? I believe it is because while people may have likes and dislikes regarding exercise, disasters are relevant to everyone.

Something unexpected: People who came for disaster prevention started talking about health

After trying it out, something happened that I hadn’t anticipated. People who came for the sake of disaster prevention looked at their results and started talking about their own health and exercise.

When I was calling out for ‘the sake of health,’ people who weren’t interested in exercise wouldn’t come. But with those who entered through disaster prevention, the topics of health and exercise came from them. There were even comments like, ‘I want my family to do this too.’

Some people were surprised when they saw the results. Some were surprised that they had more physical strength than they thought, while others were surprised that they had less.

Even if they enter through disaster prevention, seeing their own results leads to conversations about health and exercise. It was an event that made me feel that changing the entry point has meaning.

Something that didn’t go well: Measuring and then stopping

There were also things that didn’t go well. It was that people would measure, look at the results, and then it would end there. Even if they realize their physical strength, it doesn’t become preparation if it doesn’t lead to action from the next day onward.

Therefore, I started providing information on daily exercises and follow-up guidance along with the results. I suggest exercises that can be done in about 30 seconds every day, tailored to the areas where they were weak.

Create an entry point using the language of the people you want to reach

For people who couldn’t be reached with the words ‘for the sake of health,’ the words ‘disaster prevention’ worked. If you create an entry point using the language of the interests of the people you want to reach, you can sometimes reach people you couldn’t reach before. That is what I learned from this initiative.

What kind of words would reach the people you want to reach, who haven’t been reached yet?

And, to those who read this article, just one thing. Please look at your own physical strength as one form of ‘preparation,’ just like stockpiling supplies or securing furniture.

Detailed information about Disaster Mitigation Physical Fitness Testing® is summarized on the official page.

https://gensai-tairyoku-sokutei.netlify.app/

For consultations regarding physical fitness testing events for residents, please feel free to send a DM on X (@Tkusano05).

Author: Toyokatsu Kusano. General Manager at Wingate Co., Ltd. I handle trainer dispatch, personal trainer training, and new business development with local governments and companies.

Next time, I plan to write about the common traits of trainers who are chosen in the field.