New Air Force Fitness standards in effect July 1

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Jack Sanders
  • JBER PAO
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  July 1, the Air Force will officially initiate new physical training testing standards.

For Elmendorf, who's been doing centralized testing with the Health and Wellness Center since February 2009, this will mean the scoring of the PT test will be the only thing to change.

"I think the most significant change is if you fail in any one category that you're going to fail the test overall," said Chief Master Sergeant Tom Baker, 3rd Wing command chief. "It's very important that Airmen be aware of that when they go in for the test to know that they have to give maximum effort in all categories to make sure they pass."

In addition to the new pass/fail criteria, the component's percentage of total score will also change. The run will account for 60 percent of a member's score body composition, 20 percent muscle fitness, crunches and push-ups, will remain 10 percent each. The component weighing was changed to incorporate science-based criteria along the health and fitness hierarchy.

The new fitness standards can be found at www.e-publishing.af.mil, under AFI 36-2905, although an additional revision is expected, according to Leyla Kelter, the chief of the 3rd Aerospace Medicine Squadron Health Promotions Flight and the PACAF Fitness Program consultant.

Even though Elmendorf PT fail rates have gone up since the start of centralized testing, some don't think the new standards will cause a significant increase in overall fail rates.

"I think there will be a little bit of an impact (on Elmendorf's Airmen). I don't think that it's as bad as what people may think based on current test scores, because I think some Airmen did the minimum required for an overall passing score, and that necessarily wasn't everything they could do," said Chief Baker. "Yes, there will be some more failures, but I don't think it will be a significant increase. The combination of centralized testing and the new fitness standards is definitely going to impact the Air Force as a whole, but I don't believe it's going to impact Elmendorf quite as much based on the fact that (the Pacific Air Forces) has been the lead for PT testing for more than a year now, and we've already gotten over the hump with centralized testing."

The thing that's going to make the biggest difference when it comes to the new testing procedures is how Airmen prepare for the test. Airmen are going to first be aware of what the minimum standards are in each category for their age group and train to meet those standards, Chief Baker said.

"I think one of the issues we have with Airmen that are on the FIP program is that, yes, they take a FIP class, but it may not necessarily be productive for the area that they failed in," the Chief said. "Say they failed in push-ups, doing a spin class probably isn't going to help their push-up performance. They need to work in the areas where they're shortfalls are. If they are doing well overall, they need to continue to train to that fitness level and cover all the areas."

The new standards also provide additional rehabilitative tools for commanders.

"Commanders will now be allowed to take administrative action for first-time failures, if they feel it's warranted," Mrs. Kelter said. "The commander will be given an available options table in the Fitness (Air Force Instructions) to provide clear guidance and focus on recommended actions based on number of failed tests."

With the new testing standards, it will be every Airman's job to help his fellow airmen, although it will still remain the individual Airman's responsibility to keep their fitness standards up to par.

"When there's an exceptionally fit airman in the unit, it's their job to sort of take the less fit airmen under his or her wing and make sure that they're training together, knocking out push-ups and crunches when they can and pacing each other on the timed run," Chief Baker said. "I think the Medical Group's push-up challenge earlier this year was a perfect example of Airmen pushing Airmen. "

With the changes, there is an incentive added for those Airmen who score 90 percent or better on their evaluation.

"The latest change, if you score a 90 or higher on your fitness test (you only test once a year), is definitely incentive for Airmen to do better and push it a little harder to get that excellent score, but they still need to stay physically fit all year long," the Chief said. "The leadership and the wing understand it's a challenge to maintain fitness in the Alaskan climate during the winter months and that's why we're putting a lot of effort into giving alternate venues for exercise. General Bergeson's "fit- to- fight" cross-country skiing at the golf course last winter was an excellent addition to our program. We're looking seriously at an indoor track at Hanger 5 with the installation excellence money to provide another venue to exercise all year-long."

Maintaining physical fitness standards is critical in remaining deployment ready.

"Physical Fitness is important to the Air Force," said Chief Baker. "We put more demands on our Airmen now than we have at any other time in the history of the force. We're definitely an expeditionary Air Force. We're deploying to and operating in very extreme climates, and it's important to be physically fit to meet the challenges that we're going to face. While training to pass the PT test is important, the overall goal of the Air Force fitness program is much broader. The long term effect is we want to have healthy Airmen and the PT test is our way of confirming that the Airmen are maintaining their physical fitness," said Chief Baker. "The test itself shouldn't be the main focus. Being healthy and physically fit should be the focus of our Airmen, and if you're physically fit the PT test shouldn't be an issue."