Health and Wellness Center takes over PT

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Jack Sanders
  • 3rd Wing Public Affairs
ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  Nearly a year has passed since the Elmendorf Health and Wellness Center here was tasked to take over the physical training evaluations for Air Force members here.

The HAWC has calculated that in the time frame since March 2009, they've given around 5,000 PT tests. That's about 500 evaluations every month.

"We've tested quite a few people in the past year," said fitness test cell specialist Ryan LaRock. "It's going to almost double with testing going to twice a year."

The Air Force is in the process changing many elements of the PT test, and one of the most noticeable changes is testing biannually instead of annually. Other changes include, but aren't limited to changing waist limits and percentages for the main components of the test.

Currently the Air Force is still using the older fitness scoring, but will switch over to the new scoring plan in June.

Fitness testing is broken into four parts, a waist circumference measurement, push-ups, situps, and 1.5 mile run.

Central testing is a more reliable test that covers the basic fitness components, said LaRock. There was a high rate of fails after Elmendorf went to centralized PT testing. "Fail rates were high at the beginning, but recently its dropped ... more people are passing," said LaRock.

Airmen that have taken the fitness test said they thought it was more effective than unit testing.

"I think they're doing a good job," said Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Shaffer, 3rd Medical Group aerospace medical technician. "It keeps people honest, not having their buddies giving them breaks."

With any well crafted test it comes with trial and error. There are multiple things Airmen say they like about the central testing, like the integrity and a more personal evaluation it offers.

With HAWC testing Airmen have a one on one interaction with their evaluators. Testing in small groups also gives test takers a sense of teamwork and competition.