{"id":51863,"date":"2021-04-06T22:01:57","date_gmt":"2021-04-06T22:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/04\/06\/air-force-fitness-test-is-practical-but-could-do-better-study-says\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:56:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:56:59","slug":"air-force-fitness-test-is-practical-but-could-do-better-study-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2021\/04\/06\/air-force-fitness-test-is-practical-but-could-do-better-study-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Air Force fitness test is practical, but the service could do better, study says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A new study out Tuesday encourages the Air Force to retool parts of its fitness test to incorporate more practical measures of everyday health, while keeping features like the 1.5-mile run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Researchers at the federally funded think tank Rand Corp. argue the Air Force should launch its own trial to look at new ways of measuring fitness. While the current test is practical, they said, there\u2019s more the Air Force can do to tailor its criteria for certain groups of airmen and to make sure the process is safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Analysts likewise questioned whether testing standards are appropriate for all airmen across age and gender, and whether those standards are consistently enforced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNo single test is best for any given physical fitness component,\u201d researchers wrote in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rand.org\/pubs\/research_reports\/RRA762-1.html\" target=_blank>April 6 report<\/a>. \u201cHowever, some tests may provide some advantages in terms of injury risk, cost, ease of administration, perceived fairness, reliability and validity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When physical fitness tests resume July 1 after a pandemic-safe hiatus, airmen must tackle a 1.5-mile run plus one minute each of pushups and situps. The waist measurement portion of the test will no longer count toward someone\u2019s overall test score, but will still be administered to see if the airman meets body composition standards, the Air Force <a href=\"https:\/\/www.af.mil\/News\/Article-Display\/Article\/2525290\/pt-test-pushed-to-july-updates-to-scoring-physical-components-ahead\/\" target=_blank>said in March<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2021\/03\/05\/air-force-postpones-physical-fitness-tests-to-july\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"257\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PT-running.JPG.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Air Force postpones physical fitness tests to July<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Details of the new PFT scoring system are expected to be released in June..<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those changes come as the Air Force wants to encourage holistic, functionally fit lifestyles rather than see airmen fall into rote movement that can lead to injury \u2014 particularly when cramming for the test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe 1.5-mile run is a valid and well-supported measure of cardiorespiratory fitness,\u201d Rand said, noting the review did not consider the time limits placed on airmen to finish their runs. Still, the analysts endorsed the service\u2019s look at alternatives like a shuttle run or rowing machine to measure the same metrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rand suggested using waist-to-height ratio as another measure of body composition. Height and weight measurements will resume in October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report backed situps and pushups as \u201cacceptable measures of muscular endurance,\u201d but said the Air Force can do more to assess muscular strength. Analysts raised the idea of using planks instead of situps to measure core stability, and turning to squats, deadlifts and lunges to measure muscular strength and endurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIncluding it should be considered to ensure that airmen can perform common military tasks during deployment,\u201d researchers wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2021\/03\/02\/here-are-the-new-pt-uniforms-coming-to-the-air-force\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"214\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/210225-F-FC975-2386.jfif_.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Here are the new PT uniforms coming to the Air Force<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The service has signed off on designs for a new PT jacket, T-shirt, shorts and pants that will start to become available in 2022.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That recommendation goes hand in hand with another Rand suggestion: come up with a better way to gauge whether airmen have the endurance and agility to deploy overseas. The think tank suggested that the Air Force look at creating a predeployment fitness test that would be separate from a baseline exam that vets routine health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe AF does not fully address the physical fitness of airmen for advanced deployments, specifically to hostile or uncertain environments,\u201d Rand wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To ensure airmen don\u2019t fail the test on purpose to avoid deployments, the report suggested incentivizing good fitness through perks like time off and extra pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere is a need to better understand the role of different levels of AF leadership \u2026 on the physical fitness among today\u2019s airmen,\u201d the report added. \u201cIs the communication provided to airmen about the importance of fitness effective? Does the AF have a culture that supports and reinforces fitness?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThese are important issues that complement an [Air Force fitness assessment] that is only administered to airmen once or twice a year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new Rand Corp. study out Tuesday encourages the Air Force to retool parts of its fitness test to incorporate more practical measures of everyday health, while keeping features like the 1.5-mile run.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":28434,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":88,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[29,116,15,88],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3446],"class_list":["post-51863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-left-column","category-news","category-your-military"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"QXIOHW53NJGA7FT3NPIV4VK62U","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-air-force\/2021\/04\/06\/air-force-fitness-test-is-practical-but-could-do-better-study-says\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Air Force fitness test is practical, but the service could do better, study says - Military Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A new Rand Corp. study out Tuesday encourages the Air Force to retool parts of its fitness test to incorporate more practical measures of everyday health, while keeping features like the 1.5-mile run.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Air Force fitness test is practical, but the service could do better, study says\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A new Rand Corp. study out Tuesday encourages the Air Force to retool parts of its fitness test to incorporate more practical measures of everyday health, while keeping features like the 1.5-mile run.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2021\/04\/06\/air-force-fitness-test-is-practical-but-could-do-better-study-says\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Military Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-06T22:01:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T20:56:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rachel S. 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