Posted on 07/01/2021 9:29:28 PM PDT by Enlightened1
The Air Force raised some eyebrows on Monday when it announced upcoming changes to its physical training test that would allow airmen to choose their own adventure for demonstrating physical prowess.
The new test, which the service will begin to experiment with in January 2022, will allow airmen to choose between running, shuttle run sprints, and walking for the aerobic portion of the test. Shuttle run sprints involve sprinting back and forth between two markers about 25 meters apart. They could then choose between planks and sit-ups for the core strength measure. And for the final portion of the test airmen would be allowed to choose between push-ups and raised-hand push-ups.
Instead of going up and down like a traditional push-up, the raised hand push-ups allow airmen to alternate lifting their hands up while in the push-up ready position, said Lt. Gen. Brian Kelly, the deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel and services at Air Force headquarters, when he discussed the upcoming changes to the physical fitness test in a live chat with Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne Bass on Monday.
The new options are supposed to give airmen more flexibility to do the test the way they want to, Kelly explained. The test will begin a six-month trial period starting in January.
“Say you’re not a long-distance runner but you wanted to run fast back and forth, we have a shuttle run back and forth about 25 meters apart,” he said.
There may be more options revealed over the next several months, but the lieutenant general ruled out swimming or rowing as other options for the aerobic portion. Not all Air Force installations have the facilities for those kinds of tests, he explained. The test will still score participants on a 100 point scale, with the aerobic portion being worth 60 points and the other two worth 20 points each.
When was that? After tech school, the only people that I saw in formation were in Correctional Custody or NCO school. (81-85)
If this an annual test to assess fitness, then it’s more than we did stateside in the ‘80s.
As woke as the Air Force is, I’m surprised the fitness test doesn’t include fellatio.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BSpxDKGkuTw
Nothing new about the test…in fact they brought back the old. When I was in the Air Force in the late 70s and early 80s, we just had to walk or run a mile and a half in 15-20 minutes once a year.
What branch did you serve in?
I was in 2008-2015, and the fitness test changed in 2009, by 2012 or 2013 they were already talking about changing it again.
Thank God I got out, this is embarrassing to watch.
When I was in, I qual’d for PJ Indoc.
This is pathetic…
Because your ASVAB scores were too low to qualify to get in?
The Army has the highest percentage of black people, just saying…
Fly people...
I was in the Coast Guard, the Coast Guard had nothing back 50 years ago and they begged, borrowed and stole or struck MOU’s, of course things have changed over the years but in the 70’s even Coadt Guard gym equipment was cast off from the other services.
So we went to other bases for our recreational needs and the Air Force always had nice gyms, nice golf courses, nice swimming pools, nice bowling alleys, nice canteen, all the amenities. Hell, the air force even had movie theators, the coast guard showed their movies on bed sheets stretched across the bulkhead on the mess deck.
For a while there I thought about laterally moving over to the Air Force then I realized that the air force likes to grow its own, and that it’s very hard to make rank in the Air Force, as a result 20 year E5’s and E6’s are (or used to be) very common.
I’m a 66 year old female NASM and ACE fitness trainer. I could pass that test. What a farce. I don’t let my own clients off that easy, although I will say this: depending upon your muscle type, slow twitch or fast, some people are better sprinters, others better at long distance running. As for walking...I am a runner, but due to an injury once I power walked a 5K. It was more challenging to me than running...whole different set of muscles used. But really, we are talking about young, healthy people being trained for military service. I can’t believe they’re being this lax.
Ouch. I spent 32 years in the Air Force and I am not offended by that statement. :p
The Chair Force?
shouldn’t that be airperson?
And to think I thought the Navy was a clown show.
Controller?
May dad, my older brother, and myself all served in Army.
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