The New Air Force Fitness Test Will Feature Walking Instead Of Running And Modified Push-Ups

Task and Purpose ^ | 06/29/21 | David Roza

[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.

[Gay State Conservative]

I’m 70 with two metal hips...and *I* would pass it!

[Mark17]

Yes, a Controller. It wasn’t bad, I guess. My biggest complaint, was that I didn’t think we were paid enough, for the responsibility we had. Actually, I worked Rapcon, at Mountain Home and Vietnam, but I managed to finagle my way into the tower at Laughlin.
By then, I had 13 years in and was getting tired of controlling aircraft. They sent me to Germany, where I was a full time TERPS specialist. It was a welcome 4 year break. We had the world’s largest TERPS shop, with 13 people. We were the approval authority for all USAFE instrument procedures, plus we had 1,400 host nation procedures to maintain. The work never stopped. I supported the British, in the Falklands war, by developing two instrument procedures, for the Vulcan bombers. 👍
So, I told my son, not to do enlisted time. I told him officers make more money, have greater prestige, and he could fly. He took my advice, got his college degree, went to OTS, then off to pilot training. He is now a 1st Lieutenant, and is still in training. He will finish training in October. I taught him about both IFR and VFR traffic patterns. I think it helped him understand ATC better. 😀👊

[gunnut]

Isn’t a large portion of maintaining discipline in the military is conformity? Why give options for the test? Either you can do what we need you to do or you cannot.

[Mark17]

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 theaters,

I managed to retire as an E-7. The Air Force, has a different philosophy. They believe that if USAF troops are well housed, well fed, with nice clubs, shopping, pools, theaters, tennis courts, that contented troops, are dedicated troops. They are right. I was always motivated to do a good job for the USAF. 👍

[DouglasKC]

Gee wonder why they’re modifying the standards?

[ops33]

Same here. Cross trained after my first enlistment as a firefighter. First rating at Scott tower, then Zweibrucken as TSN, followed by Cannon. Then to Berlin, worked both the BARTCC and Tempelhof tower chief. Last assignment was Third Mob at Tinker. After retirement worked at the airport in OKC. Then went across to the FAA and worked Terps as a contractor for Lockheed Martin. Did the Terps but was never very good at it. There must be dozens of other controllers out there that we both know.

[Mark17]

Yes, if I have it right, the 1st Mob was at Lindsey, the 2nd Mob was at Patrick, the third herd, that you were in, at Tinker. I knew there was a Mob at Clark. It was the 1st, before it was at Lindsey. I trained two 1st Mob Lindsey guys, who did TERPS with us, at Mainz-Kastel, between deployments. One of these 1st Mob guys I trained in TERPS, I knew at Laughlin. I went TDY to RAF Greenham Common. I was in the tower in Nov of 83, when the first cruise missiles arrived, on a C-5. The one, running the MPN-13, was the other guy I trained. I had no idea he was there. If we want to compare names, we should use freep mail. 😀👍

[pfflier]

That loadout was different than the "Big Belly" and the guys in the video were munitions guys putting on a show for the camera.

We were just grunt labor, supply guys, titless WAFs, whatever the labor pool needed. It was mostly routine grunt work. During Linebacker II we suddenly felt the urgency and tried hard to make it work. Some of those planes and crews never came back.

My fond memories were at the bomb dump site where individual 500 pounders were rolled on the rolled off the transporter for the munitions guys to load the clips or pylon mounts.

Each bomb was moved at least 4 times before the machines took over. Each -52 held 108 bombs.

[hoagy62]

No, I was too fat.

AF recruiter said I had to lose 40 pounds before considering me. That was 1982.

The Army took care of that.