News

Air Force revises fitness program

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Amaani Lyle
  • Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs
WASHINGTON (AFNS) --  The need for a "clear, understandable and simpler" fitness program will mean significant changes to the Air Force's current fitness program, said the service's top officer during a senior leadership conference held June 4-6 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz met with the service's other four stars at CORONA TOP where one of the key agenda items was Air Force fitness.

His intent was to fine tune fitness testing, promote a year-round fitness culture and send a clear message that health and fitness are critical to mission readiness.

"Fitness is a vital component of Air Force culture," General Schwartz said. "These challenging times underscore the importance of properly caring for our most valuable resource: our Airmen."

Lt. Gen. Richard Newton III, the Air Force deputy chief of staff for manpower and personnel said the new Air Force instruction will better emphasize the service's fitness expectations of its Airmen. Who will conduct the testing, when and how Airmen will test are among the most significant revisions to the fitness program, are set to take effect January 2010.

According to Lt. Col. Christopher Cronce, Air Force Reserve Command, deputy chief of Plans and Integration, the AFI changes for Reservists aren't on the same timeline as active duty.

"There are a lot of details that need to be worked out," said Colonel Cronce. "We're hoping to confirm our changes in the near future, but there is no set date yet."

As of now, it appears Air Reserve Technicians and Active Guard-Reserve will test twice a year like the active duty is going to, according to Colonel Cronce. Traditional Reservists, Guardsmen, and Immobilization Augmentees will continue to test once a year as this time.

To maximize testing objectivity, the AFI designates trained civilian proctors to conduct fitness tests administered at new centralized locations called fitness assessment cells.

This is another factor that has to be worked out when it comes to Reservists testing on drill weekends, said Colonel Cronce. AFRC is working with active duty to modify contracts, so the Health and Wellness Centers and civilian employees can be available during Reserve Weekends.

Aerobic fitness is the best indicator of current and future health risk, followed by body composition, said Lt. Col. Scott Arcuri, the chief of promotions, evaluations, and fitness policy at the Air Staff. Because of this, the aerobic run will now account for 60 percent of the test (previously 50 percent), body composition will account for 20 percent (previously 30 percent), while sit-ups and push-ups remain at 10 percent each.

"We developed evidence-driven, health based criterion standards for aerobic fitness and body composition and muscle fitness," Colonel Arcuri said. "Airmen can be confident the new standards and corresponding points have sound rationale behind them."

Colonel Arcuri also stated that the points awarded within each component directly reflect health risk and fitness and are designed to reward incremental fitness improvements.

Lt. Col. Patrick Kearney, 446th Airlift Wing fitness program manager, McChord Air Force Base, Wash., said the actual scoring changes will take place for Reservists the same time as active duty, January 2010, but all of the other pending changes for the AFI are still being worked out between AFRC and active duty.

"When the regulation drops, the scoring change between the waist and running will be immediate," said Colonel Kearney. "As soon as the Air Force uploads the software, all fitness score changes will be updated."

According to Colonel Cronce, in order to pass the test, Airmen will be required to have a composite score of 75 but also will need to meet minimum requirements for each component.

"We know that men won't be able to have over a 39 inch waist to receive a passing score," said Colonel Cronce. "Women won't be able to go over a 35.5 inch waist. Those are the only minimum scores we know of at this time."

Air Force officials said age range requirements will be simplified to five categories: less than 30, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59 and 60-plus years of age. Additionally, because overall fitness is a readiness issue, fitness results will be categorized using operational readiness or unit compliance inspection-type ratings. Those scoring 90 and above will be "Excellent;" those scoring between 75 and 90 will be "Satisfactory;" and those scoring under 75 will be "Unsatisfactory."

Failure to comply with the new fitness standards could impact more than Airmen's waistlines. The new AFI links unsatisfactory fitness test performance directly to enlisted and officer performance reports. Before retiring, Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Rodney McKinley said the upcoming revised evaluation AFI will ensure no Airman can have a referral enlisted performance report for fitness and receive an overall five rating.

General Newton asserts that while the Air Force fitness AFI outlines Airman's responsibilities, the Air Force Fitness Management System will be enhanced to provide detailed post-test feedback designed to help Airmen improve in targeted areas.

Airmen will be able to view component scoring charts in the new AFI. Further questions on the program can be directed to Colonel Arcuri, Lt. Col. John Giles and Chief Master Sgt. Mark Long, Air Staff enlisted promotions, evaluations and physical fitness at DSN's 224-8270, 222-4532 and 227-1661 respectively.

(Tech. Sgt. Jake Chappelle, 446th Airlift Wing Public Affairs, contributed to this article.)