CommunityEditor
05-05-2009, 08:25 PM
You only have to wait another month or so before you find out what your new PT test will look like.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz plans to roll out the big changes in June when he meets with the service’s four-stars at Corona, the general officer meetings held two or three times a year.
Here’s a peek at the options Schwartz is considering:
* Two physical training tests a year instead of one.
* A weighted scoring system.
* A looser waist standard, possibly 35 inches instead of the current 32 inches.
An Air Force Times reader posted some of the details on AirForceTimes.com.
Air Force spokeswoman Lt. Col. Adriane Craig acknowledged the proposal and said that Schwartz is evaluating many aspects of the test and the scoring system.
The last time that the Air Force retooled its physical fitness exam was five years ago. The aim then, as it is now, is to trim down the force by toughening the test. Today, more than 50 percent of airmen are overweight, but nearly all pass the test, according to Air Force statistics.
Since the overhaul, in 2004, airmen have spent countless hours either criticizing or defending the PT test, especially the 32-inch waist measurement. The other components: two minutes of push-ups, two minutes of sit-ups and a 1.5-mile run. The number of push-ups and sit-ups you have to do depends on your age; so does the time that you have for the run.
The total number of points you can get is 100 — 50 for the run, 30 for the waist measurement and 10 each for the sit-ups and push-ups. A passing score is 75.
In a February interview with Air Force Times, Schwartz discussed the PT test and the airmen’s complaints, especially about the waist measurement.
“One of the points of contention is waist measurement versus body mass index, and that’s what we’re going to decide on,” he said. “If you are 6-foot-5 and solid, as opposed to 5-feet-5 and solid, maybe the way we measure fitness should accommodate that distribution.”
Three more inches
Under the proposal posted on AirForceTimes.com, the components are the same except that the waist standard is upped by three inches, from 32 to 35 for men and from 29 to 32 for women.
The maximum score stays at 100, and you still can pass with 75 points. There’s a shift in points, though. The run counts for 60, up from 50, and the waist score drops from 30 to 20; the push-ups and sit-ups are worth the same 10 points each.
Despite the looser waist standard, the plan doesn’t have the weight-to-height ratio that airmen have been calling for.
Right now, airmen with a body mass index under 25 — BMI uses a person’s weight and height to measure the relative percentages of fat and muscle — get all 30 points even if their waists are wider than 32 inches. Airmen with a BMI above 25 have told Air Force Times they don’t understand why the service uses dual standards.
The scientists remain split on whether waist size should be the sole standard to measure overall health, but the Air Force remains the only service to use the measurement as part of its PT test.
Fit to fight
As more airmen strap on flak jackets and take fire in Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s left some wondering why the Air Force doesn’t add a battlefield component to its PT test.
The Marine Corps has led the way on what’s called combat fitness, and the Army’s not far behind.
The Corps added a combat fitness test, or CFT, in October that includes sprinting 880 yards, lifting a 30-pound ammo can overhead and sprinting through a course of combat drills such as throwing a grenade, dragging a casualty to safety and high-crawling to evade enemy fire.
The Army is drafting a new PT manual that will include combat exercises, such as doing pull-ups wearing a flak vest, but doesn’t have plans for a combat fitness test, said Frank Palkoska, director of the Army’s Physical Fitness School.
Plenty of airmen complete combat fitness programs — in particular in career fields such as security forces and pararescue. The Special Tactics Training Squadron developed a Combat Athlete Cell four years ago to incorporate sports medicine research into the training of combat controllers, pararescue and combat weather airmen.
“Running three miles and doing pushups and sit-ups doesn’t prepare our airmen to put 110 pounds on their back and do the mission,” said Maj. Chris Larkin, commander of the Special Tactics Training Squadron.
The goal was to increase production and to decrease injuries. The squadron has suffered no injuries and has seen major improvements in airmen’s strength and wellness since moving to this fitness regimen focused on combat effectiveness.
Two other officers did their own research on combat fitness and found the service’s fitness program fails to prepare airmen for combat.
Capt. Thomas Worden, a civil engineer who returned from a deployment with an Afghanistan provincial reconstruction team in 2007, worries the PT test is focused too much on waist size and not enough on whether an airman under enemy fire can carry a wounded airman to safety.
Maj. Jeremy Gordon, an F-22 pilot and a certified personal trainer, thinks the PT test focuses too much on both the waist measurement and the 1.5-mile run, and neglects “total fitness.” It doesn’t prepare airmen for combat or even their day-to-day jobs, he said.
“Rarely does an airman’s job call for long duration exertions [like a 1.5-mile run] without any weight or external objects to move,” Gordon wrote in his report, “USAF Concept for Functional Fitness.”
As part of the report, Gordon designed a combat fitness test that includes six events, completed consecutively:
* An 800-meter run.
* A 50-repetition press of a 30-pound object.
* A 400-meter run.
* A 50-pound object carried 100 feet.
* 50 full sit-ups.
* Five pull-ups.
Female airmen would do the same runs but lift and carry less weight and would be allowed to do five jumping pull-ups — not ones starting from a hanging position like the men.
Airmen’s scores would be scaled for age and gender and be based on how fast they could complete the course.
Gordon concedes this test would be “significantly more challenging” but would force airmen to focus on whole body fitness that emphasizes “stamina, flexibility, strength, power, speed, coordination, balance accuracy and agility.”
Worden, too, found the PT test failed to measure how an airman could operate on the battlefield. He kept his test simpler, though, including only three combat fitness exercises: The half-mile run, 30-pound dumbbell lift and pushups.
Those exercises are the best predictors of combat fitness, Gordon concluded after comparing how airmen fared in the Air Force PT test with how they performed in Army and Marine Corps combat fitness events.
“It is good at measuring general health and if an airman is going to rack up medical bills in the future,” Worden said of the Air Force PT test. “But it’s not very good at measuring if you will be good in combat.”
Walking the walk
Although Worden and Gordon have done the research, the Marine Corps has put combat fitness into practice.
The Corps didn’t do away with its PT test, or PFT; it just added the CFT, which a Marine must pass twice a year just like the PFT.
The push for a CFT came after Corps leadership heard back from combat veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan that the PT test alone wouldn’t do anymore. The Corps needed to supplement it with a way to measure how Marines would perform when they faced the rigor of combat.
“The commandant heard back from so many Marines that he made this a priority,” said Brian McGuire, physical readiness programs analyst with the Marines’ Quantico, Va.-based Training and Education Command.
The Corps has received positive feedback on the pass-fail test, still in its introductory phase, McGuire said.
In July, scores will be counted and Marines will be stratified by their performance. Now, McGuire is still trying to get the word out and teaching Marines about the new test.
McGuire doesn’t want to get ahead of Air Force leadership, but he can’t say enough about what the CFT has done for the Corps and thinks airmen would have just as much success with it.
Article: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/05/airforce_fitness_program_050109/
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz plans to roll out the big changes in June when he meets with the service’s four-stars at Corona, the general officer meetings held two or three times a year.
Here’s a peek at the options Schwartz is considering:
* Two physical training tests a year instead of one.
* A weighted scoring system.
* A looser waist standard, possibly 35 inches instead of the current 32 inches.
An Air Force Times reader posted some of the details on AirForceTimes.com.
Air Force spokeswoman Lt. Col. Adriane Craig acknowledged the proposal and said that Schwartz is evaluating many aspects of the test and the scoring system.
The last time that the Air Force retooled its physical fitness exam was five years ago. The aim then, as it is now, is to trim down the force by toughening the test. Today, more than 50 percent of airmen are overweight, but nearly all pass the test, according to Air Force statistics.
Since the overhaul, in 2004, airmen have spent countless hours either criticizing or defending the PT test, especially the 32-inch waist measurement. The other components: two minutes of push-ups, two minutes of sit-ups and a 1.5-mile run. The number of push-ups and sit-ups you have to do depends on your age; so does the time that you have for the run.
The total number of points you can get is 100 — 50 for the run, 30 for the waist measurement and 10 each for the sit-ups and push-ups. A passing score is 75.
In a February interview with Air Force Times, Schwartz discussed the PT test and the airmen’s complaints, especially about the waist measurement.
“One of the points of contention is waist measurement versus body mass index, and that’s what we’re going to decide on,” he said. “If you are 6-foot-5 and solid, as opposed to 5-feet-5 and solid, maybe the way we measure fitness should accommodate that distribution.”
Three more inches
Under the proposal posted on AirForceTimes.com, the components are the same except that the waist standard is upped by three inches, from 32 to 35 for men and from 29 to 32 for women.
The maximum score stays at 100, and you still can pass with 75 points. There’s a shift in points, though. The run counts for 60, up from 50, and the waist score drops from 30 to 20; the push-ups and sit-ups are worth the same 10 points each.
Despite the looser waist standard, the plan doesn’t have the weight-to-height ratio that airmen have been calling for.
Right now, airmen with a body mass index under 25 — BMI uses a person’s weight and height to measure the relative percentages of fat and muscle — get all 30 points even if their waists are wider than 32 inches. Airmen with a BMI above 25 have told Air Force Times they don’t understand why the service uses dual standards.
The scientists remain split on whether waist size should be the sole standard to measure overall health, but the Air Force remains the only service to use the measurement as part of its PT test.
Fit to fight
As more airmen strap on flak jackets and take fire in Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s left some wondering why the Air Force doesn’t add a battlefield component to its PT test.
The Marine Corps has led the way on what’s called combat fitness, and the Army’s not far behind.
The Corps added a combat fitness test, or CFT, in October that includes sprinting 880 yards, lifting a 30-pound ammo can overhead and sprinting through a course of combat drills such as throwing a grenade, dragging a casualty to safety and high-crawling to evade enemy fire.
The Army is drafting a new PT manual that will include combat exercises, such as doing pull-ups wearing a flak vest, but doesn’t have plans for a combat fitness test, said Frank Palkoska, director of the Army’s Physical Fitness School.
Plenty of airmen complete combat fitness programs — in particular in career fields such as security forces and pararescue. The Special Tactics Training Squadron developed a Combat Athlete Cell four years ago to incorporate sports medicine research into the training of combat controllers, pararescue and combat weather airmen.
“Running three miles and doing pushups and sit-ups doesn’t prepare our airmen to put 110 pounds on their back and do the mission,” said Maj. Chris Larkin, commander of the Special Tactics Training Squadron.
The goal was to increase production and to decrease injuries. The squadron has suffered no injuries and has seen major improvements in airmen’s strength and wellness since moving to this fitness regimen focused on combat effectiveness.
Two other officers did their own research on combat fitness and found the service’s fitness program fails to prepare airmen for combat.
Capt. Thomas Worden, a civil engineer who returned from a deployment with an Afghanistan provincial reconstruction team in 2007, worries the PT test is focused too much on waist size and not enough on whether an airman under enemy fire can carry a wounded airman to safety.
Maj. Jeremy Gordon, an F-22 pilot and a certified personal trainer, thinks the PT test focuses too much on both the waist measurement and the 1.5-mile run, and neglects “total fitness.” It doesn’t prepare airmen for combat or even their day-to-day jobs, he said.
“Rarely does an airman’s job call for long duration exertions [like a 1.5-mile run] without any weight or external objects to move,” Gordon wrote in his report, “USAF Concept for Functional Fitness.”
As part of the report, Gordon designed a combat fitness test that includes six events, completed consecutively:
* An 800-meter run.
* A 50-repetition press of a 30-pound object.
* A 400-meter run.
* A 50-pound object carried 100 feet.
* 50 full sit-ups.
* Five pull-ups.
Female airmen would do the same runs but lift and carry less weight and would be allowed to do five jumping pull-ups — not ones starting from a hanging position like the men.
Airmen’s scores would be scaled for age and gender and be based on how fast they could complete the course.
Gordon concedes this test would be “significantly more challenging” but would force airmen to focus on whole body fitness that emphasizes “stamina, flexibility, strength, power, speed, coordination, balance accuracy and agility.”
Worden, too, found the PT test failed to measure how an airman could operate on the battlefield. He kept his test simpler, though, including only three combat fitness exercises: The half-mile run, 30-pound dumbbell lift and pushups.
Those exercises are the best predictors of combat fitness, Gordon concluded after comparing how airmen fared in the Air Force PT test with how they performed in Army and Marine Corps combat fitness events.
“It is good at measuring general health and if an airman is going to rack up medical bills in the future,” Worden said of the Air Force PT test. “But it’s not very good at measuring if you will be good in combat.”
Walking the walk
Although Worden and Gordon have done the research, the Marine Corps has put combat fitness into practice.
The Corps didn’t do away with its PT test, or PFT; it just added the CFT, which a Marine must pass twice a year just like the PFT.
The push for a CFT came after Corps leadership heard back from combat veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan that the PT test alone wouldn’t do anymore. The Corps needed to supplement it with a way to measure how Marines would perform when they faced the rigor of combat.
“The commandant heard back from so many Marines that he made this a priority,” said Brian McGuire, physical readiness programs analyst with the Marines’ Quantico, Va.-based Training and Education Command.
The Corps has received positive feedback on the pass-fail test, still in its introductory phase, McGuire said.
In July, scores will be counted and Marines will be stratified by their performance. Now, McGuire is still trying to get the word out and teaching Marines about the new test.
McGuire doesn’t want to get ahead of Air Force leadership, but he can’t say enough about what the CFT has done for the Corps and thinks airmen would have just as much success with it.
Article: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/05/airforce_fitness_program_050109/