Mandatory PT time ends Jan. 1

[CommunityEditor]

There will be no more mandatory workday workout time starting in January.

The Air Force is getting rid of the requirement next year, leaving it up to commanders whether to build exercise time into your shift. Right now, according to Air Force Instruction 10-248, your leaders should be giving you at least 90 minutes three times a week for physical training — unless going to the gym interferes with getting the job done.

Though that edict will not be in the 2010 edition of AFI, the revised statement will hold commanders accountable for “providing a work environment that supports healthy lifestyle choices,” according to Maj. Richelle A. Dowdell, an Air Force spokeswoman.

“The new policy is focused on placing responsibilities for individual fitness where they should be — with the individual,” Dowdell wrote in an e-mail to Air Force Times. “Commanders are required to establish unit PT programs and they are encouraged, but not required, to schedule or authorize time for physical fitness training during the duty day.”

There are airmen on both sides of the issue.

A few of you said you wonder how it makes sense to eliminate the workday workouts, yet institute a tougher PT test, which also debuts in just three short months. Others, though, argue fitness should be an airman’s responsibility — not the commander’s.

And there’s a mix of the supporters and opponents who point out that many commanders either already give short shrift to fitness — using “the mission” as a way to skirt the mandate — or can’t get the unit PT program quite right, making it it’s too easy and not getting anyone body in shape or too hard and putting airmen at risk of injury.

Say what? Word of the new rule went out on the Web in a round-about way.

A user of www.airforcetimes.com, “technomage1,” posted a poll that asked his fellow airmen: “Should unit PT be prohibited under the new AFI?” “Technomage1” put out a little explainer with his question and a bit of personal history.

“With the new fitness AFI coming out, I’m wondering if it’s not time for a return to the days when fitness was solely the member’s responsibility,” he told his fellow forum contributors. “When I first came in, you had your bike test once a year;, if you failed you took the consequences of it. There was no unit PT; at best you had a supervisor that liked to work out and would give you time (mission allowing) to do it. But if that wasn’t the case it was still on you to find time to do so on your own.”

The poll drew 35 votes, 18 — or 51 percent — in favor, and went over the pros and cons of mandatory workouts. Of the more than 70 responses on Air Force Times’ site, only a handful thought ending the mandate was a bad idea.

“I say do not eliminate unit PT. No unit PT, for most people, will mean ‘No PT,’ especially for leadership. It’s just going to make things worse,” wrote a user who goes by “sanguines.” “You can’t institute a higher standard and simultaneously lower the required practice, in any field.”

From “JTAC_Sean”: “I don’t get what you guys all have against forming up as a group, doing some push-ups and sit-ups, maybe some circuit training, and then going on a two or three mile run together. No, it isn’t going to make you Superman, but you’ll at least be in some kind of shape.”

At an open forum of command chief master sergeants, an unidentified audience member asked the senior noncommissioned officers what they thought about eliminating the workday workouts.

“This appears inconsistent with the new emphasis to create and maintain an atmosphere of fitness,” the questioner wrote on a card, read aloud to the panel by Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James Roy.

Across the board, the enlisted leaders supported the new rule and put the responsibility of getting and staying in shape on airmen.

Chief Master Sgt. Michael P. Gilbert, of Air Force Special Operations Command, pointed out that the new AFI “doesn’t prevent airmen from working out,” but they might have to exercise more “after hours” and “on the weekends.”

Air Force leaders wanted to leave a unit’s fitness program to a commander’s discretion because the mission must come first, he said.

“Look at the position you are putting commanders in,” Gilbert said. “You are required to do fitness and you are required to fly these jets by 9 o’clock. You pick.”

The senior NCOs are in line with the way many airmen are thinking.

“The current system is broken and should be tossed, just tell people to do it on their own,” wrote “DomoreWithless52.” “Op tempo for many units is crazy and there’s no time for organized PT.”

A user who goes by “Bael” put it this way: “Unit PT should be at the discretion of the commander. Commanders need the flexibility to turn group PT on and off according to manning needs.”

“VFFSSGT” is more than willing to take care of himself: “I sleep, eat, bathe, haircut, brush teeth, CDC’s, promotion study, work, etc. on my own; I should be able to PT on my own too.”

Unit PT for “technomage1” has been “very much been [a] mixed bag.”

“Since the changes started in 2004 [the year that the Air Force instituted the PT test], I’ve only seen effective unit PT for about a year — the other PT programs were either way too hard and resulted in injuring many people participating, or way too easy and were a waste of time. Since everyone has different ability levels, to me the only effective unit PT is to do a series of stretches, strength building exercises, then release people to do cardio on their own, to their pace,” technomage1 wrote.

“I’m so fed up with the PT programs either injuring people or being way to easy (and this is at various bases and with different cc’s too, this just isn’t applying to my current unit PT) that I’m ready to wash my hands of the whole thing and bring back the days when we as members were responsible for our own fitness.”

Those who deal directly with fitness — PT leaders, civilian health workers — are hopeful that commanders will work in exercise time for their airmen if they can.

Tech Sgt. Chris Gibson, for one, said he doesn’t expect the 6 a.m. PT sessions that he leads at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, to end just because his commander’s mandate does.

“Our program isn’t going anywhere,” said Gibson, who puts the 15th Medical Group through the motions.

After the Air Force announced the tougher test this summer, civilian fitness expert Jason Ham told Air Force Times that commanders might give their airmen more time — not less — to work out since there is more focus on results.

“This is a high-visibility item for commanders because they have to report these metrics to their major command,” said Ham, who directs Hickam’s Human Performance and Rehabilitation Center. “Commanders will be more accountable for this program.”

Staff Sgt. Joseph Sparlin, the unit fitness program manager for the 437th Maintenance Operations Squadron at Charleston Air Force Base, S.C., said he hopes commanders don’t lose sight of those priorities.

“It’s challenging from a leadership perspective because they have to get the mission done,” he said. “My rebuttal is that the airmen are the mission. Having them fit to fight is taking care of your people.”


Article: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/20...ce_pt_100309w/

[corvette101]

Thats actually good news. Because honestly it drags people down sometimes and those who work out on their own without a pt nazi yelling out what exercise to do next, it screws with peoples routines. I have a routine i follow but i have to show up to unit pt and my schedule is 12 hr panama so yea when its all said and done i work 14 hrs on pt day.i only end up going to squadron pt 2 a week or 1 depending on my schedule and it sucks because it ruins my selfpaced routine. I have lost 25 lbs so far in 09 on my own and well i just feel mandatory PT should only be mandatory if you fail. And btw i mocked and scored a 83 on the new standards. 37 in waist 12:06 1.5 45 push and 50 sit. I am 23 male.

[SGT Joe Snuffy]

Hey Corvette, 14 hour days suck and that's the one reason I would consider against unit pt. Losing 25 lbs is a great accomplishment but helping another joe lose some too is even greater an accomplishment. That's the military my friend.

[air1986]

Its give and take and this is why i will be glad to have it on your own.

Pros of unit PT.
They make sure you get 30-60 minutes of physical activity.
Those that don't like to work out on their own time.

cons of unit PT.

You may have to wake up an hr earlier to go. This sucks if your like corvette and work 12 hrs to not include the PT.

Its sometimes an insult to because i have passed my fitness assessments so why do i need to be babysat.(this one is biased and soley my opinion.)

Ruins or stunts effects of personal programs because who wants to workout 2x a day or 6 times a week. Or i can't work out my chest because of all the pushups i will do the next day and i will be sore from the day before.They recommend 24-48 hrs before working a muscle group again.

Your workout is based off the Nazis' fitness level not yours. Just cause he can do 300 situps in one setting doesn't mean everyone else can.


Just some of my takes on it. All in all its just an excuse for the commander to use as justification to support disciplinary actions.

Why did you fail? I had no time i was doing this that and this and that. Well why weren't you at our PT sessions if you were to attend you would have passed. Your getting an LOR and this and that.

Did anyone think that mabye they realized that some units have not been doing the manditory PT? Maintenance in particular has a very hard time working a 24 hour (8hrs each) shift system and doing "Manditory PT." So we don't make it manditory anymore. Then the "whole person concept" piles even more on the individuals. Man we need a 29 hr day w/school/study/volunteer/pt...oh wait what about family?? I heard the AF is saying they matter now, so when do I fit in time to do homework w/my children or "quality time" or have dinner as a family because they say that keeps a family together...man could I go on about this too. But I digress, in Maintenace let's see how it goes to say to the CC, sorry sir we are not going to be able to fly today, because we are closed for PT? Wait we are in the AIR force...we FLY...that is what we do. So Mxs can not shut down to do PT, what do we do, EXTEND the duty day, but wait we can't do that either. Back to shutting down for PT, if you go around to your base, how many places are opening late because of PT or completely closed for PT? At a previous base, I called mobile mxs to come move a vehicle from behind an acft that was getting ready to launch and was told they could not support it because they were at PT...I PROMISE THAT IS THE TRUTH. Mxs can not shut down for PT...it is hard enough to shut down for training or even lunch. That get's into an entire other area about health and eating/sleeping habits. When is the last time the clinic or MPF was open on Mids or weekends. I am not saying I want to cross train, because in case you didn't get it the first time we are in the AIR force..we fly, kill and destroy anytime of the day or night. And the old broke acft need to be fixed and we can't be like Ops and come in when we feel like it either. I think PT is a great thing, what is wrong is the playing field is not even and we are held to the same standard!! Also, with a system that is still being questioned we are ending peoples careers. like the stupid (sorry I know that isn't poliitically correct...don't care!!) people that say a guy 5'2" should have the same waist as a guy 6'4". But these kind of questions are costing people carreers and we seem to be ok w/that even when we know we have a flawed system! So if I am in the Low Risk catagory in the run and the moderate/high risk for the waiste measurement which one takes precident? Until we know the right way for sure, we shouldn't be costing people there jobs/lively hoods, and dumping them into a soaring economy of jobs. Sorry if any of this is misspelled, I haven't taken any spelling classes, I have been to busy learing my job! But it shouldn't be to bad, I am involved in the hours long writing contest of EPR's and awards...Could do a whole paragraph on that too!

[air1986]

Originally Posted by Mooolse

Did anyone think that mabye they realized that some units have not been doing the manditory PT? Maintenance in particular has a very hard time working a 24 hour (8hrs each) shift system and doing "Manditory PT." So we don't make it manditory anymore. Then the "whole person concept" piles even more on the individuals. Man we need a 29 hr day w/school/study/volunteer/pt...oh wait what about family?? I heard the AF is saying they matter now, so when do I fit in time to do homework w/my children or "quality time" or have dinner as a family because they say that keeps a family together...man could I go on about this too. But I digress, in Maintenace let's see how it goes to say to the CC, sorry sir we are not going to be able to fly today, because we are closed for PT? Wait we are in the AIR force...we FLY...that is what we do. So Mxs can not shut down to do PT, what do we do, EXTEND the duty day, but wait we can't do that either. Back to shutting down for PT, if you go around to your base, how many places are opening late because of PT or completely closed for PT? At a previous base, I called mobile mxs to come move a vehicle from behind an acft that was getting ready to launch and was told they could not support it because they were at PT...I PROMISE THAT IS THE TRUTH. Mxs can not shut down for PT...it is hard enough to shut down for training or even lunch. That get's into an entire other area about health and eating/sleeping habits. When is the last time the clinic or MPF was open on Mids or weekends. I am not saying I want to cross train, because in case you didn't get it the first time we are in the AIR force..we fly, kill and destroy anytime of the day or night. And the old broke acft need to be fixed and we can't be like Ops and come in when we feel like it either. I think PT is a great thing, what is wrong is the playing field is not even and we are held to the same standard!! Also, with a system that is still being questioned we are ending peoples careers. like the stupid (sorry I know that isn't poliitically correct...don't care!!) people that say a guy 5'2" should have the same waist as a guy 6'4". But these kind of questions are costing people carreers and we seem to be ok w/that even when we know we have a flawed system! So if I am in the Low Risk catagory in the run and the moderate/high risk for the waiste measurement which one takes precident? Until we know the right way for sure, we shouldn't be costing people there jobs/lively hoods, and dumping them into a soaring economy of jobs. Sorry if any of this is misspelled, I haven't taken any spelling classes, I have been to busy learing my job! But it shouldn't be to bad, I am involved in the hours long writing contest of EPR's and awards...Could do a whole paragraph on that too!

I hear you man. But the only way the AF is getting through to people is by using the career killer move.I heard that if you fail but show improvement even if you don't pass further evals your still showing progress and the commander can't really do much as long as your showing improvement. But im unknown of the truth.

What sense does this new policy make? Beef up the requirements but eliminate mandatory PT...yet another; well I want say what I'm really thinking but you can fill in the blanks. Gotta love it!!!

I think the real question is what has happened to journalism, if quoting online forum comments passes as news.

[Measure Man]

Originally Posted by Mooolse

Did anyone think that mabye they realized that some units have not been doing the manditory PT? Maintenance in particular has a very hard time working a 24 hour (8hrs each) shift system and doing "Manditory PT." So we don't make it manditory anymore.

this is exactly why the rule changed.

They are tired of people who fail crying, "foul! my squadron didn't allow me my PT time"...

So, they took away the expectation, so now if you fail, you have no one to blame.

The problem with manditory PT is it too easy. The only people it may have helped were those who wouldn't otherwise do anything on their own. I'm not a super endurance athlete, but race bikes (mtb and road) and regularly do 100+ mile rides. Being "told" to run 1.5 miles 2-3 times a week isn't going to make me better or others who already include working out a part of their normal day.