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Bases help airmen cope with new PT rules

Not wanting to lead a bunch of PT flunkies, commanders across the Air Force are instituting tougher fitness programs to get their airmen ready for the new standards that go into effect in just three months.

One unit — the 31st Maintenance Squadron at Aviano Air Base, Italy — even gave the test early to see how its 370 members would do. The results were disheartening: 163 airmen, or 44 percent, scored an 80 or below on the 100-point test. The cutoff score starting Jan. 1 will still be 75 points, but the 31st’s leaders set the bar a little higher because they don’t want any of their airmen to come even close to failing.

The low scores worried the airmen who earned them and signaled to the unit’s fitness program manager that he needs to give struggling airmen a boost. Now, those on the bubble must meet every Wednesday for a mandatory physical training session.

“It’s better they are nervous now when it doesn’t count,” said Staff Sgt. George Horvath, the unit PT leader. “This gives them a few months to prepare so they can pass it later.”

A sense of dread, much like the one at Aviano, is creeping through the force as 2010 inches closer. Airmen are comparing their PT scores to the new standards — and the reality is setting in that they will fail the new PT test if they don’t perform better than they did last year.

The Air Force decided to redesign its fitness program after an internal audit found that the program “did not effectively promote a healthy lifestyle.” The retooling was the second in five years. In 2004, then-Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper introduced the “fit to fight” notion and scrapped a bike test for a run.

The test itself is not changing — a 1.5-mile run, waist measurement, push-ups and sit-ups — though that’s little consolation to airmen. Now, airmen must take the PT test twice a year instead of annually and have their scores recorded by a civilian fitness expert — not another airman. A weighted point system is the finishing touch. The new scoring sheets show faster run times and more push-ups and sit-ups for all age groups. The new categories, in increments of 10 years instead of five, are below 30, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, and 60 and older.

Service leaders made it clear when they released the overhaul in June that they know more airmen will undoubtedly fail the new PT test.

“The standards do go up, and so as the standards go up, and as we are doing it in a standardized location, that is going to drive increased failures,” Maj. Gen. Darrell D. Jones, director of force management policy, who helped oversee the fitness program changes, said at the time.

Jones and other leaders didn’t make that declaration uninformed.

Early in the year, Pacific Air Forces cracked down on irregularities and standardized the testing process. Leaders saw their command’s PT failure rate spike from 2 percent at the end of 2008 to 20 percent in March, said Jason Ham, director of the Human Performance and Rehabilitation Center at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii.

PacAF attributes much of the increase to the test givers, who don’t count incomplete push-ups and sit-ups. Consequently, many of the PT leaders now make sure airmen are doing the exercises the way they’re supposed to be done — lowering the chest until the elbows form a 90-degree angle for a push-up, and doing a full sit-up.

“I make sure to get down and show them how to do it before the test,” said Master Sgt. Paul Nedrow, a PT leader with the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont.

Today, the failure rate has dropped to about 10 percent but still has leaders worried. A failure rate of 40 percent isn’t out of the question considering the service is also adding tougher standards in light of how much it increased after the Pacific Air Forces crackdown.

Two full months remain before the new program goes into effect, and different bases have adopted different fitness programs to prepare their airmen.

Air Force Times talked to PT leaders at nine bases where PT sessions have gotten tougher and more frequent as the start date approaches.

“There is a concern with the minimum scores — especially the abdominal circumference and push-ups. Active-duty members are beginning to come in to ask questions for help. As we get closer to the new year, the numbers will most likely increase,” said Dana Baugh, unit fitness program manager at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska.

At Hickam, the 15th Medical Group commander has ordered all his airmen to go to mandatory 6 a.m. PT sessions three times a week.

Medical group leaders just started to test their airmen in September using the new standards. Tech. Sgt. Chris Gibson, the medical group’s PT leader, doesn’t have a breakdown of how many airmen passed or failed but knows more are doing better on the test.

Gibson used previous PT scores to break the medical group into three categories. Those with scores 75 to 79.9 are Falcons; those with scores from 80 to 89.9 are Eagles; and airmen with scores 90 to 100 are Thunderbirds. Most are Eagles, with the rest evenly split between Falcons and the Thunderbirds.

The names of those in the 15th Medical Group who fail the PT test are forwarded to the commander, who then decides if they need extra help in getting fit. Airmen tapped for the extra help must enroll in the Fitness Improvement Program at the Health and Wellness Center, where they work with specialists and take mandatory PT sessions.

Airmen with the 437th Aerial Port Squadron at Charleston Air Force Base, S.C., who fail the new PT test are also enrolled in HAWC classes. Staff Sgt. Aaron Orth has organized 18 PT sessions a week — including weekend workouts — to help airmen get in shape. He had to schedule so many sessions to accommodate the schedules that his unit’s airmen work on the flight line.

Nedrow, the PT leader at Malmstrom, faces both scheduling challenges and weather challenges. Many in Nedrow’s unit have to walk on a treadmill or do pull-ups at a bar near their desks since their work with nuclear weapons doesn’t allow them to go to the outdoor track — not that anyone wants to go for a run when the thermometer reads 20 degrees below zero.

Nonetheless, Nedrow has seen attendance jump at the new Malmstrom fitness center since the service announced the new standards. Airmen are packing the center’s indoor running track trying to cut their run times, he said.

The 4th Force Support Squadron at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., has ditched its typical PT regimen of run, push-ups, sit-ups, repeat. Now, airmen perform circuit training, a full body workout addressing each major muscle set to include exercises such as full body squats, triceps dips and lower back extensions.

Most PT leaders told Air Force Times that airmen have been proactive in addressing their fitness concerns early.

Many airmen with the 71st Operations Support Squadron at Vance Air Force Base, Okla., are coming to 1st Lt. William Henning, the unit’s fitness program manager, and his PT leaders for one-on-one guidance. Ham has seen more airmen attend fitness and nutrition classes at the Human Performance and Rehabilitation Center by choice rather than after a failure.

“A lot of the airmen are showing up seeking our resources as a preventative measure, opposed to reactive,” he said. “They are making lifestyle changes, which is what we wanted all along.”

The tougher fitness standards have motivated airmen, not pushed them from the gym, said Airman 1st Class Steve Bauer, a PT leader in the 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.

“People are motivated here because no one wants to fall short,” said Orth, the PT leader at Charleston. “They look at it and say, ‘I’m glad [airmen] can’t be lazy couch potatoes.’”