24.2 Official Fitness Assessment (AFH-1 Section 22B)

Procedures that survived the rewrite

Section 22B is ADTC B for Staff Sergeant and Technical Sergeant (published row BBCCC). Several administration rules appear in both AFH 1 and DAFMAN 36-2905, so they remain safe PFE and shop-floor facts.

All components of the fitness assessment must be completed within a three-hour window on the same day. If FAC staff or augmentees determine extenuating circumstances prevent completion — rapidly changing or severe weather, natural disasters, emergencies, or safety issues — all components must be rescheduled and completed at the earliest opportunity. There is a minimum five-minute rest period between components. Components should be scheduled to allow adequate rest for members on irregular or shift work hours. Videotaping of fitness assessments is not allowed and is not used in the appeal process. Reserve members must be in a duty status. AFH 1 adds that ARC Airmen retest no later than the next Unit Training Assembly or Regularly Scheduled Drill.

Official component order, in both the handbook and the 24 March 2026 manual:

1. Body composition (first scored component)
2. Muscular strength
3. Core endurance
4. Cardiorespiratory (last)

DAFMAN 36-2905 decouples body composition from the physical events: members may take WHtR up to five duty days before the remaining components (ARC: no more than the prior UTA/RSD). Members may take it the same day. They may not be directed to take it only on test day. The point of decoupling is to reduce unsafe last-minute cutting. All remaining physical components — cardiorespiratory, muscular strength, and core endurance — still fall inside the three-hour window unless medically exempt on a current AF Form 469.

The Fitness Screening Questionnaire is completed in myFitness when scheduling, before the assessment. Failure to complete the FSQ does not invalidate the assessment, but the member must tell the administrator if responses have changed between submission and execution.

FA components: handbook versus current owner policy

This is the table to study twice — once for the PFE, once for the track. Prefer DAFMAN 36-2905 dated 24 March 2026 over stale AFH 1 numbers for the assessment you take. Teach the handbook split so a knowledge item keyed to Section 22B does not catch you.

af.mil/Fitness states there is no requirement to use the default components on every bi-annual assessment — so HAMR may be used every cycle. That supersedes the September 2025 announcement that required a 2-mile run at least once every 365 days. Alternate events remain: 1-minute push-ups or 2-minute hand-release push-ups; 1-minute sit-ups, 2-minute cross-leg reverse crunch, or timed forearm plank.

Do not memorize invented sit-up or push-up cut scores. Official age- and sex-specific charts are published as AFPC PFRA Scoring Charts (effective 1 March 2026) and linked from af.mil/Fitness. This guide will not transcribe those cuts. If a third-party site quotes a 30-year-old male sit-up minimum, verify it on the official chart — diagnostic-period feedback produced chart updates, and unofficial calculators lag.

AFH 1's minimum-score trap still matters conceptually and remains testable from the handbook: meeting the minimum in each component does not constitute the points required to pass. Scoring the minimum component values in all components will not generate enough points to earn a composite of 75 or greater. DAFMAN 36-2905 likewise assigns component minimums on cardiorespiratory, muscular strength, and core endurance (body composition has no component minimum). A missed minimum fails the assessment even if the composite would have looked passing.

The 2026 diagnostic window — verified, then superseded

A widely circulated 2025 news item said diagnostic testing would run 1 March through 31 August 2026, with scored testing under new standards beginning 1 September 2026. That language appeared on af.mil (24 September 2025) and MyAirForceBenefits. Do not teach it as current. The same af.mil article now carries an editor's note that the diagnostic window and the once-per-year 2-mile rule were superseded.

Later official articles (including AFPC's "Air Force updates fitness test requirements" and "Air Force modernizes Physical Fitness Program") shortened the diagnostic/baseline window to 1 March through 30 June 2026, with official scored testing beginning 1 July 2026. Airmen who completed a diagnostic PFRA during the baseline window could elect to record that diagnostic as an official score. DAFMAN 36-2905 is dated 24 March 2026. The Culture of Fitness page at af.mil/Fitness states that new PFA standards took effect on 1 July 2026. As of this section's last update (16 August 2026), official scored PFRA under the new standards is in effect.

Testing was paused from 1 January 2026 to allow the transition. Installation commanders may still use mass-testing cycles; confirm current cycle windows in DAFMAN 36-2905 and the PFRA Due Date Matrix on MyFSS rather than from the September 2025 announcement alone.

Failures, exemptions, and what "ready" means

AFH 1: assessment failures are annotated in myFitness and considered against the individual. Commander responses range from verbal counseling to control roster to administrative separation. The commander has discretion to annotate a non-current or failing assessment on the performance evaluation and to document the evaluation as a referral at close-out. Members must have a current fitness score on file before deployment and will not be considered exempt in the deployed location until their current assessment expires.

Airmen with a medical profile prohibiting one or more components are still tested on the components not specifically exempted. A profile is not a blanket pass. Providers may recommend temporary or permanent exemptions; the commander, in consultation with the fitness program manager and upon provider recommendation, may grant exemption from aerobic and muscle-fitness components for a limited period. Exemptions enter myFSS from the AF Form 469.

DAFMAN 36-2905 adds Physical Fitness Readiness categories: Excellent or Satisfactory members are Ready; Unsatisfactory members are Not Ready. Did Not Finish — stepping off the track, missing decoupling rules, failing to complete a component — is unsatisfactory. Members who miss the cycle or pass the three-month unsatisfactory reassessment window are Not Ready. A reconditioning period of one calendar month after fitness restrictions expire, and an acclimatization period of one calendar month after returning from official travel with an altitude change greater than 5,000 feet and a climate change greater than 30 days, protect members who should not be rushed back onto the clock.

PFRA scores are documented on Enlisted Performance Briefs and Officer Performance Briefs under current evaluation guidance. Know that as an NCO; the PFE still tests the handbook's commander-discretion language on documenting failures.

What the events measure, and how to train

AFH 1: muscular strength is the maximum force generated by a specific muscle or muscle group; muscular endurance is the ability of a muscle group to execute repeated contractions over a period long enough to cause fatigue. Aerobic fitness is the ability to perform large-muscle, dynamic, moderate-to-high intensity exercise for prolonged periods — more simply, the ability to produce energy. Benefits of muscular fitness named in the handbook include metabolism, connective tissue, bone density, recovery, injury prevention, possible cardiorespiratory gain, and mood.

Moderately intense aerobic work raises heart and respiratory rates, initiates sweating, and permits conversation; target at least 30 minutes a day, five days a week. Vigorously intense work permits only light or broken conversation; target at least 20–25 minutes a day, three days a week. Intensity is considered the most important variable in training, measured as a percentage of maximal oxygen consumed or maximal heart rate. Adjust mode, frequency, duration, and intensity to reach higher levels of health.

Training principles in AFH 1: specificity (train the functional movement the job requires — a ground-to-overhead lift is a squat plus an overhead press); regularity (three workouts per week is best; hit each target muscle group at least twice each week); recovery (at least 48 hours between workouts for the same muscle groups; rest 30 seconds to three minutes between sets); balance (all major groups, upper and lower; follow a pushing exercise with a pulling exercise); and variety (change equipment, exercises, volume, and intensity).

Train to the 2-mile run or HAMR you will actually perform. Do not train only the handbook's 1.5-mile split and hope the extra half mile takes care of itself.