Mandatory daily physical fitness will likely be official policy in the Air Force before Christmas, but many units across the service are getting an early start on daily workouts, marking a major culture shift in the force.

One aircraft mechanic at an overseas Air Force base told Task & Purpose their commander had implemented daily PT, shorthand for “physical training,” at 5 a.m. before a full day on the job, but they were finding the base’s gyms were overrun with other groups doing the same thing. At bases under the purview of Air Force Special Operations Command, an official said, many units in the command have “leaned forward” in anticipation of the new rules by starting daily PT in the last month, only to find they needed to break unit events into smaller groups because of trouble locating enough post-workout showers.

While daily PT formations are as central to life in the Army and Marine Corps as shouting noncommissioned officers, not all Air Force units have traditionally carved out time for daily fitness during duty hours. Though the service has always had annual fitness testing — which once included a stationary bike test as the primary event — the requirement to be in shape has not always translated at the unit level into a requirement to hold daily workouts.

As recently as September, service leaders launched a new “Culture of Fitness” initiative, which included opening gyms 24 hours a day and new “fitness assessments.” But mandatory PT during the duty day wasn’t part of it. Undersecretary of the Air Force Matthew Lohmeier told Task & Purpose in September that, “You have to leave those kinds of decisions up to the command teams for their best judgment, I think.”

New fitness focus at the Pentagon

However, that approach was upended in September when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that all five military branches had 60 days to start daily workouts as part of the regular duty day. That countdown, which began with a Hegseth memo issued Sept. 30, will run out two days after Thanksgiving.

“We’re not talking, like, hot yoga and stretching,” Hegseth said in an address to senior officers Sept. 30. “Real, hard PT, either as a unit or an individual. At every level, from the Joint Chiefs to everyone in this room to the youngest private.”

In the month since, the Air Force has not issued any new service-wide fitness requirements, but many local commanders have rolled out programs for their own units.

“You are seeing commanders using their authority to comply with [Hegseth’s] guidance,” an Air Force spokesperson told Task & Purpose. “We are still working on implementation guidance and expect to have more information soon.”

An Air Force Special Operations Command spokesperson said that its commander, Lt. Gen. Michael Conley, returned from the September briefing and immediately put the word out that commanders should gin up PT plans.

“He instructed to move out with intent and not wait for official guidance,” the spokesperson said. “He left it for commanders to decide what worked within the squadrons and adjust as necessary to their battle rhythms. So it might be the first thing or the end of the day.” 

A spokesperson for Air Combat Command, the service’s largest with over 75,000 personnel, also said local commanders were empowered to implement new fitness plans while rules are being sorted at the Pentagon. “Physical fitness training is a squadron commander’s program,” an ACC spokesperson said in an email to Task & Purpose. “Local unit commanders are empowered to create PT plans that ensure their teams are meeting the physical standards our nation requires of its warfighters.”

The airman at an overseas base said their unit’s commander had mandated that troops do three days a week of cardio or strength training, with the other two days used for a team sport. The program, they said, was unlike any they’d seen before.

“This is the first time I’ve had PT implemented into my duty day,” they said. The airmen said that the maintenance troops have found that finance and medical troops are also out doing PT. “One thing I know everyone is feeling the pain of is, now the entire base is doing PT, and gyms, equipment and space are very limited.”

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