The Pentagon has codified sweeping changes to military fitness requirements, some of which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered last fall. The new regulations, published Aug. 31, spell out testing timelines, standards for troops in combat arms specialties, guidelines for pregnancy and postpartum fitness and establish tracking mechanisms for testing results across the services.
The policy incorporates directives issued throughout 2025 into a set of standards for the services. Among them: commanders must allow time for physical fitness every duty day and troops in jobs designated as “combat arms” must be held to male fitness standards on regular fitness tests.
Many changes are already underway across the services. In March 2025, Hegseth ordered the services to identify their combat-arms specialties and develop sex-neutral, mission-related physical standards.
Hegseth has railed against “fat troops,” and “fat generals,” and pledged to return combat arms jobs to “the highest male standard only.”
The changes have unfolded alongside a Pentagon review of women in front-line jobs. In December, the Pentagon’s personnel chief, Anthony Tata, announced a study on the effectiveness of integrating ground combat units, prompting concerns among some that it could be used to justify restricting women from combat roles.
Critics have questioned the study’s independence after it was transferred from the Institute for Defense Analyses to Johns Hopkins’ Applied Physics Laboratory and placed under a researcher involved in a controversial 2015 study Hegseth has cited to argue against women serving in combat jobs.
The new document replaces the Pentagon’s 2022 fitness policy.
Here is what to know:
Fitness tests
Active duty troops are slated to take two fitness tests per year, and National Guard and Reserve members will take one. Under the Pentagon’s new policy, active-duty service members will take their service’s regular fitness test and a second assessment aimed at measuring their combat readiness. Those in designated combat arms jobs will be required to take a Combat Field Test, or CFT, while troops outside of those specialties will take a Combat Readiness Test, or CRT. The services can decide to use a regular fitness test in place of a CRT.
The regulations identify more than 80 occupations as combat arms across the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force, including infantry, armor, artillery, some engineering jobs and special forces roles. No Space Force jobs are listed.
Combat arms troops will be held to male-based standards on their regular service tests and required to score an average of 70% across events. Those in non-combat roles will have sex and age-based scoring.
Each service is responsible for developing its own CFTs that adhere to Pentagon standards.
Body composition
Active-duty troops will have body composition testing twice annually; those in the National Guard and Reserve will have testing once per year. All service members must meet a waist-to-height ratio of less than 0.55, which is calculated by dividing a person’s waist circumference by their height. Troops who exceed that standard will be subject to a service-specific body fat assessment. If they fail that assessment, service members will be enrolled in a remedial program to meet benchmarks.
Branches may also set stricter requirements.
The body composition policy also gives a minimum 12-month exemption from fitness and body composition testing after childbirth, miscarriage or stillbirth. Postpartum troops may be granted additional time exemptions based on healthcare provider input.
Accountability and Tracking
The policy makes commanders responsible for giving troops time to stay fit. Leadership “will allow such members to perform physical fitness training every duty day,” the regulation reads, except when mission requirements dictate otherwise.
Starting on June 1, 2027, each service must submit a report on its fitness and body composition programs to the Pentagon with data that enables officials to analyze results based on sex, age, race, ethnicity, rank and military specialty. The services are also required to keep electronic records of troops’ test results throughout their careers.
Additionally, the services must provide the Pentagon with the information about the scientific basis used to create their fitness and body composition standards.
Eve Sampson is a reporter and former Army officer. She has covered conflict across the world, writing for The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Associated Press.
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