Pentagon Codifies Sweeping Military Fitness Overhaul Including Combat-Arms Standards and Body Composition Rules

The Department of Defense has formally published sweeping changes to military fitness requirements, cementing directives Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered throughout 2025. The new regulations, released August 31, establish standardized testing timelines, distinct standards for troops in combat arms specialties, guidelines for pregnancy and postpartum fitness, and mandatory tracking mechanisms for results across all services.

New Fitness Testing Structure and Combat-Arms Standards

Under the updated policy, active-duty service members will complete two fitness tests annually, while National Guard and Reserve members will take one. All active-duty personnel must take their service’s regular fitness test plus a second assessment measuring combat readiness.

Personnel in designated combat arms jobs are required to take a Combat Field Test (CFT), while those outside those specialties will take a Combat Readiness Test (CRT). The services may substitute a regular fitness test for the CRT. The regulations identify more than 80 occupations as combat arms across the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force, including infantry, armor, artillery, select engineering roles, and special forces. No Space Force jobs are listed.

Troops in combat arms roles will be held to male-based standards on their regular service tests and must score an average of 70% across events. Service members in non-combat roles will continue with sex- and age-based scoring. Each service is responsible for developing its own CFTs that adhere to Pentagon standards.

Body Composition Requirements and Postpartum Provisions

Active-duty troops will undergo body composition testing twice a year; Guard and Reserve members will test once annually. All service members must meet a waist-to-height ratio of less than 0.55, calculated by dividing waist circumference by height. Those who exceed the standard face a service-specific body fat assessment, and failure results in enrollment in a remedial program. Branches may impose stricter requirements.

The policy provides a minimum 12-month exemption from fitness and body composition testing after childbirth, miscarriage, or stillbirth. Postpartum service members may receive additional time exemptions based on healthcare provider input.

Command Accountability and Data Tracking Mandates

The regulation makes commanders responsible for allocating time for physical training. Leadership “will allow such members to perform physical fitness training every duty day,” the document states, except when mission requirements dictate otherwise.

Beginning June 1, 2027, each service must submit a report on its fitness and body composition programs to the Pentagon with data enabling analysis by sex, age, race, ethnicity, rank, and military specialty. The services must also maintain electronic records of troops’ test results throughout their careers and provide the scientific basis used to create their standards.

Policy Context and Controversy

The new document replaces the Pentagon’s 2022 fitness policy and incorporates directives issued throughout 2025. In March, Hegseth ordered the services to identify combat-arms specialties and develop sex-neutral, mission-related physical standards. The secretary has repeatedly criticized “fat troops,” and “fat generals,” and pledged to return combat arms jobs to “the highest male standard only.”

These changes coincide with a Pentagon review of women in front-line roles. In December, the Pentagon’s personnel chief, Anthony Tata, announced a study on the effectiveness of integrating ground combat units, raising concerns it could be used to justify restricting women from combat positions. 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.