Air Force PFRA 2026: the 2-mile run, waist-to-height and the July 1 changes

The timeline: diagnostic first, for record from July 1, 2026

The dates moved once, so older articles disagree:

1. The original 2025 announcement said testing would pause on January 1, 2026, restart under the new standards on March 1, stay diagnostic through August 31, and count for record from September 1, 2026.
2. A later Air Force announcement shortened the diagnostic window: from March 1 through June 30, 2026, all tests were diagnostic, and scored testing under the new standards resumed on July 1, 2026. The original article now carries an editor’s note saying parts of it, including the diagnostic window, were superseded.
3. AFMAN 36-2905 was issued on March 24, 2026, replacing the 2022 manual, and the scoring charts in force carry the label “Effective 1 Mar 26.”
4. Air Force Reserve Command confirmed that testing for record resumed on July 1. Its fitness program manager described the shift as a move “from a physical fitness assessment to a physical fitness readiness assessment,” aimed at readiness rather than a once-a-year test.

Any assessment from July 1, 2026, on is scored under the new charts. A calculator still asking for a 1.5-mile run time is scoring the old test.

What is scored: four components, 100 points

AFMAN 36-2905 builds a composite score from 0 to 100 out of four components. The manual’s summary of changes lists the shift: waist-to-height ratio added for body composition at 20 points, the 1.5-mile run replaced by a 2-mile run or a 20-meter High Aerobic Multi-shuttle Run (HAMR), and the strength and core components set at 15 points each.

Each exercise has its own chart in the March 2026 file, split into nine age bands (under 25, then five-year bands from 25–29 to 55–59, then 60 and over) with separate columns for men and women. The minimums are the starred bottom rows of each chart. Two rules from the manual (paragraph 3.7.4) make them matter: a result below a component’s minimum earns zero for that component, and just reaching every minimum doesn’t add up to the 75 needed to pass. Body composition has no minimum; a high ratio costs points but doesn’t fail the test by itself.

The 2-kilometer walk remains for members medically barred from running and the HAMR. It is pass or fail and earns no points, and a member who takes it can’t earn the Excellent category (AFMAN 3.7.3).

Categories: Excellent, Satisfactory, Unsatisfactory

AFMAN 36-2905 (paragraph 3.6.1) sets three categories when all components are assessed:

• Excellent: 90 or more.
• Satisfactory: 75 to 89.9.
• Unsatisfactory: 74.9 or less, or any component minimum not met.

So the pass line is 75, but only together with every minimum. A member can total more than 75 and still be Unsatisfactory because one component fell below its starred row.

Waist-to-height ratio: how it is measured and scored

The ratio is your waist circumference divided by your height. AFMAN 36-2905 sets three measuring rules that change the number you get:

• Height is recorded to the nearest half inch (3.15.2.3).
• Waist is measured on bare skin at the midpoint between the lowest rib and the top of the hip bone, three times; the three closest measurements are averaged and rounded down to the nearest half inch (3.15.4.5).
• The ratio is truncated, not rounded, to two decimal places (3.15.4.2). The manual’s own example: a 39.5-inch waist at 72 inches is 0.5486, recorded as 0.54.

Put together, the rules can move a measurement by more than you might expect. Suppose three waist readings come out at 36.6, 36.4 and 36.9 inches and height at 70.3 inches:

1. Each reading is rounded down to the half inch: 36.5, 36.0 and 36.5.
2. They are averaged (36.33) and rounded down again: 36.0 inches.
3. Height goes to the nearest half inch: 70.5 inches.
4. The ratio, 36.0 ÷ 70.5 = 0.5106, is truncated to 0.51, which earns 18.0 points.

The points are the same for every age and both sexes:

Truncation is worth points. The manual’s 0.5486 is recorded as 0.54 and earns 15.0; rounding it would have given 0.55 and 12.5. The manual also adds a second step: an Airman with a ratio of 0.55 or more and an Unsatisfactory result takes a body fat assessment (BFA), which is pass or fail against 26% or less for men and 36% or less for women. A member who passes is scored with body composition exempt; one who fails keeps the Unsatisfactory result. The waist-to-height calculator shows the truncated ratio and its points.

Worked example: a 24-year-old man scores 82.0

Take a man aged 24 (the “under 25” column) with a 15:00 2-mile run, 50 one-minute push-ups, a 2:30 forearm plank, a 36-inch waist and a height of 72 inches. Each component is read from the March 2026 charts; between two rows you earn the lower row.

Every result is above its minimum (19:45 for the run, 30 push-ups, 1:35 for the plank in this column), and 82.0 is between 75 and 89.9: Satisfactory.

If the same man measured a 39.5-inch waist instead, the truncated ratio of 0.54 would earn 15.0 instead of 19.0, and the composite would be 78.0, still Satisfactory.

The same results for a 24-year-old woman

The female columns have different thresholds for the run, the push-ups and the plank, so identical raw results score differently:

Same points, different exercise

Every component except body composition offers a choice, and each option has its own chart. The rows below earn the same points in the under-25 column as the house example’s run, push-ups and plank:

So the man in the first example could swap in 72 HAMR shuttles, 40 hand-release push-ups and 44 sit-ups and still score 46.0 + 9.0 + 8.0 + 19.0 = 82.0. Which option suits you is a training question; the charts only say what each one is worth. The Air Force’s updated announcement says Airmen may choose the 2-mile run or the HAMR on every assessment.

Worked example: a 38-year-old using the alternatives

Age changes the column, and the alternatives change the chart. Take a man aged 38 (the 35–39 column) who runs 2 miles in 15:00, does 40 hand-release push-ups in two minutes and 45 cross-leg reverse crunches, with a 38-inch waist at 70 inches tall:

The same 15:00 run that earned 46.0 at 24 earns 48.0 at 38, because each older column asks a little less. His ratio shows truncation at work again: 0.5428 is recorded as 0.54, not rounded, and earns 15.0. Twenty seconds off the run (14:40) would earn 49.0.

The minimum rows, and why one second matters

The starred rows are hard stops. For a man under 25, the 2-mile minimum is 19:45, worth 35.0 points. With the other results from the first example:

• Run of 19:45: 35.0 + 9.0 + 8.0 + 19.0 = 71.0. Every minimum is met, but 71.0 is below 75: Unsatisfactory.
• Run of 19:46: the run is below its minimum and scores zero. The composite is 36.0, and the result is Unsatisfactory regardless of the total.

The bottom and top rows for men and women under 25, from the March 2026 charts:

Older age bands (25–29 through 60 and over) have easier rows; the Air Force PT calculator holds the full charts.

How often you test, and what else changed

Frequency. AFMAN 36-2905 makes assessments twice a year for all members. Under paragraph 3.10, an Excellent or Satisfactory result is due again in 6 months, and an Unsatisfactory result in 3 months. Air Reserve Component members test once every 12 months; Air Force Reserve Command’s article says Reserve Airmen who score Satisfactory or Excellent now test once a year, while an Unsatisfactory result keeps the 90-day retest timeline.

What else changed. The 1.5-mile run is replaced by the 2-mile run or the HAMR, and body composition is scored again, now by waist-to-height ratio. Air Force announcements also said PFA scores would begin appearing in officer and enlisted performance briefs in 2026, starting with colonels in February.

On test day

AFMAN 36-2905 fixes the order: body composition first, then muscular strength, core endurance and, last, the cardio component (3.15.4). Members may have body composition measured up to five duty days before the rest of the assessment; if the remaining components aren’t finished within that window, the assessment is scored as Did Not Finish (3.15.4.1). After finishing, a member can choose to count the result as the record PFRA or as a diagnostic PFRA, a no-attribution practice test (3.8.1). The manual allows no more than two diagnostic PFRAs in a 365-day period, and one for Air Reserve Component members (3.8.2). For members medically cleared only for the 2-kilometer walk, Table 3.1 sets the maximum time by age; for those under 30 it is 16:16 for men and 17:22 for women.

Reserve and Guard notes. Air Force Reserve Command’s article adds a few Reserve-specific points: one diagnostic assessment is allowed in a 365-day period, body composition can be measured at the unit training assembly before the test, and the full assessment must be finished by the next drill or within 60 days, whichever comes first, or it counts as Did Not Finish. Unless they have an assignment limitation code or have been cleared through the medical evaluation board process, Airmen on medical profiles are placed on a PFRA hold and don’t test until it ends.

The Space Force. AFMAN 36-2905 does not apply to the Space Force, which has its own manual, SPFMAN 36-2905.

Score yourself in six steps

This is general information, not legal, tax, financial or medical advice. Your fitness assessment staff record the score that counts.

1. Find your column: your sex and your age band on test day (under 25, 25–29 and so on to 60 and over).
2. Score each exercise you chose: the highest row whose value you met or beat. For timed runs, faster is better; for reps and the plank, more is better. Between rows, take the lower row.
3. Check each minimum. Below the starred row, that component is zero and the test is Unsatisfactory.
4. Work out your ratio: waist (rounded down to the half inch) divided by height (to the nearest half inch), truncated to two decimals. Read its points from the table above.
5. Add the four components. The composite is out of 100.
6. Read your category: 90 or more Excellent; 75 to 89.9 Satisfactory; below 75 or any minimum missed, Unsatisfactory.

Next step

Enter your results in the Air Force PT calculator. It reads the March 2026 charts for your age and sex, truncates your ratio the way the manual does, flags any missed minimum, and shows how much faster or how many more reps your next point takes.