The Coast Guard will join the other armed services by mandating a forcewide physical fitness test (PFT) in 2026, with requirements based on the current assessment for the branch’s boat crews.

Before taking an on-the-record test next year, servicemembers must take a physical fitness assessment (PFA) by the end of this year, with the anonymized results used to “determine what the future PFT policy will be and how it will be implemented,” according to a service news article. Servicemembers with medical restrictions preventing them from exercise will not participate.

The PFA will follow Boat Crew Physical Fitness Standards, measuring scores in push-ups, planks, and either a 1.5-mile run, 12-minute swim, or 2,000-meter row. Scores will be recorded at the unit level, according to a servicewide message announcing the testing, and while personalized results won’t be collected or “used as a punitive measure,” test-takers “are highly encouraged to leverage their … results to better inform individual fitness training plans and completion of future mandatory PFTs.”

[FREE FOR CURRENTLY SERVING: Register for TotalForce+]

The service updated its boat crew test last year, adding the swimming and rowing options and replacing sit-ups with planks. The move aligned the test with modifications made by the Navy to its Physical Readiness Test.

Along with boat crews, other groups of Coast Guard personnel already take fitness tests, to include those entering boot camp, Coast Guard Academy cadets, and students at Officer Candidate School. While there has been no servicewide fitness test, members have been subject to semiannual tape tests since 2021, Military.com reported in its Sept. 3 article about the new assessment.

“Readiness starts with the physical and mental readiness of every Coast Guard man and woman,” Acting Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard Phil Waldron wrote in a forcewide email. “On that cornerstone we build the readiness of the crew, the unit, and the force.”