Navy changing body-fat rules, fitness assessment

The Navy is shaking up its body composition assessment, increasing body fat limits for sailors, moving away from career-ending punishments for failures and taking a deeper look at how it measures health in general.

The shifts are a new direction in the fitness program designed to move away from a punitive system to one that encourages year-round fitness, with a focus on helping those struggling to stay fit.

"We like to speak of a culture of fitness, but we really haven't implemented a culture of fitness across the Navy," said Vice Adm. Bill Moran, chief of naval personnel. "Fitness should truly be about being healthy and mission readiness — are you physically fit for times of combat and stress in the fleet? We need a system that speaks to better health, to the readiness of our sailors. And part of that is, are we doing things to encourage a culture of fitness?"

The new rules make it harder to fail the body composition assessment portion of the physical fitness assessment. But that comes at a cost of getting two failures in three years before being kicked out.

Moran said he's heard the sailors' cries for reform and said these changes aren't the end, but the beginning of a "more realistic" fitness program that's more than two tests per year.

He wants a system that instead would actively gauge fitness and health year-round, he said. But it won't happen immediately.

Early next year, the Navy will begin a pilot program in yet-to-be-named Pacific Fleet and Navy Reserve units using wearable fitness trackers like Fitbit, Moran said.

The Navy started realizing no one size fits all exists in fitness and body composition.

"What we've tried to do in this policy change — with the tenets of better health and being mission ready as the focus — is to also make sure we're not throwing out good sailors because we can't meet both ends of that spectrum," Moran said.

Starting this fall, a failure of the current body fat standards no longer equals a physical fitness assessment failure. Sailors who bust the body fat test will have to enroll in remedial Fitness Enhancement Program workouts and nutritional counseling.

That's great news for sailors who say they have no problem with running, sit-ups and push-ups but consistently fail height and weight standards.

Those with an approved or pending administrative separation as of July 1 for three fitness assessment failures in the past four years can notify their commanding officers that they would like to stay in the Navy then pass a physical readiness test before Dec. 1.

Regardless of the number of failures in the past three years, sailors meeting standard by the deadline will be reset to one failure starting next year when new body-composition standards take effect.

Those who fail in physical readiness for a third time this fall, if it's their third failure in four years, still will be discharged.

The move potentially will save thousands of sailors' careers. More than 6,700 active-duty and reserve sailors have three PFA failures in the past four years, according to official data, and an additional 20,000 have failed twice in four years.

The next step is raising the threshold for a body-composition assessment failure.

Beginning Jan. 1, body fat limits will go beyond the previous under-40 and over-40 age standards with four new groups:

• 18- to 21-year-old: 22% for men, as before; 33% for women.

• 22- to 29-year-old: 23% for men; 34% for women.

• 30- to 39-year-old: 24% for men; 35% for women.

• Older than 40: 26% for men; 36% for women.

"It's a little more stringent than the DoD standard but a bit more graduated by age than the current BCA standard," Moran said of Defense Department limits across all branches of service. "It takes into account the physical changes that happen as we all age, too — so in that way, it's a little more realistic set of standards."

Moran said the Pentagon limits are there for a reason and cannot be lifted.

"DoD has established a maximum limit for body fat percentage based on the American Medical Association and other institutions who say if you exceed that limit you have reached an obesity level that raises your likelihood for things like cancer or diabetes and other medical issues," he said.

"For me, that's the right side limit of where we will allow sailors to be — if you exceed that DoD limit, you are, by definition, obese, at risk, and that's a failure."

Starting in January, sailors who don't meet the standard height and weight measurements first will get a waist-only tape test, which maxes out at 39 inches for men and 35.5 inches for women. Pass that and you're good. It's the current test used by the Air Force as its body-composition measurement.

But the Navy is adding yet one more chance for sailors to pass.

The final chance will be the existing and very unpopular rope-and-choke tape test that measures a sailor at the neck and waist, plus hips for women, then calculates the measurements to a body fat percentage. For those over the Defense Department's maximum of 26% for men and 36% for women, it's a failure.

And a failure will land a sailor in the Fitness Enhancement Program. But initially, they won't fail altogether.

And even that won't be punitive but instead will be "educational," Moran said.

"We're going to give you the tools, nutrition guidance, exercise guidance and we're going to have you take the PRT every 30 days until you can pass," he said.

The Navy also plans to develop a Navy-wide registered dietitian plan. That's part of a push that includes beefing up the ShipShape healthy eating program and the Navy secretary's new "Go for Green" initiative, which uses color codes to show sailors the healthiest choices.

To keep sailors on a fitness path in between fitness assessments, Moran is encouraging commands to randomly stop sailors for body fat spot-checks throughout the year. Officials hope the move will cut back on the number of sailors discharged every year for fitness assessment failures.

Nearly 1,300 sailors have been discharged because of failures in the 2014 cycles though those numbers aren't final. That was up from 1,200 in 2013 and more than 1,100 in 2012, when the numbers jumped significantly from about 700 in 2011.

The Navy's fitness assessment has been the bane of many a sailor for years. In a May speech at the Naval Academy, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus likened it to a twice-a-year crucible, where sailors go to extreme measures to get within standards.

Rewards for outstanding scores on a fitness assessment are twofold: Top scorers for one cycle are authorized to wear a badge on their fitness suit, when it comes out next year. Sailors with three outstanding scores in a row will earn a uniform award though it hasn't been determined whether it will be a ribbon or a medal.