A longitudinal analysis of the U.S. Air Force reserve officers' training corps physical fitness assessment.

The results indicated that only the sit-up component showed differences between class ranks. These findings suggest that the Air Force PFA may not be sensitive enough to detect changes in physical fitness or distinguish between class ranks regarding physical performance, even after years of training. This limitation may be in part due to the limited duration of training incorporated by the ROTC program (2 h per week), which provided a maintenance effect rather than improvement in physical performance. We recommend that more attention be directed to the efficacy of physical training, the sensitivity of measures included in the PFA, or both.