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Once your application to join the Navy has been approved, you'll need to successfully complete a Pre-Enlistment / Appointment Fitness Assessment (PFA), before your enlistment can become official. If you do not pass these tests you can't join the Navy.
The PFA requires a broad range of personal fitness, including cardio vascular fitness and muscle strength, both of which contribute to the requirement of being physically fit for Navy life. It will test your upper body, core and aerobic strength.
The PFA will be conducted during the four weeks before your enlistment date.
A lot of Sailor recruits and Officer trainees aren't sure how fit they need to be before they join the Navy. From the Navy's point of view, we want you to have a reasonable level of general fitness before you join. In particular you should ensure you're physically fit in the areas of cardio vascular fitness, muscle strength and water fitness. This will help you to not only pass the PFA, but also to safely commence training and to start working on the specialised areas of strength and fitness you'll need for your future job.
The PFA is to be completed no earlier than four weeks prior to enlistment/appointment to the Navy. If you have not passed the PFA by the three-week mark, you will be given one further attempt prior to the two-week mark. If you fail the Physical Fitness Assessment you will be unable to join.
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If you're an active person and you maintain your fitness by running, swimming or playing sport regularly, you should have little trouble passing the PFA.
If you don't already have a fitness routine in place, we've designed an easy to follow four week training program to help you prepare.
The ADF recommends that people consult with their doctor and/or a qualified fitness instructor prior to commencing any exercise programs.
Push-ups help to build upper-body strength and endurance. The PFA requirement for Navy is 6 push-ups for females and 15 push-ups for males, both on your toes.
1. To start, lie chest down with your toes touching the ground, feet together or shoulder width apart and palms flat. Your back should be straight and you can either look forward or down. Your elbows should be locked.
2. To reach the down position, keep your body straight then bend your arms to a 90 degree angle from shoulder to elbow. After this has been achieved, push your body back to the full arm lock position. This is one push-up.
3. You can rest in either the full arm lock position or in the 90 degree position.
Sit-ups assist in improving abdominal strength and endurance, which are both vital in supporting the body through a range of military tasks. The PFA requirement for Navy is 20 sit-ups for both males and females.
1. To start, lie on your back with your legs bent at 90 degrees and your feet either flat or with heels on the ground. Your feet can be held or anchored.
2. Keep your arms straight with the palms of your hands on top of your legs. Your chin should be as close to your chest bone as is comfortable.
3. To sit-up, keep your hands in contact with your legs until your wrists come to the top of your knee caps. When your wrists reach the top, lower to the start position. This should take three seconds and is counted as one sit-up.
The Beep Test is a 20 metre multi-stage fitness assessment which measures your heart and lung work rate and capacity.
You run to and fro between two parallel lines set 20 metres apart, keeping up with a series of beeps on a recording to time your arrival at the opposing line. The timing of the beeps starts off slowly and gradually increases and it becomes more difficult to keep up the pace required to touch the opposing line in time.
When you can no longer keep up the required pace, stop. Your performance level will provide a good indication of your current aerobic fitness level.
To guard against injury and to get the most out of your fitness routine, it's important that you maintain the correct technique for each individual exercise. You'll also need this to pass the Navy Fitness Test during week three of your Basic Training.
Before and after any exercise session, you should take 5 to 10 minutes to warm-up and cool-down. Warming up with a light jog and dynamic stretching exercises will improve your level of performance and cooling down with a similar routine will help the recovery process.
The ADF recommends that people consult with a qualified fitness instructor before commencing any stretching program.
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