Physical testing: fitness standards, job-task tests and the standards debate

Marco DiSanto takes the Port Ardent physical fitness test for the first time at a practice session in October. He has kept fit since leaving the National Guard, and he expects it to be easy. The sit-ups and push-ups go well. The mile-and-a-half run does not. He has been lifting weights, not running, and his time is 13 minutes 51 seconds. It passes the entry standard for his age group, but it is well short of what he will need to graduate from the academy. 'I passed,' he says afterward. 'I am nowhere near ready for the academy.'

Boyce has seen this many times. 'Almost everyone who fails our physical test is reasonably fit,' she says. 'They trained for fitness in general. They did not train for the test, or for what the test is built to represent.' This lesson looks at the physical tests used in police hiring and training, why they are designed as they are, and the long debate about what the standards should be.

Why physical tests exist

Police work is mostly sedentary: driving, talking and writing. But it includes short bursts of intense physical demand that officers cannot predict or postpone: running after someone, climbing a fence, pulling a person from a vehicle, controlling a person who is resisting, carrying an injured person, or performing CPR for many minutes. An officer who cannot do these things safely puts themselves, colleagues and the public at risk. Physical tests in hiring are meant to show that an applicant can meet those demands at the start of a career, and fitness standards in training are meant to build the capacity further.

There are two broad approaches. Job-task simulation tests recreate the physical demands of the job directly, often as a timed circuit with obstacles, a resistance simulator and a drag. Fitness tests measure general components of fitness, such as aerobic capacity, muscular endurance and strength, with standard exercises like a timed run, push-ups and sit-ups, and compare the results with norms. Many services use one or the other; some use both.

Fitness standards in Ohio

The Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission sets fitness standards for basic academy cadets. Cadets take three tests: sit-ups in one minute, push-ups in one minute, and a mile-and-a-half run. The standards vary by sex and age group, and there are benchmarks at entry, during training and at graduation. For example, for men aged 29 or younger, the entry standards are 32 sit-ups, 19 push-ups and a run of 14 minutes 34 seconds, and the graduation standards are 40 sit-ups, 33 push-ups and 11 minutes 58 seconds. For women of the same age group, they are 23 sit-ups, 9 push-ups and 17 minutes 49 seconds at entry, and 35 sit-ups, 18 push-ups and 14 minutes 7 seconds at graduation. The commission approved the current standards on May 9, 2024, and adopted a modified graduation standard under which a cadet who passes two of the three tests can graduate if they reach at least three quarters of the expected progress on the third. Individual departments may also set their own hiring tests, and some use job-task circuits instead of or alongside the state fitness tests.

Grant's advice for the run is to train at the pace the standard demands, not just to run more. Once a week, Marco runs intervals of a quarter mile at slightly faster than his target pace of about 8 minutes a mile, with walking rest between them, and on two other days he runs steadily at an easy pace to build aerobic fitness. Most of the improvement in a mile-and-a-half time over a few months comes from that combination of easy volume and a little fast running, increased gradually.

To get the pace, convert the time to seconds and divide by 1.5. Marco's 13:51 is 13 × 60 + 51 = 831 seconds, and 831 ÷ 1.5 = 554 seconds, or 9 minutes 14 seconds a mile.

The run is the hardest of the three Ohio tests for most cadets, because aerobic fitness takes longest to build. A run of 14 minutes 34 seconds over a mile and a half is a pace of about 9 minutes 43 seconds a mile; the graduation standard of 11 minutes 58 seconds is about 7 minutes 59 seconds a mile. Marco, at 13 minutes 51 seconds, needs to take almost two minutes off his time by the end of the academy.

The standards debate

Physical standards in police hiring have been argued over for decades, in courts and in services. The core questions are whether a test measures what the job actually requires, whether its cutoff score is set at the right level, and whether it is fair to groups that score differently on average, especially women and older applicants.

In the United States, Title VII cases have shaped police fitness testing. In Lanning v. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, the Third Circuit considered a demanding running standard that excluded most female applicants and held that a cutoff with a disparate impact must measure the minimum qualifications necessary for successful performance of the job. In Bauer v. Lynch in 2016, the Fourth Circuit upheld the FBI's practice of setting different push-up standards for men and women, reasoning that normalized standards reflecting physiological differences can require the same level of fitness from both sexes. Age- and sex-normed standards, like Ohio's, are designed to measure fitness relative to one's group; critics argue that the job's demands do not change with the officer's age or sex, while supporters argue that the norms measure the same underlying fitness fairly.

Desjardins asks the class which approach is fairer. Priya argues for job-task tests with one standard: 'The person you are dragging out of a car does not weigh less because I am a woman.' Amara argues that the norms make sense for entry tests if training then builds everyone to the job's demands. Jesse points out that most officers' fitness declines over a career and asks why only applicants are tested. Boyce says that all three points are made inside police services, and that several have introduced voluntary or required fitness testing for serving officers. 'What nobody disputes,' she says, 'is that the job has physical moments, and that officers who are fit are injured less and recover faster.'

What the test day looks like

Boyce describes a typical test session. Candidates arrive early, sign in, show identification, and often sign a waiver and a statement that they are fit to take the test. Some services require a medical clearance form from a doctor. Staff explain the test and usually demonstrate it. There is a warm-up period. The test is run under supervision, and the timing is strict. Results are usually given on the spot. Candidates who fail can usually retest after a waiting period set by the service or the testing body, and some services allow one retest on the same day for certain components but not others. 'Read the rules before you go,' she says. 'People lose a test because they did not know they had to bring a signed form.'

She also explains why the tests are supervised so carefully. Injuries happen on test days, especially among candidates who are untrained, who have trained too hard in the days before, or who push through pain. Staff will stop a candidate who appears to be in distress. Candidates should report any illness or injury beforehand and reschedule rather than test while hurt. 'A failed test can be retaken,' she says. 'A torn hamstring takes months.'

Fitness and the people who are tested

Desjardins raises one more point. Physical tests can discourage good applicants who assume they cannot pass. Many Ohio departments and academies run practice sessions for their fitness tests, and some host training groups for applicants. These sessions let applicants try the real equipment or format, get coaching and see that the standard is achievable with preparation. Boyce says that the applicants who attend practice sessions pass at much higher rates than those who show up cold. Women, older applicants and people from communities with less exposure to policing are especially encouraged to attend, because they are the groups most often put off by unfamiliar tests.

Jesse asks what happens to officers who are injured later in their careers and can no longer meet the hiring standard. Boyce explains that serving officers are not usually retested against the hiring standard, but that their duties must be safe for them and the public, and services must accommodate disabilities under human rights law, often through modified duties or reassignment. Several services, including Port Ardent, have introduced voluntary fitness programs for serving officers with incentives, such as time off, for meeting benchmarks.

Grant, who attends this class as a guest before his own lesson, adds a few words about the mental side of physical testing. Many candidates who fail are capable of passing but panic at the start, go out too fast and fade, or freeze when something unexpected happens, such as slipping on a barrier. He tells the students to practice the test until it feels routine, to plan the pace of every part, and to have a simple cue for staying calm if something goes wrong, such as a slow breath and a word to themselves. 'The test is short,' he says. 'You only have to stay organized for a few minutes. Practice being organized while tired.'

Boyce also reminds the students that passing the hiring test is the minimum, not the goal. Recruits who arrive at training just above the standard find the physical side of training much harder than those who arrive well above it, and they are more likely to be injured. 'Aim to pass the hiring test comfortably,' she says, 'and then keep going. You are training for a career, not a single morning.'

Marco's retest plan includes something Grant insists on for everyone: a practice test at least three weeks before the real one, under conditions as close to the real test as possible, followed by an honest review. If the practice result is well within the standard, the remaining weeks are for consolidation. If it is close, the plan changes. If it is well short, it may be wiser to postpone the test than to fail it. 'Most services will let you reschedule,' Grant says. 'Fewer will let you retest soon after a failure. Know the rules and use them.'