JUNE 24, 2026 — The Air Force is working to transform how Airmen approach physical fitness, shifting away from a culture centered on annual testing and toward one focused on everyday readiness.
Supporting that effort, a Master Fitness Leader (MFL) course was held at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam from June 1–11, providing Airmen with training in exercise science, injury prevention, fitness program management and leadership skills.
“We’ve looked in the past at the testing culture where we just focus on our one or two tests a year, and then we forget about fitness for the remaining 363 days,” said David Peirson, Patrick Space Force Base operational support team specialist. “We really want to drive home that fitness is something that needs to be part of every duty day.”
Read more about the culture of fitness in the Air Force
The nine-day course prepares graduates to return to their installations as Master Fitness Leaders, where they educate Peer Fitness Leaders, advise commanders and oversee programs that help Airmen maintain or regain fitness. Students learn strength training, cardiovascular conditioning and other exercise science principles designed to support long-term health.
“We want to make sure we’re getting after our fitness, not just doing the test components, but also looking at general fitness components,” Peirson said. “What we’ve charged these MFLs with is you need to go back and reinforce that with your commanders, with your Airmen and with everybody on your installation.”
The course also introduces Airmen to programs such as the Fitness Reconditioning Program, Adaptive Fitness Program and Pregnancy and Postpartum Physical Training program, providing leaders with resources to support Airmen throughout different stages of their fitness journey.
For Technical Sgt. Molly Harris, Pease Air National Guard Base services superintendent, the course was more than professional development.
After undergoing three surgeries over the past three years, Harris arrived at the course focused on rebuilding her own fitness. The experience strengthened her commitment to helping others do the same.
“Honestly, after the first couple of days, it almost made me want to change my college degree to sports science,” said Harris. “The coaches were energetic, the information was on point and everything just made sense.”
The course also reminded Harris about fitness in her personal life.
“I saw a video a while back that asked, ‘If you had to, could you pick up your child and run a mile to get to safety?’ and at the time, probably not,” said Harris. “Now, after my surgeries and working hard every day to regain my strength, 100 percent, I could pick up my kid and get him to safety.”
Harris believes the Air Force is entering a new chapter in fitness.
“I think the Air Force is about to go through a big change, and I think it’s going to be a really good change,” Harris said.
As Master Fitness Leaders return to their installations, Air Force leaders hope they will help create lasting cultural change across the force.
“The biggest thing that I will continue to foot stomp over and over again is that fitness is an everyday requirement,” Peirson said. “Fitness doesn’t care what rank you are. Fitness doesn’t care how old you are. We want to get to a point where we’re able to maintain our fitness so much that the test is just a checkbox along the way.”
For more guidance on how to incorporate fitness into your everyday life, check out the Warfighter’s Playbook
Story by Senior Airman Lauren Torres
15th Wing