BACKGROUND: Militaries have historically utilised generic physical fitness tests to assess physical readiness, but there has been a recent shift to develop physical employment standards (PES) based on actual job demands. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this investigation was to characterise the physical demands of critical tasks performed by Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) personnel to inform PES development. METHODS: Job task analysis were performed for 27 RAAF trades. Criterion tasks were identified through a systematic approach involving workshops and field-observations. The identified tasks were assessed for dominant physical capacity and grouped into movement-based clusters. Psychophysiological measures were collected from personnel performing the tasks. RESULTS: Of 87 criterion tasks, 92% were characterised as manual handling dominant. Across these 87 tasks the principal physical capacities were: muscular strength (59%), muscular endurance (52%) and cardiorespiratory endurance (39%).
Push-ups are a popular exercise because they are convenient and require no equipment. Learn more about which muscles are worked and variations you can try.