App seeks to standardize fitness training across the services

A U.S. Air Force physician at Yokota Air Base has built a single fitness app designed to help service members across the Department of War train to their branch-specific test standards. Unveiled at Yokota on Aug. 11, the tool converts service fitness requirements into personalized, adaptive programs aimed at improving readiness.

Capt. Zachary Hicks, a family medicine physician and emergency medical services medical director at Yokota, created the app to bridge gaps he saw in how troops prepare for assessments. The software evaluates a user’s current fitness, generates a starting plan, and adjusts over time with a focus on shoring up weaker areas. “There are apps for individual branches but none that unify them into one app, and this was something I wanted to solve,” Hicks said.

Hicks said the concept has been in development since he began sketching out a more organized approach to fitness preparation four years ago. The release of updated standards this year prompted him to turn that framework into a working product. “If you are doing well and you want to do great, then this app will help you,” Hicks said. “If you are doing great and wish to maintain that greatness, then this app will help you retain your fitness.”

Since its launch, the app’s features have expanded. The latest update added guidance for pregnancy and postpartum exercise, and Hicks is building nutrition support as the next enhancement.

To align the tool with official benchmarks, Hicks transcribed scoring calculators from each service’s published charts and drew training guidance from publicly available military resources, including the Air Force’s Warfighter Fitness Playbook. “I did not feel the need to reinvent the wheel, but simply made it more accessible,” he said.

Hicks said the goal is to give service members—regardless of branch or starting point—a clear, accessible path to improve, maintain and measure their fitness against the standards they must meet.