Police Force has been criticised for watering down fitness tests for new recruits at the Goulburn Police Academy.

Health experts have described the new tests, including 25 push-ups on knees, which come into effect in August, as laughable and “way too easy”.

The benchmarks are claimed to be below standards required by rival police forces, the NSW Fire Brigades and the army.

Police recruits will be required to achieve a “beep” test score of 5.1 – signifying the number of 20m runs achieved while keeping up with an electronic beep – which is considered mediocre.

The Victorian Police Force has a beep-test requirement of 9.4, while the NSW Fire Brigade mandates a minimum beep test of 9.6, and the Army demands a benchmark of 7.5.

The new NSW test also requires recruits to complete a handgrip exam (30kg each hand); 25 push-ups (with a toes or knees option); a prone bridge holding position (90 seconds); a vertical jump of 30cm; and an agility test (20 seconds or less).

Victoria has a handgrip test of 50kg for male recruits under 29.

“If (police) are just scraping through this test, they’d be in pretty poor health from an exercise point of view,” exercise scientist Damien Kelly said.

Mr Kelly said the benchmarks were based on female averages – making the testing “far too easy” for male applicants.

“Males should be doing 25 push-ups on their toes – doing it on the knees is pretty ridiculous, and a beep-test score of 5.1 is extremely slow,” he said.

“You would hope your father could do that.”

The previous testing method was scored using a points system, which has been scrapped. It required rookies to undergo eight separate fitness exams.

The old system meant students at the college needed 44 points to join the academy, then 55 points in a later examination to graduate and become sworn police officers.

The new test has introduced minimum pass/fail standards and eliminated two of the tests – a sit-up and sit-and-reach exam.

Recruitment sources say the new entry-level standards are a “joke”, but senior police, including Assistant Commissioner Michael Corboy, say the benchmarks have made the entry requirements more competitive.