"I think I prefer the old way where everything was a certain time and then you passed, because I thought that that was more consistent in terms of a wide range of fitness," he said.
"You need to be fast and you've got to be strong."
Police deputy chief executive of people Kaye Ryan said there were "regular reviews" of physical testing as part of the "holistic approach" to making sure there was a diverse range of people in the police.
"In many cases the applicant may be significantly above the standard in one area, but slightly under the standard for another. This would result in a failed test and the person unable to join police at that time.
"We know we need to recruit physically fit, competent people but not everyone has to be above average across every component of the test to meet that standard. We can liken it to the difference between a front row rugby player and a dancer, they will have different strengths, but both will be physically fit."
Ryan said recruits would continue to be selected to high standards.
"It is too early to say how this will affect numbers of successful applicants, but we know in the past we have missed out on competent applicants who would have made excellent police officers."
