The Army Combat Fitness Test is a six-event acrobatic test that evaluates a soldier’s strength, endurance, and agility. The test is now gender and age-neutral, and it is also more realistic, with events such as the deadlift, standing power throw, hand-release push-up, sprint-drag-carry, and leg tuck. To pass the ACFT, you must meet specific requirements for each event. To learn more about the new test, check out this video by Junior from Poly Physiques.
Deadlift
The deadlift is an excellent lower-body exercise, requiring you to drive your legs and hips into movement. It also helps develop balance and ankle stability. This lift directly transfers to lifting heavy objects in real life and sport, and can help prevent back injuries by promoting good posture.
A good barbell deadlift starts with a proper grip. The non-negotiables include having your thumbs on the bar, gripping it tight with purpose, and keeping your knuckles down. This will prevent the bar from digging into your knees or causing aches and pains in the knuckles of your hands.
If you’re a beginner, finding a weight that challenges you for three sets of eight reps is a good starting point. If you’re having trouble getting to the seventh or eighth rep, you are probably going too heavy and compromising your form. For more experienced lifters, a good way to determine your one-rep max is to do several sets of reps at around 50% of your maximum lift.
Standing Power Throw
The Standing Power Throw is one of six events that comprise the Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT). It measures a soldier’s explosive power by requiring them to throw a 10-pound medicine ball as far as possible. This event helps soldiers develop their legs, core, and shoulders muscles. It also motivates them to engage in strength training and improve their throwing technique.
A soldier stands at the end of a designated throwing lane to perform the Standing Power Throw with their feet positioned on the start line. They then flex their trunk, hips, and knees and explode upward to throw the medicine ball over their head. If they fall to the ground or step on or beyond the starting line, they’re given a fault score of 0.0 meters.
The best way to prepare for the ACFT Standing Power Throw is to do plyometric exercises and incorporate explosive movements in your training regimen. By using these techniques, you’ll be able to throw the ball farther and faster.
Hand-Release Push-Up
A version of the standard pushup, hand release push-ups allow you to lift your hands off the ground before pushing back up into a high plank. This allows you to engage more muscles than you could with traditional pushups and increases your “time under tension,” which is a key factor in building muscle.
This exercise primarily targets the pectoral muscles, teaching you how to better utilize your chest during pressing movements. However, it also engages the sub scapular in the bottom position when lifting your hands off the ground, which recruits muscle groups that are not recruited during standard push-ups.
The Army included hand-release push-ups in the ACFT to measure upper-body pushing endurance. This physical characteristic is less directly applicable to soldiering tasks than the leg tuck and plank events, but it still plays a role in movement under fire and hand-to-hand combat.
Sprint-Drag-Carry
The Sprint-Drag-Carry event tests a participant’s endurance, strength, and anaerobic capacity. This type of fitness is needed to accomplish high-intensity combat tasks that last from a few seconds to several minutes, such as reacting to direct and indirect fire. The exercise also tests a soldier’s ability to move equipment and artillery quickly from one location to another.
According to Sgt. 1st Class Jose Pacheco, who trains ACFT participants at Fort Jackson, the Sprint-Drag-Carry is a “combat-related assessment.” He adds that this test can be particularly challenging for Soldiers because it requires both strength and aerobic capacity.
He suggests that Soldiers train for the sprint-drag-carry by running more and increasing their anaerobic capacity. This will help them complete the test and perform well in the subsequent leg tuck and two-mile run events. In addition, he recommends that participants practice good posture to improve their performance in this event.
Leg Tuck
The leg tuck is an event that measures core strength and is a component of the ACFT. The test includes six events designed to assess a soldier’s overall physical fitness. These include the deadlift, standing power throw, hand-release push-up, sprint-drag-carry, leg tuck, and a two-mile run. Soldiers must pass each event to earn a passing score. The new ACFT is gender and age-neutral, with standards that are based on real-world tasks like carrying equipment and climbing obstacles.
The leg tuck requires a trainee to hang from a pull-up bar with an alternated grip and extend their arms. Then, the trainee must flex their hips and knees to raise their legs to the elbows before returning to the starting position. This exercise has been anecdotally shown to stress grip and upper body strength-endurance [1]. A regression analysis showed that sex explained 12.1% of the variance in leg tuck performance, while push-ups slightly, but significantly, increased the explained variance to 65.8%.
Two-Mile Run
The two-mile run is a challenging event for many soldiers. You can have a lot of strength and endurance but fail to pass the test because of a slow two-mile run time. Fortunately, you can improve your two-mile run time with proper training and a good strategy.
If you’re a new runner, reaching your goal 2-mile run time may take some time. Start out by incorporating running into your workout routine slowly and gradually increasing the distance as you get stronger. You can also focus on improving your technique and creating muscle memory about the right form.
The Army has recently modified the ACFT from 2022 to include performance-normed scoring standards that are scaled for age and gender. The new score chart provides a more lucid understanding of how to perform on the test, and will help soldiers meet their MOS requirements for basic training and graduation.