2019-11-01 Outside

Dispatches Performance

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OUTSIDE MAGAZINE 65

Army Strong

THE MILITARY IS RETHINKING

PHYSICAL TRAINING AND

OVERHAULING ITS CLASSIC

FITNESS TEST. THINK YOU HAVE

WHAT IT TAKES?

BY MICHAEL EASTER

I THOUGHT I’d given up playing Army around

age nine. But in July, I found myself alone at

a high school track on the outskirts of Las

Vegas, trying to pass the new Army Combat

Fitness Test (ACFT).

I worked my way through five exercises:

a set of three deadlifts, a behind-the-head

medicine-ball throw, two minutes of hand-

release push-ups (rest your torso on the

ground and lift your hands at the bottom of

each rep), a timed sprint-drag-carry, and

pull-up leg tucks. The test wrapped up with a

two-mile run. I hit a button on my stopwatch

and sprinted into the Mojave Desert, finish-

ing in 13 minutes 10 seconds. Each exercise is

worth a maximum of 100 points, and I scored

547 out of 600. Not bad. For infantry the

minimum to pass is 420. But the soldiers with

the hardest jobs—Rangers, Night Stalkers,

and Green Berets—often score close to 600,

according to multiple sources within the mil-

itary. To find out if I was Special Forces ma-

terial, I hatched a plan to train for four weeks

and crush the test.

The Army is currently experiencing a fit-

ness crisis. New recruits are often in bad

shape, and more than half of U.S. soldiers are

injured each year, often because they grind

through boot-camp workouts without for-

mal exercise training. As a result, the branch

is now rethinking its approach. Step one:

overhaul the test.

The ACFT’s predecessor was established

in the early 1980s and consisted of two min-

utes of push-ups, two minutes of sit-ups,

and a two-mile run. It required no equipment

and could be performed anywhere. “But it

was only 40 percent predictive of how you’d

perform in combat tasks,” says Army major

general Lonnie Hibbard. The exercises sim-

ply didn’t translate to the physical realities

of modern warfare. The new version of the

test is about 80 percent predictive, he says,

because it evaluates agility, explosive power,

and upper- and lower-body strength, not just

muscular endurance. By October 2020, all re-

cruits will take the updated exam when they

enlist and every six months after that. Top

Army officials would also like to roll out new

on-base gyms staffed by certified trainers. If

a soldier fails the test at any time, they’ll be

placed in a program to improve their fitness.

To prepare I called my friend Doug Kies-

sewetter, who serves in the Special Forces

and helps run Soflete, a company that trains

soldiers for Special Forces selection camps.

When I mentioned the idea of a perfect score,

he reined me in: “Your goal is to get the high-

est score possible, without getting injured.”

Seeing my weak push-ups score, Kiessewet-

ter assigned me a handful of exercises to build

muscular endurance in my chest and arms

and instructed me to practice the test’s other

four exercises to build efficiency. Each week

I did an easy five-mile run, keeping my heart

rate below 150, and a day of intervals at the

track. In total I was working out about five

days a week. Come test day, I felt ready.

First up: the deadlifts. Three hundred

pounds was easy, so I added 20 more to the

bar—good enough for 98 points. (See “Test

Yourself,” below.) I maxed out the medicine-

ball throw, sprint-drag-carry, and hanging leg

raises, and managed 40 push-ups before my

arms felt like they were full of battery acid. I

failed at 50, earning 90 points. Then I flew

through the two miles in 12 minutes 29 sec-

onds for a final score of 588. I might’ve kept on

running to the recruiter’s office, but the en-

dorphins wore off before I left the track.

Test Yourself

Here’s what it takes to pass the ACFT—

or get a perfect score on each exercise.

Deadlift

Lift the heaviest weight you can

three times.

Max (100 points): 340 pounds

Pass (70 points): 180 pounds

Power Throw

Launch a ten-pound medicine ball

over your head and behind you.

Max (100 points): 13.5 yards

Pass (70 points): 8. 5 yards

Hand-Release Push-Ups

Perform as many reps as possible in

two minutes.

Max (100 points): 70

Pass (70 points): 30

Sprint-Drag-Carry

For 50 meters each, sprint, drag

90 pounds, side-shuffle, farmer’s-carry

80 pounds, then sprint again.

Max (100 points): 1 minute 40 seconds

Pass (70 points): 2 minutes 9 seconds

Pull-Up Leg Tucks

While hanging from a pull-up bar, hoist

yourself until your arms are at 90 degrees

while bringing your knees into your chest,

then lower. Complete as many as you can.

Max (100 points): 20

Pass (70 points): 5

Two-Mile Run

Finish as quickly as possible.

Max (100 points): 12 minutes 45 seconds

Pass (70 points): 18 minutes