For the first time in 38 years, the U.S. Army is transitioning to a new fitness test/standard. This news of a brand new PT test has turned many heads, mainly because of the unfamiliarity with the new standards.

Here’s some background on the APFT that will be slowly departing from the U.S. Army by the fall of 2020. The APFT is the “Army Physical Fitness Test”, which was developed and reformed back in 1980-1982. The test basically has 4 components: 2 minutes of sit-ups, 2 minutes of push-ups, 2-mile run, and height and weight requirement. The APFT is intended to measure upper and lower body endurance, which is meant to indicate the ability of a soldier to perform physically while handling their own body weight. The APFT is scored on scored on gender and age-based scale, therefore, a male and female would not have the same scoring system except on the sit-up portion of the test. However, this fitness test is not deemed as appropriate for the U.S. Army as of today, which is why the ACFT has been created.

The ACFT (Army Combat Readiness Test) is the new test that is slowly trinkling its way around the Army, as it is not yet officially the fitness test in place. However, within the next year, this test will be used at every Army installation. This will include ROTC programs like the Nittany Lion Batallion. The ACFT is pretty different from the APFT, the fairly noticeable change is that this test has 6 events/components. The 6 components are: strength deadlift, standing power throw, hand-raised push-ups, 250 meter sprint, drag and carry, leg tuck, and of course the 2-mile run couldn’t be forgotten. This test is aimed at preparing soldiers for the rigorous fitness necessary for combat. Another big difference in the ACFT is that it is gender neutral, therefore, men and women would be scored on the same scale. This aspect has caused some lashback scoring-wise, but this is in attempt to change the culture of Army fitness and for comabt readiness.

This transition is overall for the improvement of soldiers’ but will indeed be a significant change to what current soldiers are used to. It will mean physical training’s will need to change as well, to train soldiers for the new standards soon to be in place. Personally, I’m a fan of the purpose and ideal of the implementation of the ACFT, but I know it’ll be quite a substantial change.
If you had to choose, which fitness test would you take?