ACFT Army Combat Fitness Test For Dummies

Angela Papple Johnston

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781119704287
• eBook ISBN: 9781119704317
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Study Aids
• Subtopic: Study Guides

The best standalone resource for the Army Combat Fitness Test

As the Army prepares to shift to the new Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) from the Army Physical Fitness Test, hundreds of thousands of new and current servicemembers will have to pass a more rigorous and demanding set of physical events to prove they have what it takes to meet the physical demands of an army job.

Utilizing the accessible and simple approach that has made the For Dummies series famous the world over, ACFT For Dummies is packed with everything you need to train for and ultimately crush the ACFT. Topics include:

• An overview of the test, including how it fits into your army role
• How the test is administered (location, equipment, etc.)
• Instructions on how to perform each of the six events
• How the ACFT is scored
• Training for the ACFT on your own time
• The importance of recovery, including essential stretches
• How to build your own workout routine
• Videos for each of the six events with tips for how to train for them

The ACFT For Dummies prepares readers to tackle the new, tougher Army fitness test with practical examples and concrete strategies that will push each servicemember to new heights.

Part 1

Getting to Know the ACFT

IN THIS PART …

Take a look at the Army’s physical fitness requirements and how they’ve evolved over the past 250 years.

Test out the science behind the Army Combat Fitness Test and discover when and how the military evaluates physical performance.

Explore each ACFT event in detail and uncover how the Army scores soldiers.

Chapter 1

Army Physical Fitness: The Cornerstone of Combat Readiness

IN THIS CHAPTER

Ushering the old APFT out and the ACFT in

Flexing your range of motion on the new test

Accepting the necessity of PRT and H2F

Discovering how the ACFT impacts your career

The United States Army needs high-speed, low-drag soldiers manning its ranks, and until 2020, it measured physical fitness by using the Army Physical Fitness Test, or APFT. But change is inevitable in the Army, and the Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) is now the standard by which all soldiers, male and female, are judged. Your ACFT score can determine whether you qualify for continued service in the military, and, like the APFT, it’s administered at the unit level.

So why the change?

The Army recognized the need to measure overall fitness rather than a soldier’s ability to do push-ups, sit-ups, and a two-mile run. Although those exercises are good for measuring chest strength, arm strength, and cardiovascular endurance, they’re not necessarily indicators of how well a soldier can perform on the battlefield. (And don’t get your hopes up. That two-mile run didn’t go anywhere. It’s the last event on the ACFT.)

The ACFT uses six events to measure a soldier’s functional fitness. Each event is linked to common warfighting tasks, such as carrying other soldiers out of harm’s way and climbing out of sticky situations. The ACFT standards are outlined in a “living document,” which means they can (and most likely will) change as the Army identifies new challenges and comes up with better solutions.

Saying Goodbye to the Old APFT

Fitness training has been on the Army’s radar for years — but not from the very beginning. Seven decades after General Friedrich Von Steuben’s Blue Book laid out the drill and ceremony the Army uses today, West Point implemented the first physical fitness program for its cadets. The program included gymnastics, calisthenics, swimming, and fencing. Six years later, cadets were assessed for their performance on a 15-foot wall climb, a 5-foot horse vault, a 10-foot ditch leap, an 8-minute mile run (or an 18-minute two-mile run), a 4.5-mile walk that a cadet had to complete in an hour, and a 3-mile ruck with 20 pounds of gear, arms, and equipment in under an hour.

The Army scrapped the whole physical training (PT) program in 1861 when the Civil War started, but in 1885, the Army hired a new Master of the Sword, Lt. Col. Herman John Koehler. Koehler’s Manual of Calisthenic Exercises became the first Army-wide physical training manual. In 1920, the Army re-implemented its testing requirement. Soldiers had to successfully perform a 14-second 100-yard sprint, an 8-foot wall climb, a 12-foot running jump, and a 30-yard grenade throw as well as complete an obstacle course.

The test continued to evolve wi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Part 1: Getting to Know the ACFT
• Part 2: Training for the ACFT on Your Own Time
• Part 3: Structure, Form, and Functional Fitness
• Part 4: Nutrition and the “Whole Soldier” Concept
• Part 5: The Part of Tens
• Appendix: Fill-in-the-Blanks Workout Calendar
• Index
• About the Author
• Connect with Dummies
• End User License Agreement