Has The Army Decided to Update It’s Training Regiment?

We’ve all seen those old black and white movies where military recruits go through training doing sit-ups and push ups and a lot of running, but many may not realize that form of physical training was and STILL is used in the military.  For the past 40 years, the Army Physical Fitness Test consists of two minutes of push ups, two minutes of sit ups, and a two mile run.  As we’ve learned more about total fitness and core training, this test is relatively antiquated.  After two years of testing, the Army will unveil the Army Combat Fitness Test 3.0 (ACFT) in March 2022.  This new test will focus on different exercises, such as planking, medicine-ball throws, sprint-drag-carry exercises, while also retaining classics like deadlifts and of course, the two mile run.  Some of the reasons for the changes are that the physical demands of the jobs have changed over the years.  With so many specialized jobs in the Army, brute strength has become less important, and so the new test focuses on endurance, cardiovascular health, and coordination.  With these modern ideas of physical fitness, the Army expects to raise their overall pass rate for their physical fitness measurements.