As someone who spent a year building the upper body strength to master the leg tuck portion of the U.S. Army’s updated Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) I now begrudgingly announce its demise. In an update published this week Big Army announced it was retiring the leg tuck for an updated version of the ACFT – which also now includes age and gendered testing vs. the original proposal for a gender-neutral test and scoring based on MOS.
The announcement is just the latest in a series of blunders in the test roll-out, which generated almost immediate outcry due to the increased complexity/equipment requirements of the test along with issues for women and National Guard and Reserve pass rates. In October 2019 leaked slides revealed 84% of women were failing the test – largely due to the leg tuck portion.
In response to outcry and congressional scrutiny, the Army commissioned RAND to study its ACFT. This week’s decision to revert back to a gendered test was largely due to the RAND findings.
“The differences in pass rates were biggest between the genders,” said Dr. Chaitra Hardison, the lead author of the RAND study. “Roughly half of enlisted women passed versus 85-90% of men depending on the component.”
RAND noted the issues with the leg tuck were less about gender than about success in scoring what the exercise intended to score. Grip strength and upper body strength were more indicative of leg tuck success, the RAND study found, versus core strength.
For a test designed to provide a multi-faceted look at physical fitness, the RAND study pushed for more back to the basics. And based on the forever demise of the leg tuck, it would appear the Army concurred.
Why the ACFT Bugaboo?
You don’t change something once every 40-years without a lot of planning. And while it seemed that Army leaders had their planning documents lined up, a small but mighty core of CrossFit inspired warriors made up a bulk of that push. For soldiers, physical fitness isn’t just about combat readiness – it’s about promotion potential and ability to progress. With the leg up going largely to active duty male troops in the original ACFT design – also the segment that made up the bulk of the Army’s initial test population.
A big part of criticism around the test is the complexity. The ACFT replaced a much more streamlined physical fitness test consisting of a run, push-ups and sit-ups. Today’s six event ACFT includes a 3-repetition maximum deadlift, standing power throw, hand-release push-up, sprint-drag carry, plank, and two-mile run. Due to high fail rates on the run, it has also been updated with an optional 2.5 mile walk.
Active-duty units will begin implementing the test April 1, and Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Grinston urged troops to ‘get after’ the new test. Army leaders emphasized the test would evolve, unlike the 40-year standard of the physical fitness test. But the time to wait for new standards is over, Army leaders are urging.
The plank is in, the leg tuck is out, and gendered-fitness standards replace MOS-specific tasks. The test may evolve in the future, but for now, military leaders say, ‘get after it.’
