Goodbye, situps. The Army is rolling out a new fitness test

“Good test,” huffed Aiton, who will soon turn 50. “I’m smoked.”

Army leaders are touting the test, which is gender- and age-neutral, as a generational change in how soldiers approach physical fitness.

Instead of situps, pushups and a 2-mile run — the standard yardstick since 1980 — the Army Combat Fitness Test includes exercises to improve how soldiers perform on the battlefield.

For example, dragging that 90-pound sled isn’t just good exercise that builds muscle. It can simulate pulling a comrade to safety.

All soldiers will be required to take the test by October 2020. Field-testing is set to begin this fall, initially with 40,000 soldiers.

Senior leaders are already sweating it out, but in a productive way.

On Wednesday around 6:30 a.m., two-star generals, colonels and command sergeants major clad in workout gear gathered on a field at Fort Eustis. They’re under the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command, headquartered at Eustis, and were already here for a commander’s forum.

TRADOC operates schools around the country. So if TRADOC is considered the Army’s university, these men and women represented its senior faculty.

At the top of the organization is Gen. Stephen Townsend, TRADOC commander, who wasn’t wearing his four stars Wednesday. Looking fit in a T-shirt and shorts, he was ready to take the test along with his subordinates. He’d already taken it once.

“I think it’s far superior to what I’ve been doing for the past 36 years,” he said. “The day I took it, I knew this is exactly what the Army needs.”

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Major initiative seeks to combat U.S. soldiers’ weight problems and injuries

“That’s why the military — just like you — is thinking about how to get healthier in the new year and beyond.

These base makeovers are setting the scene for the launch of Holistic Health and Fitness (H2F), a larger initiative that strives to radically change how the Army prepares service members. The proposal includes the introduction of a new field manual for training, plus the creation of Soldier Performance Readiness Centers (SPRC, pronounced “spark”), which will be state-of-the-art fitness facilities staffed by experts who can educate and offer real-time feedback on proper form, psychological well-being, nutrition and more.

An SPRC is not exactly a gym, says Maj. Gen. Malcolm Frost, who commands the Center for Initial Military Training at Virginia’s Fort Eustis, which is behind H2F. He compares it to the way the Army cares for equipment. “What we don’t have is a range to improve yourself,” he explains.

A better understanding of human performance is part of the impetus behind H2F, Frost says. But the initiative is also a reaction to the current American population, which is not nearly as fit as in previous generations. Frost says it’s a challenge to fight when tens of thousands of soldiers — or, as he calls them, “our primary weapons system” — are non-deployable because of weight problems and injuries.

Folks signing up to serve were once in peak condition, Frost says. “I like to say that 15 to 30 years ago, recruits were better prepared.  We were analogous to marinated steaks,” he explains.  “Throw us on the grill and we were ready to be soldiers.

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Joint Services learn “Pose Running” method from the master

“I don’t really understand why anyone would run any other way, ” said Staff Sgt. Aaron Cheateaux, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 8th Military Police Brigade.

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New running technique strikes a Pose

Blake, who is also a physical therapist, is responsible for the physical training and rehabilitation plans for Soldiers who are injured in Basic Combat Training. He said most of the injuries he treats are the result of improper running.

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