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I recently got the chance to speak to Dr. Whitfield East, the research physiologist for the US Army Center for Initial Military Training (CIMT). You’ve probably never heard of him, but he is responsible for leading review and analysis of military physical fitness training for the Army. More importantly, he’s a key player in developing the Army’s new Combat Fitness Test.

Links Related to This Episode

My article on Tactical Fitness

The Mountain Tactical Institute

The US Army’s Combat Fitness Test Information Site

I want to start by stating the obvious: maintaining a strong and capable military, much less a general population, is not a new challenge. Even though modern media likes to act like we’re in some grand crisis where so few of our nation’s youth are physically qualified to join the military, this really isn’t new.

That said, we do have a long history to look back over to compare ourselves against. In his review of military fitness history, Dr. East talks about the legendary Spartans.

To put it bluntly, fitness is a force multiplier. The capability to move faster, carrying more weight, and the endurance to keep up the fight enable forces to do far more than numbers would indicate.

But how did that actually look for much of military history?

During the interview, Dr. East relays how military gymnastics played an important role in developing modern militaries. These exercises are similar to what you expect when you hear the phrase “gymnastics.” There was lots of climbing, bodyweight exercise, and balance work.

This was all done in an organized fashion so that militaries could produce “industrial-sized” capacity.

But things began to shift by WWII.

By WWII, the load carried by soldiers began to increase. Not only that, but so did the pace of combat and mobility required to survive. This was no longer trench warfare, but the dawning of Maneuver Warfare.

At the same time, the US Military saw that the general population was simply ill-equipped to handle the physical demands of warfare. This beget a change in thinking, resulting in much more strength and endurance-based training, as well as physically demanding testing.

This was why we saw the effort for Universal Military Training. In the same path, we saw President Eisenhower form the Cabinet-level Presidential Council on Youth Fitness. That program later became the President’s Council on Physical Fitness under President Kennedy.

But eventually, that motivation began to fade away. Dr. East points out that some of that could be from a belief that we would never fight a ground war again in the era of nuclear weapons.

Of course, history didn’t work that way.

In 1973, the Army again rewrote it’s combat-oriented fitness test to the three-event test so many of us are familiar with now. A significant reason for this new test was that it was gender neutral. There was no specialized equipment required, and the test could be performed by anyone in any place in the world.

The new test stemmed from studying all of the common soldier tasks and battle drills and distilling them down into five main categories.

Move under load to contact

Build a hasty fighting position

Move over/under/around/through obstacles and terrain

React to contact

Extract & evacuate a casualty

The new ACFT includes six exercises, with each one relating to some combination of these tasks.

Three-Rep Maximum Dead Lift

Standing Power Throw

Hand Release Pushup

Sprint Drag Carry

Leg Tuck

The 2-Mile Run