Even if you are not interested in joining the U.S. military, you may want to take the army combat fitness test (ACFT). The infamous army combat fitness test leg tuck is considered the most difficult part of all the ACFT exercises. The Army has replaced this tough exercise with planks, so fewer people fail the ACFT, given nearly half of female soldiers used to fail the test; and quite a few men didn’t fare much better.
This is just one of many changes introduced as part of the latest attempt to make ACFT more comprehensive. As explained on Military.com, the most significant change in ACFT with six events is that it is no longer designed to prepare soldiers for battle but to assess their overall physical fitness. “Standards for men and women in different age groups often lower their chances of selection.”
The original ACFT had the same standards for women and men but a report by Rand Corp, a Congressionally mandated report by a Washington DC-based think tank, reported that “about half of women in the service can’t pass previous testing standards, especially the leg tuck events”. To work around these concerns, the Army swapped leg tucks for planks.
Let’s dissect the leg tuck and figure out how best to train for it, even if just for the fun and challenge of completing a few reps.
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