Angela Papple Johnston - ACFT For Dummies

Aerobic exercise requires your heart to pump oxygenated blood to your muscles. Your heart has to beat faster to keep up with your movement, and your body has to figure out how to balance itself out until you stop the exercise. Check out Table 1-1, which gives you a ballpark range for where your heart rate should be in beats per minute (bpm) during moderate and vigorous aerobic exercise. The American Heart Association doesn’t distinguish between ages 20 and 30 (that’s why you don’t see a row in the table for 25-year-olds) because people in that age bracket typically fall into the same heart rate zones. Chapter 8shows you how to take your cardio fitness up a notch or two, so if that’s an area you need to improve, you can find suggestions there.

TABLE 1-1Heart Rate Zones

Anaerobic exercise is high-intensity, high-power movement that requires your body to expend a lot of energy in a short period of time. Things like weightlifting, jumping rope, sprinting, and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) are examples of anaerobic exercise; if you take these movements to the battlefield, you’re looking at carrying a battle buddy to safety, running ammo cans between one truck and another, or throwing equipment over a wall so you can get cover from enemy fire. This kind of exercise pushes your body to demand more energy than you’d need for aerobic exercise, like running, and it relies on energy sources stored in your muscles.

Aerobic means “with oxygen,” and anaerobic means “without oxygen.” Sure, you still need oxygen to perform anaerobic exercises, but not in the same way that you do for aerobic exercises. Aerobic exercise uses oxygen to produce energy so your body can use fat and glucose for fuel, while anaerobic exercise can only use glucose for fuel. Glucose is available in your muscles for quick, short bursts of movement, and you get it through a process called glycolysis.

The Sprint-Drag-Carry is a prime example of how the Army tests your anaerobic fitness. Check out Chapter 8for a wide range of exercises that can boost your anaerobic power.

The Army’s Physical Readiness Training, or PRT, was designed to prepare soldiers for the ACFT. Many PRT drills have migrated into ATP 7-22.02, Holistic Health and Fitness Drills and Exercises . These drills, now called H2F (a complete revision of PRT), are all about functional fitness, which uses drills, exercises, and activities that are specific to performing certain tasks. Army Field Manual 7-22 and Chapter 7of this book both contain all the info you need on H2F, but save it for 0630; to max out your ACFT, you probably need to go above and beyond the Army’s maintenance PT plan.

H2F covers preparation drills, core exercises, conditioning drills, and a whole host of movement training exercises that can help you perform well on the ACFT. But the best way to make sure you’re ready for all six events is to hit the gym for some serious training after work or on the weekends — and if you’re a little nervous about passing a certain event (I’m looking at you, LTK), that’s where you need to focus.

If you live near or on an Army installation that has a Wellness Center, you’re in luck. These often underutilized facilities are designed to help soldiers, family members, retirees, and DA civilians zero in on the best possible health plans. They’re run by U.S. Army Medical Command, overseen by the Army Public Health Center, and staffed with health educators who can perform all kinds of evaluations to help you reach your fitness goals. From Bod Pods that measure your body fat content, VO 2max testing, and basal metabolic rate evaluation to individualized meal plans and smoking cessation programs, Army Wellness Centers are located at nearly every base in the United States and many overseas. The pros at these centers can help with stress management, good sleep habits, weight management, and workout plans, too. You don’t even need a referral — all you need to do is call and set up an appointment.

You have to pass the ACFT. If you don’t, your career is in jeopardy. That’s not doomsday talk; if you fail, you pick up a flag, and a flag suspends favorable personnel actions, like promotions, awards, schools, and others. Even worse, Army Regulation 600-8-2 says that if you’re flagged for ACFT failure, your permanent change of station is at your commander’s discretion (and that’s really bad news if you’re excited about a PCS because you’re on orders to Schofield Barracks or Stuttgart). Finally, the Army can administratively separate you from service for ACFT failure.

If you have a physical training profile from your medical provider, you get a shot at alternate events on a modified ACFT (I cover those in Chapter 2). However, you still have to pass the 3 Repetition Maximum Deadlift, the Sprint-Drag-Carry, and your alternate aerobic event. If you don’t, you’re facing the same consequences as soldiers who fail the regular ACFT.

Every soldier is held to the same standards on the ACFT. The grading scale doesn’t distinguish between males and females, and you don’t get a break because you’re older than your battle buddy. The days of knocking out a couple of dozen push-ups and sit-ups before shuffling around the track for 18 minutes are gone — now, it’s all about whether you can keep up with your teammates.

Every job falls into one of three physical demand categories. For example, the infantry has the highest minimum standards. Other MOSs, like Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Specialist have the lowest minimum standards. Some jobs, like Parachute Riggers and Water Treatment Specialists, are somewhere in the middle. See Chapter 4to find out how the test is scored, as well as what physical demand category your MOS falls into.

To improve your ACFT score, you have to put in the work. That means hitting the gym after COB and on weekends, or doing small-but-mighty exercises while you’re at work or in the field. But there’s an upside (other than passing the test, that is): Creating a PT plan for yourself and your team, squad, or platoon that results in a 100 percent pass rate makes a great counseling or evaluation report bullet. (I promise I won’t tell anyone that you lifted some ideas from this book.) Check out Chapter 26for tips on maxing out your score, and head over to Appendix Afor a blank workout calendar you can use to set yourself — and your team — up for success.