ACFT Calculator

The Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) is the U.S. Army's physical fitness assessment, designed to measure the strength, power, endurance, and mobility a soldier needs for the demands of combat. It replaced the decades-old three-event Army Physical Fitness Test (push-ups, sit-ups, two-mile run) with a tougher, more comprehensive battery of events.

On 1 June 2025, the Army refined the test again and renamed it the Army Fitness Test (AFT). The Standing Power Throw was removed after a review of injury and reliability data, leaving five events. This calculator scores those five current events using the Army's official scoring scales, while keeping the familiar “ACFT” name many soldiers still search for.

Modern soldiering is physically diverse: lifting heavy equipment, sprinting under load, dragging a casualty, and covering distance on foot. A single running test could not capture all of that. The ACFT/AFT was built to assess multiple fitness domains at once so that a soldier's readiness reflects real operational tasks rather than just aerobic capacity.

The test also drives training culture. Because each event rewards a different quality — maximal strength, explosive power, muscular and core endurance, and aerobic fitness — soldiers are encouraged to train as complete athletes instead of specializing in one area.

• Three-Rep Maximum Deadlift (MDL): lift the heaviest weight you can for three controlled repetitions using a hex/trap bar — a test of lower-body and grip strength.
• Hand-Release Push-Up (HRP): as many push-ups as possible in two minutes, lifting your hands off the ground at the bottom of each rep to enforce a full range of motion.
• Sprint-Drag-Carry (SDC): five 50-metre shuttles combining a sprint, a backward sled drag, a lateral shuffle, a kettlebell carry, and a final sprint — anaerobic capacity under fatigue.
• Plank (PLK): hold a straight-line front plank as long as possible to measure deep core endurance and stability.
• Two-Mile Run (2MR): run two miles for time — the aerobic endurance benchmark.

The retired sixth event, the Standing Power Throw, measured explosive power by throwing a 10-lb medicine ball backward overhead. It is no longer scored under the current AFT.

Each event is converted to a score from 0 to 100 points using official Army lookup tables. The tables are age- and sex-normed: soldiers are grouped into ten age brackets (17–21 through 62+), and men and women have separate standards on every event except the Plank, which uses one sex-neutral standard.

Your raw result — pounds lifted, repetitions, or time — is matched to the highest point value whose standard you meet. Adding the five event scores gives a total out of 500. This calculator reads directly from those official tables, so the score it shows is the score you would receive on a real scorecard for the same performance.

To pass, a soldier must score at least 60 points on every event. Because the minimum applies to each event individually, you cannot “average out” a weak event with a strong one — a single sub-60 score is a failure even if your total looks high.

For the general standard that means a minimum total of 300 points. Soldiers in combat-arms specialties are held to the higher sex-neutral combat standard and must reach at least 350 points, with 60 in each event. Switch the scoring standard in this calculator's options to compare both.

• Training only your strengths. The event that limits your pass is your weakest one — give it the most attention.
• Neglecting the deadlift. Many soldiers under-train maximal strength; progressive loading pays off quickly here.
• Ignoring the Sprint-Drag-Carry. It is uniquely brutal because it stacks anaerobic efforts; practice the actual event, not just running.
• Skipping core endurance. A long plank requires specific, repeated timed holds — it does not come for free from other lifts.
• No test rehearsal. Doing all events back-to-back, in order, reveals pacing problems you will not see training events in isolation.

The fastest gains come from raising your lowest-scoring event, where each unit of improvement is worth the most points and where a failing score can sink your whole test. Use this calculator's weakest-event detection and What-If tool to see exactly how many points a realistic improvement would add.

Build a weekly plan that touches every domain: heavy strength work, push-up volume, anaerobic intervals, timed core holds, and structured running. Train the actual events periodically so your body learns the specific movement patterns and pacing.

Train the deadlift 1–2 times per week with progressive overload. Work in the 3–5 rep range to mirror the three-rep test, focusing on a braced core, a neutral spine, and driving through your heels. Trap-bar deadlifts most closely match the test's hex bar.

Accessory work — Romanian deadlifts, hip thrusts, and grip work — builds the posterior chain and the grip strength that often limits a heavy final rep.

Raise hand-release push-up capacity with frequent, sub-maximal sets spread through the week (“greasing the groove”) rather than a single all-out session. Always train the full hand-release rep so your test reps count.

Strengthen the chest, shoulders, and triceps with presses and dips, and train your core so your hips do not sag late in the two-minute set.

The Sprint-Drag-Carry punishes poor anaerobic conditioning and sloppy transitions. Train shuttle sprints, sled drags, and heavy carries, and rehearse the full event so your turns and pick-ups become automatic.

On test day, attack the first sprint and drag hard but controlled, keep the carry tight to your body, and empty the tank on the final 50 metres — the clock rewards an aggressive, smooth run.

The plank is trained by doing planks — progressively longer timed holds, two or three times a week, until you can comfortably exceed your target time. Keep a rigid straight line from head to heels, squeeze your glutes, and brace as if bracing for a punch.

Supplement with hollow-body holds, dead bugs, and side planks to build all-around core stability and stave off the shaking that ends most holds early.

Lower your two-mile time with a balanced running week: one tempo run at a comfortably hard pace, one interval session (for example, repeated 400–800 m efforts), and one longer easy run to build your aerobic base. Consistency over weeks beats occasional hard runs.

Practice goal race pace so it feels familiar, start slightly conservative to avoid an early blow-up, and use the final half-mile to push. Easy recovery days protect you from the overuse injuries that derail run training.