Civilians Take the Army Combat Fitness Test Challenge

Hey everybody, welcome to Veteran Life. My name is Sean. I'm a retired Command Sergeant Major with 31 years in the U.S. Army Special Forces Special Operations and we're here to run some civilians, three, through the Army Combat Fitness Test. So as of March 2022, the new Army Combat Fitness Test has been released. There have been many versions of that since. Prior to the ACFT, you had the standard PT test in the Army, APFT, and it consisted of push-up, two-minute push-ups, two-minute sit-ups, two-mile run. The big Army now has come across this new program, the ACFT, and so now we're going to try it out today and see a little kinks in it and see why we're doing this or why we shouldn't be doing this or whatever. Before we get into the details and components of the ACFT, I want to go ahead and bring up our sponsor. Our sponsor is Rougette. Here at Veteran Life, we believe in health. That also includes mental and physical health. Lucky for us, we're teaming up with Rougette and they feel the exact same values when it comes to mental and physical health. Rougette is a fast-acting, long-lasting ED medication for men. It is setting the standard for men's sexual health treatment across the board. Three main ingredients, packs in 15 minutes, the board's go time. Today's veterans go through multiple issues, whether it be from 20 or 30 years of physical abuse and mental abuse, the things they've done, especially in the special operations world, or it's from PTSD or being blown up from traumatic brain injury. It affects the body and it also affects the mind. What affects the body is that if you're not aroused anymore because you have ED, that affects the mind because now I feel less of myself and you kind of shrink down a little bit. You're no longer that man you used to be. That also affects your partner because now your partner feels that they are no longer arousing you. They are now depleted too, defeated in that point. In 15 minutes, you can be back up to where you used to be and help you get back mentally and physically in your life and in your life in the bedroom with your partner. Rougette is easy to take. Slowly pull it out of this packet, put it underneath your tongue, and in 15 minutes it absorbs into the body. In 15 minutes, you're ready to go. Rougette, easy to take, easy to carry, easy to get. Go on to RougetteMent.com, take the medical survey to get started. So let's meet our contestants. Hi, I'm Eli. I don't really know what I'm doing. I'm not looking forward to this too much, but I heard if I win, I get a lifetime supply of Rougette. So that's why I'm here. Hey, my name's Bianca. I'm looking forward to this PT test. I've done a couple of PT tests, you know, for the Fire Academy, CrossFit classes, stuff like that. Really stoked about this one. Got called in by one of my cadre from GoRock and we'll see how today goes. Hi, my name's David and I hope I can beat Eli or Bianca at one event today. That is the goal. Looking forward to being the man off the street, kind of low bar entry today. Now that we've met all the contestants, let's move on to the first exercise and have fun. And that is the max deadlift. So our first exercise in the ACFT is the max deadlift. As you can see by the trap bar itself, it's not an actually legal trap bar because it's already off the ground. The handles are up high too. So it's giving the advantage to the lifter at that time. But we're going to go with what we got. And that's kind of the whole thing here is that you can't always be set up in a perfect situation. And so this is the bar we got and this is the bar we're going to roll with. The key piece about this and the deadlift is that you have to have three repetitions. And then as we lift, you do not bounce. Come down, settle, bring it back up. Full extension, come back down, settle, bring it back up, bring it down. There's no bouncing. And you really can't bounce a whole lot with this one, the way the bar is set up on this piece. Finding center mass. Land, do like a deadlift, full extension, come down, full extension, come down, full extension. Voila. All right, Dave, let's see if we can go to a medium bendable to fully erect here. Come on, buddy. You got it. You got it. Yeah. Nice. Feet coming down. Good job, man. Good job. Nice, nice and controlled. Good job, Bianca, good job. Nice and controlled. Two, three. Nice job, brother. All right, so quick recap on the max deadlift. All three contestants went through. We had two maxes. Bianca maxed out at her weight at 230, and then Eli maxed out his weight at 340. And then there's Dave with kind of a medium bendable at like 255 kind of thing, you know. So the number two event in the ACFT is the standing throw. It's a 10-pound medicine ball you're throwing over your head, trying to understand what this event is about. Now, I understand, like, back in the days of age when you had cannonballs and cannons and you'd go, load the cannons, and you'd grab the 10-pound cannonball, and you got to throw it up to the guy up high, and he's got to load the cannon and shoot it. Other than that, you're throwing grenades and stuff, so I'm not really sure the sequence here or how it all combines together, but we're going to go for it anyway. So we're going to do a standing throw with 10-pound weights. So originally doing the standing throw piece is that you couldn't get a swing. It had to be dead from the ground, and as a purpose for that, they do an explosive move. So that's what we're going to do. We'll do a reach behind. A reach behind. And then we're going to throw this ball in the air, okay? See how far we can go. It's not about how high you can get, it's trying to find out how far you can get. Kind of like motors, high angle hell, right? Higher you go up, the closer it's going to be, so you've got to find that right angle pushing out. Almost got the GoPro. Almost got the GoPro. There we go. And we measure it out. We mark it, measure it, and put it on the record. Okay, so it's based on where the ball or the weight actually hits the ground, not where it rolls. So we've got a recorder down there, he's going to mark it with chalk, and then I've got this fancy little wheelie thing, and we're going to measure the distance on it. All right, first contestant, Bianca. Give it two attempts, yep. Okay, going with the first one was the best one, so we're going to do measure, and we're measuring it out. 7.9. All right, we're up. Nice bend, buddy. Load the cannons! Close. Let's measure that, brother. 11.4. That's it, pray to God. Don't swing now, remember? You can't swing, you've got to be from a standstill. 11.4. 11.4. 11.4. 11.4. 11.4. 11.4. 11.4. 11.4. 11.4. 11.4. 11.4. 11.4. 11.4. 11.4. 11.4. 11.4. 11.4. 11.4. 11.4. 11.4. Throw it. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, I gave that in directions. I wasn't paying attention, clearly. Apparently. I think it's got to come from the ground. Yeah. I can go lower like this and then explode out. You can't rock it, you know? I was like, it's one motion. Yeah, one forward motion. Nice! Nice! Dammit! Let's see what you got. Two meters! 2.2! 9.9! Alright, apparently we got some cannon loaders here, because they can launch those cannonballs. Bianca is at 7.9 meters. Big David back there is at 9.9. And then Eli is sitting at 11.4. Alright, welcome to the next event. The third event is the hand release push-up. CrossFit hand release push-up is a little different from what we're doing right now, being more like the hands out cross, pretty much. I'll give a demonstration, and then we'll kind of go from there. Alright? Going down. So, starting position is actually on the ground. Unlike the old PT test, starting position was here. Oh, so now you're starting down below. You're trying to have your index finger to thumb inside your shoulder blades. Your feet are going to be positioned no more than two boots, they say. But usually about a shoulder width apart doing the push-ups. Okay, so the starting move is from here. And you say, ready, set, go. Come up. Come down. Put your hands all the way out. Come back in, and that's one. Two. Three. Four. That is the hand release push-up. Alright. Get ready. Set. Begin. Begin. Two. Three. Four. Keep going. Keep going. Come on, come on. Ten seconds. All the way up, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up. Forty-seven. Go up, go up. Time. Good job, man. Alright, Dave. You about ready, brother? Sure. Alright, man. Easy day, right? Yep. Alright. On you. Ten. Twenty. Rest your head on the ground. Oh. That's it. That's it. One. Ten. Two bodies, one. Two bodies, one. You got it. Come on. Good job. Forty-one. Good job. Alright. So, Bianca got forty-one push-ups there. David got thirty-one push-ups. David thought he was going to get fifty-one. He did. Or fifty. Eli called forty-five. He got forty-seven. So, good job, guys. Go ahead and rest up a little bit here, and we'll go ahead and prepare for the fun one. Welcome back to the fifth event. It's the SDC. It's the Sprint Drag Carry. It is a multiple event. Overall, you're going to be 250 meters during the event going back and forth in the sprints to drag the carries and so forth like that. A couple of unique pieces we have, though, makes things a little different here. We're not on turf. We're not on grass. As you see, we're on concrete right here. Again, use what you have, right? This is what we got. So, this is what we're using. The drag right now, the sled, is not a full-bottom sled. It's on two rails. It actually makes it a little easier, so there's less drag on the ground as you pull it kind of piece. So, right now, we'll kind of walk through all the events and how it works out. All right? All right. The command to get set. Go. Get up. It's a sprint. We're going to be doing Sean's slow-mo sprint down the roll here. So, as we're sprinting down here, we're going to come down to the blue line, which is going to be 25 meters. Right now, we've got to set up in cones. As you come down, it is a hand touch of the blue line and sprint back. As you sprint back, you know your next position right now is going to be the drag. So, I'm focused on the drag. I'm coming right into it. It's set up position-wise. Coming right into it. I'm grabbing handles automatically. So, don't pause. Grab them and go. Going, going, going. Dragging it down 25 meters. God, 25 meters is so long. The whole sled has to go over. Do a little pull. The whole sled has to go back over here, too. Yeah! That's how you do it! Now, it's lateral. Lateral sprint. All the way down. When hands up, crouch a little bit. You don't want your legs across. Touch the blue line. Come on back. Yay! Crushed that thing, didn't I? All the way across the line. Now, here, come up and grab it and go or come around. I like coming around the backside. So, I'm ready to go. In you go. Last one of the sprint. Touch the line. Hand. Come on back. Chuck Taylors. There you go. So, about to reset those. I kind of abused it. Yep. Get your head back behind the line. Get it, Dave. Get it. Touch that line. Blue line. Sure you're used to running from the police? Yeah. Drag. Drag. All the way past the way. Hold this thing. Pass. Hold thing. Pass. Turn. All the way across the blue line, Dave. All the way across. All the way across. All the way across. Lateral. Hands up. Don't quit, Dave. Don't quit, Dave. Carries next. Don't have to run them if you don't have to, brother. Come on, Dave. Come on, Dave. Go. He's hurt. One to six. Good job, Dave. Touch the blue line with the hand. Touch the blue line with the hand. He looks good. He looks good. Drag. You got it. Very aggressive. Very aggressive. All the way across the blue line. All the way across that blue line. There you go. Change. There you go. You got it, buddy. Keep going. All the way across. All the way across. Lateral. Touch that blue line. That right hand. And come on back. Go. Go in the carry. Go in the carry. Go right to him. Carry him. Go. There you go. Come on back. Put him down. Sprint. Touch the line. I said Eli needed a 130 to max for his age group, and he got a 129. Great, great run. Good movement. Good job, buddy. All right. Ready, Bianca? Touch the blue line with your hand. Touch the blue line with your hand. Go in the drag. Go in the drag. Woo! All the way across. There you go. There you go. Go. 30 seconds. You got it. You're beating Eli's time. Doing good. Doing good. Almost. Not quite, though. All the way across. Get ready to do laterals. Lateral. Any way you want. There you go. Touch the line. Go. Good job, Bianca. Good job. Carry. Carry the cannonballs. Go. You got it. You can do it. Drop and go. Get it past that line and go. Go. Come on. You got it. Come on. Go. Sprint. All you got. Just don't run on the street. Good job. All right. That finishes up. Guys, go inside the AC. Right now, Bianca came in at 2 minutes. Missed it by one second for Max. Eli came in at right on mark at 1.29. And then David came in at 1.55. So we're going to try to beat Eli's time. We're going to try to beat Eli's time. Let's go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. OK. So Eli came in at 1 minute 56. Alright, guys. Getting ready to move into the second to final event, being the planks. However you want to set them up. Let's just get this in higher. But you could set them up so that... The thumbs are up like this... So it should be in a triangle, or you can go flat, OK? That triangle piece right there, right? So really what... You don't want your arms more than a boot leg away from the pole, right? The distance is the same. The same with the back there, too, right? It's kind of funny. So they say a boot length, right? So you got an instructor who's got a 15-foot boot on to a guy who's got a 9-foot on. It's a little different kind of boot size. I'm like, that's a steep boot size. Anyways, that's how they look at it there, according to it, you know? So you're sitting in a triangle. They said a boot width apart. And you're trying to just go flat, right? So your head's not bowed down. Your head keeps it flat. You're looking straight down, OK? So your eyes are going down. I'm going to... My hair to hide my eyes so you can see my pain. You don't see my pain. Alright? I'm trying to keep flat the whole time, sitting there. There is no adjusting, David. There is no... There is no... I think I broke over here somewhere. None of that. Maintain position right there. Feet cannot come off the floor. Alright? You're maintaining position right there for your max time and just relaxing, keeping a solid level, back straight back, OK? Easy enough. Get ready. It means get off your knees and get flat. Get your back flat and begin. Get your butt down, Eli. Get flat. Flatter. Flatter, Eli. You've got to come down, man. Seriously. A little more. Yeah? Remember, you're looking straight down. Get your butt down, David. There you go. Wasn't Bianca the one saying... I don't know how I'm standing like this. It's not my fault. Eli, get your butt down. Get your butt down, Eli. Get your butt down, Eli. Get your butt down, Eli. Get your butt down, Eli. Get your butt down, Eli. Get your butt down, Eli. Get your butt down, Eli. Get your butt down, Eli. You got it. David, come on. Say it again, you're done. Bianca's done. Good job, Bianca. Dave's out. Come on, Eli. Keep it going, buddy. Come on, bud. I said you wanted jokes, man. I got it. Can't... You're almost there. Almost there. Come on. Keep going. Keep going. You got it. Don't drop, don't drop. Don't drop, man. That's the jokes. Good job, man. Four minutes. Quick recap on the second to last event, the planks. Good job, guys. Dave came in at 137. Bianca, 134. And then Eli came in at 402. Good job, guys. All right, hey, we're getting ready for our next event with a two-miler. And to be honest with you, talking to the contestants over the days, their biggest worry was a two-mile run. On that same note, hey, man, no one outranks general safety, right? It's hot out there. I think we're hitting a heat index almost 100 degrees, and they're running today at like 2.30, 3 o'clock in the afternoon in the sun. So we're going to take it easy and see how they do. If we see any issues with the run, we'll go ahead and stop the run at that time and make sure our contestants are good to go. So we're going to move up about two blocks. We're going to walk up, and they're going to do a straight run. They've asked not to do any kind of quarter-mile laps. It'll be eight laps. We're going to do a mile out and a mile back. We're going to be on the road watching them, make sure they're all good. If I see any signs or issues of any kind of dehydration or something going on, issues, we're going to pull them right there and get them in the truck, get them in the AC, get them cooled down, kind of go from there. All right, we're going to restart moving up. Originally, they were going to look at talking about making a mile and a half for the ACTFT, but they kept the two-mile run from the original APFT. So based on your requests, we're not going to do a quarter-mile. We're going to do a mile down and a mile back, and it's pretty much a straight mile right here on First Street. Get to the church property? No, past the church property. You'll see me. Oh, I'll be there. You're running past the church, about half a block past that church right there. It's your choice if you're doing sidewalk. So right now, there really is no bicycle lane, but you see the bicycle lane opens up down there. It's on you. Be careful how you're running down sidewalk or at the bicycle lane right there. Two-mile run, any questions? I'm not really going to demonstrate. You run a mile, run back a mile kind of thing. It's nice and cool with the breeze in between the buildings. All right, I see you have your hair back, Eli. You're ready to go, aerodynamic. I dig it. Totally dig it. All right, you guys ready? Ready. On your mark, get set, go. You got it, buddy. Keep going. You got it. Keep going. Get it, Eli. Boom. 14.57. Good job. 18.19. Good job, buddy. 21.16. All right, we'll head on back. First of all, I want to thank our contestants coming out and completing the ACFT, giving it a go. They didn't have much time to train for this whole thing and ran through it and did a great job and finished two-miler. The two-miler came in at David. He came in at point-wise 62, Bianca point-wise 87, and then Eli came in point-wise 95. Good job on the run pieces. The final scores overall were David, good job, at 480 points. Bianca came in at 547 points. Good job, Bianca. And then Eli came in at 586 points. Well done, guys. Good job. I also want to thank our sponsor, doing a great job for us, Rougette, making this happen. Thanks for joining us here, everybody, and we'll see you next time.