Quick orientation: the Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) is now the Army Fitness Test (AFT). It dropped from six events to five, and as of 2026 it carries two different scoring standards depending on your job. If you've been training off an old six-event plan, one of those events no longer exists.
If you searched for the ACFT and landed here, you're in the right place. The Army renamed its test of record and cut an event, then followed up with a stricter set of standards for combat jobs. The result is a test that looks familiar but scores very differently depending on the military occupational specialty (MOS) you sign for.
Here's the short answer: five events, 100 points possible on each, 60 points minimum on every event, and a total of either 350 or 300 depending on your MOS. Below is what each event actually involves and how to train for it.
What Changed from the ACFT
Two changes matter to anyone preparing right now.
First, the standing power throw is gone. That was the event where soldiers threw a 10-pound medicine ball backward over their head for distance. The Army removed it after it produced a disproportionate share of training injuries, which took the test from six events to five and renamed it the Army Fitness Test.
Second, the Army split scoring into two standards. Soldiers in designated combat MOSs are now graded on a sex-neutral scale with a higher minimum total. Everyone else stays on a scale normed by both sex and age. These combat standards took effect January 1, 2026 for the active component and June 1, 2026 for the Reserve and National Guard.
Why this matters before you enlist: the standard you'll be held to for your entire career is attached to the MOS you sign for at the Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS). Ask your recruiter directly which standard your chosen job falls under. It's a fair question and a specific one, which makes it hard to answer vaguely.
The Five Events
The AFT runs in a fixed order with set rest periods between events. Here's what each one asks of you.
| Event | What You Do | What It Tests |
|---|---|---|
| 3-Rep Max Deadlift | Three consecutive deadlifts with a hex bar, working up to your heaviest successful set | Lower body and grip strength |
| Hand-Release Push-Up | Push-ups where you lower fully to the ground and lift both hands off the deck before pressing back up, for two minutes | Upper body muscular endurance |
| Sprint-Drag-Carry | Five 50-meter shuttles: sprint, drag a 90-pound sled, lateral shuffle, carry two 40-pound kettlebells, sprint | Anaerobic capacity and full-body power |
| Plank | Hold a straight-body plank position for time | Core strength and endurance |
| 2-Mile Run | Two miles for time on a measured course | Aerobic endurance |
The sprint-drag-carry is the event that surprises people most. It's short, but it stacks five different movements back to back with no rest, and it punishes anyone who has trained strength and cardio separately without ever combining them.
How Scoring Works
Every event is scored from 0 to 100 points, so a perfect score is 500. Two rules govern whether you pass:
- 60 points minimum on every event. This is the rule that fails most people. A 59 on the plank ends your test regardless of what you did on the other four.
- A total that clears your standard. 350 for combat MOSs, 300 for everyone else.
Because 60 on all five events only gets you to 300, general-standard soldiers can technically pass at the floor. Combat-standard soldiers cannot. To reach 350 you have to be meaningfully above the minimum somewhere, which is the point of the higher bar.
Combat Standard vs. General Standard
| Combat Standard | General Standard | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it applies to | Designated combat MOSs (roughly 21 jobs, including infantry, armor, and combat engineers) | Combat-enabling MOSs, which is most of the Army |
| Scored by | Age only, sex-neutral | Age and sex |
| Minimum per event | 60 points | 60 points |
| Minimum total | 350 | 300 |
Sex-neutral is the part worth understanding clearly. Under the combat standard, a 22-year-old woman in an infantry MOS is scored against the same raw numbers as a 22-year-old man in the same MOS. The Army's reasoning is that the physical demands of a combat job don't change based on who holds it. Under the general standard, the scoring tables still adjust for sex the way they traditionally have.
The exact list of combat MOSs has shifted as the policy has rolled out, and the Army has adjusted it more than once. Confirm your specific MOS with your recruiter or chain of command rather than assuming based on how a job sounds.
How to Train for It
Five events across strength, power, core, and endurance means a single-mode training plan will leave a hole somewhere. A workable weekly structure looks like this:
- Two strength days. Build the deadlift with trap bar or conventional pulls in the 3 to 5 rep range. Add carries, since two of the five events involve holding heavy things and moving.
- Two running days. One interval session (400s or 800s) for the two-mile time, one easy longer run for aerobic base.
- One sprint-drag-carry rehearsal. Practice the actual sequence. The transitions between movements cost more than the movements themselves, and only rehearsal fixes that.
- Core work most days. Plank holds progress fast if you do them consistently and slowly, adding 10 to 15 seconds a week.
If you're still in the Delayed Entry Program (DEP), this is the ideal window. You have months of unstructured time before you ship, and arriving at basic training already able to pass the AFT changes your entire experience there. Our guide to getting in shape for boot camp lays out a longer runway, and the daily workout plan for recruits gives you a day-by-day structure.
Gear That Actually Helps
1. A hex bar (or gym access to one)
The deadlift event uses a hex bar, not a straight bar
Training conventional deadlifts and then testing on a hex bar means testing a slightly different movement pattern under maximum load. If your gym has one, use it. If you're training at home, a hex bar is the single most test-specific piece of equipment you can own.
Shop on Amazon →2. Kettlebells in the 35 to 40 pound range
The carry portion of the sprint-drag-carry uses two 40-pound kettlebells
Grip is the hidden failure point in the sprint-drag-carry. Farmer's carries with a pair of kettlebells build exactly the grip endurance the event demands, and they transfer to the deadlift too.
Shop on Amazon →For footwear, see our breakdown of the best running shoes for the two-mile run, which covers what actually matters on a timed test surface.
What Happens If You Fail
A failed record AFT is not the end of a career, but it does start a clock. You'll typically be enrolled in remedial physical training, flagged (which suspends favorable personnel actions like promotions and reenlistment), and given a window to retest. Repeated failures can lead to separation proceedings.
Failing under the combat standard also opens the possibility of reclassification into a different MOS rather than separation, since the issue is meeting a specific job's standard rather than general fitness. Policies here are being actively adjusted, so treat the specifics as something to confirm with your unit. We cover the broader process in what happens if you fail a military fitness test.
The Bottom Line
The AFT is five events, 60 points minimum on each, and a total of 350 or 300 depending on whether your MOS carries the combat standard. The name change from ACFT confuses a lot of search results, but the training is the same fundamentals: pull heavy, run fast, carry things, hold a plank.
The single most useful thing you can do before you ship is find out which standard your intended MOS falls under, then train to clear it with margin rather than exactly. If you're still choosing a job, our military job matcher can help you compare options, and the ASVAB score estimator shows which ones your scores open up.