It’s official, the LEG TUCK is dead. After a lengthy battle on life support, the plug has finally been pulled and the ARMY is burying the Leg Tuck once and for all. I’m not sure where you can find a Bugler outside of the Army Band, but if there was a time to hear Taps it’s now. Or maybe a mash-up of Taps and “I will remember you” by Sarah McLachlan with a black and white photo slide show of soldiers flailing on a pull-up bar. They were so close; the low hanging fruit was there for the grabbing and they decided to just lay down.
I’m not a big “told you so” guy. I prefer to make a skeptical look on my face, shrug my shoulders and turn my palms to the sky. But I did call this from Day 1 of seeing what the Leg Tuck was. The first time I hopped up on a pull-up bar to test them out my initial reaction, in the words of the great Scooby-Doo “Ruh Roh”. I knew in that moment this was going to be the biggest headache the ARMY was going to have with the new test. I’ve blogged on it extensively, so feel free if you missed it to check it out HERE.
I truly think one of the biggest failures that came from the O.G. ACFT, aka ACFT 1.0, was that they said the Leg Tuck was a core strength/endurance test, when in actuality, it is an awkward pull-up that requires far more upper body strength and coordination then just a normal strict dead hang pull-up. Which just so happened to be exactly what the RAND Study found. (cough) No (cough) shit (cough). Well, if that’s the case, why not just swap it out for pull-ups then? No but seriously, why not? Other branches of the Armed Services use pull-ups, it’s part of SFAS, why not the big Army too? I feel like I am really kicking a dead horse at this point.
Anyone that believes the Leg Tuck was exclusively testing someone’s core is either delusional or just lying to themselves. I’m still baffled that no one spoke up when the Leg Tuck was chosen as the best option. From the jump I knew that was going to be the pitfall for a large portion of the Army. And guess what? It was! And it still is. So, the solution? Let’s just get rid of it once and for all and use planks instead. Genius.
I have nothing against planks whatsoever. I love them. I use them with my athletes and soldiers all the time. Pretty much been a staple in all of my programming for over a decade with a wide variety of variations. They are a great exercise but talk about dropping off the pull-up bar fast. I get it, the Leg Tuck sucked as a “core” exercise, but this was an excellent opportunity to add Pull-ups as well. You already spent all of our tax money on the pull-up bars, why not use them? Keep an eye on Facebook marketplace, going to be quite a few pull-up bars for sale soon.
This all started when the Plank was put in as a stop-gap alternate event to give people more time to train. At that moment I had a sneaking suspicion that it was the end for the Leg Tuck right then and there. It’s sad, because the ACFT isn’t a bad test as a whole. It’s a little equipment intensive and takes way longer to get set-up and to run than they say it will, but it wasn’t half bad, and certainly was better than the APFT. From the get-go I said eliminate the Leg Tuck and make it pull-ups, odd no one listened to me. But the problem really arose when one of their main priorities and goals was to change the physical culture of the Army by creating a new PT test. It’s not that it can’t happen, but, anytime you are attempting to shift a culture, it is going to take time, and by time, I mean years, and with the Army, probably a lot of years. And if we are talking about shifting the culture, maybe don’t make the test easier because soldiers are struggling…I digress. But seriously, is it that bad to require someone to pull their own weight up on a pull-up bar?
Well, it’s been roughly 3+ years now and though some soldiers train differently and look at training differently, it seems clear that those that already trained consistently are doing just fine with the new test and those that weren’t are still the ones having issues and struggling. And the fact that I know soldiers that are just basically doing a modified ACFT on a daily basis to train for the ACFT hurts my back. But I also know quite a few soldiers that have legit changed how they train, so maybe it is actually is working. I guess time will tell on that one.
Now there is a huge positive coming out of the official ACFT 3.0. I think the Age/Gender scoring scales was a necessity. But they might have made it a little too easy per what some of my female soldiers have said to me privately. Below you’ll find the new grading scales and see that a 600 is much more attainable now for a female soldier, where as before it was the longest of long shots.
The good thing is you still have time to get your ducks in a row before the big test counts. Beginning April 1, units will start diagnostic testing under the new structure. Record testing begins for Regular Army and Active Guard Reserve Soldiers on October 1, 2022, to allow Soldiers six-months to train. Also on October 1, a passing ACFT score will be used for retention, graduation of initial military training, professional military education, and evaluation reports for Regular Army and Active Guard Reserve Soldiers. Implementation of separation actions may begin in April 2023 for Regular Army and Active Guard Reserve Soldiers.
So remember, just because the Leg Tuck is dead, doesn’t mean you should stop training pull-ups/chin-ups. Those are such a solid foundational movement that should be a staple in anyone and everyones training regiment that 100% will carryover to helping you in all the events. But also Happy Planking season everyone!
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I hope this can help some of you out there. If you have questions let me know geoff@gpshumanperformance.com
Geoffrey Steinbacher is a former Strength & Conditioning Coach within the THOR3 (Tactical Human Optimization Rapid Rehabilitation & Reconditioning) Program at Ft. Bragg. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) from the National Strength and Conditioning Association, as well as a Certified Athletic Trainer (ATC) from the National Athletic Trainers Association. He is also an Advanced Sports Performance Coach (USAW-L2) and Head Club Coach with USA-Weightlifting, and a Catalyst Athletics Certified Weightlifting Coach (CACWC-L1). Furthermore, Geoff has a BS in Athletic Training from SUNY Cortland and an MS in Exercise Science from Syracuse University.
