HEGSETH PLANS SIMPLER FITNESS TEST

PHOTO CAPTION: Texas Army National Guard Capt. Brandon Brown carries kettlebells during the Army Fitness Test in Austin, Texas, on Aug. 16, 2026. The current AFT uses equipment including kettlebells, a weighted sled and deadlift weights. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Robert Vondersaar. File photo.

Another major change to military fitness testing appears to be coming.
During his State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico on Sept. 30, Secretary Pete Hegseth previewed a physical fitness test that he said would eventually require little more than a stopwatch and a clipboard.
“Soon, in every service for those PT tests, and I’m looking at the Army,” Hegseth said before adding that the test could be administered with only a stopwatch and clipboard.
“Stay tuned. No more mobile gym needed.”
Hegseth did not announce the events, scoring standards, implementation timeline or whether every branch will use an identical test.
That distinction is important. No current service fitness test was officially replaced during Wednesday’s speech.
But the comment immediately drew attention because the Army has spent years moving toward more complex fitness assessments involving significant amounts of equipment.
The current Army Fitness Test includes a three-repetition maximum deadlift, hand-release push-ups, the sprint-drag-carry, plank and two-mile run.
The deadlift requires a hex bar and weights, while the sprint-drag-carry uses a weighted sled and kettlebells.
Army soldiers in designated combat specialties also began implementing a separate Combat Field Test this year.
That assessment includes two one-mile runs, dead-stop push-ups, a sprint, sandbag lifts, a water-can carry and a combat movement drill.
The Combat Field Test does not replace the Army Fitness Test. Active-duty soldiers in covered combat specialties are currently expected to take both annually.
Those requirements grew out of a Pentagon fitness policy announced in 2025 that called for active-duty service members to complete two fitness assessments each year.
Hegseth’s new comments suggest another simplification may now be coming, although the Pentagon has not yet published the details necessary to determine exactly which tests or events will change.
The “stopwatch and clipboard” language also sparked immediate speculation among service members online that the military could be moving back toward simpler tests built primarily around running and bodyweight exercises.
For longtime soldiers, the comparison is obvious.
The old Army Physical Fitness Test required push-ups, sit-ups and a two-mile run, with far less equipment and setup than the fitness systems that followed it.
But Hegseth did not say Wednesday that the APFT is returning, nor did he identify push-ups, sit-ups, running or any other specific event as part of the coming test.
Until the Pentagon or individual services release formal guidance, the only confirmed change is the direction Hegseth previewed: a fitness test intended to be simple enough to conduct without what he called a “mobile gym.”