Is there a new Army PT test?
Not yet. As of October 18, 2026, the Army's test of record is still the five-event Army Fitness Test (AFT). On September 30, 2026, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told the force at Quantico that "a PT test that can be done with only a stopwatch and a clipboard" is coming, and said "I'm looking at the Army." He named no events, no scoring standards, and no date. No Army directive, DoD memo, or implementing guidance has been published since. Until one is, there is no new test to train for: the AFT, and for combat MOSs the Combat Field Test, remain the standard, and your next record test is the AFT.
Would you pass? Score yourself against the three likely shapes
Enter the numbers you have. The hand-release push-up, plank, and 2-mile scores use the official AFT scoring scales. The other two shapes use the retired APFT and the Marine PFT standards, with points estimated between the published anchors.
You
Your numbers
Educational estimate, not a scorecard. Shape A points come straight from the official AFT scoring scales (effective June 1, 2025). Shapes B and C are estimates between published minimum and maximum anchors. None of this is the new test; nobody has seen the new test.
Get the alert the day the Army publishes the standard
One email when the real events and scores drop, with a scorer built on the official tables the same day. Nothing before then.
What Hegseth actually said
The entire public record on the new test is one passage from the State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, delivered to the assembled general and flag officers and broadcast to the force.
"That means for every combat MOS we now have a combat field test, again, set at the highest male standard only because combat doesn't care. That means 2 PT tests every year for every unit and the same for height and weight standards. And soon in every service for those PT tests, and I'm looking at the Army guys here, guys and gals, it's a PT test that can be done with only a stopwatch and a clipboard. Stay tuned. No more mobile gym needed."
What that confirms: a simpler, no-equipment service PT test is coming; the Army is the primary target; the twice-a-year test cadence, twice-a-year body composition check, daily PT, and the combat field test at the male standard all stay.
What it does not say: which events, what scores, whether every service gets the identical test, whether the AFT is replaced or trimmed, or when. Every outlet that covered the speech (Stars and Stripes, Federal News Network, Task & Purpose, OAFNation) reported the same gap. Details circulating online, including a 4-mile run and specific push-up counts, have no published source.
The three most likely shapes of the test
"Stopwatch and a clipboard" rules out the AFT's hex bar, plates, sled, and kettlebells. Three of the AFT's five events already need none of that. Every sister service's test is push-ups, a core hold, and a timed run. So the candidates are narrow. Ranked by how much existing policy each one reuses:
A. The AFT without the gear
Keeps the three AFT events that need no equipment and the scoring tables the Army already published for them. The deadlift and sprint-drag-carry are the only events that need the "mobile gym." This is a scoring-table edit, not a new test, which fits "soon." The checker above scores it on the official scales.
B. The APFT comes back
The test every soldier over 30 remembers and what most of the internet assumes. Two things work against a straight revival: every service has dropped sit-ups for the plank on injury grounds, and the Jan 2026 DoD rule requires sex-neutral scoring for combat arms, which the old tables were not built for. Expect APFT events with AFT-era rules at most.
C. A Marine-style three-event
Hegseth said "in every service" while standing at Quantico, and the Marine Corps never adopted an equipment test. Convergence on the Marine PFT would make one standard across the force. The catch: pull-ups need a bar, which strains "clipboard only," and a 3-mile record run would be new for the Army.
Scoring, whatever the events: expect the structure the Army already uses. Sex- and age-normed tables for the general population, the male table and a 70% minimum average for combat MOSs (that rule has been DoD policy since the Sept 2025 memos), two record tests a year, and a diagnostic window before any consequences.
What the Army tests today
Army Fitness Test (AFT), test of record since June 1, 2025
| Event | Equipment | Survives a stopwatch-only test? |
|---|---|---|
| 3-repetition maximum deadlift | Hex bar, plates | No |
| Hand-release push-ups | None | Yes |
| Sprint-drag-carry | Sled, two 40 lb kettlebells, lane | No |
| Plank | None | Yes |
| 2-mile run | Stopwatch | Yes |
Each event scores 0 to 100. General standard: 60 per event, 300 total, sex- and age-normed. Combat standard (21 combat MOSs plus 12D, 89D, and 89E under Army Directive 2026-07): 350 total, 60 per event, sex-neutral, in effect since January 1, 2026 for the active component and June 1, 2026 for the Reserve and Guard. AFT scores now appear on evaluation reports.
Combat Field Test (CFT), announced April 22, 2026
Required annually for 24 combat MOSs. Seven events back to back inside 30 minutes, in ACUs and boots: 1-mile run, 30 dead-stop push-ups, 100 m sprint, 16 sandbag lifts, 50 m two-can carry, 50 m high-crawl and rush drill, and a second 1-mile run. Pass/fail, age- and sex-neutral. It supplements the AFT. The 365-day diagnostic period ends in April 2027, when failure consequences start. The CFT is stopwatch-scored but needs sandbags, a platform, and water cans, so it is not the test Hegseth was describing.
Why "a stopwatch and a clipboard"
The equipment is the point. Fielding the ACFT was the largest fitness-equipment purchase in Army history, roughly $63.7 million in 2019 for hex bars, plates, sleds, kettlebells, and medicine balls shipped to every unit. One AFT lane still runs about $2,400 in gear, and a company needs several lanes to test in a morning. The Guard and Reserve, deployed units, and recruiters test wherever they are, and "wherever they are" often has no sled. Hegseth's Sept 2025 memos already required that any fitness test be "executable in any environment, at any time." The old APFT needed a stopwatch and a flat two miles. That is the standard the new test is being held to.
How we got here
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| Through 2020 | APFT. Push-ups (2 min), sit-ups (2 min), 2-mile run. Sex- and age-normed. Stopwatch and clipboard. |
| Oct 2020 | ACFT becomes the test of record. Six events including the leg tuck and standing power throw; the "mobile gym" arrives. |
| Jun 1, 2025 | AFT replaces the ACFT. Standing power throw dropped. Five events. |
| Sep 30, 2025 | Hegseth's first Quantico speech and the "Military Fitness Standards" memos: two tests a year, male standard for combat arms, PT every duty day, body composition by waist-to-height ratio. |
| Jan 1, 2026 | AFT combat standard (350, sex-neutral) takes effect for the active component in 21 combat MOSs. Marine combat-arms PFT rule (male tables, 210 to pass) also starts. |
| Apr 22, 2026 | Army announces the Combat Field Test for 24 combat MOSs. Army Directive 2026-07 adds 12D, 89D, 89E to the combat standard and puts AFT results on evaluations. |
| Jun 1, 2026 | AFT combat standard takes effect for the Reserve and National Guard. |
| Jul 7, 2026 | Army adopts the waist-to-height ratio (0.55) and retires the tape test. |
| Sep 30, 2026 | State of the Force address: "a PT test that can be done with only a stopwatch and a clipboard... I'm looking at the Army... Stay tuned." |
| Oct 2, 2026 | Navy and Marine Corps inspectors general begin fitness-compliance reviews; the Army says it is still in an implementation phase with no punitive action yet. |
| Oct 18, 2026 | Still nothing published. The Army has an acting Secretary (Adam Telle, since Sept 3) and an acting Chief of Staff (Gen. Christopher LaNeve, since April), both installed after their predecessors were removed, so expect the test to come top-down from the Secretary of War's office rather than through a long Army study. |
| Apr 2027 | CFT failure consequences begin. |
How to train for a test nobody has seen
Train what every plausible version shares, and keep what the current test still demands.
- Push-ups, both kinds. Hand-release for the AFT shape, chest-to-fist for the APFT and Marine shapes. They are different counts; your hand-release number is usually 20 to 30% lower.
- The plank. It is in the AFT, the Navy PRT, the Marine PFT, and the Air Force PFA. It is the one event that is almost certainly in the new test. The AFT 60-point line is 1:30 at every age; the Marine 100-point line is 3:45.
- Run 2 miles for time, and build to 3. The 2-mile is the Army's distance and the Air Force just moved to it. A 3-mile record run is possible if the force converges on the Marine model. Your 2-mile pace holds up the 3-mile; the reverse is not true.
- Keep the deadlift and sprint-drag-carry. The AFT is still the test of record. Your next record test is the AFT, and it will be until an Army directive says otherwise.
- Combat MOS? Train to the male table and a 70% average regardless of the events. That rule predates the new test and will outlive it.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a new Army PT test?
Not yet. As of October 18, 2026, the test of record is the five-event AFT. Hegseth announced a stopwatch-and-clipboard test in principle on September 30, 2026 and named no events, scores, or dates. Nothing official has been published since.
What did Hegseth actually say?
"And soon in every service for those PT tests, and I'm looking at the Army guys here, guys and gals, it's a PT test that can be done with only a stopwatch and a clipboard. Stay tuned. No more mobile gym needed." The full passage, with the lines before it, is quoted above.
What events will the new Army PT test have?
Unpublished. The equipment rule leaves push-ups, a plank or sit-ups, and a timed run as the realistic set, which is also what every sister service tests. The 4-mile run and other specifics circulating online have no published source.
Is the APFT coming back?
Nobody official has said so. A straight revival is unlikely because every service has replaced sit-ups with the plank and because combat arms must now be scored sex-neutral on the male standard, which the old APFT tables were not. APFT-style events with AFT-era scoring rules is the realistic version.
Does the new test replace the AFT or the Combat Field Test?
Unknown, but it is not the CFT; that test needs sandbags, a platform, and water cans and was built to supplement the AFT. The simplest reading of "those PT tests" is that the stopwatch test replaces or slims down the AFT as the twice-a-year baseline while the CFT stays on top for combat MOSs.
When does the new Army PT test start?
No date. For scale, the AFT went from announcement (April 2025) to test of record (June 1, 2025) in seven weeks, with the combat standard following on January 1, 2026 after a diagnostic window. Expect a directive, a diagnostic period, then a record date. Join the alert list above and you get the email the day the directive publishes.
What is the current Army Fitness Test?
Five events: 3-rep max deadlift, hand-release push-ups, sprint-drag-carry, plank, 2-mile run, each 0 to 100. General standard 60 per event and 300 total, sex- and age-normed. Combat standard 350 total, sex-neutral, for 21 combat MOSs plus 12D, 89D, and 89E.
How should I train for a test that doesn't exist yet?
Push-ups (both kinds), the plank, and running at 2 and 3 miles cover every plausible version. Keep your deadlift and sprint-drag-carry up because the AFT is still the test you will actually take next.
Where do these numbers come from?
Shape A uses the official AFT scoring scales (HQDA, approved May 15, 2025, effective June 1, 2025), the same tables behind VetraFi's AFT calculator, which were regenerated from the Army's PDF with zero mismatches. Shape B uses the retired APFT 60- and 100-point anchors from FM 7-22 as published on DA Form 705. Shape C uses the Marine PFT anchors in MCO 6100.13A as summarized by secondary sources, since the Marine Corps fitness site blocks automated access. Points between anchors on B and C are linear estimates and are labeled that way.
Sources
- Department of War, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's State of the Force Address (As Delivered), Sept 30, 2026. Also transcribed by Rev.com and American Rhetoric.
- OAFNation, Hegseth plans simpler fitness test, Oct 1, 2026.
- Federal News Network, Hegseth looks to remake the military, from generals to drones, Sept 30, 2026.
- Task & Purpose, IG reviews of fitness compliance, Oct 2, 2026.
- Army.mil, Army Fitness Test; Army establishes new fitness test of record, Apr 2025; Army announces new Combat Field Test, Apr 22, 2026.
- HQDA, AFT Scoring Scales (AFT_Scoring_Scales_250601.pdf), approved May 15, 2025, effective June 1, 2025.
- USNI News, Pentagon issues new guidance on physical fitness, grooming standards, Sept 30, 2025; Military Times, What troops need to know about Hegseth's new memos, Oct 3, 2025.
- Stars and Stripes, Army rolls out Combat Field Test, Apr 22, 2026.
- Wikipedia, United States Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT standards tables, FM 7-22 / DA Form 705).
- Marine Corps, Marine Corps announces updated physical fitness standards (MARADMIN 613/25); MCO 6100.13A w/ Admin Ch-5, May 28, 2025, as summarized by secondary sources.
- Sorinex, Largest purchase of exercise equipment ever (ACFT equipment buy).