My Badass ACFT Training Plan

A fitness plan targeting a balance of health and general physical preparedness with an eye towards getting jacked - no foam rolling, stretching, or lacrosse balls required

I just read an article about MAJ Cox, the first dude to get a 600 on the ACFT, in Men’s Health. There are some training pearls in the article, but when I saw MAJ Cox credit “his unit’s physical therapist, who introduced him to foam rolling and a lacrosse ball” I was… chagrined. I don’t think that had anything to do with MAJ Cox’s success, and it telegraphs to the world that for optimal performance, soft tissue work is worth the investment. Before I share my badass plan, let me make my position on this matter clear: soft tissue work is a waste of time. There are exceptions that prove this rule, there almost always are. I know this is a controversial statement, but let me try to persuade you that I know what I’m talking about.

For one thing, I helped a Soldier score a 600 on the ACFT without even preparing by getting him to cut soft tissue work from his program. He was mostly interested in getting jacked and being generally fit, so with some minor tweaks to his program and above average genetics, he was able to max the ACFT with no direct preparation. To be clear as to how little he gave a shit about maxing the ACFT, he told me he was going to sandbag the day before the test because he wasn’t feeling particularly motivated. Since I knew what he could do I asked him to do me a favor and make an honest effort, anticipating a future opportunity to use this anecdote. Fortunately, he was kind enough to oblige (if you end up reading this, thanks Pat!).

For another thing, I never do soft tissue work and I score pretty well on the ACFT myself. When I’m consistent with my training I’m able to run a sub 13min 2-mile, strength deadlift the max for 10-20 ez reps, perform the sprint-drag-carry in under 80 seconds, throw that 10lb ball over 14 meters, and nearly max the leg tucks. Like MAJ Cox, I struggle with the hand-release push-ups, but my excuse for sucking here is that an extra 4-inches of height and 80lbs of weight places the 60 rep max outside my reach. I tried upping my volume to get there and ended up completing a circumferential labral tear in my left shoulder, so I’ve had to content myself with the acknowledgement that I’m never going to be able to max this test. (If it sounds like I’m making excuses, it’s because I am! I don’t feel comfortable claiming to be an expert while not being able to max the ACFT without at least trying to provide a valid excuse).

The H2F Man Soft Tissue Solution: Apply Optimal Loading

Without further ado, my stupid simple, badass plan (caveats at the end):

Monday/Thursday: Upper body

Dumbbell military press, pull-ups (or lat-pull down if you’re not strong enough), slight incline dumbbell bench press, and single arm rows

Tuesday/Friday: Lower body

Goblet squats, Romanian deadlifts, reverse lunges, farmers walks

Wednesday/Saturday: Cardio

Max effort 400m sprints. Do an easy set of hand release push-ups and inverted rows between sets. Rest as long as you need in order to keep intensity high. (at least 3 minutes). If you’re going to skip a weekly workout, skip one of these.

Set/Rep Scheme:

Do everything for 3-5 sets of 8-12 reps. Do as many reps as you can with good form for each set (that means you have to use more weight if you get more than 12 reps). For anything you can’t do “reps” with, just ensure the total duration of the set is 40-90s. If you’re too slow to get 400m done in under 90s, then don’t go as far. If you’re carrying longer than 90s, go heavier. If you want to make it super complicated, go ahead and use daily undulating periodization, I won’t stop you, but I won’t tell you how to do it here either, like I said, simple AF.

Optional Stuff (Warm-ups/finishers/single joint exercises):

You can do any combination of the following activities on any day to “warm-up” or “finish off” a workout, but be warned, all of this stuff will have a training effect if you’re getting after it. Do too much, and you might not be able to recover fully between workouts (aka you run the risk of overtraining and injury). If you already have a high level of fitness and/or you’re really motivated, you can add an additional training session comprised of some combination of the following:

Agility work: Lateral Shuffle, Offensive/Defensive Shuffle, backpedaling, ladder drills.

Trunk Endurance: McGill Big 3 (curl-ups, side planks, bird dogs), Plank/side-plank superset (work up to a set of 5min straight, switching position as needed to maintain good form), Palloff Press, ab rollouts, stir-the-pot.

Loaded Carries: suitcase, farmers, overhead, rack, yoke.

Sleds: Pushing and pulling.

Rotator Cuff: Internal and external rotation with your elbow at your side using cables or bands and/or the Rusin Band Tri-set.

“Power” Stuff: Snatch high pulls, power cleans, box jumps etc.

Miscellaneous Metabolic Conditioning: Battle Ropes, deadmill, rower, assault bike etc.

Single Joint Exercises: Do as many extra single joint exercises you want AFTER getting in your compound movements on upper and lower body days.

Steady State Cardio: Running, endurance training machines, bike, rucking, swimming, and of course, my personal favorite… INCLINE TREADMILL WALKING!

Sports: They have a training effect and warrant consideration for how they interact with your training. If you like playing a lot of sports, you might not want to do any of the other optional stuff. For some sports, resistance training isn’t always beneficial, especially if you’re competing at a high level. If this applies to you, I ask you consider the old proverb “he who chases two rabbits catches none”. You may want to reconsider getting jacked and improving your ACFT score if it means you can’t compete at the same level at a sport you love.

Personally, If I’m using this split (which I do sometimes), I like to do a separate daily session of incline treadmill walking and planks, perform agility work, sleds, and light carries as a warm-up for lower body, rotator cuff work to warm-up for upper body, and sometimes include snatch high-pulls as my single power movement for leg day. If all the stars align and I’ve been consistent for a few months without getting injured, I like to add single joint exercises to address weaknesses/deficits. Some of my favorites include hip abduction/adduction machine, GHR, standing calf-raise, anterior tibialis raises, incline DB curls, tricep cable cross-over, cable pec fly, reverse fly machine, machine pull-overs, and cable lateral raises. If you think thats a lot of training, you’re right. If you think stretching and soft tissue work is more important than any of that, I don’t agree, at least not for me, and maybe not for you if have similar goals.

Putting it all together:

So there you have it. A super simple program that anyone can use to build a functional base of strength and stamina while having the option to omit some common sources of injury (looking at you running, olympic lifts, powerlifting, and rucking).

The reason all of the “optional” stuff is optional, is because including it would make a simple program that is generally applicable too complicated and specific, especially if you care about controlling injury risk. The ideal way to add the optional stuff to this badass plan will vary widely between individuals. An upper/lower split isn’t necessarily the best either, it’s just a good base for this comprehensive program. Developing an “optimal” program is just as much art as science, and describing how to do that in accordance with what is bouncing around in my head would take volumes, and there’s always more for me to learn. That said, if you want to give this program a try and you’re interested in guidance on how to integrate the optional stuff without getting injured, or want a substitution for any of the exercises in the base program, drop a comment with your goals, experience, and concerns. I’ll do my best to help you make this program your own. Or keep sitting on a lacrosse ball, to each their own.