New Ranger School Fitness Test Adds Sprints, Drops Sit-Ups

For soldiers training to join the Army Rangers, changes are on the way to the fitness test that all candidates must pass as part of their curriculum. What’s in and what’s out with this latest update provides a good sense of the Army’s thinking when it comes to physical fitness — and what tests have fallen out of favor.

As Patty Nieberg of Task & Purpose reports, the previous iteration of the test focused on push-ups, chin-ups, sit-ups and a five-mile run. That’s been replaced by a more comprehensive and wider-ranging array of activities, including two 800-meter runs, a 100-meter sprint, push-ups, a high crawl and two different activities including weights — one involving sandbags and one involving carrying a pair of 40-pound water cans.

Readers will note that sit-ups are no longer on the agenda. Overall, it does look like this new array of tests is more geared towards practical activities; it’s not hard to see how carrying something heavy over a certain distance would be relevant to a potential combat situation than doing dozens of sit-ups.

The Army Infantry School’s commandant, Brig. Gen. Phil Kiniery, told Task & Purpose that the new guidelines represent a shift in the miltary’s thinking about overall fitness. He described the new measures as “better aligned with the Army’s focus on training functional fitness and is tailored to help our cadre better assess student potential to successfully complete the Ranger Course safely.”

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These new guidelines are set to go into effect on April 21, 2025, according to Task & Purpose‘s reporting.

Changes to the fitness tests at Ranger school aren’t the only ways the military is rethinking its approach to fitness. Writing at Military.com, Steve Beynon reported that military officials are also at work at a new version of the Army Combat Fitness Test. That’s part of a Congressional effort to update fitness standards that was passed in late 2023.