A desire to be in our best shape can lead to a toxic fitness culture. If you’re heavier in weight, you can be subject to fat shaming, but then if you are slender, others may call you names for being too skinny. As a result, society ends up grappling with unhealthy eating habits, paying lots of money for gym memberships, and worrying about the link between energy drinks and cancer. It all becomes overwhelming. This stress about body fat percentage doesn’t just impact the general public, but also the United States military.
The military saw a correlation between higher body fat percentages in soldiers and lower Army Combat Fitness test scores. The Army Body Composition Program aims to keep soldiers at optimal fitness levels so they can handle the physical challenges they encounter in the military. It used to be that soldiers with too high a body fat percentage, based on a waist measurement test, would be enrolled in the program. They would then get personal fitness oversight and work with a dietician to lose the fat.
However, as of September 2025, that rule changed. The U.S. Army shifted from an emphasis on body fat to an emphasis on simply passing the physical fitness tests. This means that the military is no longer limiting the definition of being athletic to a soldier’s body fat percentage. Though this is a positive move in the overall understanding of fitness, medical data still indicates that having too high or too low a body fat percentage carries its own risks.
The U.S. military is always focused on making better soldiers, even through biohacking blood. The Army’s new directive for a soldier’s body fat says that if a soldier scores high enough (80 points) in all elements of the fitness test — consisting of deadlift, pushups, sprint-drag-carry, plank, and two-mile run – then the body fat program rules don’t apply to them. They won’t even have to get measured, rewarding a the soldier’s actual athleticism.
Sergeant Major Christopher Stevens, senior enlisted advisor, US. Army Deputy Chief of Staff, G-1, released a statement published by the U.S. Army Public Affairs regarding this change that said,
What The US Military’s Body Fat Rule Actually Means (And Why High Fitness Scores Matter)
