Military & First-Responder Fitness Glossary
Every acronym and term you will meet in body-composition and fitness standards — defined in plain English and linked to the page where the term matters.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| WHtR | Waist-to-height ratio — waist (in) ÷ height (in). The 2026 joint-force body-composition screen; < 0.55 passes (Marines < 0.52). |
| ACFT | Army Combat Fitness Test — six events (deadlift, power throw, hand-release push-ups, sprint-drag-carry, plank, two-mile run). 540+ with 80+ per event exempts a Soldier from the body-fat assessment. |
| ABCP | Army Body Composition Program (AR 600-9) — the process after a body-composition failure: flag, counseling, monthly progress, possible separation. |
| Body-fat % (Navy method) | The tape-measure estimate of body fat used as the secondary military evaluation: height, neck, waist, and hip (women) feed a regression formula. |
| CPAT | Candidate Physical Ability Test — the timed eight-event firefighter agility course (≤ 10:20 with a 50-lb vest). |
| NFPA 1580 | The 2025 consolidated firefighter health standard (merged 1581–1584). Replaced the fixed VO₂max line with ACSM age/sex percentiles and requires annual fitness testing. |
| POST | Peace Officer Standards and Training — the state body that sets law-enforcement certification and agility-test requirements in most states. |
| DEXA | Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry — the reference-standard body-composition scan; accepted as a supplemental assessment under AR 600-9. |
| Bod Pod | Air-displacement plethysmography; measures body density to estimate body fat; accepted as a supplemental military assessment. |
| BIA / InBody | Bioelectrical impedance analysis; the InBody 770 is an accepted supplemental body-composition device under AR 600-9. |
| DoD 1308.03 | DoD Instruction setting the body-fat corridor: no branch stricter than 18% (men) / 26% (women), none looser than 26% / 36%. |
| AD 2026-13 | Army Directive (2026-07-07) formalizing the Army WHtR < 0.55 entry gate for the body-composition program. |
| PFT / CFT | Marine Corps Physical Fitness Test and Combat Fitness Test — the Corps’ fitness gates, separate from body composition. |
| Flag (Action Code K) | An administrative hold placed on a Soldier for body-composition failure; blocks promotion, schools, and some assignments until resolved. |
| BMI | Body mass index — weight ÷ height²; a screening proxy only. The military moved from BMI-style tables to WHtR in 2026. |
| FFMI | Fat-free mass index — lean mass ÷ height²; the metric that separates muscle from fat in a “high BMI” service member. |
| LBM | Lean body mass — total weight minus fat; the tissue you want to keep while losing weight in ABCP. |
| BMR / TDEE | Basal metabolic rate and total daily energy expenditure — the resting burn and the full daily burn; TDEE anchors any weight-loss or fueling plan. |
| Mifflin–St Jeor | The most accurate BMR equation for most adults, used by VivMetric’s BMR and TDEE tools. |
| ACSM percentile | American College of Sports Medicine percentile classification of aerobic capacity by age and sex — the basis of NFPA 1580’s aerobic standard. |
| One-site abdominal tape | The Army’s 2023-era single-site circumference method; superseded as the entry gate by WHtR in 2026, but still part of the secondary evaluation. |