Men’s Health
In December 2018, just before Christmas, Timothy Cox sank into a chair in his quiet, exhausted office. The army officer was drenched in sweat, his muscles throbbing from top to bottom. He tried not to dwell on the fact that reaching his goal would require more months of that: 5 am training. Saturdays on the track. Restrict Sonic’s drive-in ice cream, his only addiction. His rest period was almost over, he got up, walked over to his whiteboard and scribbled a number: 600. The number didn’t just mean perfection in the Army’s recently redesigned fitness test. Like a four-minute mile or a two-hour marathon, no one knew if that was still possible. But Cox was determined. He looked at the number again and went back to work.
Enter where Cox, now 39 and a Major in the U.S. Special Operations Command in Virginia, was in December and ended in July 2019 as the first soldier to score a perfect score of 600 on the new Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) mandatory some important changes in your routine. The previous fitness assessment was a simple mix of push-ups, sit-ups and running. The ACFT, introduced in late 2018, has increased to include six different exercises, including a maximum three-reps deadlift, a medium standing ball throw, hand release push-ups, a strenuous sprint-drag-load and a sprint run. three kilometers. “If I want to do this,” Cox remembers thinking, “I have to work on my push-ups.”
It is important to note that Cox was not exactly getting off the couch. A former state high school champion in the 800 meters (approximately half a mile), he was running athletics and playing basketball for Division II McPherson College in his home state of Kansas. It is rare for an athlete to compete in two such disparate sports, but Cox is a kind of anomaly. At six feet tall, he is taller than any long distance runner you are likely to encounter, and with his weight of 180 pounds in the season, he still weighed around 13 kg in the few runners that matched his stature.
When the race was over and the preseason for basketball started, Cox would go to the weight room, swallowing protein and gaining weight to hold on to the paint, settling at 210 pounds before the first whistle. He did this every year. Hollywood protagonists win the Oscar after going through similar dramatic body transformations, but for Cox, that was just part of his approach to being a complete athlete. “What I was proud of [high school and collegiate] to pursue a career is to be the most complete athlete I can be ”, he says. “I want to be able to move large amounts of weight, I want to be fast, I want to be agile.”
So, about those push-ups: Cox says that when he evaluated his initial ACFT results – almost perfect 587 out of 600 points – the manual release push-ups were his “weakness”. With the same determination he applied to college training, he attacked. First came the Tabata style exercises. For 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, Cox did as many push-ups as he could, four or five minutes in total, twice a week.
He also adapted a classic track workout: 400 meter reps. Traditionally, you would hammer a lap at a pace of 5 km / mile, running half a turn, or 200 meters, go into recovery and completing eight to 12 intervals. Cox says he would walk the first 100 meters of recovery, start and do 20 to 30 push-ups with his hands and then walk the next 100 meters before starting the next interval. Although his pace of 85 to 87 seconds was common for a middle distance collegiate, “At the time, I was pretty far out of college,” he says, laughing. “That hurts.”
That was all on top of his other workouts, which were extensive: six days a week, he woke up at 5 am to go to the gym, combining traditional muscle groups like back and biceps one day, chest and triceps the next day. The legs had their own day, and during each workout, regardless of muscle group, he added core and grip work. Then, he would leave the gym to get to his physical training unit at 6:15 am, which he would lead, and could include running, gymnastics and more.
Saturday mornings, however, were always spent on the track and, true to his Christian faith, he rested on Sunday. In addition to his newfound resistance to ice cream, Cox kept his diet low in sugar and ate at home with his wife and children. Before morning exercises, he always had a light breakfast with oats and bananas or toast and eggs with coffee.
Over the course of seven months, Cox saw his performance improve continuously, scoring 595 and 598 out of 600. Leaving a short business trip in July and without any warning, he was asked if he wanted to take the test again. There was no time to hesitate. “After overcoming manual release push-ups,” he says, “I knew I could do this, and that was where understanding came in.”
For his achievement, the Army praised him, and some publications focused on militarism appeared. But in general, Cox’s life continued on its normal course. In July 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, he was assigned to the USSOC in Virginia, where he now spends his time learning a new role and, yes, still doing consistent training, but with some modifications.
Basic regulations in response to the virus mean that, in order to use iron, he had to build a gym at home and his runs are entirely solo. The group exercises consist of his wife and four children kneeling on the floor of the room with loud music. If it were necessary, he says, it could still reach a score of 500 on the ACFT, but perfection, for now, is back in 2019.
Cox is also quick to give credit to many of his military colleagues for his help in including him in the US Army record books. He mentions the physiotherapist at his unit, who introduced him to the foam roller and the lacrosse ball. He thanks the nutritionist, the physical trainers he consulted and the friends of the bending machines who helped him plan his workouts. He thanks his wife and the Army, his children and his faith. Most importantly, he thanks the men and women he served with.
“Yes, a lot of that was on me,” says Cox of his training. “But probably my best training was when I had a soldier by my side, encouraging me to be the best. This competitive spirit that we had was contagious ”.
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