Last year, Hegseth introduced new sex-neutral fitness standards that sought to eliminate sex-based grading for combat soldiers on the military’s physical fitness exam. That exam includes a 3-mile run, push-ups or pull-ups, and an abdominal plank. When the standards were announced, some analysts worried it could lead to fewer women enlisting.
But a new report from The War Horse, a nonprofit newsroom, suggests that Hegseth’s new standards were not making the military more masculine, as he seemed to hope. The report found that 90% of female Marines in combat roles who took the fitness test passed or exceeded expectations.
The push up thing always confused me. Basic weight distribution in men is heavier in the chest and women being heavier toward the hips and thighs. So from a purely physics standpoint and my basic understanding of levers, in a second class lever the further a weight is from the fulcrum, the more work that has to be done. So wouldn’t that make pushups easier for women? I mean negating the basic strength differences but also subject to those same strength to weight ratios?
I guess it’s just shoulders, then? I do think shorter people would have an advantage and women generally are shorter as well. But I have not known a woman who could beat a similarly fit guy in push ups.
I know I could not do one good push up until I had too much mass to manage a pull up, lol. I can now because of yoga, my strength is more distributed than when I was dancing, and there is a lot of tricep work in power yoga.