Soldiers will be required to maintain a waist-to-height ratio of less than 0.55 under the Army’s updated body standards.

The Army announced new body standards on July 7, 2026, requiring soldiers to maintain a waist-to-height ratio of less than 0.55. U.S. Army/Sgt. 1st Class Crystal Harlow via DVIDS

Timothy Frudd

The Army announced new body standards for soldiers on July 7 in response to a War Department order targeting military fitness for the battlefield.

The policy will require all soldiers to undergo a waist-to-height ratio assessment twice per year and maintain a ratio of less than 0.55 or be placed in a remedial program to improve physical fitness.

The new standard is the latest move by the Pentagon to improve military fitness standards following Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s order for the department to review its standards in March 2025.

Hegseth directed each of the military services to ensure that fitness standards promote the “strongest and most lethal fighting force on the planet.”

The assessment will measure each soldier’s waistline in inches at the belly button and divide the measurement by his height in inches to produce the waist-to-height ratio.

If a soldier fails to maintain the ratio requirement, he will be given a second assessment by a different team on the same day to verify the accuracy of the assessment.

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If both assessments show that the soldier’s waist-to-height ratio is greater than 0.55, the soldier will be placed in the Army Body Composition Program until he meets the body standards.

Under the new policy, Army commanders can also direct a soldier to undergo an assessment at any time if they are concerned that a soldier does not meet the standards.

The Army will not conduct separation actions for soldiers who fail to meet the new body standards until it completes an initial 180-day assessment of the standards.

“This is about lethality and health,” Sgt. Maj. Edgar Monsanto, deputy chief of staff for the Army G-1 Directorate of Prevention, Resilience and Readiness, said.

“We are adopting new metrics to ensure our soldiers are healthy and physically fit to fight and win.”

Under the Army’s Human Resources Continuous Transformation initiative, it is required to modernize how it improves readiness and lethality.

Monsanto said the new body standards follow the initiative’s modernization requirements and will help the Army to become more adaptive and agile.

Before the implementation of the waist-to-height ratio assessments, the Army used height and weight tables to determine the maximum weight for each soldier based on height.

The July 7 announcement notes that the transition to the new assessments is part of a broader effort to assess the health of soldiers, align the Army Body Composition Program with medically validated practices, and increase the readiness of U.S. forces.

The Army said the new standards will ensure that soldiers are prepared to meet the challenges of the battlefield.

After the Pentagon provided updated guidelines for each of the military services, the Marine Corps announced in February that Marines would be required to maintain a waist-to-height ratio of 0.52.

This stricter standard for service members requires Marines to have waistlines two to three inches thinner than both the Army’s new standard and the Pentagon’s general requirements for all military services.

“Our continued commitment to science-based body composition standards supports strong, lethal, and ready Marines,” Sgt. Maj. Carlos Ruiz said.

He noted that the updated body standards not only demonstrate the commitment of the Marine Corps to fitness, but also promote long-term health for the Marines.

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Timothy Frudd

Author

Timothy Frudd is a reporter for The Epoch Times. Timothy can be reached at [email protected].