In December 2018, simply earlier than Christmas, Timothy Cox sunk right into a chair in his quiet workplace, exhausted. The Military officer was drenched in sweat, his muscle mass throbbing from high to backside. He tried to not dwell on the truth that hitting his purpose would require months extra of this: the 5 a.m. exercises. Saturdays on the observe. Curbing the Sonic drive-in ice cream, his lone vice. His relaxation interval nearly over, he stood up, walked over to his white board, and scribbled a quantity: 600. The quantity didn’t simply signify perfection on the Military’s not too long ago revamped health take a look at. Like a four-minute mile or a two-hour marathon, nobody knew if it have been even attainable but. However Cox was decided. He seemed on the quantity once more, then he acquired again to work.
Between the place Cox, now 39 and a Main at U.S. Particular Operations Command in Virginia, was that December and the place he resulted in July 2019 as the primary soldier ever to file an ideal 600 rating on the brand new Military Fight Health Take a look at (ACFT) required making some main modifications to his routine. The earlier health analysis was a easy mixture of push-ups, sit-ups, and working. The ACFT, launched in late 2018, ballooned to incorporate six totally different workouts, together with a three-rep max deadlift, a standing med-ball throw, hand-release push-ups, a grueling sprint-drag-carry, an abs-burning leg tuck, and a two-mile run. “If I wish to do that factor,” Cox recollects considering, “I’ve to work on my push-ups.”
It is price noting that Cox wasn’t precisely coming off the sofa. A former highschool state champion within the 800-meters (roughly a half-mile), he each ran observe and performed basketball for Division II McPherson School in his dwelling state of Kansas. It’s uncommon that one athlete would compete in two such disparate sports activities, however Cox is one thing of an anomaly. At six ft, three inches, he’s taller than nearly any distance runner you are more likely to meet, and at his in-season weight of 180 kilos, he nonetheless had about 30 kilos on the few runners who matched his stature.
When observe ended and pre-season for basketball started, Cox would hit the load room, guzzling protein and packing on weight to carry his personal within the paint, settling at 210 kilos earlier than the primary whistle. He did this yearly. Hollywood main males win Oscars after present process equally dramatic physique transformations, however for Cox, it was simply a part of his strategy to being a well-rounded athlete. “What I prided my profession on is being essentially the most full athlete I might be,” he says. “I would like to have the ability to transfer giant quantities of weight, I wish to be quick, I wish to be agile.”
Grasp Sgt. Vin Stevens
So, about these pushups: Cox says that when he evaluated his preliminary ACFT outcomes—a near-perfect 587 of 600 factors—the hand-release push-ups have been his “weak spot.” With the identical resolve he utilized to these faculty exercises, he attacked. First got here Tabata-style exercises. For 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, Cox would crank out as many hand-release push-ups as he may, 4 or 5 minutes complete, twice every week.
He additionally tailored a basic observe exercise: 400-meter repeats. Historically, you’d hammer a lap at 5K to mile tempo, jogging a half-lap, or 200 meters, in between for restoration and finishing eight to 12 intervals. Cox says he would stroll the primary 100 meters of restoration, drop and rip 20 to 30 hand-release push-ups, after which stroll the subsequent hundred meters earlier than beginning the subsequent interval. Whereas his tempo of 85 to 87 seconds can be pedestrian for a mid-distance collegiate, “On the time I used to be well-removed from faculty,” he says, laughing. “It damage.”
That was all on high of his different exercises, which have been in depth: Six days every week, he’d wake at 5 a.m. to hit the fitness center, pairing conventional muscle teams like again and biceps in the future, chest and triceps the subsequent. Legs had their very own day, and through each exercise, no matter muscle group, he’d add core and grip work. Then he’d depart the fitness center to reach at his unit for six:15 a.m. bodily coaching, which he’d lead, and would possibly embody working, calisthenics, and extra.
Grasp Sgt. Vin Stevens
Saturday mornings, in the meantime, have been at all times spent on the observe, and true to his Christian religion, he rested Sunday. Past his newfound resistance to ice cream, Cox stored his food regimen low in sugar and ate at dwelling along with his spouse and youngsters. Previous to morning exercises, he’d at all times have a light-weight breakfast of oatmeal and bananas or toast and eggs with espresso.
Over the course of seven months, Cox noticed his efficiency steadily enhance, notching a 595 after which a 598 out of 600. Coming off a brief enterprise journey in July and with no warning, he was requested if he needed to take the take a look at once more. There was no time to dither. “As soon as I acquired previous hand-release push-ups,” he says, “I knew I may do it, and that’s when the belief set in.”
For his accomplishment, the Military lauded him, and some military-centric publications got here calling. However by and enormous, Cox’s life has continued on its regular trajectory. In July 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, he was assigned to USSOC in Virginia, the place he now spends his time studying a brand new position and, sure, nonetheless getting in constant exercises, however with some modifications.
Base laws in response to the virus have meant that to place up iron, he’s needed to construct a house fitness center, and his runs are completely solo. Group exercises include his spouse and 4 kids planking on the lounge flooring with the music blaring. If he needed to, he says, he may nonetheless notch a high-500 rating within the ACFT, however perfection, for now, is again in 2019.
Cox can be fast to credit score lots of his navy counterparts for his or her assist writing him into the U.S. Military file books. He mentions his unit’s bodily therapist, who launched him to foam rolling and a lacrosse ball. He thanks the nutritionist, the bodily trainers he consulted, and the push-up-machine associates who helped him design his exercises. He thanks his spouse and the Military, his kids and his religion. Most significantly, he thanks the women and men with whom he served.
“Sure, plenty of it was alone,” Cox says of his coaching. “However in all probability my greatest exercises have been after I had a soldier subsequent to me, pushing me to be the perfect. That aggressive spirit we had was contagious.”
