Active U.S. Army soldiers are some of the fittest people on Earth, so it makes sense that the fitness test required for entry be tough. The exam will be made even harder in October 2020 — starting then, recruits will be tested on their three-rep deadlift max; throwing power; pushups; and more.
That’s not to say the current one isn’t grueling, and two Australian fitness fanatics found that out the hard way. YouTuber Zac Perna, a Gym Shark-sponsored online trainer with a sizeable internet following, and his brother Joel took on the U.S. Army fitness test without practice—and the boys down under learned why America is undefeated in world wars.
“It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be,” Zac says at the end of his two-mile run, the last part of the fitness test.
The challenge consists of two minutes of pushups (with perfect form), two minutes of sit-ups (again, with perfect form), and a timed two-mile run.
See how they did here:
Right now, recruits are graded on how well they do in each of the three parts. Men 17-23 are expected to do more pushups in two minutes than their 24-27 peers, and run the two miles faster than them, too.
Zac is 24 and Joel is 25, so if the ‘roos were actually looking to join the U.S. Army, they’d be graded on the same scale. Both scored 100 percent on the pushup section, but Joel did better on the sit-ups—completing 56, six more than Zac.
Joel’s run time earned him a 70/100, while Zac’s got him a 68/100, giving them a total score of 238/300 and 231/300, respectively—meaning both would have passed the actual test.
As is the case with most of the brothers’ challenges, this one came with a wager. Zac, as the loser, must now do a punishment video sometime in the future, with the punishment being chosen by his viewers.
In the past, the bodybuilder has eaten everything on KFC’s menu, followed President Donald Trump’s diet for a day, and taken on a 15,000-calorie challenge. So it will be interesting to see what else he’ll be subjected to this time.
