Test Your Military Fitness
Knowledge
With These Military Fitness Standards By Daniel V. Donatelli
 As a Quality Assurance Specialist
here at Beachbody, I have read a great number of success stories, and many of
them were from men and women serving in or retired from the armed services. The
military is one of the few careers where being in top physical shape can mean
life or death, and the fact that so many soldiers use our programs to round out
their training is a source of great pride for us. However, Uncle Sam has his
own ideas about whom he considers fit. The following is a list of questions
concerning the physical fitness test for soldiers in the U.S. Army Rangers.
Let's see if you can earn some stars and stripes for your military fitness
knowledge.
- What is the
minimum number of push-ups a Ranger should be able to do in 2 minutes?
The Rangers require a soldier to do at least 57
push-ups in 2 minutes. However, as is the case for all Special Forces, they
look for people to go well above the minimum. In fact, they look for someone to
do at least 80 push-ups in that time. As research for this quiz, I tried to see
how many push-ups I could do in 2 minutes, and the answer is that I'm no Army
Ranger. To borrow a line from a favorite comedian: "In the event of a war, I'm
a hostage."
- What is the
recommended number of sit-ups a Ranger should be able to do in 2 minutes?
As with push-ups, the recommended number is at least
80. The minimum is 66. My cousin is an officer in the army, and I asked him
about the army employing Shaun T's "Tilt, Tuck & Tighten" technique for
getting some ripped military abs, and he told me they'd get on it immediately.
He also said they're going to replace "Reveille" with some Lil
Wayne.
- What is the
maximum acceptable time for a Ranger to make a 2-mile run?
The soldier must complete the run in less than 15
minutes and 30 seconds, but the recommended time is sub-13 minutes. That's an
average of a little more than 6 minutes per mile, which is a difficult pace to
maintain over that distance. I did it once, but it was only to escape an
extremely awkward social situation.
- What is the
recommended time in which a soldier should make a 12-mile road march carrying a
35-pound pack? The Rangers look for an applicant to
make this difficult trek in a little more than 2 hours, with a maximum time of
3 hours. The training in the military is so intense that it can make you
hallucinatory. My cousin told me a story about a long hike he had to endure
(much longer than 12 miles) during his training. He came across a fellow
soldier who was pounding his fists on a tree. My cousin asked him what was
wrong, and the guy replied, "I'm not going anywhere until this machine gives me
my Mountain Dew!"
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