Test Your Military Fitness IQ!

By Team Beachbody

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.

1. 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."
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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!"