Professional climber and influencer Magnus Midtbø has aced all kinds of fitness challenges on his YouTube channel, from the FBI’s fitness test to the physical screening process used by the U.S. Marines. In his most recent video, he takes on perhaps his most challenging, physically grueling military challenge to date: the Norwegian Armed Forces’ Long Range Reconnaissance Squadron (LRRS) entry test.
“This is the most brutal military test I have ever tried,” he says. And just to make things even harder, Magnus attempts the challenge the morning after filming another exhausting video with the LRRS, so he’s starting out already feeling sore and fatigued. He is coached through the process by outgoing soldier Even.
The first round is the bench pull, where soldiers must be able to lift a minimum of their own bodyweight in order to pass. For Magnus, that means pulling at least 154 pounds (70 kgs). He starts out strong, lifting 176 pounds (80 kgs), then adding more weight until he is lifting 198 pounds (90 kgs) before finally failing at 243 pounds (110 kgs).
The second round is the max weighted pullup. Magnus needs to lift himself and 55 pounds in order to pass, while a weight of 88 pounds is considered a top score. “My PR is like 70 (kgs), but right now, after that trip, I’m wondering if I should start at 40 or 50,” says Magnus, ultimately opting to start heavier at 112 pounds, then going up to 134, then 140. “I don’t think I can go up much higher than that, to be honest,” he says.
The third event in the test consists of throwing a 22-pound ball from the chest as far as possible; it has to reach a minimum of 5 meters to pass. Magnus gets it to 5.1 on the first try, and is unable to improve on that in subsequent attempts. “Even though it’s just one movement, it costs a lot of explosive power,” he says.
Then comes the main event, the “big one” as Even calls it: a 7km per hour marching workout that increases in incline every 5 minutes, while the soldier is carrying a weapon and a 55-pound backpack. With no warmup. Magnus has to last a minimum of 25 minutes on the treadmill to pass this round.
“I don’t know why I said yes to this,” says Magnus. “I regret it already.”
He lasts a total of 18 minutes 20 seconds, before falling off the treadmill in exhaustion, failing this round. “I felt it in my calves from the start,” he says.
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