This Bodybuilder Just ‘Aced’ the Marine Corps Combat Fitness Test

Bodybuilders taking on military fitness tests (and failing spectacularly once they hit the cardio portion) has become its own genre on YouTube. Mike Thurston and MattDoesFitness run out of steam time and time again when it comes to running in the British Army and U.S. Army Physical Fitness Tests, and powerlifter Xavier Barkley failed to attain a passing score when he underwent the Marine Corps Physical Fitness Test.

But it is possible for a bodybuilder to pass the cardio event. In his latest video, veteran Armando Nava is joined by Andy “Backzilla” Perez, who takes on the intense, physically grueling Marine Corps Combat Fitness Test. In fact, in the case of this particular test, the cardio may well actually be the easiest part of the challenge.

The Marine Corps Combat Fitness Test consists of:

Perez starts with the 880 meter run, which he finishes in 3 minutes 23 seconds— respectable time, and more importantly, a passing score.

Next up are the ammo can presses. In this instance, Perez is using a 30-pound kettlebell in lieu of an actual ammo can. Nava points out that form is important here, since you have to fully extend and lock his arms on each rep for it to count. Perez completes 123 reps in total, which is pretty much a perfect score. “He aced that,” says Nava.

Third and final is the toughest and most rigorous part of the test: maneuver under fire. Perez must begin in a plank, get up and sprint to the first cone, low crawl to the second cone, then high crawl to the third, zigzag around a series of cones, then haul a buddy backward around the cones, then pick him up and hoist him over his shoulders, run back to the starting line, drop him, grab two kettlebells, run in a zigzag again around the cones, then sprint back to the start.

Perez scores a 309 on the maneuver under fire. That was his third passing grade, which means he’s passed the test as a whole (something that precious few YouTube bodybuilders actually manage to do). “It was so much more than a workout, it was definitely the mindset,” he says. “You were going for that buddy next to you, and that’s what took it deeper.”

Source: Read Full Article