Despite his best efforts, William fails this first round, completing his laps with a time of 13:45, but he remains optimistic about the bodyweight exercise portions of the test that await him.
YouTuber Brandon William takes on physically grueling fitness challenges on his channel, pushing his strength and endurance through experiences like the FBI fitness test and Russian Army’s fitness test. For his most recent video, he attempts the physical test that all U.S. Navy SEALs must go through to be deemed fit for duty.
“Navy SEALs have been one of my greatest inspirations to push my limits and to take on the fitness challenges that I do on my channel,” says William. “One day, my goal is to get to a physical state that is tough enough to complete the full Navy SEAL training.”
The first event is a 500-meter swim, which must be completed in under 12:30 in order to pass. “I’m not the best swimmer,” he says. “I pushed myself as much as I could doing the breaststroke, but I tired out very quickly, and I knew if I wanted to get anywhere close to a passing score I had to change it to freestyle.”
Despite his best efforts, William fails this first round, completing his laps with a time of 13:45, but he remains optimistic about the bodyweight exercise portions of the test that await him.
The first of these is pushups. He must complete as many pushup reps as possible in a 2-minute window, with a minimum of 42 required for a passing score. William, however, is aiming for a competitive 79, despite already feeling some fatigue after only 10 minutes of post-swim recovery. He manages an impressive 80 pushups, saying: “I had to do something to make up for that swimming, that was awful.”
Next up are the situps, and William has to do 50 reps in 2 minutes for a pass, or 79 again to hit a competitive score. He manages 70 reps in the allotted time, then moves onto the pullups. This event has no time limit, and just measures an individual’s consecutive pullup max, with a minimum requirement of 6 reps. Given that pullups are William’s favorite exercise, he’s understandably confident when starting this round of the test, and he churns out 19 reps before dropping from the bar.
The final portion of the test is a 1.5-mile run, which must be completed in 11 minutes or under. William finishes his run in 11:30, which is not a passing score, and it means that ultimately he failed the test, but compared to some of his previous fitness challenges, it’s still a pace that he’s proud of. “I’ve improved a lot on the cardio,” he says.
