Watch an Olympian and a Soldier Compete in a ‘Fitness Battle’

In the latest episode of his “Battle Bunker” series on YouTube, Navy veteran and fitness influencer Austen Alexander invites two men with vastly differing skill-sets to compete in a test of strength, speed and mental resilience. Retired track and field athlete (and two-time Olympian) Nick Symmonds takes on Chris, an infantryman with the U.S. Army, in three separate events: an assault course, barrel sprint, and an uphill sandbag carry. Oh, and if at any point they fail to complete a portion of the challenge, they’ve got to drop and do a set of five burpees.

First up is the obstacle course, which includes a bunny hop, sandbag carry, cargo net climb, A-frame, rope swing, tyre cross, horizontal rope climb, crawl under barbed wire. Chris starts out in the lead, an advantage he is able to hold onto when Nick gets his foot caught in the cargo net. However, he then falls into the pit during the rope swing and has to take time out to do five burpees, during which Nick is able to catch up. Ultimately, Chris still completes the barbwire army crawl first, finishing the course in 2:09, a full 10 seconds ahead of Nick.

The second event is the 50-pound barrel sprint, and while sprinting used to be Nick’s whole thing, he has since packed on 20 pounds of muscle, so it’s possible he may have the strength and speed to win this one. He flies off the starting line with a nice clean head start, but Chris swiftly overtakes him and wins this round too, earning himself a second point. “I’ve carried a lot of rucks,” he says, telling Nick: “I thought you had a good technique, but I was like, you’re going to get tired.”

The third and final event, which requires them both to race a third of a mile uphill while carrying a 75-pound sandbag, is worth two points, i.e. half the entire test. If Nick can win this one, he and Chris will tie—if Chris nabs it, he wins the whole thing.

Nick succeeds in this event, maintaining a lead over Chris the whole time and finishing well ahead of him. “I feel good,” he says. “A little more in my wheelhouse here.”

Now that they both have two points each, Chris and Nick head into sudden death, to be determined by a tug of war. Once again, Chris wins, securing a third point and making him the victor of the entire fitness battle.

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