Physical Fitness Requirements from the French Foreign Legion

Physical Fitness Test Foreign Legion

The FFL French Foreign Legion is a highly skilled branch of the French military. They are mainly infantry but are also airborne. Technically they swear their allegiance to the foreign legion, instead of to France.

Motto: "Legio Patria Nostra"
Translation: The Legion is our Fatherland

Established in: "1831"

To be able to join the unit, one does not need to be a French citizen. French Citizenship can be acquired after 3 years of service or by the rule of "Français par le sang versé" ("French by spilled blood"). If you get injured in combat you can immediately apply for citizenship. If you are a French citizen, you will receive another citizenship for the time that you are in the Legion. It will be mostly Belgium, Canada, or Switzerland.

You need to be at least 17 years old and not older than 39 years old. Once joined, your initial passport will be taken, and you will be issued with a new name. You also need to be involved with the unit for 5 years.

Chart Standards P.F.T. Foreign Legion

#	Exercises	Pass	Good	Great	Gold
1.1.	Cooper Test	2700 meter	3000 meter	3100 meter	3200 meter
1.2.	Beep test	LV 7	LV 15	LV 21	LV 25
2	Rope Climb	5 Meters. Usage of hands & legs allowed
3	Rope Climb	5 Meters. No usage of legs are allowed on this rope climb
4	Pullups	+ 7 reps	+ 15 reps	+ 20 reps	+ 25 reps
5	Sit-Ups	100 reps to pass this test
6	Swim	25 meters. Pass / Fail

To join the Legion, a recruit shows up at the recruiting station. The recruit, before even having a conversation with the officer, needs to perform 7 Pullups on a pullup bar hanging right in front of the office. The physical fitness test now only consists of the Beep Test and the pullups, which are tested during pre-selection on Day 2 after the medical exam. The Beep Test is a test where the candidate needs to run 20 meters back and forth. A Beep determines the speed the candidate has to run by. It starts with a slow run which has to turn into an increasingly faster run, as the time in between beep sounds is shrinking. Only those candidates who perform best will be kept. This test is followed by two interviews, one with a lieutenant and one with a psychologist. Again, only those who fit will be kept.

Physical Requirements and Information from other units

All Units, click here
Royal Marines	Commando Marine	Fusilier Marins
K.C.T.	Army Rangers	JW Grom
Para SF	Commandos	SAS
1er RPIMA	Bordo Bereliler	GIGN
For General Fitness information and MsigWarrior Blog, click here

Pre-Selection Foreign French Legion

It lasts about 14 days. Every test during that phase is to fail or pass. Life in Pre-selection consists of waking up at 4:45 AM and lights out is 10:30 PM. Candidates will perform volunteer tasks such as cleaning, administrative work, etc... Candidates are restricted to a 1-minute shower and 15 min to clean up their room meticulously before lights out. The staff meets after the 14 days and in assistance with Interpol, decides, which of those candidates they want to keep. Against mainstream belief, not every convicted man can join the legion.

Rules in Pre-Selection

If the following events occur, the candidate will be forced to leave: 1. If the candidate steals, 2. fight with another or with the staff, or 3. destroys material intentionally. If they 4. refuse to work, 5. drink alcohol or 6. consume unallowed substances. If they 7.do not keep up their appearance, 8.do not stay neat and clean, 9. leave their barracks dirty or 10. bring food into them. If they 11. try to push their personal beliefs or religion onto others, if they 12. form gangs or syndicates. If they 13. gamble or are involved in any commercial activities, 14. If they trespass into offices w/o authorization or leave the training center w/o authorization.

Basic Training - Foreign Legion

During Basic Training, the recruits learn basic soldiering, not at an elite level yet. They learn French, and they learn to live and work the Foreign Legion Way. They perform hours on hours of calisthenics (mostly pushups, pullups, situps, firemen carries, rope climbing), ruck marches and marches, 4 to 5 mile runs daily and hand to hand combat training. They will be sleep-deprived and underfeed. The end of basic training marks the "Le Raid", which is an intensive 150km march performed in 3 days. The high-performers of the group will be given more choice on which Regiment they want to join.

Code d'honneur Du Légionnaire :

1 - Légionnaire, tu es un volontaire servant la France avec honneur et fidélité.
2 - Chaque légionnaire est ton frère d'arme, quelle que soit sa nationalité, sa race, sa religion. Tu lui manifestes toujours la solidarité étroite qui doit unir les membres d'une même famille.
3 - Respectueux des traditions, attaché à tes chefs, la discipline et la camaraderie sont ta force, le courage et la loyauté tes vertus.
4 - Fier de ton état de légionnaire, tu le montres dans ta tenue toujours élégante, ton comportement toujours digne mais modeste, ton casernement toujours net.
5 - Soldat d'élite, tu t'entraînes avec rigueur, tu entretiens ton arme comme ton bien le plus précieux, tu as le souci constant de ta forme physique.
6 - La mission est sacrée, tu l'exécutes jusqu'au bout et, s'il le faut, en opérations, au péril de ta vie.
7 - Au combat tu agis sans passion et sans haine, tu respectes les ennemis vaincus, tu n'abandonnes jamais ni tes morts, ni tes blessés, ni tes armes.

The Honor Code of Every Legionnaire

1. Legionnaire, you are a volunteer who serves France with honor and loyalty.
2. Every Legionnaire is your brother in arms. It does not matter which nationality, what race, or what religion your brother is. You show him solidarity, which is needed to unite members of the same family.
3. In respect to tradition, and the ancient legionnaires, the discipline and comradeship are your strengths, courage and loyalty are your virtues.
4. Proud to be a Legionnaire, you show it by always staying clean, by keeping a proudful, but humble character, and by keeping your barracks clean.
5. Elite Soldier, you train rigorously, you maintain your weapon and your wellbeing, you constantly contemplate your physical conditioning.
6. The mission is sacred, you execute it till it's done, and if needed, during operations, at the risk of your life
7. In combat you act without passion and hatred, you respect the beaten enemy, and you never abandon neither your fallen or injured comrade, nor your weapon.

FFL Fitness Test Video

Jungle Phase - Foreign Legion

Jungle Phase, Stage Forêt, is a 4-week course, where the candidates will go through enduring training. In South America, French Guyana, they will be tested in various ways. This course is considered one of the hardest in the Western World. All branches and foreign units join the legionnaires in their training here. This stage begins with a swim with the whole equipment, in a river, where they have to swim for over a 1 hour 30 minutes against the current. This event is known to decrease the number of people very quickly. Jungle Phase can be considered purely survival training. The candidates for this course are only allowed to try out for this course 2x. A third try is not allowed. Lots of Candidates will get hurt during those 4 weeks. They have to crawl through mud, after jumping into the mud pit. They have to climb up trees. Rest assured that snakes and other creatures, venomous and dangerous, or not, have their natural habitat in this Forest.

Foreign Legion Test

Facts about the Legion

1 out of 8 will make it into the legion. The recruitment stations receive willing candidates on a day to day basis.

Further testings used to include - a 150km Ruck March with 40kg and To dig a 70 cm hole and stay in it for 3 days. Those tests have been discontinued, as they were deemed inappropriate and brutal.

Fun Fact: March or Die is an unofficial motto for the Legionnaires. 88 steps per minute tend to be drilled into your head

36,000 Legionnaires died since their creation.