Major Gérald: Sports Tests of French Foreign Legion Selection

In his new video, Major Gérald, the popular senior non-commissioned officer of the French Foreign Legion, sets aside his usual physical training content to answer one of the questions his viewers ask most often: how do the sports tests at Legion selection actually work? Now serving with the Legion’s Communication Center (a unit handling media relations and the Legion’s social media), he filmed this video at the Selection and Enlistment Center (CSI) of the 1st Foreign Regiment (1er RE) in Aubagne, the Legion’s headquarters near Marseille, where the entire selection process takes place.

The Legion recruits 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Candidates can report to Fort de Nogent near Paris or go directly to Aubagne. At the CSI, every candidate goes through five tests: a psychotechnical aptitude test, a medical examination, a psychological interview, the sports tests, and a security background check. A commission then decides whether the candidate will be accepted for an initial five-year contract. Major Gérald stresses one point above all: the Legion does not want to see your minimum, it wants to see your maximum. A failed test or a weak result may not end your chances, because the commission judges your overall profile across all the tests.

Pull-Ups

The first test is pull-ups, demonstrated in the video by a corporal who also serves with the Communication Center. Grip the bar with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width and your thumbs locked around it, starting from a full hang with arms extended. Your legs stay bent, either in front of you or behind, without touching the ground. A rep counts only if your chin clears the bar with no swinging of the body, and a controller validates every repetition. Here, Major Gérald’s principle applies directly: the Legion is not asking for a minimum number of reps, so candidates should give their maximum and do as many correct pull-ups as they can.

The Luc Léger Test

The second test is the Luc Léger test, the shuttle run used for recruitment in the French armed forces, known as the beep test or PACER test (in the U.S.). Candidates run back and forth on a flat course marked at 20 meters (about 66 feet), keeping pace with an audio beep whose speed increases by half a kilometer per hour (about 0.3 mph) every minute. Reaching level 12 earns a score of 20 out of 20, the top mark on the French (and the Legion’s) grading scale. Major Gérald compares this to running 3,600 meters (about 2.2 miles) in the Cooper test, the classic 12-minute run (which used to be a main sports test of the Legion years ago), and calls it a very strong performance. The test itself can go up to level 25, but those levels are reserved for elite runners.

Endurance alone is not enough. As the demonstration by an athlete familiar from earlier videos shows, footwork at each end of the course matters just as much: place one foot behind the line, turn immediately, and push off hard, using your arms to drive the restart. Smooth turns save energy as the pace gets harder on both the heart and the muscles. Major Gérald also advises warming up before the test rather than using the first levels as a warm-up. Candidates can practice on their own on any flat 20-meter stretch, using one of the beep-cadence apps available online.

Swimming

The third test is a 50-meter (about 55-yard) swim with a jump or dive start, filmed at the Alain Bernard municipal pool in Aubagne, named after the Olympic swimming champion born in the town. The pool session is a regimental slot, shared with units of the 1er RE that train there for their annual fitness tests or to maintain their physical condition. There is no time limit: the only goal is to show that you can cover the distance. Any stroke is allowed, whether breaststroke, front crawl, sidestroke, or a mix. As long as you cover the 50 meters, anything goes. Not knowing how to swim does not disqualify you. Candidates who cannot swim can still be selected and will learn during basic instruction in Castelnaudary, southern France, the home of the 4th Foreign Regiment where Legion recruits are trained.

As Major Gérald reminds viewers, every legionnaire, past and present, once climbed the stairs and walked through the door of the CSI in Aubagne. The Legion, he concludes, will train them as professional soldiers in the service of France. Candidates can find more information on this website’s Joining page or follow the official recruitment website.

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