Editing The Krypton Factor (section)

===Physical ability (1977–1995, 2009–2010)===
In the original series, this pre-recorded segment involved the contestants racing to complete an [[army]] assault course at [[Holcombe, Greater Manchester|Holcombe]] Moor in [[Bury, Greater Manchester|Bury]]. This round typically included 20 obstacles, including vertical and flat cargo nets, rope swings, water jumps, Burma rope bridges, and a slide into the water. [[Gordon Burns]] stated in some episodes that the contestants trained for the assault course in the physical ability round for up to five weeks in advance. In the first series, the assault course was done as an athletics track type, with all of the contestants starting at the same time from different starting points, handicapped by age and sex. The second series featured the more recognised assault course but didn't feature the aerial slide until the early 1980s; instead, the contestants would jump from a high platform onto a mat below to end their run of the course.

In this round, female contestants were allowed a [[Head start (positioning)|head start]] over their male competitors, and in the early series, contestants were given staggered starts to the assault course; following practice sessions with army personnel, the contestant of the weakest physical ability would set off first. The physical ability criteria were established from a simple formula derived from the age and gender of the contestant. In 1980, this typically meant two seconds per year of age difference and a 40-second advantage for female competitors. In the 1980 semi-final, the youngest competitor, Ted Stockton (a taxi driver, aged 25), started 56 seconds after the only female semi-finalist, who was 33. The age-based calculation was abolished in 1988. In 1995, the Physical Ability round was moved to the start of the show as the first round, and all contestants started simultaneously and were ranked according to how far ahead each had come of an individual "par time" based on age and sex.

The 1990 series saw many of the metal obstacles on the course replaced by wooden substitutes, including a wooden S-bend frame contestants had to descend. In the first episode of the 1978 series, one female contestant (Diane Lindsay) injured her arm while practising for the long drop at the end of the course, but later ran and completed the course and was found to have broken her arm in the practice run. Another female contestant (Judith Stafford) in 1989 broke her ankle after landing badly on one of the obstacles (near the end of the course) but managed to complete the rest of the course and finish in third place. Another female contestant (this time in 1987), Sue Dandy, completed the course despite having torn ligaments in her leg while coming out of a narrow, upward-sloping tunnel. (In 1982, a male contestant cut his forehead on this obstacle.) A male contestant (Paul Evans) in 1991 who fell from the top of the A-frame net managed to not only complete the course but win the round despite suffering from shock due to his fall. Another male contestant (Jackie Harte), this time in 1992, broke the safety rules when he went down the aerial slide without placing his feet in the water. Another male contestant (Jon Johnson), this time in 1993, fell off the Burma rope bridge towards the end of the course, but luckily, he landed in the net below and was able to finish in second place. For at least some series (around 1986–88), the fastest man and fastest woman on the assault course received a special trophy. Winners include Barbara Murray and Stuart Worthington (1986), Marian Chanter and Ted Daszkiewicz (1987), and Elizabeth Hayward and Alan Robbie (1988).

The 2009 revival used a new assault course, which only had room for two contestants at a time. The time it took each contestant to complete the course was recorded and revealed when the central part of the show was recorded. Female contestants had 45 seconds deducted from their time. The assault course was again changed for the 2010 version, with all four contestants competing simultaneously.