We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article.

It includes dumbbells, kettlebells, a barbell with weight plates, a pull-up bar, a dip bar, and a bench

YouTuber and calisthenics athlete Stan Browney – or just Browney, as he's known to his 1.86 million followers – has thrown himself into all manner of extreme fitness challenges on his channel. We've seen him exercise for 24 hours straight, tackle the FBI fitness test without any practice, and attempt the notoriously difficult one-rep "impossible push-up".

His prior endeavours all have one thing in common: usually, any gym kit he needs is supplied as standard. Not so with his latest feat, which involved building an entire fully-functioning gym – including dumbbells, kettlebells, a barbell with weight plates, a pull-up bar, a dip bar, and a bench – out of ice. A lot of ice.

To create the frozen training space, Browney contacted Sander Hurkens, who owns an ice museum located 45 kilometres from the North Pole. After getting to grips with the carving tools and different qualities of ice, Browney and Hurkens – who is, by the way, The Netherlands' national ice-carving champion – get to work fitting out the gym in what looks like the world’s biggest freezer, chilled to a cool -10 degrees celsius.

"[The museum's carving team] had clearly accepted the challenge from the email and went for it 110 per cent," says Browney of the sculptures, which have been artfully styled to resemble the real equipment as closely as possible. "Creating the bench, the dumbbells, the plates, the bars, that's not done in a few minutes. They had put in days of work before our arrival."

A post shared by Browney (@stanbrowney)

With the gym equipment assembled, there's only one thing left to do: train. "I really don't want to break stuff," says Browney. "Is this gym actually useable?". Picking up a set of 5kg dumbbells, he begins curling the sleek – and totally see-through – sculptures. "These are amazing," he says.

After handling a hefty 20kg kettlebell, Browney takes to the bench. "Let's give it a try – a real rep," he says. With the museum team spotting him, he manages a full bar-to-chest rep with the icy barbell. The challenge comes with the pull-up bar, which suffers a crack mid-rep. Thankfully, the dip bar fares better, and with an L-sit, the workout is complete.