Workout

“The difference between combat and sport is that in combat you
bury the guy who comes in second.”
Unidentified Navy SEAL on the Discovery Channel’s “U.S. Navy SEALs II” 1999

For SEALs, and other military professionals, Physical Training (PT) takes on a very different perspective than what is commonly found at your local gym.  Because SEALs train for mission related performance, the objective for every workout is elite fitness, validated by the ability to perform every task at the level necessary to accomplish any mission – no matter what.  What does that mean?  It means that training must be comprised of broad and inclusive, constantly varied functional movements that are performed at high intensity in order to prepare for the unknown.

In every category of training, SEALs operate at the razor sharp tip of the spear where there is no room for error.  For this reason, only the best training methods are used at BUD/S, SQT, and in operational platoons to equip America’s elite.  Until relatively recently the physical training program consisted almost exclusively of push ups, sit ups, pull ups, running, and swimming.  In the past few years, however, a growing insurgency of the core strength and conditioning program, CrossFit, has emerged to the extent that it is utilized in every phase of BUD/S and SQT, and within the SEAL Teams as an integral component of the PT program.

Three standards for fitness

• Ten general physical skills
• Ability to perform a broad range of mission related tasks
• Efficiency of energy systems

Ten General Physical Skills are cardiovascular and respiratory endurance...

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