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Military Matters

By John Fink

Think You’re Fit? Try to Keep up with These Guys!

Chief Stephen Nave, physical training program manager at the Navy’s Special Warfare Command in Coronado, says that some students in the Basic Under-water Demolition Course start the program in “average” physical condition. Nobody finishes it that way.

Three phases of training over the course of 26 weeks turn physically average sailors into the exceptional warriors known as Navy SeALs, able to operate on Sea, Air and Land. It’s a grueling regimen, and the results are undeniable.

In all fairness, new BUDs students are in much better shape than most folks. Many of them are just “average” in the eyes of the military, which requires all of its members to stay in good shape. Wonder how you stack up? You meet the minimum physical fitness requirement if you can:

•Swim 500 yards using breast and/or sidestroke in less than 12 minutes, 30 seconds.

• Take a 10-minute rest.

• Do 42 push-ups in two minutes.

• Take a two-minute rest.

• Do 50 sit-ups in two minutes.

• Take a two-minute rest.

• Do six pull-ups with no time limit.

• Take a 10-minute rest.

• Run 11/2 miles wearing boots and long pants in less than 11 minutes, 30 seconds.

Do that, and you may be able to start BUDs training. Finishing the program is a completely different matter. Some kind of physical training is scheduled for every day of the 26-week course. Nave, who’s in charge of the PT, also owns Team Fit, a personal training, nutrition and lifestyle coaching business. So take note, civilians.

“We start with the end in mind,” Nave says. “We work backwards with our physical training progression.”

The BUDs PT regimen was overhauled last year to add more variety and avoid pattern overload, which is what happens when an exercise is repeated so many times that the body no longer reacts to it as strongly as it once did. Hammer Strength-brand weightlifting machines by Life Fitness are used in BUDs training because they are designed to add progressive resistance to functional movements like lunging, pulling, pushing, squatting, pressing and rotating, Nave says.

Bodybuilders may have reasons to lift weights in predictable, linear ways, but SeALs need to build their muscles to do practical things like carry weapons and equipment. And one plane of resistance is almost always the ground, explaining why most Hammer Strength exercises start from an aggressive stance rather than, say, a prone position on a bench.

Additional weight training comes from using free weights like dumbbells in novel ways, such as lifting while lying atop a Swiss ball. Generically nicknamed because many of them are manufactured in Switzerland, Swiss balls are like small medicine balls that can take the place of a conventional weightlifting bench. Doing butterfly lifts with dumbbells atop a soft, vinyl ball stresses stability in a way that a solid bench never could.

“Dumbbells are awesome and medicine balls are incredible,” the chief says, referring to the huge inflatable balls that most of us haven’t used since gym class. “Most people need to make their muscles work as a functional unit so they can operate better in their world.”

That’s a 360-degree world. Lifting a weight up and down on a fixed set of rails, as on most gym machines, doesn’t replicate anything you’re likely to encounter in real life. Free weights are better than most machines, except if you’re recovering from an injury and need the extra margin of safety, Nave says. Free weights work
stabilizing muscles and provide a more-rounded workout that helps to prevent muscle imbalance, or having a few muscles that are much better-developed than others.

“We also do a lot of swimming training, because that’s the weakness of most of the guys who come here,” Nave says. “Swimming is an excellent overall body conditioner and it’s great for people who have impact issues. The pool is also a great rehab modality for people who need just a little resistance, like after surgery or an injury.”

BUDs students work their core muscles heavily, doing exercises to work their abdominals and lower back, both of which are critical to operating in the 360-degree world.

During their training BUDs students are required to, among other things, complete a 51/2-mile swim and a 14-mile run. In order to graduate they must:

• Hike 12 miles with a 45-pound backpack

• Swim one mile in the ocean in full camouflage gear

• Sprint 500 yards

• Climb a 30-foot rope while carrying 25 pounds of gear

• Finish in four hours

Old-fashioned PT still has a place in SeAL training. Could the military really live without push-ups? Sets of 20 rapidly grow into sets of 50, and students can expect to do at least a dozen sets in a typical day.

“The number of sets is instructor-dependent,” Nave says with a straight face. “It could be a lot.”


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