U.S. Navy has implemented new gender-neutral fitness evaluation standards for the storied SEALs and other combat occupations.The combat fitness test includes swimming, pushups, pullups and a timed mile run.The Defense Department also introduced body composition requirements for all in uniform.<\/p>\n
Maybe you know a guy at the gym or from the neighborhood basketball courts who is certain that he (or maybe she) is fit enough to be a Navy SEAL?<\/p>\n
Now they can prove it.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Navy recently introduced new gender-neutral fitness evaluation standards for its combat arms occupations<\/a>, such as SEAL and explosive ordnance disposal members.<\/p>\n No surprise, the physical fitness tests for special operations sailors includes plenty of pushups, pullups, distance running and a timed swimming component.<\/p>\n The Navy\u2019s updated policies and fitness testing guide follows a recent memo on military fitness standards from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cMy goal is unmistakable: our core fighting formations must not just meet the standard \u2014 they must embody it,\u201d wrote Hegseth.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need high, uncompromising, sex-neutral standards rooted in combat effectiveness. Every warfighter must be held to the same rigorous expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n Combat arms personnel such as Navy SEALs (which stands for Sea, Air and Land) will be required to take two physical tests each year. One includes a body compositions assessment and the Navy\u2019s standard PRT, or physical readiness test.<\/p>\n The other will include a CFT, or combat fitness test.<\/p>\n The SEAL combat fitness test<\/p>\n The Navy\u2019s combat fitness test includes four fitness components (swimming, pushups, pullups and distance running), all completed during a single evaluation session.<\/p>\n For the swimming event, sailors complete a timed 800-meter swim conducted in a pool \u2014 although a senior officer may choose to conduct the swim in open water.<\/p>\n The sailors are required to wear swim fins \u2014 and no diving starts allowed.<\/p>\n Following a 10-minute rest period after the 800-meter swim, participants move to the pushup event.<\/p>\n The directions are fairly simple: Perform as many proper pushups as possible in two minutes \u2014 while wearing a 20-pound weight vest.<\/p>\n Then the sailors can enjoy a two minute rest before moving on to the pullups event.<\/p>\n No need to shed the 20-pound weight vest. It\u2019s also required for the pullups.<\/p>\n Sailors then perform as many proper pullups as they can. There\u2019s no time limit, but the event ends once a candidate dismounts the horizontal pullup bar.<\/p>\n Then after a 10-minute rest, it\u2019s on to the final event \u2014 a timed mile-run on a firm, flat surface.<\/p>\n And, yes, keep the 20-pound weight vest on. It\u2019s to be worn throughout the mile run.<\/p>\n Maximum\/minimum scoring on the SEAL fitness test<\/p>\n All Navy combat arms personnel, including SEALs, are required to pass the \u201csex-neutral, age-adjusted\u201d combat fitness test with a minimum passing score for all events.<\/p>\n A sailor who falls a second short in, say, the swim test fails the overall test \u2014 even if that same sailor sets a base record in the pullups and pushups events.<\/p>\n So what\u2019s classified as maximum \u2014 and minimum \u2014 event scores in the combat fitness test, according to the new evaluation standards?<\/p>\n For SEAL or other special warfare combatants \u2014 ages 17-24 \u2014 a swim time of 11:20, 54 weighted pushups in two minutes, 21 weighted pullups and a weighted mile-run time of 8 minutes secures a top test score.<\/p>\n And the minimum numbers to pass the combat fitness test for that same age group? A swim time of 17:30, 30 weighted push-ups, 10 weighted pullups and a weighted mile-run time of 13 minutes.<\/p>\n All troops: Meet \u2018waist-to-height ratio\u2019 limits<\/p>\n But even American military personnel who are not part of the Navy\u2019s SEAL or special combat operations communities are expected, in Hegseth\u2019s own words, to be \u201cfit \u2014 not fat.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n