The Assessment

SEALs getting it done in tough conditions

I am certainly not a Navy SEAL.  I have never been one and unfortunately, I think I am too old to ever become one now.  I have had the very good fortune to train with some of the Team Guys in SealFit Kokoro, my SealFit Level 1 certification, my Goruck Selection and a few other times.  Each time, I have learned alot and developed a deeper respect for these individuals. I will also say that I have had the good fortune to train with other Special Operators such as Rangers, Green Berets, MARSOC, Marines and others.  All of these guys have my ultimate respect.  They are highly trained, physically extraordinary, operate with extreme discipline and are always seeking excellence.  I have simply had more exposure to the SEALs through my reading and through SEALFIT.  All special operators are extraordinary and many have minimum standards that far exceed anything I am about to write about.  The assessment I am going to describe would be the absolute bare minimum that someone would have to have to show up to training and if you were barely meeting these standards, you better be ready for some serious pain.  The guys who make it far exceed most of the standards listed.

I am a 48 year old guy who has never been in the military.  I train regularly and use these standards to test myself and stay in relatively good condition.  With that being said, here is the Assessment.

SealFit has an Assessment which provides standards that we can strive for to excel at any task in air, land or water.  The standards are aggressive and paint a picture of a very fit person who would be extremely capable. 

Navy Seal, Josh Bridges is among the fittest humans on Earth

The real SEALs will far exceed these standards in most categories.  For those of us who are not SEALs, will never be a SEAL but respect the dedication, durability, and overall athletic standards to which these people are held (this describes me), this assessment provides some excellent goals to strive for. 

When completing this assessment, it requires planning and training.  It is certainly not something that I can do in a day.  Rather, I plan on fully completing the full Assessment by the end of September.  Even this is fairly aggressive with my travel schedule, however, I have invited my friends to do it with me.

The Assessment calls for max efforts in the major lifts to determine Functional Strength or the ability to do hard, heavy work (BW=bodyweight.  1.0=1x bodyweight, 1.5=1.5xbodyweight etc...)

Front Squat Men 1.5BW / Women 1.0BW

Deadlift Men 2.0BW / Women 1.5BW

Press Men 1.0BW / Women .75BW

Bench Press Men 1.5BW / Women 1.0BW

Squat Clean Men 1.25BW / Women 1.0BW

Clean & JerkMen 1.0BW / Women .75BW

then it tests Strength Stamina: Overcoming resistance repetitively with efficiency over time

BW Squat > 120 in 2 minutes All the way down on every rep

BW Push-up > 100 in 2 minutes Full range of motion

BW Pull-up > 20 in 2 minutes Full ROM / Kipping allowed

BW Sit-up > 100 in 2 minutes Full ROM / Abmat allowed

The next section is Functional Endurance: Developing functional LSD competencies in the water, air and land

Run 1.5 Miles in 9:00 minutes

Run 3.0 Miles in 20:00 minutes

Run 6.0 Miles in 45:00 minutes

Run 14 miles to completion

Ruck 26 Miles with 40# Ruck

Swim 500 Meters in 8:00 minutes

Swim 1 Mile in 35:00 minutes

Row 2,000 Meters in 7:45 minutes

Row 5,000 Meters in 20:00 minutes

And finally, they test Power and Speed: Overcoming resistance explosively

Row 500 Meters for time Target 1:30

Thrusters Max in 1 Minute (95#M/65#W) Target 30

Box Jumps Max in 1 Minute (20" box) Target 45

Run 400 Meters for time Target 1.25

Burpees Max in 1 Minute Target 15

Most of these can be completed during normal morning workouts, but things like the swims, 26 mile ruck, 14 mile run will have to be done on a Saturday or Sunday.  I fully expect that we may try some of these more than once, but I have set the end of Sept as the date that it will all be complete. 

I have sent an email to my group of regulars, but if you are reading this and want to complete this with us, shoot me an email at Permitfly4@aol.com and I can send you an Excel or Numbers file that will populate the goals based upon your bodyweight.

Here is my previous post on the Assessment

The Assessment

Here at the RRL, we try to train the whole athlete; mind and body.  We really strive to be a complete athlete devoid of major weakness, ready to do anything, capable of anything and therefore, more useful to our family, our friends and the world in general.  This seems like a simple task right?  Just stay in shape and you will be ok.

But when we strive to train for this kind of condition, we have to continually train the mind, fuel the body properly and train the body toward the goals of having no glaring weakness.  For this we need to keep a list of standards handy and strive to be up to these standards at all times.

In my opinion, a useful person should be strong, capable of moving large loads over long distances at a moments notice, capable of running quickly for short distances and also capable of running 15 miles at any time without significant issues or injuries.  Additionally, we should not be out of the water for long periods of time and swimming should be a skill that we are comfortable with and ready for at any time. Athletes should be durable, flexible and ready at all times.

There are many standards that we could measure ourselves against, but the one that I have seen that is the closest to what I envision and strive for is the SealFit Assessment.  It looks like this:

This assessment measures strength under the bar, bodyweight strength and endurance, Rucking, Running at all distances, Swimming, and Rowing.  What it doesn't measure is flexibility, mobility, mental toughness or nutritional standards. 

This is an excellent list of standards that is achievable.  Meeting the minimum requirements on this list will not make you a super athlete or even capable of winning a local event, but it will make sure that you are durable, capable and useful. Nothing here is an amazing accomplishment on its own, however, having ALL of these standards makes for a pretty well rounded person. 

So, how do we possibly train for all of these things at the same time?  That can be a difficult question depending on your current condition.  If you are a couch potato, you need to work on all of these things at once. Maybe a distance runner can easily meet all the running standards, but may not be able to backsquat his own body weight.  We have to assess then attack our weakness.

I like to keep this list as a living document and constantly put in challenges as either the days workout or a finisher.  Keep track of each and start completing the blanks on this list.  When complete, you will see where there are glaring weaknesses. 

The trick to improving your scores in certain areas is to put focus and time towards them, but we have to be careful that we do not let the other areas slip.  For example, if you can easily hit all the weight lifting numbers and are close on the bodyweight numbers, but your running and swimming is off the chart horrible, then you obviously need alot of time there.  However, don't spend so much time trying to improve your running and swimming that you leave the others completely. 

In my case, I am close to or exceeding the standards in most categories, but there are still some that I am not happy with or that are far enough below the standard that I see that they need attention.  When I put focus on distance running or making sure that I can ruck 26 miles with load, my weightlifting numbers go down.  They do not have to go down much to fall below standard, so I have to walk a delicate line between too much and not enough. 

I find the search for this balance to be an all consuming passion that actually puts alot of balance in my own life.

This assessment is to be a simple measuring stick as to where you are now.  It will show you your strengths and weaknesses and point you in the direction of better fitness.  Dont forget flexibility, mobility mental training and nutrition as these are all equally important to overall health.

Where do you stand?  How are your numbers?