- 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.
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?
Now they can prove it.
The U.S. Navy recently introduced new gender-neutral fitness evaluation standards for its combat arms occupations, such as SEAL and explosive ordnance disposal members.
No surprise, the physical fitness tests for special operations sailors includes plenty of pushups, pullups, distance running and a timed swimming component.
The Navy’s updated policies and fitness testing guide follows a recent memo on military fitness standards from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“My goal is unmistakable: our core fighting formations must not just meet the standard — they must embody it,” wrote Hegseth.
“We need high, uncompromising, sex-neutral standards rooted in combat effectiveness. Every warfighter must be held to the same rigorous expectations.”
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’s standard PRT, or physical readiness test.
The other will include a CFT, or combat fitness test.
The SEAL combat fitness test
The Navy’s combat fitness test includes four fitness components (swimming, pushups, pullups and distance running), all completed during a single evaluation session.
For the swimming event, sailors complete a timed 800-meter swim conducted in a pool — although a senior officer may choose to conduct the swim in open water.
The sailors are required to wear swim fins — and no diving starts allowed.
Following a 10-minute rest period after the 800-meter swim, participants move to the pushup event.
The directions are fairly simple: Perform as many proper pushups as possible in two minutes — while wearing a 20-pound weight vest.
Then the sailors can enjoy a two minute rest before moving on to the pullups event.
No need to shed the 20-pound weight vest. It’s also required for the pullups.
Sailors then perform as many proper pullups as they can. There’s no time limit, but the event ends once a candidate dismounts the horizontal pullup bar.
Then after a 10-minute rest, it’s on to the final event — a timed mile-run on a firm, flat surface.
And, yes, keep the 20-pound weight vest on. It’s to be worn throughout the mile run.
Maximum/minimum scoring on the SEAL fitness test
All Navy combat arms personnel, including SEALs, are required to pass the “sex-neutral, age-adjusted” combat fitness test with a minimum passing score for all events.
A sailor who falls a second short in, say, the swim test fails the overall test — even if that same sailor sets a base record in the pullups and pushups events.
So what’s classified as maximum — and minimum — event scores in the combat fitness test, according to the new evaluation standards?
For SEAL or other special warfare combatants — ages 17-24 — 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.
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.
All troops: Meet ‘waist-to-height ratio’ limits
But even American military personnel who are not part of the Navy’s SEAL or special combat operations communities are expected, in Hegseth’s own words, to be “fit — not fat.”
A recent DOD memo implemented the use of a waist-to-height ratio to evaluate body composition of troops in all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces.
“Height and weight tables will no longer be utilized to evaluate body composition,” noted a memo signed by Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel Anthony Tata.
“Body composition evaluation will align with medically validated, streamlined approaches, using (waist-to-height) to promote consistency and fairness across the Joint Force.”
Body composition, added the memo, is a vital component for the “warrior ethos and foundational to lethality and readiness.” The upper waist-to-height ratio limit for military service body composition policies “shall be less than 0.55.”
Every U.S. service member will have their body composition evaluated twice each year.
Troops with a waist-to-height ratio of 0.55 or above — while also exceeding body fat standards — will be placed in a remedial program and referred to medical authorities.
The maximum body fat standards for men and women will be 26% and 36%, respectively.
“Failure to meet established standards may result in the withholding of favorable personnel actions, including promotions,” the memo warned.
“Continued failure or those not demonstrating adequate progress will be subject to administrative measures to include processing for administrative separation.”