Navy SEAL Fitness Test Minimums and PST Order

The Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) fitness test is the Physical Screening Test (PST) used for SEAL and Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewman (SWCC) candidates. We run the panel, a physician reads it, and we re-test every three to four months, so a medical baseline can be compared with your PST record. The Navy SEAL fitness test includes a timed swim, push-ups, curl-ups, pull-ups, and a timed run in a fixed order. Official minimums establish the entry floor. Your preparation should build enough capacity to perform the full sequence while keeping the required rest periods unchanged.¹

Official Navy SEAL PST Sequence

The official Navy SEAL PST follows a fixed sequence with prescribed rest periods. MILPERSMAN 1220-410, Change 77, dated December 3, 2021, lists the following order:¹

1. 500-yard swim
2. 10-minute rest
3. Maximum push-ups in 2 minutes
4. 2-minute rest
5. Maximum curl-ups in 2 minutes
6. 2-minute rest
7. Maximum pull-ups with no time limit
8. 10-minute rest
9. 1.5-mile run

Train the events in the order you will be tested. This gives you a baseline that reflects the complete PST instead of five separate performances under different conditions.

The swim is a timed 500-yard or 450-meter event. SEAL and SWCC candidates must use the sidestroke or breaststroke, with no overhand recovery.¹ Your swim preparation should therefore use the permitted strokes and the official distance.

The push-up and curl-up events each last two minutes. Pull-ups have no time limit. The run begins after the final 10-minute rest.¹ Keep those intervals consistent when you record a practice PST so you can compare one complete attempt with another.

Keep a dated record of each complete attempt, including every event result and the training completed between tests. The trend across repeated attempts gives you more information than one PST score.

Navy SEAL PST Minimums

The Navy SEAL PST minimums differ from the SWCC minimums in the swim, pull-up, and run events. Both candidate groups have the same minimums for push-ups and curl-ups.¹

Each minimum applies to one part of the complete screening test. A strong result in one event does not change the published minimum for another event.¹ Record all five results when you assess your starting point.

MILPERSMAN states that candidates should strive to achieve “significantly more than the minimum standards.”¹ Treat the minimum as the floor and build your preparation around repeatable progress across the full sequence.

The instruction also states that minimum scores are subject to change through the same official medium.¹ Review the current MILPERSMAN 1220-410 document before you rely on any saved table or training note.

Preparation for the Complete PST

A useful PST baseline records the official events in their official order. Separate best efforts can help you track individual events, but the complete sequence shows how your performance changes across the screening test.

Run a measured practice PST under the published order and rest intervals. Record your swim time, calisthenic totals, pull-up total, and run time. Repeat that format each time.

Record training volume and recovery beside each practice PST. A generic program cannot account for your event-by-event trend or recovery history. Use the PST results and the training log together to decide what the next training block changes. Added volume should not be the default response to one low score.

Swim Preparation

Swim preparation should match the published distance and permitted strokes. Practice the 500-yard or 450-meter swim with sidestroke or breaststroke and no overhand recovery.¹

Record your time before beginning the 10-minute rest. Then continue into the calisthenic portion instead of ending the session after the swim. This keeps your practice aligned with the official Navy SEAL fitness test sequence.

Calisthenics Preparation

Calisthenic preparation should reflect the two-minute push-up event, two-minute curl-up event, and untimed pull-up event. Preserve the two-minute rest after push-ups and the two-minute rest after curl-ups.¹

Track each event separately within the complete sequence. If one event remains close to its minimum while the others improve, that event deserves more attention in your training plan. The full set of results gives you a clearer direction than one high score.

Run and Load-Carriage Preparation

The PST run is 1.5 miles and begins after a 10-minute rest following pull-ups.¹ Practice that placement when you assess your complete PST.

The PST itself does not include a ruck march. If your broader military preparation includes load carriage, keep that work separate from your unloaded run sessions.

Human Performance Resources by CHAMP advises limiting ruck marches to one every 10 to 14 days. Its guidance states that recovery from a ruck march can take two to three days and that cardio sessions should be performed unloaded.²

The same guidance recommends building three to four resistance and cardio sessions per week around ruck days for at least four weeks. It also advises against cramming frequent marches immediately before an event.² Use those principles only if load carriage is part of your broader preparation.

Training History Before a Demanding Pipeline

Prior exercise volume is one factor associated with stress-fracture risk in military recruits. Campbell and colleagues reviewed 70 studies involving recruits and qualified military personnel.³

Across the reviewed studies, stress-fracture incidence ranged from 13.7 to 1,713 per 1,000 person-years in recruits. The range among qualified personnel was 2.7 to 56.9 per 1,000 person-years.³ These figures cover military populations generally and do not describe SEAL candidates specifically.

Recruit risk factors included beginning training without at least three exercise sessions per week or seven hours per week during the previous year. The review also identified underweight body mass index, low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D, more than 10 alcoholic drinks per week, prior nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use, and the early high-load weeks of training.³

Your preparation history gives a physician useful context when reviewing your readiness for a demanding pipeline. Build from your measured baseline rather than compressing months of work into the final weeks. Your recovery plan should also account for the training you have already completed. Opt Health’s guide to muscle recovery provides related context.

Sleep and Cognitive Performance Under Training Stress

Lieberman and colleagues studied sleep loss during U.S. Navy SEAL training by testing 68 trainees after 72 hours without sleep.⁴

A separate study by Lieberman and colleagues examined 31 officers from an elite unit during a 53-hour simulated-combat exercise in heat. Participants slept 3.0 hours and lost 4.1 kilograms, mostly water.⁵ Vigilance, reaction time, attention, memory, and reasoning were impaired during that exercise.⁵

The second study involved several conditions at once, including sleep loss, heat, dehydration, and undernutrition. It does not isolate sleep loss as the sole cause of every measured change.⁵ Keep sleep and recovery in your preparation plan, and assess your performance under repeatable PST conditions.

Related Military and Agency Standards

Published entry standards differ by organization and course. The Ranger School requirements page covers the Army’s comparable entry gate.

Related course coverage is available in the SERE School guide. You can also compare the PST with another published agency standard in the CIA physical fitness test guide.

Use each organization’s current source when you compare requirements. A score from one standard does not replace the event minimums published for another.

A Measured Baseline Before Training

Your PST scores show how you perform across five events on one day. A medical baseline answers a different question by giving your physician data to read alongside your health history and training demands.

At Opt Health, that baseline can include 55+ biomarkers spanning hormones, inflammation, cardiovascular risk, and more. Repeat panels and physician consultations every three to four months allow your physician to compare the medical trend with your training record.

A testosterone blood test can form one part of a physician-directed assessment when clinically appropriate. One isolated laboratory value does not describe your full health pattern. Your physician should interpret laboratory findings together and decide whether any follow-up belongs in your plan.

Keep your fitness and medical baselines separate but coordinated. Track the official PST events under repeatable conditions, and let a physician interpret your health data rather than trying to manage a laboratory result yourself.

The Opt Take on Navy SEAL Fitness Test Preparation

Opt Health starts with a physician reading your baseline panel against your health history and training load. The physician builds a personalized plan, then repeats the full panel and consultation every three to four months. Your PST record shows the performance trend during the same period.

Panel results give your physician a broader medical pattern to interpret alongside your recovery history. One laboratory value and one PST attempt each provide limited context on their own.

Keep both records current. Use repeatable PST conditions to track changes across all five events, and use physician-directed panels to track your medical baseline. Keeping both records avoids treating added training volume as the automatic answer to a low score. The paired record also replaces a generic program with a plan built from your numbers and adjusted after reassessment.

Get started: Begin with Opt Health, where a physician reads your labs, builds your plan, and adjusts it over the loop.

Frequently Asked Questions

This content is for informational purposes and does not replace evaluation, diagnosis, or treatment by a qualified medical professional.