Reference > Navy SEAL Physical Fitness Guide

Anonymous May 27, 2010 at 4:48 am

This is by far the best book of its type I have ever read. I have read or reviewed a variety of books on SEAL training and this one is the best in its explanations of how a person trains to develop those qualities from their body that they want in order to meet their fitness goals. I’m not a SEAL and I am not in the military, but I am impressed with the training that SEAL’s go through in order to develop themselves into the elite warriors that they are. This book tells you how to correctly get yourself into excellent shape and tells you how to do it safely. It offers a balance approach to physical fitness development. The book does not offer much in the way of specific exercise programs like other books on SEAL training do. It offered one, but it takes longer than most lay people will have time to do. However, after reading it you should be able to develop your own program. Of course, the book was not written for me, it was written for SEAL’s, or SEAL’s in training. Exercise programs are part of their jobs, so they have the time to do 2 hours of calisthenics before they run for an hour and after they have been swimming for an hour.

John A. Wielmaker May 27, 2010 at 7:16 am

I have read countless fitness guides and have 20 years experience seriously doing fitness related activities, and in all this time, I have never encountered such a masterful summation of the “truly relevant,” until now.

This guide offers many useful tips that are based on experience and actual physical need. The effort is centered around the principle that the “form must follow the function”–that is, what you do for fitness must follow what you need fitness for in practice. It is no easy matter to bridge the gap between kinesiological research and applied operator fitness training. This “form follows function” orientation should be very helpful even for those who are not members of naval special forces; fitness efforts must be centered on concrete application. Too often, this commonsense truth is forgotten.

What also I found especially striking was the number of times I read a tip and found that I’d learned by experience that was exactly the case. There truly is a lot bottom line information here, and you won’t find any padding or irrelevant material.

In my opinion, this is the best distillation of “the bottom line” as of current fitness research that is available on the market. I heartily commend the MDs who put this guide together, and the operators who shared their experience.

And all for [a good price]!!!!!

Anonymous May 27, 2010 at 7:37 am

Recently, I bought this book to learn new information and to add to my collection. I was a little disappointed, though.
While the chapters are easy to read and clearly delimited, I thought they treated each topic relatively superficially.

The chapter on calisthetics was almost spartan in its variery and descriptions. Likewise weith the weight lifting, swimming and running chapters.
It did a good job of describing how the various missions done by SEALS require different physical activities and what training and exercises to do to prepare for them.
It had a brief overview of supplements and the effectiveness but nothing new.
The workout routines were hardly original or impressive. Stew’s book is better in that area.
I think this book is geared towards a SEAL in active service with little time for training.
I gave my copy to a student who wants to be a SEAL. I’ll stick with Stew Smith and Andrew Flack.

Anonymous May 27, 2010 at 10:35 am

I liked the book, it was a good help designing workouts. I do have to say though, that the swim workouts were a bit corny-this comes from someone who swam NCAA div. I in college. I mean COME ON, nose plugs? Blow bubbles for crying out loud. Other than that brief passage, I was rather impressed. On the other hand, we did get a hearty chuckle over it at the pool, so you could say this book is humorous too.