Navy SEAL Fitness Challenge Training Tips


  1. Proper planning is the key to any successful workout program.  Before starting an exercise regimen, do your homework.  Plan your workouts and keep notes of your progress.  Taking notes helps with self-discipline and can help you avoid burnout.
  2. Warm up and cool down periods offer important health benefits that often go overlooked.  Before you begin training, take a few minutes to stretch and perform low intensity exercises.  Warming up boosts your body’s metabolism preparing it to expend stored energy.  Cooling down helps you return to baseline and eliminates metabolic waste products from your body.  Warm up and cool down periods help reduce injury.
  3. Physical fitness is about more than raw strength, it is also about flexibility and preventing injury.  As part of your workout program it is vital to protect tendons and ligaments with regular stretching.  Stretching provides a greater range of motion by strengthening and lengthening connective tissues.
  4. When planning your workout, remember to work big muscle groups before smaller muscle groups.  Here’s why: bigger muscles rely on smaller muscles for maximum lifting power.  For optimal strength benefits, train big groups like lats and quads before small groups like biceps or calves.
  5. You can’t get in shape overnight, but when starting an exercise regimen it is tempting to do too much too fast.  The key is to increase your strength and endurance gradually.  Increase the time and volume of your workout to no more than 5-10% each week.  Remember overtraining can lead to burnout and injury.
  6. A proper diet is essential to staying in shape and it is easy to enhance your physical health without taking nutritional supplements.  Taking large amounts of supplements is potentially unsafe.  Stay in shape without supplements by following a diet rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables and lean protein.
  7. You can increase strength and endurance by doing multiple sets of several difference exercises.  Do 8-12 controlled reps of each exercise and move quickly to the next one.  Shorter, high-intensity workouts are time efficient and prevent burnout.
  8. It is really important to develop muscular endurance.  Endurance is best achieved through cardio and strength training.  Basic strength training can be accomplished by a regimen of sit-ups, push-ups and pull-ups. Do these exercises 3-5 times per week.  Do several sets of each exercise while alternating between them with a 60 second rest between each set. In no time at all you will start to see results!
  9. CHI or Continuous High Intensity Training (CHI) is more commonly known as anaerobic training.  CHI is about pushing your body to the max.  During a CHI workout you should try to maintain 90-95% effort for about 15-20 mins.  CHI intervals can be done while running, swimming or weight training.
  10. During any strength training regimen, it is important to focus on progressive resistance.  Progressive resistance means increasing the demands on your muscles over time.  Begin your lifting cycle with a low weight and high reps, then progress to a high weight at a lower reps.
  11. Explosive Training.  The idea is to enhance strength with explosive motion during weight training.  Explosive motion can be achieved by increasing the speed of your reps. Focus on rapidly accelerating the weight along its range of motion.  Remember to warm up thoroughly to prevent injury.  Explosive training for explosive power.
  12. Big biceps and triceps can make you look menacing but when it comes to real fitness core strength and endurance is where it’s at.  To get in great shape, you must condition your back, abdominal and chest muscles.  It all begins with a consistent regimen of controlled isolated exercise such as push-ups, sit-ups and crunches.
  13. When it comes to getting in shape, overtraining can cause burnout, fatigue and unnecessary injury.  Plan your workouts wisely.  When initially starting a workout routine, schedule exercises such as swimming, running and strength training on different days to avoid fatigue.  But once you have gained a satisfactory level of fitness you can begin to combine these activities on the same day.
  14. Interval training can improve your performance while long distance running.  Try to increase your speed over short intervals of time.  Want to improve your 1mile time?  Run four-quarter miles at a much faster pace.  Run 3-5 times per week concentrating on more than just that 1 mile length.  Work yourself up to 5-6 miles without stopping.
  15. Long slow-distance training is a technique used by the Navy SEALs to develop muscle endurance.  Try jogging or swimming at a slow to moderate pace for 30 minutes or more.  The goal is to burn calories continuously without losing your breath.
  16. Most people think of weight training as a way to build big muscles.  Did you know that weight training also decreases your resting blood pressure?  A moderate exercise program can improve your heart rate and reduce fatty acids in the blood.  When you are in shape you also burn more calories at rest.
  17. A repetitive routine can lead to burnout.  It is important to change up your regimen once in awhile.  Varying your exercises also leads to muscle strength which is the ultimate goal of any training program.
  18. It is tempting to focus on exercises that come easy to us.  But remember, if a challenge is easy—it’s no challenge at all.  So, challenge yourself by focusing on muscle groups that need the most work.  If are not strong in one area that’s all the more reason to give it more attention.
  19. Self discipline just isn’t enough.  That is when a good training partner comes in handy.  Training partners provide coaching, assistance and motivation and they break up the monotony of the exercise routine.  If you need extra motivation, find a training partner—you’ll be surprised how much of a difference it makes! 



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