BUD/S Preparation

The Physical Screening Test (PST) is the standardized fitness assessment used by Naval Special Warfare to evaluate candidates for SEAL training. It measures performance across five events: 500-yard swim, push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, and a 1.5-mile run, each with minimum and competitive score thresholds.

Progressive overload is the training principle of gradually increasing the demands placed on the body over time. In the NSW preparation program, progressive overload is applied systematically: cardio distances grow week over week, calisthenics rep targets scale with PST performance, and strength training loads increase as the candidate adapts.

Naval Special Warfare (NSW) is the United States Navy component responsible for SEAL teams and Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen (SWCC). NSW publishes the Physical Training Guide that forms the basis of BUD/S preparation programs, establishing the standards and training methodologies candidates should follow before entering the selection pipeline.

Long Slow Distance (LSD) training is a cardio methodology that emphasizes sustained, moderate-intensity effort over extended durations. In BUD/S preparation, LSD sessions build the aerobic base required for long swims, runs, and the prolonged physical output demanded throughout SEAL selection.

Hell Week is the fourth week of First Phase at BUD/S, the five-and-a-half-day stretch the Navy calls the course's crucible event. A class goes into it after three weeks of increasingly hard physical evolutions and comes out of it either still in the class or gone from the pipeline.

First Phase is the seven-week opening block of BUD/S, the phase that selects and prepares candidates physically and psychologically for the rest of the pipeline. It holds Hell Week, and it is where most of a BUD/S class is lost.