PST Standards: Minimum vs Competitive
PST standards define two thresholds for each of the five Physical Screening Test events: a minimum score that qualifies a candidate to enter the Naval Special Warfare pipeline, and a competitive score that reflects the level successful candidates actually arrive with. The gap between the two is the target of the 26-week preparation program.
How the PST Is Run
The PST follows a fixed order with fixed rest. It opens with a timed 500-yard swim using sidestroke or breaststroke, followed by a 10-minute rest. Then come two minutes of push-ups, two minutes of sit-ups, and a single max set of pull-ups from a dead hang, performed back to back with short breaks. After another 10-minute rest the test closes with a timed 1.5-mile run. Every event is scored on its own, and every event uses the strict form the NSW guide describes: chest to right-angle elbows on push-ups, elbows to thighs on sit-ups, chin over the bar with no kipping on pull-ups.
Why Competitive Beats Minimum
Meeting the minimums makes a candidate eligible. It does not make them ready. A 12:30 swim, 50 push-ups, 50 sit-ups, 10 pull-ups, and a 10:30 run clear the bar with nothing to spare, and a single bad day drops the candidate below it. Competitive scores, a sub-9:00 swim, 80-100 push-ups and sit-ups, 15-20 or more pull-ups, and a sub-9:00 run, describe the candidates who arrive at BUD/S with a margin. That margin matters because BUD/S is harder than the test. The guide's own opening advice is to work on the weakest area, and the minimum-to-competitive gap on each event shows where that weakest area is.
How the Program Retests
The NSW guide builds testing into the plan. Week 0 of the workout progression is a timed 1.5-mile run and a timed 500-yard swim, which set the interval paces for running and swimming. For calisthenics, the guide asks for a max set roughly once a week to track progress and assign the correct training bracket. A full PST every 4-6 weeks, taken as a max-effort event, ties the pieces together: the run and swim times reset the interval pace tables, and the push-up, sit-up, and pull-up maxes move the candidate between progression brackets. Testing is what keeps the training calibrated to the person doing it.
PST minimum and competitive standards
| Event | Minimum | Competitive |
|---|---|---|
| 500-yard swim | 12:30 | Under 9:00 |
| Push-ups (2 minutes) | 50 | 80-100 |
| Sit-ups (2 minutes) | 50 | 80-100 |
| Pull-ups (max set) | 10 | 15-20+ |
| 1.5-mile run | 10:30 | Under 9:00 |
Write down both columns and circle the event where you are furthest from competitive. That event gets the extra hour this week, not the one you like.
Related Terms
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.
The 500-yard swim is the first event of the Physical Screening Test (PST) and measures a candidate's aquatic endurance. Performed using either the combat sidestroke (CSS) or breaststroke, it tests the sustained swimming capacity required for BUD/S water-based evolutions.
The 1.5-mile run is the final event of the Physical Screening Test (PST) and measures a candidate's running speed and cardiovascular endurance. Performed after the swim and calisthenics events, it tests the ability to produce a fast run effort on fatigued legs — a skill directly relevant to BUD/S demands.
Push-ups are a foundational upper-body calisthenics exercise and one of the five scored events in the Physical Screening Test (PST). In BUD/S preparation, push-up training follows a progressive volume approach where daily targets scale based on the candidate's most recent PST max.
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