Tired of your old workout routine? Have you hit a plateau? Are you looking for something new? What if I told you that you could get a muscle shredding workout in just 30 minutes using only your body weight? Curious?  Interested? It is VERY true! OK, OK, relax and forget the Billy Mays routine. I am not going to try and sell you a Sham-Wow or anything for three easy payments of $29.95, and if you act now you are not going to get the Ginsu knives for free either. No, no, I am talking about a quick and easy way to shake up your workout routine.

I am talking about a Navy SEAL workout. What I am about to describe to you is a workout that was thrown in on top of our bi-weekly PT (Physical Training) program when I was in basic fire academy.

This workout is not for the faint of heart, but is a great challenge for those that are looking to push themselves. It's incredibly simple in design, consisting of only 3 exercises: Pull-ups, Push-ups and Sit-ups. That said, it's also easy to modify by doing weight assisted pull-ups, push-ups from the knees, crunches on a BOSU etc., etc.  If you want to give it a go but aren’t sure how to modify it, let us know. We would be happy to help you out!  However, the traditional version is full blown pull-ups, push-ups and sit-ups. Set a stop watch, 'cause all you get is 30 minutes. You can go as fast or as slow as you like, take breaks, whatever, but you only get 30 minutes to complete the entire workout.  Sounds simple enough, right?

So, here is how it works. The first set is:  1 pull-up, 3 push-ups and 5 sit-ups. Now for every set you do, you multiply the set number you are on by 1 for the number of pull-ups in that set, 3 for the number of push-ups and 5 for the number of sit-ups in that set.  Let’s show you in table form, shall we?  That might clear up the fuzzy math.
 

Sets	Pull-ups	Push-ups	Sit-ups
1	1	3	5
2	2	6	10
3	3	9	15
4	4	12	20
5	5	15	25
6	6	18	30
7	7	21	35
8	8	24	40
9	9	27	45
10	10	30	50

Now before you say to yourself, "that doesn’t look that bad," realize that in 30 minutes you don’t just go from set 1-10. Oh no my friends, in order to finish this workout you have 30 minutes to go from set 1-10 and then back down to 1!  Are you up for the challenge?

So, in case you were wondering if this actually is a Navy SEAL workout (like I was every time I went through it during basic fire academy), I asked a buddy of mine about it who actually earned his trident and served in the SEAL teams. His answer to me when I described the workout to him: “Awww… that’s cute, you did one of our PT warm-up routines.”  

Tim Clark
Fitness Club Manager 
Community Medical Fitness Center 
Email me with your questions and comments!