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Michelle Khare Takes the Navy SEAL Physical Screening Test: Failing Cold, Then Passing After 15 Weeks

Michelle Khare · ▶ 20:24 · 10 min read
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Overview

On this episode of Challenge Accepted, Michelle Khare attempts the Navy SEAL Physical Screening Test (PST) with no prior training. The PST is the basic exam a candidate must pass before going any further toward becoming a SEAL. Her first attempt shows which parts of her existing fitness carry over and which don't. After that, she trains specifically for the test and tries again.

10 min read
0:38

The Proctor and the Format

The test is run by Austen Alexander, a YouTuber known for putting people "through the ringer" at the Battle Bunker. Austen is clear that they are not a SEAL or an Army Ranger. They spent seven years in the Navy as a Master-at-Arms and have administered this test multiple times, both in the Navy and in their spare time with Marines and Air Force members.

The PST has five events, done in order with short, timed rests between them:

  1. A 500-yard swim, using breaststroke or combat sidestroke, with a passing time of 12:30
  2. Push-ups: at least 50 in two minutes
  3. Sit-ups: at least 50 in two minutes
  4. Pull-ups: at least 10
  5. A 1.5-mile run, with a cutoff of 10:30

Austen stresses that the events build on each other. A strong early performance does not guarantee anything later, because "these taxing evolutions build up on you."

1:45

First Attempt: The Swim

Two people join Michelle at the pool. Jack, an active-duty sailor, takes the test beside her. Marcus, an Olympic swimmer with several world records, swims alongside for safety. Marcus taught Michelle the combat sidestroke just moments before the start.

As she swims, Austen comments on her technique. She is taking nine or ten strokes per length of the pool, which burns more energy than necessary. Austen wants four to six. Austen also notices that she is surfacing sooner than she should, a sign that her heart rate is climbing and she is "fighting for that oxygen." Austen's advice is slower, more consistent movement and controlling her heart rate. Michelle later says that the first time she took a swim test with proctors watching, the pressure created a mental block and it went badly. She points to her earlier lifeguarding video, in which she failed every test.

She finishes in 11:10, well under the 12:30 standard. She says she didn't expect to pass anything that day, least of all the swim.

3:40

First Attempt: Push-ups and Sit-ups

For push-ups, Austen demands strict form. Each rep starts in the up position, goes down a little past 90 degrees, and comes back up. Anything shallower doesn't count. Michelle rests in the up position when she needs to, and Austen tells her more than once to go lower. As time runs out she reaches 53, but Austen counts 52 because she didn't lock out the last rep. Michelle notes that the same thing happened to her on the FBI test. Either way, 52 clears the minimum.

The sit-up standard is just as specific. Thumbs rest on the clavicles and hands on the shoulders. The shoulder blades must touch the deck on every rep, and on the way up the elbows have to reach somewhere between the top of the knee and three inches below it. Michelle is surprised by how precise the rule is. She keeps going without resting, passes 50 at around the one-minute mark, and finishes with 73 reps.

6:51

First Attempt: Pull-ups

Michelle calls the pull-ups the event she's most nervous about, and Austen agrees that "this one gets a lot of people." Austen explains the rules. An underhand grip is a chin-up and doesn't count; the grip must be overhand, though any width is allowed. Each rep starts from a full lockout at the bottom and finishes with the chin above the bar. Kipping is not allowed, so the work has to come from the lats, biceps, and forearms.

She gets three clean reps. On the fourth she starts to kip and gets a warning, and then she can't complete another. Four reps falls well short of the minimum of 10. Austen points out that she wasn't fresh, since the swim had already tired her lats. Michelle reflects on how much harder strict pull-ups are: a little body swing makes it easy to get up, but once all the momentum is removed it becomes "a completely different beast."

8:27

First Attempt: The Run

Michelle says the 1.5-mile run, about 5.8 laps of the track, worries her for a different reason. Many of her viewers know her from running a marathon and will assume this is easy, but she hasn't been running for the past year. Austen tells her that "you don't know when you have peaked as an athlete," so she should always give full effort. Austen also says the mind is the biggest challenge on the run, because the body can handle it.

She starts fast, and Austen wants her to save some energy. Her splits are 1:28 at one-sixth of the distance and 3:31 at one-third. By the halfway point, around 5:27, she is falling slightly behind the cutoff pace, so Austen joins her for the last two laps to pace her toward 10:29 or 10:30. She finishes in 11:20, 50 seconds over the cutoff.

Austen points out that many people drop out during the swim or the run, and she completed every event. Michelle is still frustrated. She says she feels she could have made it, and that it's hard to accept she ran a full marathon at a faster pace than this mile and a half.

10:56

Deciding to Train for a Retest

Michelle later calls Austen and asks whether a few weeks of training would be enough to pass the whole test. Austen's estimate is four to six weeks of daily, focused training with high goals, and they say they have no doubt she could pass. She already exercises and lifts weights five days a week. Austen suggests she keep that routine and add different variations of running and pull-ups to her weekly schedule.

She asks whether it's worth it, since she could do all the training and still fail. Austen agrees that failure is always possible but says people wouldn't look up to her if she only took on easy challenges. Austen's advice: "Don't think about failure. Think about completing the mission."

11:48

Progress During Training

Training clips show her improving. In one session she does eight pull-ups in a row, the most she has ever done. She acknowledges that it's still below the standard but says she feels her work is finally paying off. Austen says her back and biceps look noticeably more toned. In a training run she covers the 1.5 miles in 9:54, which would have passed the cutoff.

The retest takes place at the historic Plunge pool in San Diego. Michelle says she trained for 15 weeks in total, far longer than Austen's original estimate. Pull-ups are still what she fears most. Every time she has attempted the workout, she says, the tenth rep is the one that "messes with" her. Austen describes this as a mental barrier, like the fourth or fifth plate on a deadlift, and notes that she started at three pull-ups. Before the swim Austen tells her not to let anxiety build up, and to take deep breaths, because "oxygen is free."

13:18

Retest: Swim, Push-ups, and Sit-ups

Austen explains that during training, Michelle usually got winded around the fifth or sixth lap, which could get into her head, slow her down, and break her stroke. In the retest she swims the 10 laps in 10:02, just over a minute per lap, her fastest time ever and more than a minute faster than her first attempt.

After a strict 10-minute rest, she does push-ups. She reaches exactly 50 with about 20 seconds left and stops there. Austen says this was a sensible choice to save energy for the pull-ups. Austen also addresses viewers who judge push-up form in the comments, saying every rep went to 90 degrees and came fully back up.

For sit-ups, Austen recommends she rest on her back for the two-minute break to recover her core. She reaches 50 at about the one-minute mark and finishes with 63, ten fewer than her first attempt but still well above the minimum.

16:27

Retest: The Pull-ups

Austen sets her target at 12, deliberately above the required 10. Before the attempt, Austen points out an expression Michelle makes that, Austen jokes, looks like a panic attack. Austen tells her to treat it like any other event and take it one rep at a time.

She gets through the first several reps while Austen calls out reminders: keep the legs still, don't sway, keep the chin above the bar. Near the end Austen rejects one rep for kipping and asks for another. Michelle drops off the bar convinced she has failed, but Austen tells her she reached 10.

When they review the footage, Austen reveals they called out "four more" at seven reps even though she only needed three more to pass. Austen knew the mental barrier around the tenth rep was weighing on her and pushed her to aim higher on purpose. In Austen's words, "Sometimes you got to overshoot by a little so you can hit the requirements."

18:24

Retest: The Run

The run is the event she failed the first time. Austen runs alongside to pace her and aims for about 9:40, well under the 10:30 cutoff. Michelle points out that they've never run that fast in training. Austen tells her the hardest parts are behind her. She finishes in 9:50, just short of the 9:40 goal but 40 seconds under the cutoff. She says she feels like she's going to pass out.

19:40

The Outcome

With the run done, Michelle has passed all five events. She thanks Austen for sticking with her through 15 weeks of training. Austen notes that the day's swim, pull-ups, and run were all her best results and credits adrenaline for part of it. Austen closes by saying that many people start things and never finish, and they're glad she did.

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