SAN DIEGO— The Navy SEALs Workout was uploaded to YouTube eight years ago. Without question it’s the greatest home workout video I have ever watched. It seems like a VHS/DVD from the 1990s possibly but I would rather spend the rest of my days pondering its origin than looking into it. The questionable shorts the instructor is wearing reaffirm that this was filmed in the 20th century.

A pull up bar and a chair is all the equipment you will need to perform this workout. Some form of Parallel bars or a bench would probably work better than a chair.

The video is 49:51 long but depending on rest in between sets the workout probably takes slightly over the hour mark.

The workout starts with a straight forward dynamic warm up. What I like about this warm up is that it is applicable to do before any strenuous exercise. Different variations of jumping jacks is a simple way to increase heart rate. Perhaps many trainers try to be overly clever when comprising workouts but if it’s good enough for the Navy Seals it’s good enough for me.

Eight minutes into the video the business end of the workout starts. This is the pull section of the workout. Multiple variations of pull ups and chin ups underpin this section of the workout. If you cannot do more than three pulls at a time use a resistance band around your knees tied to the bar to assist you. I do sternum pull ups instead of the behind the neck pull ups they use in the video. Something to be mindful of could be that not all variations of the exercises may work for you.

Just after the 14 minute mark the push section of the workout starts. This is where the chair/parallel bars come in. If you struggle doing dips and you are using a chair or bench the more you bend your knees the easier it gets.

Multiple variations of push ups follow in the push section. My personal favourite exercise I do these days because of this workout is the dive bomber push up. At this point of the video you may want to think about pausing it in between sets. The short pause in between exercises in the video is not long enough for me to recover from all those push ups.

25 minutes into the video comes the core section of the workout. Flutter kicks, good morning darlings and the lizard stretch are all enjoyable and tough exercises found in this section. They are combined with different variations of classic sit ups.

The end of the core section of the workout has a number of neck exercises. Those who train for performance or aesthetic reasons often neglect training their neck. When Mike Tyson was the baddest man on the planet he had a rigorous neck routine. Again, I am no expert but there’s got to be a reason why those who train for practical reasons focus more on developing their neck.

From the 41 minute mark until the end of the video is the legs section of the video. I have two takeaways from this. Time under tension when doing squats rather than performing perfect reps certainly is effective in tiring you out. This is the one and only time in my life I have ever heard calf raises called Charlie Chaplains. It sounds better than calf raises right?

Personally, I add a one handed farmers walk with a heavy kettlebell and kettlebell swings with a light one when performing this workout.

The fact there’s 50 people doing these exercises in the video it makes me feel like I am in a competitive environment. I feel a lot of workout videos are missing this.

“This just goes to show you don’t need an expensive gym membership or expensive equipment to get in great shape” ChakaOneNiner said in the comments section.

“This workout f***in hurts haha just completed the full thing. During the abs section I swear I thought I was going to puke. Love it though” stated Mickey811.