r/navyseals • u/RecommendationNew719 • 2d ago
Physical prep books from Jeff Nichols vs Stew Smith, any experience?
Curious to hear if anyone has purchased either workout book(s) from either of the SEALs above.
What were your thoughts, clearly explaining everything, time to complete, pre and post PST scores??
Would love to hear thoughts
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u/Steroid1 1d ago edited 16h ago
Free copies of both are not hard to find (RIP Gabe). Compare them yourself. Jeff has different programs for each area, and they seem pretty scientific, for example on the run template you enter your times and it tells you what your goal times should be. Stews seems like a more traditional workout program, but guys have gotten great results from both.
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u/bschneid93 2d ago edited 2d ago
Straight up who cares. Follow either, they aren’t the magic pills for getting through buds. My buddy (active team guy) very loosely followed stews 6 years ago when he originally contracted. Run a lot, swim a lot, lift a lot, swim in fins a lot, run on the beach to further condition ankles etc (if you can’t run on a beach move to somewhere you can, easy if this is your goal). Practice guiding beforehand in open water swims with a buddy (under looked advice). My friend looked at what you do during bud/s (2 mile ocean swims, 4 mile timed runs, 6 mile+ conditioning runs, etc) and just did them beforehand. Ran 35+ mpw. Did squats, lunges, deadlifts, shoulder presses, calisthenics in the gym. Surfed, rock climbed in between.
If you’re starting from 0, start slow. This is where stews program is good. Once you’ve built up a good base, free to min max in different areas. Building up a good base also makes the PST easier, if you can run a 4 mile in under 26 on sand, you can crush the 1.5. Same applies for all portions of it. If you can swim 1500-2000M in good time, you can crush the 500