How to Improve Your Combat Side Stroke for Military Fitness Tests

The swimming test in the Navy Physical Screening Test (PST) for jobs such as SEAL, SWCC (Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen) and Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD)/Diver requires an underwater recovery stroke using the side stroke and a modified version called the combat side stroke (CSS). It takes practice to get the technique down, and then a level of swimming shape is also required.

Here is an email from a frustrated recruit who is not putting it all together:

Stew, 

I've been training for around 8 months in preparation for going to BUD/s and using your programs. I have swum 7,500-10,000 yards weekly for the last 6 months. I still cannot break 13 minutes with the CSS, no matter how many videos, tutorials and practice I try to put in. I'm getting extremely frustrated, especially when I can front-crawl 500 yards in 8 minutes. Is there any hope for me? What do you recommend? Thanks, James 

James, my first advice is to send a 50-yard video of you swimming the CSS, with someone walking alongside the pool with you the entire time, so I can figure out what you are doing wrong. I do dozens of CSS critiques a week, and this is the next-best way to get help besides joining our local swim workouts here in Maryland.

Secondly, the fact that you can swim freestyle in eight minutes says it is not a conditioning issue but purely a technical one with your CSS. Freestyle swimming is more challenging for most people aerobically than the recovery stroke of the CSS (lots of gliding). With some CSS coaching, you can figure out this issue in a few days.

The freestyle turn to breathe is the same as the first 25% of the CSS, so you are so close already. Pulling the top arm past you while doing the CSS will look like the freestyle pull, turn and breathe. The differences in the strokes are what comes next. The second arm pull (bottom arm) will look more like a shorter breaststroke scull than a full freestyle catch-and-pull. Also, instead of using the flutter kick like in freestyle, you only kick once (scissor kick/breaststroke kick) and hold the glide position with both hands overhead (like kicking off the wall).

Watch this video of a perfect CSS done by a non-swimming athlete who recently learned to do the CSS stroke and built up his endurance to maintain this pace. As you can see, the CSS is all about efficiency and getting across the pool in as few strokes as possible. If you are kicking constantly (like freestyle), you will wear yourself out with this stroke, and each lap gets slower and slower. Also, many people lose speed because they skip the glide and progressively get slower each lap, as the pace without a glide is unsustainable with the CSS.

If you want to submit a 50-meter video of you swimming so I can critique it, follow these directions:

• Make sure the person filming is walking alongside you while you swim in the pool.
• Turn the camera longways for best results.
• Watch your video and compare/contrast it to other videos found on YouTube.
• Send by email to stew@stewsmith.com or direct-message me at Instagram (@stewsmith50).

Join former Navy SEAL and coach Stew Smith on his live question-and-answer show on the YouTube channel above with "CSS Critiques" on Monday and Tuesday at 9 a.m. East Coast Time. However, you can also read articles from the MIlitary.com Fitness Section on many common technique and conditioning issues when swimming the CSS.

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