We have all seen the movies, a lone Navy SEAL, usually on a boat that has been hijacked, defeats the terrorists single handed, wins the love of a well built blond woman, and makes it home in time to watch The Simpson, with barely a broken fingernail.

But just how close to these super-human fictional characters are the real Navy SEALs? Let’s take a look at how fit they must be to become one of the elite.

Well, they must be able to swim 50 metres, twice the length of the average swimming pool… that doesn’t sound too hard does it? Oh sorry, I forgot to add, they must do this with one breath, without taking their head out of the water!

They need to be able to swim a distance of 1.2km in less than 45 minutes, that means each length of a swimming must be covered in less than a minute, how many consecutive lengths can you swim at that pace?

The also need to be able to swim two miles in the open ocean, and it must be completed in less than 75 minutes. I can tell you, as a qualified scuba diver, I know how hard it is to swim long distances in the open sea, I could not do this, no way, not even close.

Here is the only requirement that I know I can complete, they need to be able to run 14 miles, that’s not so bad, it’s a half marathon

So of these 4 prerequisites to being a combat posted Navy SEAL, I can claim to be able to fulfill 1 of them, does that make me 1/4 SEAL?