Physical Fitness Requirements from the German Kampfschwimmer

Kampfschwimmer Physical Fitness Test

Image by Viktor Vlasov on Adobe Stock

The German Kampfschwimmer are not very known outside of Europe, but they are lethal and very well trained. They prefer to stay under the radar and not many of their activities are published. They live in secrecy. Only a small number of Germans are considered "Combatswimmers". Furthermore, they are the oldest existing German Special Force Unit.

Motto: "Lerne Leiden ohne zu klagen"
Translation "Learn to suffer in silence"

Established in: "1958"

To be able to join the unit, one must be between 17 and 29 years old, German Citizen and want to enlist for at least 12 years. One must also have either a high school diploma or successfully have finished any type of formation. Citizens and Active Soldiers can apply.

They can be compared to the U.S. Navy seals and the french Commando Hubert. They actively exchange information and also train very often with them.

Chart Standards KSM Kampfschwimmer

#	Exercises	Pass	Good	Great	Gold
1	5000 Meter Run	-22:00 min	-20:00 min	-19:00 min	-18:00 min
2	1000 Meter Swim	-24:00 min	-22:00 min	-21:00 min	-20:00 min
3	Static Apnoe	Fail / Pass Event. 60 seconds are required to pass
4	Diving Test	Fail / Pass Event. Dive down 5 meter deep and pick up 2 objects
5	Distance Diving	Fail / Pass Event. 30 meters are required to pass
6	Pullups	+ 8 reps	+ 12 reps	+ 14 reps	+ 16 reps
7	Benchpress 50 KG	+ 15 reps	+ 23 reps	+ 27 reps	+ 30 reps

To pass the pre-selection (Auswahlverfahren) of the KSM (Kampfschwimmer), one will be tested on various days during the week of testing. Usually, the candidates will be tested on a run on the first day, followed by the swimming and diving exercises on the next day. A lot of candidates are failing during the various events. There are various events that a selectee has to bypass to make it into further selection parts. One of them is the famous Freitagslauf. The candidates will be drilled to crawl or roll down a hill and sprint back up. The first who make it can take a breather, the other ones will be further drilled. This is combined with Firemen carries, mud diving, and more calisthenics. Usually, every training class will have to endure 20x Freitagslauf during the selection process.

Physical Requirements - Other Units

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The Selection Phase for the Combatswimmers is very intense. It lasts for 4 months. Their daily routines consist of lots of calisthenics, running, swimming, shooting skills, and combat fighting. There is the '20 km - 2 days swim', where the candidates have to swim 13 km on the first day and then camp, eat and sleep for a couple of hours, before swimming again another 7 KM. The highlight of the Formation is a 3-week survival course that the candidate has to master. They are chased by the cadre, and with long marches during day and night, without any help and bare minimum of survival gear, they have to survive.

Kampfschwimmer Fitness Test Video

Characteristics of a Kampfschwimmer

The perfect candidate comes with a strong mental attitude, is self-confident, a team player, goal-oriented, and comes with an iron will. He or she also needs mental endurance and 'the will to not give up' while suffering. They also need to be highly adaptable to different situations, different techniques, and procedures. It is not to forget that they are human, they trust each other. Most Kampfschwimmer seem to have a more silent type of personality.

They purposely train their brain to withstand fear. A part of the brain called Amygdala is tactfully and systematically trained with different exercises. One of those exercises is the task of laying in calm waters. The staff will then drive a motorboat full speed close to the combat swimmer.

Kampfschwimmer Test Workout

Kampfschwimmer Facts

Their pre-selection requirements used to be much harder. Until recently, Kampfschwimmer candidates needed to be able to hold their breath for at least 2 minutes just to make it through-pre-selection. The change to 1 min and 15 seconds caused a lot of turmoil.

As there were various incidents of blackouts for Kampfschwimmer, the doctors decided to curb the amount of time allowed to stay underwater. Combat swimmers and doctors started to have issues with each other. The solution came in handy by inviting a civilian to help them train the soldiers. She is known to be able to hold her breath underwater for over 6 min and dive into absurd distances underwater.

Kampfschwimmer sind Wölfe, keine Schafe