Navy SEALs did push-ups, pull-ups and sit-ups at ASU’s Tempe campus Student Recreation Complex on Tuesday morning — not because the SRC has turned into the military’s new training grounds, but rather to promote the Navy SEAL Fitness Challenge on March 14.

The demonstration included physical activities that will be in the challenge, along with a 1.5-mile run and a 500-yard swim.

The free challenge, hosted by ASU, is available to anyone 13 and older and will be held at the SRC. Registration is required online at sealfitnesschallenge.com.

SEAL David Goggins, 34, said the activities are taken from the physical screening test given to prospective SEALs to test physical endurance and strength. At the March challenge, Goggins said people will meet the SEALs and learn proper ways to work out.

“We’re here to promote fitness in America — being a SEAL, that’s what we do,” Goggins said. “We’re all about fitness, and we’re all about giving back to others and trying to show them proper ways to do [exercise].”

Goggins has been a Navy SEAL for nine years. He started out as a 285-pound power lifter and lost 100 pounds in two-and-a-half months to join the Navy and become an ultra-runner.

Goggins said anybody can be a SEAL and complete athletic feats like he has, which include a 135-mile run in 26 hours and a 203-mile run in 48 hours.

“I’m no athlete, none of us are. We just really want to be SEALs and … go places where people don’t want to go,” Goggins said. “A lot of people put limits on themselves, and this [challenge] is just the beginning of not putting limits on yourself.”

Motivation is what will push people to their physical limits during the challenge, he added.

“When you’re physically exhausted and you feel like you have nothing left, you have only used 60 percent of what you’re capable of doing, so you have 40 percent left but your mind is making you think that you don’t,” Goggins said.

Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman attended the demonstration and said the challenge is a great opportunity for the city of Tempe to help people become aware of fitness.

“This gives regular people like me … an opportunity to be challenged to lead a healthier lifestyle,” Hallman said.

Hallman spoke about his challenge running 13.1 miles in the P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in 2008 and 2009. He said each challenge starts with building up character and setting goals.

“If someone like me can take this kind of a challenge and improve my health, … we can promote this opportunity for our community to improve its health one person at a time,” Hallman said.

Hallman said he believes Navy SEALs are great examples for people to follow.

“[The Navy SEAL] stands as a shining example [of] how regular people can commit themselves to something like this and become great testaments to courage and character and provide [a] great role model for the rest of us,“ Hallman said.

Lt. Cmdr. Josh Butner, director of professional military education at the Naval Special Warfare Center and a former ASU student, said the mission for Navy SEALs is to stay in shape to help one another in the battlefield.

But participants don’t have to be superior athletes to join the challenge, he added.

“You can start out at a humble level and work your way up, and that’s what it’s all about,” Butner said. “We’re out here to promote physical fitness for everybody.”

Reach the reporter at griselda.nevarez@asu.edu.