Marine Corps Physical Fitness Test: How Do You Stack Up?

by Nate Alexander on November 10, 2009

Eagle Globe and Anchor USMCToday marks the 234th Birthday of the United States Marine Corps.  This Band of Brothers is known for battlefield prowess and physical readiness at all times. As a former Marine, I have fond memories of Physical Fitness Testing. In honor of the Marines, I thought I’d share with you  how Marines are tested.  If you are up to the challenge you can  see how you measure up to The Few, The Proud, The Marines.

The Basic PFT: The Marine Corps Fitness Benchmark

The “PFT” or Physical Fitness Test is the benchmark by which Marines are tested for physical preparedness. Marines are not only measured to be physically capable but it also is factored in with academics for promotions. This test is comprised of three components: a three mile run, a maximum set of dead hang pullups and a 2 minute timed set of maximum crunches. The order in which these are done is completely random, though I’ve always done them pullups first, situps second and the run last. This works well for keeping your energy levels up for all three events.

Standards for the Pullups:

Top position of the pullup

Top position of the pullup

This is a dead hang pullup, meaning you can’t use any momentum like a kipping pullup or butterfly pullup. All the way up chin over the bar and all the way down to straight elbows at the bottom. You complete as many pullups as you can without letting go and dropping off the bar. If you drop, you are done with the pullup test.

The goal is a maximum of 20 pullups for a perfect score. Each pullup is worth 5 points for 100 total.

Women testing standards are different. The “Flexed Arm Hang” is performed which is a static hold at the top position of the pullup. A maximum time of 70 seconds is a top score.

Standards for the Crunches:

Start out lying flat on your back, knees bent. Someone can hold your feet or not, its up to you. Cross your arms over your chest and keep them in contact with your chest/ribcage as you crunch up and touch your thighs with your arms. Return to the bottom, shoulder blades touching the ground.  Repeat as many complete crunches as you can in a 2 minute time period, note your count for score. Each crunch counts as 1 point for a maximum of 100 points.

Three Mile Run Time

This was my least favorite. As a matter of fact, I really didn’t look forward to the run but this is necessary to test endurance that is so vital to military readiness.  This test is pretty simple, run 3 miles as fast as possible.  Men can get a top score of 18:00, women 21:00.

Not all Scoring is Equal

The scoring is scaled for age. Top scores vary by age and gender. Perfect run time scores are faster for younger Marines and adjusted higher for older Marines.

Here is the Official Marine Corps Bulletin outlining the PFT. You can see the table showing the score breakdowns on Appendix G.

If you would like to run a PFT and see how you measure up, be sure to use the guidelines I gave you above. Keep track of your results and you can plug them in to this online calculator to get your Marine PFT Score.

There you have it! This is the  test that every United States Marine must do. See how you measure up. Its a great workout to do a  PFT, check your score and then train to improve and beat your score every few weeks.

Feel free to share your comments and scores in the comment section!

Happy Birthday Marines. Semper Fidelis!

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How to Do the Push Press for a Strong Core and More Strength

by Nate Alexander on October 10, 2009

I’m a fan of Olympic style lifts. I love how technical they are and the challenge of learning them. The payoff is an awesome workout, a lot of core strength and increased coordination and overall power. One of the easiest to learn that will give you those big benefits is The Push Press.

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The push press is the explosive cousin to a standing shoulder press or Military Press. At first glance you may think that someone is just using too much weight but this exercise is quite technical and needs to be done safely and correctly to avoid injury. This exercise is an integral part of some of the grueling Crossfit workouts and once you learn them, I think you’ll love them as much as I do.

Push Press at Lock Out

How to do a Push Press

You start in a standing position with the bar at collar bone height supported in your hands (some will have the bar cradled on the front of their shoulders).  You do a 1/4 squat that dips fast and then explodes to full hip extension (almost a jump), as you begin to finish the leg drive you are focusing on pressing the bar up (like a shoulder press).

Once the bar gets past your forehead you bring your chin slightly forward so your body is completely underneath the bar and lock the bar out completly overhead. Notice that all joints from the floor to the wrists are completely in line, with the weight locked out overhead.

The biggest mistake you can make at this point is to look up, or keep your head back. This happens if you are used to doing a barbell shoulder press or  military press.

Benefits of the Push Press

This exercise would be considered a full body exercise. You’ll burn a ton of calories. Once you’ve done them a few times, you’ll understand what I mean. Your legs are essential in getting the bar up overhead. Its not a strict upper body press, its an explosive leg drive with your upper body continuing the momentum up to a locked overhead position. You’ll find your legs get a great workout, your upper body too, but more importantly your core gets an awesome workout as  you need your core to be strong to hold the bar overhead.

Start light on these. Practice your form first. Be sure you are dipping, reversing and exploding with your legs. Not slowly either. Check your form in the mirror or have someone watch you  from the side to make sure you are locking out fully and everything is in line.

To take your workout to the next level, use the Push Press. It’s a challenge to learn but once you get good at it, you’ll burn calories, have a stronger core and build some explosive full body power…all while having fun in the gym! Who could ask for much more?

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How to Do Kettlebell Swings

by Nate AlexanderSeptember 15, 2009

Kettlebells have made their way into mainstream fitness in a big way lately. Gyms are starting to have classes, they are popping up in local parks at “boot camps” and now its time to bring this ugly little weight into your workouts too! The fundamental exercise of the kettlebell is the swing. I want to [...]

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by Nate AlexanderSeptember 2, 2009

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Your “core” is your body’s center. To put it simple it is the stabilizing muscles that make up your midsection. Its made up of inner and outer abdominal stabilizing muscles as well as some supporting torso muscles as well. For simplicity: Abs and low back to put it in a nutshell.
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Be a Renegade in the Gym with the Renegade Row

by Nate AlexanderAugust 20, 2009

From out of Kettlebells…
I was first introduced to this upper body exercise via the kettlebell community. I was watching a video of a small, fit young woman demonstrating the row. She was using 5lb kettlebells, so of course my ego started doing the math. How much could I do? At first glance, I thought it [...]

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15 Minutes of Sweaty Fame: The Timed Rep Workout

by Nate AlexanderAugust 7, 2009

Sometimes I take myself through some pretty grueling things, just because I “promised” I’d try it. I do that alot. I make a deal with myself to do a workout or grueling circuit and about half way through start questioning my sanity.  So, the other day I got to thinking about my timed rep workout [...]

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Medicine Ball Pushups Variations for Strength and Core Training

by Nate AlexanderAugust 3, 2009

Ready to take your pushups to the next level?
Pushups are the classic upper body test of strength. They have been around for what seems like forever. The Armed Forces all use them as a means of testing your conditioning and upper body strength. But to be honest, sometimes pushups are boring.
Here are three ways to [...]

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The Key to Constantly Improving Your Performance: Carry Over

by Nate AlexanderJuly 29, 2009

What is Carry Over?
Here is a little exercise terminology that sometimes confuses people so I thought I’d clear it up.
Carry over is how one exercise or skill can help you get better at another one. Improvement in one area “carries over” to something else. Often times a skill or exercise is lacking due to a [...]

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Workout Speed: Should I do my reps slow or fast?

by Nate AlexanderJuly 28, 2009

Training fast or training slow?
The age old question, do I do my reps slow and controlled or fast and explosive? There have been “slow” programs from the superslow training principles with advocated 10+ second reps to the faster explosive programs of Olympic lifting and plyometrics. So which one is right? I say a little of [...]

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Take your Time: Add Intensity to your Workout Sets

by Nate AlexanderJuly 24, 2009

Rep Counters! Cover your ears!
So if I were to ask 10 people who exercise, how they know they are making progress, the majority of them would say “more weight or more reps.” While this is commonly true, I want to introduce a new technique you can add in that is bound to up my “hate [...]

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