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dail621
10-26-10, 12:56
I'm preparing for the Marine Corps PFT which is required in order to receive the ROTC scholarship.

I always believed I was in reasonably good shape. I visited the gym several days a week, ate well, and just took generally good care of myself. I had never ran the PFT course before so I set up a mock one. I'm feeling really out of shape...

10 pull ups for a score of: 50
76 crunches for a score of: 76
3 miles in 24 minutes for a score of: 64

Total score: 190

I would like to get my score up to at least 225 in one months time.


Do you guys have any advice?

Thanks,
David

gbackus
10-26-10, 13:04
I would think the easiest thing to do is to increase the number of pull ups you can do. Starting out at 10, you already have an advantage compared to those of us(me) that had to work our way up to 1 dead hang pull up.

I think Pavels program works the best (http://cbass.com/Pavel%27sLadders.htm), but there is also the Recon Ron (http://webpages.charter.net/bert/reconron.html) and the Armstrong (http://www.chicagomarineofficer.com/Downloads/PT/thearmstrongworkout.pdf) programs.

You'll be surprised how quickly you progress, however, I don't know if a month is enough time to go from 10-20.

TehLlama
10-26-10, 14:18
Do crunches until you're at 100 - that's not that hard, and those are easy points.

Pullups - where the high scores are at. People in much worse shape than I am who can do a dozen ore more are guaranteed a first class score if they're not obese.

24:00 isn't a very good run, but running a whole minute faster gets about as much as one pullup.

TXLowflyer
10-26-10, 14:50
Stewsmith.com ex Navy Seal- the pullup push program works! and he has programs to cut down your run times.

Spade
10-26-10, 16:13
Do crunches until you're at 100 - that's not that hard, and those are easy points.

Pullups - where the high scores are at. People in much worse shape than I am who can do a dozen ore more are guaranteed a first class score if they're not obese.

24:00 isn't a very good run, but running a whole minute faster gets about as much as one pullup.


Pretty much everything Llama said is good to go. 100 crunches will help. However the Big boost is in the pull-ups as mentioned. Sadly your run needs to come way up. That being said it tends to be one of the more difficult things to raise and you gain very little points unless you are getting close to the 18:00 mark.

elkknuckle
10-26-10, 17:12
I'm going to pretty much echo everyone else, improve your pull ups. The best way to do that is to just do pull ups. Remember this; if you dont do 100 crunches it's because you have no friends!

TehLlama
10-26-10, 17:33
My PFT has been junk since I had a Tony Romo-esque injury a couple years ago, but a 225 is a pretty reasonable goal in the short term, since that's just maximizing crunches, adding a pullup and running most of a minute faster. It would certainly be better than mine.

elkknuckle
10-26-10, 17:40
I would also check out militaryathlete.com, someone started a thread on them a couple days ago, I think they have PFT specific programs. Also, I would go PT with my recruiters everyday if your not.

dail621
10-26-10, 22:44
Thanks for all the quick replies!

I was able to increase my pull ups by one today but the rest stayed pretty much the same.

The "Pavel's Ladder" method seems like the best option for me at the moment, seeing as how it can be used not only for pull ups but also sit ups and even the run.


Thanks for all the advice! :thank_you2:
I'll post my score when I take the real PFT.

David

dookie1481
10-27-10, 11:38
Thanks for all the quick replies!

I was able to increase my pull ups by one today but the rest stayed pretty much the same.

The "Pavel's Ladder" method seems like the best option for me at the moment, seeing as how it can be used not only for pull ups but also sit ups and even the run.


Thanks for all the advice! :thank_you2:
I'll post my score when I take the real PFT.

David

Pavel's ladder method is tried and true, and backed up by both science and anecdotal success stories. Someone stated that pull-ups are where the money is, and they are dead-on.

As for the run, a standard 5K program with one day of intervals and one long run day would be a good choice. The best run time I ever had (19:46, not great) was after a couple of weeks of 6 mi, 2x a week runs.

Jay

dookie1481
10-27-10, 11:48
double

MeanRider
10-27-10, 12:58
Do your crunches every day until you get over the mental block which what you are going through. For the pullups start using a weight belt or something similar to add weight to your pull, If you can do 10 of these you will be able to get around 15 empty. But I cannot stress how important a pullup is 5 points, your run will improve unless you do not do anything, concentrate on pullups.

Adam0331
10-27-10, 14:03
Crunches should be an easy 100. You can go to the gym and do some sit ups on the decline bench with a 25 lb plate held behind your head, or have a buddy toss you a 10 lb medicine ball.

For your pull ups, there are several ways that you can improve your pull ups. You can do 2, 4, 6, 6, 4 , 2 with 10 push ups in between each set and increase your reps every week. You can try the Recon Ron pull up chart (which I have started and am noticing improvements). I used to struggle to get 10 pull ups on PFTs now I can usually get 18. Some people say 10 will get you 20, meaning you do 10 pull ups a day and you'll eventually be able to do 20.

You might also incorporate some CrossFit in with something along the lines of 5 pull ups, 15 crunches and 20 air squats. Do that for 20 minutes and you'll be feeling it.

And for the run, you can alternate your routine, one day you might run 4 miles then the next day do sprints, etc. Get your body used to running a little more than 3 miles and 3 miles should seem easy.

A lot of it is mental, especially the run. Just think about something else. Try to get into a routine when your doing it.

BenBru
10-27-10, 15:34
Our 1stSgt decided to make us start doing crossfit instead of the Marine PT of old. So we took an initial PFT, I scored a mediocre 252 by the end of 2months of Crossfit morning PT I was up to a 300... (17:40 3-mile, 100 crunches, and 20 pullups) Doing PFTs in order to prepare for a PFT is good (once) but if you keep doing it you'll be miserable.

Moral of the story... start a crossfit program, if you're serious about getting the ROTC scholarship two a days can't hurt. Crossfit in the morning and a nice long run before dinner.

Diet, diet, diet... stay away from beer, candy, fat. Eat chicken breast, brown rice, and broccoli.... and eat it up to 5 times a day depending on your caloric expenditure.

All depends on how dedicated you are.

Silvanus
11-19-10, 15:45
Pullups are probably the hardest thing to improve, but you should be able to do at least 100 crunches if you work specifically on that.

3 miles in 24 minutes is not really fast. We had about the same test (5 kilometers) in the police academy and I usually had a time of about 21 minutes and I'm not at all a good runner. In this test you should also be able to improve your score, if you start running 3-4 times a week. Don't go for long distance like 10km or farther, run about the same distance as you will need to in the test, so that you work more on your speed than your long distance stamina.


A lot of it is mental, especially the run

I agree with that and think it is a very important thing to understand. Most people don't go to their limits when running these kinds of tests. If you're not completely winded and close to puking on the finish line, you could have run faster :D

I wish you good luck and hope you will reach your goals ;)

300WM
11-23-10, 15:56
I'm preparing for the Marine Corps PFT which is required in order to receive the ROTC scholarship.

I always believed I was in reasonably good shape. I visited the gym several days a week, ate well, and just took generally good care of myself. I had never ran the PFT course before so I set up a mock one. I'm feeling really out of shape...

10 pull ups for a score of: 50
76 crunches for a score of: 76
3 miles in 24 minutes for a score of: 64

Total score: 190

I would like to get my score up to at least 225 in one months time.


Do you guys have any advice?

Thanks,
David

Thread is about a month old. Have you done this, yet? How old are you? Weight, height? Any physical limitations (asthma, heart cond. diabetes, etc.).

A three mile 24 min. run will not get you in the Olympics, but it doesn't suck, either. 50% of America cannot run a 24 min. 3 mile.
With everything else you say, it is a good start. What comes in to play now is how much do you want the scholarship. Do you want to just pass the course or Moss it?