So what can you do about it?

Here are a few tips to help you get rid of the anxiety and excel at your PFT.

1. Practice - this is probably the most important tip I can offer you. If you will practice taking your PFT on a regular basis, you will always know where you stand. When you go to take your PFT, it will be just another workout.
2. Get used to a stopwatch – stopwatches can be intimidating if you aren’t used to them. Especially when drill instructors are screaming your times out to you. You should own a stopwatch and use it often. This is the only way to overcome the fear of having to do something in a certain time limit. It is also the only way you will be able to learn your pace.
3. Relax and think positive – focus on what you want to achieve during your PFT instead of worrying about what you might not achieve. You become what you think about so if you are thinking about what you want to achieve, you will likely achieve it.
4. Eat healthy – this should be common sense. If you know you have a PFT coming up, you should be sure to eat as healthy as possible. Stay away from fried foods.
5. Drink plenty of water – stay away from carbonated drinks and load up on water instead. Also stay away from alcohol before a PFT.

I’ve seen a lot of Marines with anxiety before a PFT. Many of them had it so bad that they could not focus on what they needed to do. I would say that 99% of them had such anxiety because they did not prepare, were a bit out of shape, or spent the night before at the club drinking too much beer. Of course, if you are in boot camp you won’t have these problems. Just make sure you are very comfortable with a stop watch before going to boot camp.

Crunches

These are performed while another Marine or recruit is holding your feet. Many people have trouble with this exercise but it is probably the easiest one to score the maximum amount of points on. To score the maximum amount of points, you must do 100 in two minutes. You must practice these at least twice a week in order to stay in top shape. Always practice them with a stopwatch.

The trick to this exercise is to pace yourself. Many people start off way to fast and then get very tired by the time they get to 40 or 50. You need to know how fast you need to go and keep that pace throughout the entire two minutes. Here are a few tips:

1. Learn your pace – you need to do about 25 crunches every 30 seconds in order to get a perfect score. Practice doing 4 – 5 sets of these until your pace is at this level or better. Then you will know the pace that you must keep for the 2 minute timeframe.
2. Get used to the stop watch - many people can’t perform when the clock is ticking. If you will practice with a stop watch multiple times per week, you won’t have that worry.
3. Control your breathing – you should be exhaling on your way up and inhaling on the way down. If you can get into a rhythm of doing this, it will make the exercise much easier.

Pull-Ups

This exercise is a little harder to achieve the maximum points but is very possible. You should be able to do 20 of them if you expect a perfect score. Each pull-up must be performed correctly or it will not count. This means no swinging of any kind. Your body must remain still while your upper body (back) does all the work. The best way to increase the amount of pull-ups you can do is to use the pull-up pyramid. With this, you will go up to a set number of pull-ups and then come back down from that number. Example:

1 pull-up
2 pull-ups
3 pull-ups
4 pull-ups
5 pull-ups
6 pull-ups
5 pull-ups
4 pull-ups
3 pull-ups
2 pull-ups
1 pull-up

You should go as high as you possibly can before failure. Once you reach failure, start going back down the pyramid.

Flexed Arm Hang

All females must do this exercise for the upper body portion of the PFT. In order to get a perfect score, you must hang for 70 seconds. The timer starts when the Marine or recruit’s chin is above the bar and does not stop until the arms make an angle of greater than 90 degrees.

In order to be successful at this you must work on your upper body strength including your biceps, forearms and grip. You should also practice doing this for a maximum time at least 3 times per week. I suggest doing the following exercises to build your upper body strength.

Curls
Reverse Curls
Wrist Curls
Gripper exercises
Lat Pull downs

3 Mile Run

Getting a perfect score on this exercise is probably the most difficult. Although anyone can be a good runner, most lack the training dedication required to do so. If you want a perfect score here, you’ll have to run the 3 miles in 18 minutes if you are a male and in 21 minutes if you are a female. The only way you will be able to achieve this is to train for it. You must make running a part of your life. Not only running, but running with a stop watch. Some of the most important things that you should focus on when running are:

Pace - In order to run 3 miles in 18 minutes, you must run 6 minute miles. To run 3 miles in 21 minutes, you must run 7 minute miles.
Proper breathing – Find yourself a breathing rhythm and focus on breathing in as much oxygen as possible.
Arm swing – you should allow your arms to swing freely without any tension.
Foot contact – Hit the pavement with your heel and roll through and push off with your toes.

• The maintenance of a healthy body
• The endurance to withstand the stress of prolonged activity and adverse environment
• The capacity to endure the discomforts that accompany fatigue and the maintenance of combat effectiveness

In other words, the activities that Marines do on a daily basis require you to be in top physical condition.  Would you want to be in combat with someone who isn’t in shape and is easily fatigued?  That’s why Marine Corps fitness requirements are so high.  If we are expected to be the first to fight then we definitely need to be in great physical condition.

The high level of physical fitness that you’ll enjoy in boot camp will only last a short while unless fitness training becomes one of your personal habits.  I would advise you to start making physical fitness a major part of your life, if you don’t already.  If you are physically fit you’ll look better, feel better and perform better.  Not to mention, you’ll get promoted faster because the PFT is a major factor in determining your eligibility.

If you are new to physical fitness and need some direction, I recommend you download one of my beginner workout plans.  These plans feature the same exercises you’ll do in the Marine Corps, except in a less demanding fashion.  The best advice I can give you if you are just starting out is, DON’T OVERDO IT!  Start out easy and only do more when you feel you are ready.