As Fit as a Marine
As we all know, fitness is very important to Marines. We do a lot of PT and are expected to achieve higher standards than all other branches of the military. If you would like to be as fit as a Marine, there are a few things you should know.
- Marine workouts are not done in a gym – this is very important if you are expecting to be fit like a Marine. Instead of going to the gym and building huge upper and lower body muscles, you should focus on what Marines focus on. You can get an awesome workout without using any equipment.
- Marine workouts are not an option – Marines don’t get to say, “oh, I just don’t feel like doing PT today.” If you don’t feel like it, too bad. You have to suck it up and do it anyway. This means that you should have a workout plan and stick to it no matter what.
- Marines don’t always PT in comfort – We don’t always PT with the latest high performance gear. You have to be able to achieve the same fitness results whether you are wearing combat boots and uniform or comfy PT gear, whether its raining, snowing or hot as hell.
These things may not mean anything to you if you don’t plan on becoming a Marine but if you are, they are very important. With that being said, you can achieve a great workout using the following exercises.
- Pull-ups – this exercise is great for building upper body strength such as in back and arm muscles. You should train often on these and be able to do 15 to 20 at one time without swinging or touching the ground.
- Crunches – this exercise replaced the old fashioned sit-ups after the Marine Corps realized that sit-ups are not very effective for the abdominal muscles. You should be able to do 80 to 100 in 2 minutes in order to be competitive as a Marine.
- 3 Mile Run – probably the toughest part of the Marine PFT, this run is a great endurance builder. You should be able to complete this in less than 20 minutes in PT gear or in uniform with boots.
If you want to be as fit as a Marine, you should exercise like one. Marines typically exercise daily in some way.
This information has helped me a lot because it helps me to know wat to expect when I leave for the Marines. I also noticed that I could do all of this which means that I am physically prepared for the United States Marine Corps.
This information was very helpful. But it was extremely misleading to not mention how important push-ups are in a marine’s daily life. For those who do not know already… Practice your damn push-ups if you want to be a marine!
this hase helped me alot because when i go into the united state marine corps i want to be able to do all of thes things but good thing i got help from my uncle who used to be a united state marine
this has helped because i want to be one of the best
marines ever.
currently I can do 19 pullups(no swings) and 75 pushups. I kinda suck at the situps. I can do tons but not fast. Icould probably do 70 in two minutes. The run is hard too. I tried running on some rugged land(lots of rocks and hills) and I ran a 3 miles in 22 minutes. I was wondering if this was fit enough for a marine and if I could take it again while I’m in the Corps. If someone could comment on this I’d really appreciate it. Thanks!
I can do the run in 22 minutes but I am running at high altitude. Does that effect my time? Please respond.
Hell yes altitude factors into running. I can run for about 1 hour at roughly 8 miles per hour at 7500 ft above sea level, while I wasn’t even breaking a sweat after that long at around 2500 ft above sea level.
I can do 20 pullups, 110 situps in 2 mins, and on the 3 mile run with athletic shorts and running shoes in 19:26. My recruiter told me that I am in great physical shape and mentally prepared for boot camp. I need to work more on learning General Orders and the other branches ranks and I’m good to go. I swore in January 11, 2011. My original shipment date was August 15th, 2011 and he called me saying a poolee was dq’d and I was the first one to know there is an open shipment date for April 11, 2011. But I have a question for the pft. When running the 3 mile run, do the recruits wear combat boots?
i want to be a marine but i have no idea if height weight or any of dat matter i could get myself in shape n do all the exercises by the time im goin to get in but i would consider myself short please respond back
Outstanding Program and Great site. I love the boot camp videos – Semper Fi!