Took my first Marine PFT ever. Boy it was a lot harder than i thought it was gonna be when i was going through it in my head. Even with the 10 mins rest it was gruling mentally. I ended up with a 218; 12 pull ups, 76 crunches, and the 3 mile in 21 something (prob :15 or :20). I've been doing my pull ups palms in---haven't built up enough back strength yet to get a respectable number doing them palms out. Any advice for the future i have another one on the 22nd, my OSO wants to contract me then so im hoping not to disappoint. Thanx for all the help and advice you guys have been giving me, its all starting to pay off and even tho i busted my ass and it was horrible... i loved every second and i havent even submitted an app yet!!!
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Had my first Marine PFT
- Thread starter zuggerat
- Start date
michaels601
Simba Barracuda.
wow, wish i got that excited about PFTs...
pull-ups have always been the killer for me, and i've received a lot of good advice on how to get them up there, but every method has one thing in common: DOING LOTS OF PULL-UPS.
if you can, almost everyday. if you've got one in your house or one that you could hit a few times a day, not even doing max sets every time, they somehow start coming easier.
that helps me, anyways.
pull-ups have always been the killer for me, and i've received a lot of good advice on how to get them up there, but every method has one thing in common: DOING LOTS OF PULL-UPS.
if you can, almost everyday. if you've got one in your house or one that you could hit a few times a day, not even doing max sets every time, they somehow start coming easier.
that helps me, anyways.
1. Do them over hand, or palms out. That way you can use all your back muscles as
well as biceps, and not just biceps as with underhand pull ups. It will be harder at first, but once you develop your back a little it will be much easier.
2. Look up at the bar the entire time. Only pull yourself up high enough to where you can poke your chin straight up in the air to touch the bar. Dont pull yourself up to the collerbone and have your entire head up over the bar, you will save energy this way, thus increasing your reps.
3. Don't come all the way down. Leave a little bend in your elbow and keep tension on your arms the whole time, bust out reps as fast as you can. Be careful, because if you make this too obvious, they won't count it. Make sure it looks good, but don't exaggerate locking out your arms in between reps. The longer you stay on the bar the weaker you become, so do pull ups quick and get it overwith. Until you know your almost exhausted, now is the time to try and squeeze out 1 or 2 more by hanging for a few seconds in between reps. Try changing the distance between your grips on the bar in order to use differents muscles in your back, that usually gives me at least one more rep.
4. Drink a redbull 5 minutes before PFT. The caffiene spike will help you with pull ups. At least it does for me.
5. Make sure the bar has good tape on it on PFT day. You can bring some athletic tape to a pft at your oso station, later at ocs you get what you get. If you have a sticky, solid grip on the bar....it helps. When I was working to get my 20 pullups i would bring my old rock-climbing chalk bag to get a frickin death grip on that bar. I know I'm a geek.
well as biceps, and not just biceps as with underhand pull ups. It will be harder at first, but once you develop your back a little it will be much easier.
2. Look up at the bar the entire time. Only pull yourself up high enough to where you can poke your chin straight up in the air to touch the bar. Dont pull yourself up to the collerbone and have your entire head up over the bar, you will save energy this way, thus increasing your reps.
3. Don't come all the way down. Leave a little bend in your elbow and keep tension on your arms the whole time, bust out reps as fast as you can. Be careful, because if you make this too obvious, they won't count it. Make sure it looks good, but don't exaggerate locking out your arms in between reps. The longer you stay on the bar the weaker you become, so do pull ups quick and get it overwith. Until you know your almost exhausted, now is the time to try and squeeze out 1 or 2 more by hanging for a few seconds in between reps. Try changing the distance between your grips on the bar in order to use differents muscles in your back, that usually gives me at least one more rep.
4. Drink a redbull 5 minutes before PFT. The caffiene spike will help you with pull ups. At least it does for me.
5. Make sure the bar has good tape on it on PFT day. You can bring some athletic tape to a pft at your oso station, later at ocs you get what you get. If you have a sticky, solid grip on the bar....it helps. When I was working to get my 20 pullups i would bring my old rock-climbing chalk bag to get a frickin death grip on that bar. I know I'm a geek.
freshy said:
my oso said if u dont come down all the way and lock ur arms they dont count, i dunno if im locking for too long... one thing i noticed is that if ur pull up bar ur using isnt stable it absorbs a lot of the energy your putting into the pull itself and u drop about 2 or 3 off ur max... i did 12 when i took my test and my max is normally like 14 or 15. i did about 50 today with the ladder system, feels good, but im still skinny damn it!!
T-man
Registered User
freshy said:
don't seel yourself short. These may be good tips for actually taking the PFT, but I would practice full, and proper pullups. If you can cut these "corners" in an actual PFT, that will make the PFT easier. But if you're not allowed to, then you're in for a world of hurt. I will find out in 4 weeks whether or not it's true, but from what I've heard, at OCS they want to see a full lock of the elbow, and they also want to see your chin physically over the top of the bar, not just your chin above the plane of the bar. I would practice to that end, and then if you can get away with not locking, or not going all the way up, then it is just that much easier to get 100 pts.
zuggerat said:
Stay skinny!! That's how Marines are supposed to be built. Lean and Mean, and able to run like someone from Kenya.
I neglected to state before that my tips were meant for the PFT day only.
You will build upper body strength much faster if you go through the entire range of motion, as with any exercise.
You will find out what works best for you. There's no need to put yourself through any extra pain during the PFT....Like locking out your arms all the way. Even the slightest bend in the elbow will help busting out pull ups faster.
But by all means...Take pride in all you do, even locking out your arms.
edit...you can still go "all the way down" without locking your elbows...It's like standing at attention without locking your knees.
Definately practice locking arms out. It'll be harder to do them for real during the PFT if you dont practice them that way. I went from 12 to 20 in just over a month by using the armstrong program. Make sure not to burn off energy going down. Once you break the top with your chin, just drop as fast as you can (without hurting your elbows) Once I corrected my drop, I got out 2 extra pullups. Also once you get to the end of your stregnth and you're at that one pullup that you just cant seem to get even though your a few inches from the bar, breathe really hard and fast. With each breath, you should go up an inch or two. Get a good mindset too. Back when I could only get 12, I would approach the bar thinking "okay, I gotta get 12 this time". Once I hit around 10 or so, I would realize that I was close and kind of die out and be barly able to get 11 and 12. But if I would approach the bar planning on getting 20, I would hit 12 without stopping or slowing down, and then be able to get even a few extra.
Pullups suck...keep a positive mental attitude!!
B
Pullups suck...keep a positive mental attitude!!
B
ZoomByU
Woo Woo
i can't believe nobody has posted this yet. This program works, use it! Your OSO should have a copy of it they can give you.
http://www.4mcd.usmc.mil/AOP/OSOHyattsville/Armstrong Pullup Program.htm
edit: here is a better link http://kelbers.dyndns.org/workout.html
http://www.4mcd.usmc.mil/AOP/OSOHyattsville/Armstrong Pullup Program.htm
edit: here is a better link http://kelbers.dyndns.org/workout.html
ZoomByU said:
Thanks for the link. I am definatley gonna start doing that. I'm starting TBS soon, and I'm stuck at 15 pullups right now.
For the new guy:
I've gotten in a bad habit lately of locking my arms out completely and coming to a hanging rest between each pullup. I think that has cost me a few.
FearedFactor
Registered User
Notice these two links have different workouts for day three, the workout my OSO gave me has three sets of three on the third day, Not two.
Don't be afraid of Deadhangs, they can really help you make up some ground. I make it a point to do nothing but deadhangs on the pyramid day (day 2) It hurts like hell but I can tell a difference.
Don't leave out the push ups in the morning, these are most important. For me the number of pull ups I am able to do is about 1/3 the number of push ups I can do. It's been this way since I started the progam.
Stay motivated. you did a heck of a lot better on your first PFT than I did. I got sick the night before, max crunches, only 8 pull ups and a really really bad run.
best thing I can say is to not miss a day of the program. It leaves me feeling weak and without energy every time I go to approach the bar, but I end up performing much better than before. Hit my new record high of 22 last night. I was at a high of 12 about 2 months ago. Go Armstrong.