Prepare For Boot Camp

The Marine Corps has very strict guidelines for the conduct of each event in both the Initial Strength Test and Physical Fitness Test. It is imperative to know these guidelines before you begin training so events may be practiced properly. If you begin practicing incorrectly, it will be harder to change habits to the correct procedures.

The IST and PFT consist of three sections pull-ups (males) or the flexed arm hang (females), crunches and a 1 1/2 mile (IST) or a 3 mile run (PFT).

Here are a few guidelines to begin practicing the correct procedures.

Pull-ups (Males)

Mount the bar with your hands facing toward you or away from you. Alternating grips are not permitted. Legs can be held straight or bent but may not be raised above the waist.

A correct pull-up is bringing your chin above the bar then fully extending your arms again. You may not kick to generate vertical movement. You must pause in the down position to prevent any whipping, kicking or kipping movement in the upward movement.

Flexed Arm Hang (Females)

You may be assisted by a support or another person to achieve the starting position. Your hands may face toward you or away from you and your chin must be level with or above the bar. You may not rest or touch your chin to the bar.

When the support or assistant is removed time begins and the score is kept by how many seconds an individual maintains some degree of flexion at the elbow.     Crunches  The correct starting position for crunches is to lie flat on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the ground. Arms are folded and will remain across the chest with no gap between the forearms and the chest when raising the upper body. An assistant may hold the feet or legs below the knees in whatever manner is most comfortable. Kneeling or sitting on the feet is permitted.

To perform a correct crunch raise the upper body so the forearms touch your thighs. Return to the starting position touching at least the shoulder blades before raising the upper body again. Your butt must remain on the ground at all times and bouncing or arching of the lower back is not permitted.

Crunches are scored by the number done in two minutes.

The Run

Run the prescribed course in as fast a time as possible.

Your recruiters will be able to help you improve your run time while you are in the Delayed Entry Program.

Along with preparing physically for recruit training you should prepare mentally. Begin learning the Marine Corps General Orders and rank structure.

Recruit training is nothing more than mind over matter. If you really want to be a Marine, you are going to have to push yourself farther than you ever thought possible.  Despite all of the talk and preparation about Marine Corps boot camp being all physical, there really is an often overlooked side that is all emotional and mentally demanding.  In the end when your drill instructor places the Eagle, Globe and Anchor in your hand, it will all be worth it…but only those that can make it the full 13 weeks will earn the title of being a United States Marine.

Click Here: Here is more information about getting ready for Marine Corps boot camp.

If you are preparing to join the United States Marine Corps there is one obstacle ahead of you and that obstacle is known as Marine Corps Boot Camp.  In Marine Corps Boot Camp you will be expected to be able to perform at the peak of physical fitness and a large portion of that fitness plan is the ability to run.  During boot camp you will do countless formation runs with your platoon, battalion and possibly even a regiment.  While doing these formation runs you will be required to chant, or call cadence.  What this means is that while you are running as a formation you will be required to shout songs and those songs are not meant to entertain, they are intended to help you with your cardio.  Chanting while running makes the task much more difficult and if you are not loud enough you will suffer the wrath of your Drill Instructors, so do not think you will be able to get away with lip singing only.  Besides that, if you can’t chant with your fellow recruits you may not belong in Marine Corps Boot Camp because the entire 13 week drill is to build you into the Marine Air-Ground Team, the Corps is so famous for being.  On top of all the group running you will also be expected to run as fast as you can for three miles, to achieve your personal best time.  If you can run three miles in eighteen minutes or less, you will be considered in good shape.  Anything less…requires improvement.

If you are sitting in the seclusion of your life at this moment wondering about becoming a Marine and yet can’t get your head wrapped around the fact that you have to run, I want to let you in on a little secret.  If you have read any articles on this site you will understand that Marine Corps Boot Camp is more mental than it is physical because the human body will always do what it is told by the brain.  If you are of decent weight you can run.  The only problem is that if your brain is telling you that it is too hard, your body will stop.  If you brain tells your body it is too weak, you will be weak.  In Marine Corps Boot Camp they will take the mind and forge it into a thought process that you can.  Running is more in the mind than it is in the muscles, or the lungs.

Sure, if you are 5′ 11″ and weight 235 pounds, you will suck at running, but only because you are overweight and your body is dragging around too much fat.  What I am talking about is the young man or woman that is a poolee and is waiting to start boot camp.  If you made it past MEPS, then you can run a heck of alot more distance that your brain gives you credit for being able to complete.  There is a simple way to prove this fact and that simple way is to get your ass out the door and run.  Go for a run today.  Go for a run tomorrow and then the next day and if you push the distance a little bit more each and everyday, you will see improvement.  This is where the brain enters the equation.

If you have trouble getting your butt in gear and getting it out the door to go for a daily run the problem is not that you can’t run, the problem is that you are lazy.  The term for this in the Corps is that you are not motivated.  Not being motivated is a great reason to not graduate from Marine Corps Boot Camp.  If you were to run for one mile today you and then go out each and every day you will stretch the limits your mind has set for your body.  You need to take control of your mind and just tell your body to keep moving.  If you can reach this point, you will start to understand what discipline and the Corps has in common.

In The United States Marine Corps there is a little factor that rides paralel with motivation and that is self-discipline.  Marines are known for their self-discipline and that is what sets them apart.  My first memory of Parris Island after my platoon was picked up by my Drill Instructors was right after we arrived in our new squad bay.  The entire platoon was told to stand at attention and that lasted for three solid hours.  The Drill Instructors swirled all around the fresh recruits and were all over those that were scratching and squirming and not standing at rigid attention.  To this day I can recall those events of 31 years ago and that was the birth of self discipline in my small life.

That self discipline was the same reason why I can remember being in a very swampy area years later awaiting the dawn.  I sat in the mud with bugs hovering and landing all around me and yet I let them enjoy their dinner, which was my flesh.  I remember having the internal mental ability to not scratch when all of a sudden my entire unit was in the middle of a group of men that did not know we were there.  My mission was to observe and not be seen and if I, or my men would have moved, we would have been discovered and I would not be here now writing this short article.  That self discipline was taught in Marine Corps and that self discipline is what keeps Marines alive and that self discipline is fostered by the mind starting to realize that the human body can move itself long distances over rough terrain.

Nobody has ever said to you that running or force marches will be easy.  No body ever told you that the obstacle course or PT was going to be easy, but then nobody ever told you that becoming a Marine was going to be easy either.  Running is more mental and that is a fact.  Boot camp is more mental and that also is a fact.  The secret is that you need to push your mind past the limits of the boundaries that you have set for yourself.  Removing mental obstacles is the first step towards graduating from Marine Corps Boot Camp and if you can’t run, then maybe you need to join the Air Force or the Navy or the Army.  For them the standards are easier and the self discipline is lacking and the end result is that you will NOT be a Marine.

Take control of your body and get you mind to command yourself to just get out and run daily and you will see that you have the ability to run.  Being able to see past your limits is the first step in preparing for Marine Corps Boot Camp.

For More Help Wth Getting Ready For Boot Camp Check Out This Link

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