Hey Guys,
I am still in College now but will be graduating in about a year. My plan is to join the Marines, but I was wondering what type of training should I do to prepare myself. Any tips would be great, Thanks!
[quote]xxward7xx wrote:
Hey Guys,
I am still in College now but will be graduating in about a year. My plan is to join the Marines, but I was wondering what type of training should I do to prepare myself. Any tips would be great, Thanks![/quote]
I took my 13 week vacation on Parris Island eight years ago and I can tell you that the most difficult part of the training is the mental aspect…not the physical. Your question was related to training though, so I’ll address that.
While there’s no doubt the physical standards are higher than the other services, the standards you need to meet to enlist and graduate, respectively, are still pretty low. I’m not much of a runner, so that was the toughest part for me.
When I enlisted, we had to complete a 3 mile run, a few pullups, and maybe 40 situps?? before we were able to ship out…I don’t think i’m missing anything else but anyone who’s been through it more recently than me could update you if things have changed. If I recall correctly, a perfect score on the PFT was 3 miles in 18 minutes, 20 pullups, and 100 situps??
If you’re anywhere near these numbers you have absolutely nothing to worry about as many of the recruits will be struggling just make the minimums. To graduate you’ll have to pass the same tests but with slightly higher mininum standards.
As far as the actual training on the island, it’s mostly running, calisthenics, and bodyweight exercises like crunches, pullups, chinups, pushups, and dips. I was able to get my hands on an actual barbell only once the whole time I was there and it was for about 30 seconds as part of an outdoor circuit.
If you’re someone who’s put on some mass over the years, you’re gonna lose a good amount of it. you get three pretty solid meals a day (if you can eat fast enough to finish your plate) but you’re so active during the day that it all gets burned up. The only people I saw who actually put on some muscle were the thinner recruits who were new to exercise.
If I had to do it again I’d focus on improving my run times in the 1.5 and 3 mile distances and occasionally do some work at longer distances up to 5 miles (you’ll never run more than 5 miles while you’re there) and I’d concentrate heavily on bodyweight exercises and energy systems training. Pull things, push things, carry heavy things. Do bear crawls, crab walks, maybe some sprint work too.
The Drill Instructors are masters at turning seeminly innocuous items like a foot locker into tools of torture so the more shit you put yourself though in your training the more tolerable it should be.
Do circuits of jumping jacks, running in place, pushups, crunches… etc where you do one until you can’t do anymore and then switch to the next. This should help you when you’re getting quarterdecked. You won’t be able to simulate a pissed off DI in your face, but pushing yourself to the limits and beyond with these types of circuits will give you an edge when you’re actually experiencing it.
Anyway, Hope this is helpful. Let me know if you have any other questions. And above all else, regardless of how you prepare yourself physically…make sure you get your mind right before you leave and when you’re there remember to not think about the next month, the next week or even the next day…just take it chow-to-chow and you’ll have no problems.
[quote]xxward7xx wrote:
Hey Guys,
I am still in College now but will be graduating in about a year. My plan is to join the Marines, but I was wondering what type of training should I do to prepare myself. Any tips would be great, Thanks![/quote]
Get used to jerking off and only dreaming about pussy.
Run 3-5 miles every other morning. Do pushups, pullups, situps. If you can do 80 to 100 strict pushups and about 12-15 pullups going in, consider yourself in a decent enough shape. Military fitness doesn’t have anything to do with the size of your muscles, nor do you really need a lot of power for most military activities. It’s all about muscular endurance and efficiency, and pushing past failure.
So, calisthenics, calisthenics, calisthenics…
I would recommend any of Stew Smith’s workouts for BUD/S preparation. If you can do that you’ll be more then okay.
Thanks, I will definitely take your advice. I need to improve my distance running hardcore.
[quote]xxward7xx wrote:
Hey Guys,
I am still in College now but will be graduating in about a year. My plan is to join the Marines, but I was wondering what type of training should I do to prepare myself. Any tips would be great, Thanks![/quote]
Try to find a rope to climb anywhere in your area, there is nothing you can do to duplicate it. Hang one from a tree if you have to, thats what I did and it helped out tremendously.
Now with the new CFT (Combat Fitness Test) you have to also focus on functional strength. So I suggest doing 40-50 yard sprints and get a sandbag and do power cleans with it.
In addition stick with your endurance work of 4-5 mile runs, max crunches and max pull-ups.
Semper Fi
[quote]irish20cb wrote:
Anyway, Hope this is helpful. Let me know if you have any other questions. And above all else, regardless of how you prepare yourself physically…make sure you get your mind right before you leave and when you’re there remember to not think about the next month, the next week or even the next day…just take it chow-to-chow and you’ll have no problems. [/quote]
x2 chow-to-chow, Sunday-to-Sunday
yeah man, cardio is your absolutly main concern. there basicaly going to run you into the ground with running, pushups, pullups, scissor kicks and more running. if you workout now your already in better shape then 70 percent of the guys that will be there.
my main concern would be mental stuff, there going to lie and lie and lie and try to scare you all the time, dont try to act like a badass or anything. even if you dont get rattled by there scare tactics its better to let them think you are so they dont keep messing with you.
biggest advice is to get used to doing exactly what your told verbatem. they will show you how to whipe your ass, literaly, whipe your ass correctly and put the toilet paper line back to the 2 o clock possition. its just alot of shit to get you used to not doing what you want when you want. after you finish it wont be that bad.
if i were to go back to marine bootcamp next month id do nothing but run.
- work your way up to 100 good push-ups in a row.
- work your way up to 15 pull-ups, and 20 if possible.
- Work your way up to running 7 miles comfortably non-stop.
- work your way up to running multiple sprints in a row…I do 20 sprints 3x a week, between 50-100m each.
- work your way up to 150+ sit-ups in a row.
If you concentrate on these 5 goals…you will be more than fine.
[quote]theunionforever wrote:
yeah man, cardio is your absolutly main concern. there basicaly going to run you into the ground with running, pushups, pullups, scissor kicks and more running. if you workout now your already in better shape then 70 percent of the guys that will be there.
my main concern would be mental stuff, there going to lie and lie and lie and try to scare you all the time, dont try to act like a badass or anything. even if you dont get rattled by there scare tactics its better to let them think you are so they dont keep messing with you.
biggest advice is to get used to doing exactly what your told verbatem. they will show you how to whipe your ass, literaly, whipe your ass correctly and put the toilet paper line back to the 2 o clock possition. its just alot of shit to get you used to not doing what you want when you want. after you finish it wont be that bad.
if i were to go back to marine bootcamp next month id do nothing but run.[/quote]
That’s awesome… Not a Marine here but this is exactly how I train dogs.
A whole new regiment of structure and not doing what you want when you want.
Kind of cool to see the similarities.
Thanks for being a Marine, and protecting our country.
Thanks for all the advice guys. I have another question on this subject to. Is the training in the officers program different from the normal enlisted marines??
Not necessarily different, but the officer program has a much higher physical standard than the enlisted. I’m currently training for OCS in January/June, and from what I’ve been told, the minimum PFT for OCS/PLC is 225, which isn’t terrible, but definitely more stringent than for enlisted. So basically I would focus on your run time, and just make sure you can do 20 pull-ups, because those are going to be where you gain/lose the majority of your points.
Okay, I some what understand what the PFT is, but what is like a perfect score. I know it is 300, but what would that consist of like mile time, pull-ups, sit-ups, and push ups? Also how much of each thing would have to be attained for a perfect score
The max score on a PFT is 20 dead hang pull ups, 100 crunches in 2 minutes, 3 mile run in 18 minutes.
They are now doing the Daily 16, you can find books on it at Amazon. When I was in the calisthenics were called the Daily 7. At any rate, get the BUDS Warning Order from Stew Smith and you should be good (BUDS Warning Order and Going Navy Special Warfare / Operations - Programs at StewSmith.com). Don’t worry about the swimming part in the workouts, just be sure you’re comfortable in the water.
As they said above, go from meal to meal. Don’t think past that. Do what you’re told when and how you’re told, and you should do fine.