The Marine Corps is considering ditching crunches on the Physical Fitness Test in favor of planks, Shawn Snow of Marine Corps Times reported over the weekend.
Editor’s Note: This article by Gina Harkins originally appeared on Military.com, the premier source of information for the military and veteran community.
This year, the Marine Corps set out to make Marines stronger, faster and generally more fit by raising the service’s physical fitness test standards, and it appears that they succeeded.
U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Jesus Sepulveda Torres
This year, some significant changes to the Marine Corps Physical Fitness Test went into effect — tougher standards, new exercises, a revamped sliding grade scale based on age, and more stringent requirements for a top score. As Task & Purpose previously reported, the aim was to make the test more challenging — and the data, as well as feedback from Marines who recently ran the test, indicate that the service may have succeeded.
U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Jesus Sepulveda Torres
The U.S. Marine Corps set out to make its Physical Fitness Test more challenging this year, and initial records obtained by Task & Purpose suggest they’ve succeeded.
U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Jesus Sepulveda Torres
A lot of changes hit the Marine Corps’ annual physical fitness test this year: a sliding point scale based on age; pull-ups for female Marines; a rowing option for those over 46; swap push-ups for pull-ups; and the chance to take the test more than once. Task & Purpose reached out to some of the devil dogs who recently took the PFT to find out how the changes are impacting their performances.
