Quick question? please help!!!

[Wannabe2103]

I am a poolee and i am leaving for boot camp in 2 weeks.

I was 290 pounds when I first signed up and now currently weigh a good 220, I can run my 1.5 mile in a 11:30 and can do 120 sit ups. The only problem I am having with is my pull ups. My recruiters swear to me that you must do at least 5 pull ups at MEPS the day you leave in order to ship. But, I find it kind of odd that you have to do 5 there and only 2 for the IST when you get to boot camp.

can anyone confirm if you actually have to do 5? Or if they are just trying to make sure that I can meet the standards.

[Rough Hands]

I am a poolee and i am leaving for boot camp in 2 weeks.

I was 290 pounds when I first signed up and now currently weigh a good 220, I can run my 1.5 mile in a 11:30 and can do 120 sit ups. The only problem I am having with is my pull ups. My recruiters swear to me that you must do at least 5 pull ups at MEPS the day you leave in order to ship. But, I find it kind of odd that you have to do 5 there and only 2 for the IST when you get to boot camp.

can anyone confirm if you actually have to do 5? Or if they are just trying to make sure that I can meet the standards.

It's kind of up to your recruiters and the MEPS liaison if you're ready to ship or not, as far as I know. Plus, it's in your best interest. I'd say, don't worry about how many they require of you, instead push yourself to get more than 5. Do push-ups all the time, do pull-ups all the time, and negatives.

You'll be glad you did once you get to the MCRD.

[wilsontc11]

What they do here is they make the minimum requirement 5, just so when you get to boot camp you aren't barely doing 2 pull ups. same thing with the run and crunches, the minimum requirement is 12 minutes and crunches is like, 60 or something.

If they said you need to do 5, then you need to do 5. but boot camp is 2

[PooleeFornwall]

Recruiters may set a minimum to push you to do better than the actual Marine Corps minimum. MEPS also sets a higher minimum because they don't want someone who can barely meet requirements to be shipping out. I know for a fact my MEPS requires you to do 3, or they send you back.

Just do pull ups all the time man, as much as you possibly can. Whenever you see a bar, or any place you can get a sturdy grip and hang from -- do a set or two. And, as mentioned before from other poolees do negatives also.

[ScarSniper]

Recruiters may set a minimum to push you to do better than the actual Marine Corps minimum. MEPS also sets a higher minimum because they don't want someone who can barely meet requirements to be shipping out. I know for a fact my MEPS requires you to do 3, or they send you back.

Just do pull ups all the time man, as much as you possibly can. Whenever you see a bar, or any place you can get a sturdy grip and hang from -- do a set or two. And, as mentioned before from other poolees do negatives also.

Maybe I can be of some insight. When I first started, I couldn't do one...I used to "Kip" (Kipping is considered a fake pull-up, not a full extention dead-hang, but when you only lower yourself 1/2way) but when it came down for me to put out at a poolee function, I couldn't even lift my body off the ground. Talk about pathetic. That was about 3 months ago and now i'm at 17 dead hangs. I used this machine called "Lat pulldown", which is basically a pull-up, in sitting position. Go to a local gym and ask for the Lat Pulldown machine, and any gym-rat will point it out for you. Start at a low weight (I started at 35 and I can do 155 now, I weight 141 lbs) and try to do 7 sets of 7....that's what I did. Every time you go to the gym? Hit the Lat-pulldown machine, and keep working your way up until you reach your body weight...by that time, you should be breezing through pull-ups. Also bicep curls (sloooow bicep curls) are also good, so max out on those...and do a lot of push-ups..make sure to give your muscles carbs and protien to recover and allow yourself rest periods or else your muscles wont perform at full capacity. Also know this..the only real way to get better at pull-ups...are by doing them...so while Lat-pulldowns WILL help, nothing beats getting on a pull-up bar. You PT everyday and hit the gym everyday (at least as much as you can) and you'll get to 10 in no time..and from there it's only a matter of time before you ace the pull-up portion of the PFT.

Pull-ups:17
Crunches: 121
1.5 run: 9:50