The question about being fit enough to work is ever present in our Engineering discussions in the office as well as with clients. Time moves along and it is easy enough to think you are fit while in actuality you are living a bit more of a sedentary lifestyle. Aat Walker Engineering we decided that we should use an actual fitness test to give us a metric for how fit we were as well as simply chart progress to becoming more fit.
So today, on inspiration from a popular book, we’re going to give ourselves a gut check by taking the U.S. Marine Corps Fitness Test.
How to Perform the Marine Corps Fitness Test
The Marine Corps Fitness tests consists of three exercises: pull-ups, crunches, and a 3.0 mile run. The events are “designed to test the strength and stamina of the upper body, midsection, and lower body, as well as the efficiency of the cardiovascular system.”((MCPFTBCP Sec. 2000(1)))
All the exercises are to be performed in “one single session, not to exceed two hours.”((MCPFTBCP Sec. 2100(2))) Since it’s just you who’s doing the test and not an entire squadron of Marines, it should take you about an hour.
Pull-ups
Find yourself a pull-up bar.