Marine PFT and CFT guide

Active-duty Marines take the Physical Fitness Test between January 1 and June 30 and the Combat Fitness Test between July 1 and December 31. Each test has three events, each event is worth up to 100 points, and each test is scored out of 300. To pass you need the minimum on every event and at least 150 total. Classes are the same on both tests: 1st class at 235 or more, 2nd class at 200 to 234, and 3rd class at 150 to 199.

Since January 1, 2026, Marines in combat arms specialties take the PFT on the male age-group tables and need at least 210 points.

Pull-ups

Or push-ups, max 70.

Plank

One table for all.

3-mile run

PFT.

Movement to contact

880 yd, CFT.

Ammo can lifts

30 lb, two minutes.

Maneuver under fire

300 yd course.

The PFT

Three events in a single session of no more than two hours: pull-ups or push-ups, the plank, and a 3-mile run. Your command sets the order. The abdominal crunch option ended on December 31, 2022, so the plank is now the only core event.

Pull-ups or push-ups

Pull-ups are dead-hang. You start with arms fully extended and your body still, pull until your chin is above the bar, and lower until your arms are fully extended again. Kipping, kicking or swinging to help a rep up means it doesn't count, and you can't rest your chin on the bar. Push-ups are as many as you can do in 2 minutes.

Pull-ups

Push-ups

The math that matters. Push-ups top out at 70 points; pull-ups go to 100. Choosing push-ups caps your PFT at 270, which still leaves room for 1st class but costs you 30 points of margin. For a man aged 21 to 25, each pull-up between the minimum and the maximum is worth about 3 points, while each push-up is worth about two-thirds of a point. If you can do even a handful of pull-ups, they are usually worth training. The PFT calculator shows both options side by side for your numbers.

Pull-up training. Train them often and never to failure. Three to five sets of about half your max, four or five days a week, adds reps faster than one hard session. If you can't do one yet, use slow negatives (jump to the top, lower over five seconds) and flexed-arm hangs.

Plank

One table for all Marines, regardless of age or sex. A hold of 1:10 earns the minimum 40 points and 3:45 earns 100. Because there's no age adjustment, the plank is one of the few places where a 45-year-old can score exactly like a 20-year-old.

Train it three or four days a week with three holds at about 70 percent of your best and one longer hold per week. Brace and squeeze your glutes so your hips stay level, and breathe steadily.

3-mile run

The 3-mile is the longest run in any branch's test, so pacing and weekly mileage matter more than for a 1.5 or 2-mile run. Three to four runs a week works for most Marines: one easy run of 30 to 45 minutes, one interval session (such as 5 x 800 meters slightly faster than goal pace), one tempo run of 2 miles at goal pace, and an optional easy fourth. The run pace chart gives the per-mile split for any goal time.

Marines 46 and older may row 5,000 meters instead of the run. Younger Marines may row only with an injury or post-partum, and with approval from a health care provider and their commander.

The CFT

Three events in one session, with at least five minutes of rest between them: movement to contact, the ammunition can lift, and maneuver under fire.

Movement to contact (MTC)

An 880-yard sprint for time on a measured course.

It's a half-mile, so it punishes a fast start. Train it with 400 and 600-meter repeats at goal pace and some 200-meter sprints.

Ammunition can lift (AL)

Lift a 30-pound ammo can from shoulder height to overhead, as many times as you can in 2 minutes. Each rep needs your elbows to lock out at the top, and the can has to come back down until its top is at or below your chin before the next one counts.

Most lost reps are short ones: elbows not quite locked, or the can not coming all the way back to chin level. Practice with a 30-pound dumbbell held by both ends, in 2-minute sets, and have a partner watch your lockout.

Maneuver under fire (MANUF)

A 300-yard shuttle course that strings together a sprint, a high crawl and a modified high crawl, a run through cones, a casualty drag and carry of a Marine of similar weight, a carry of two 30-pound ammo cans, a dummy grenade throw, five push-ups, and the ammo can carry back to the start. A grenade that lands in the target area takes 5 seconds off your time, and a miss adds 5 seconds.

The casualty carry and the ammo can carry are where time goes. Train them with partner drags and carries (or a heavy sandbag), farmer's carries, and short shuttle sprints with quick turns. Walk the course once before your test if you can, so the cone sections and transitions aren't new.

Getting to 1st class

A 1st class score of 235 averages just under 80 points per event. On the PFT, the usual path is pull-ups (not push-ups), a solid plank, and a run time that earns at least 75 to 80 points for your age. Work out which event is furthest from 80 with the calculator and put most of your training there.

A body composition screen goes with both tests. The Marine Corps limit is a waist-to-height ratio of 0.52 or less, and high PFT and CFT scores can earn extra body fat allowance if you're over it. Check with the Marine body composition calculator.