Some Marines have doubted whether women have the upper body strength needed to do pullups properly, but data from the latest Physical Fitness Tests is proving otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Starting in January, female Marines were no longer allowed do the flexed-arm hang on the PFT. Now, both men and women have a choice between doing pullups and pushups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2017, about 9,500 women \u2015 or 65 percent of all female Marines \u2015 opted to do pullups, said Brian McGuire, deputy director of the Marine Corps\u2019 Force Fitness Division. Nearly half of them did enough for maximum PFT points. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year, roughly 2,000 female Marines did pullups when the flexed-arm hang was still an option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since the flexed-arm hang was phased out on Jan. 1, female Marines between ages 17 and 20 have been required to do seven pullups to get the maximum of 100 points on that section of PFT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n