This is where I struggled at OCS. I think a lot of people do, but this was the thing that almost got me dropped. I shipped to OCS with a 260 PFT. Don't be like me. I ran into two shit situations. The first, they raised the pull-up standards for women while I was OCS. So I lost points in the category. Then, I somehow collected 8 stress fractures and a broken heel. So my run, which was my strong point, was now my worst. And then the kicker...I always maxed my crunches. But doing crunches while someone sits on your broken foot made it impossible for me to do well on those. So yeah. At OCS I got worse and worse at physical fitness. And my platoon mates destroyed me for it. My instructors did not have much faith in me. It was almost a validation when I had proof I was hurt and it took me a year to get better. But don't be like me.
I actually failed my final PFT. Usually criteria to get sent home. I knew I was going to fail, but for some reason I wanted to try instead of go to medical. I got to take it again, I still failed. This is when I was put on the board. I had already resigned myself to my fate. I writing my little plea to the Colonel to let me try OCS next year, when my Platoon Commander said I would be taking the PFT again the next day. I was actually ANNOYED. I was like, "what's the point????"
We had been wearing desert camis the whole time, no name tapes. But that day we got our woodlands back, with name tapes, to wear for graduation. I almost cried because I really wanted to wear them. We had also purchased our uniforms, and I could see gold bars sitting on my locker shelf. I actually read my knowledge book after lights about the Frozen Chosin and other moto stuff like that. That stuff works.
I put one of the gold bars in my sports bra the next day for motivation. (LOL). My foot was in so much pain. Somehow I did two more pull-ups than I usually did, and somehow made it through enough crunches that I felt like I had a shot. The 3 miles was the worst thing in the world but when I saw my time I knew I passed. I still thought I was on the board to get dropped, but at least I could tell the Colonel that I improved. I was shocked when my Platoon Commander took me off the board. I felt like she saved my life.
Please don't be in the same situation as me. I should have prepared better. Try to max your pull-ups. Same with crunches. If you are a decent runner like I was, still get the recommended 15-20 miles a week prior to OCS. You need to calcium build-up. My run time was good because I naturally run fast, but I wasn't putting in enough miles, hence the stress fractures.
One little thing can just make everything crumble. Now in the fleet, I "fixed myself" and I haven't struggled with a PFT since.