A lot of people and places these days will tell you they can gauge your fitness — i.e. inform you correctly if you’re in shape or not.

There’s the popular Body Mass Index (BMI). There’s Body Adiposity Index, which basically is BMI without the weight factor. There’s waist-to-hip ratio and hydrostatic weighing and, of course, body fat measuring.

But forget about all of these. Because when the sh*t really hits the fan, and our country has its back against the wall (heaven forbid, of course) the President of the United States doesn’t call in BMI or BAI or any of the aforementioned silly measurements.

He calls in the Marines.

So, in this spirit, leave it to the Corps to explain way actual fitness. Conveniently, they have a simple test that can answer this question, and it’s as straightforward as a drill instructor.

All it entails is three parts. Pull-ups. Crunches (or sit-ups) and a three-mile dash. Together, they have to be completed in under two hours. The catch is that each exercise has to be done in a very precise way — the exact what a Marine is taught to perform them.

For that information and for how to score the test based on age, click this link here. Keep in mind that the elite pull off 20 pull-ups, 100 crunches in two minutes and run three miles in 18 minutes.

Word to the wise? Grab a few things off Bodybuilding.com before attempting to run your body through this military gauntlet. Because you’re going to need it.