The three pictures at the top depict what someone’s body who’s training consists primarily of distnace running looks like.  Below that are pictures of bodies that have been developed as a result of constantly varied, functional training performed at high intensities.  (photos courtesy of CrossFit.com & Tom Campitelli)

As a local business owner in the health and fitness industry, and a resident of Contra Costa County, I feel like I have a duty.  My duty is to educate those that work in law enforcement on effective physical training, specific to their line of work.  Unfortunately, far too many officers of the law simply use general resistance training and running, or even worse, just running, as their means for achieving optimal fitness.  A program like this will not meet the needs of anyone looking to develop well rounded fitness, and certainly doesn’t address the needs of a police officer.  In regards to fitness and physical readiness, these individuals need to be prepared unlike any other worker or athlete.  A police officer can, and likely will, encounter any scenario imaginable.  Sprinting after a suspect, climbing over walls or fences while sprinting after a suspect, wrestling a suspect to the ground after sprinting a short distance and perhaps jumping over a fence or two (perhaps he gets away and the officer must sprint a little more), or  dragging or lifting and carrying a wounded fellow officer after sprinting up several flights of stairs.  A key point here, is that usually when the sh*t hits the fan, you aren’t going to be jogging after a suspect, or jogging for cover from flying bullets….jogging makes us good joggers, not good sprinters.  Another inherent flaw in most people’s training program is the separation of “cardio” and “weights”.  In real-life situations, there isn’t a 15 minute water break (or even worse, a full day of rest, the way many of us schedule our cardio and weights) between chasing down the suspect and wrestling him to the ground.  Another demand unique to law enforcement is the need to be ready to “spring into action” in a moments notice.  A constantly varied program will help prepare the body for just about anything, but if your exercise routine always follows the same general structure you are severally limiting your ability to adapt to dynamic situations.  If a 5 or 10K “jog-off” were a likely scenario for police officer to encounter with a suspect, then jogging these distances in their training program would be beneficial.  However, with radio communication, and back up hopefully within a few minutes, a more likely scenario is a shorter duration, higher intensity event that addresses every physical attribute imaginable. 

My passion for this topic is rooted in the intrinsic properties of a police officer’s job.  Here’s what I mean.  Edward, who works in Computer Programming, probably won’t die as a result of a poorly designed fitness program when his boss demands he rewrite a Beta version of their Spyware program so that it detects those cleverly disguised Cialis ads.  However, a police officer can likely be put in a situation where their physical fitness determines whether or not they make it home.  One can just jog and hope that they will never be placed in a situation where, strength, speed, and anaerobic capacity are a necessity, or they can prepare themselves for anything, and go to work each day with the confidence that they have done everything in their power to ensure they make it home safe.

_______________________

Tuesday’s WOD:

4 Rounds

403m Run

15 reps of the following, number designates which round the exercise is performed in:
1.) Double Wall Balls
2.) Thrusters
3.) Single Arm KB Thruster
4.) Wall Ball

25 Situps
15 Ring Dips
25 Squats

Rest exactly 3 minutes b/t rounds

results:

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009 at 9:14 pm and is filed under General, Get your mind right., Physiology related. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.