Run-Down Forums

[patti - sue]

Hello ... I am new to this site .. and am anxious to hear if there are any runners out there who have an interest or experience in Law Enforcement Fitness Training ... and especially running .....

Thanks,

[Micah Ward]

patti - sue, I have been running 27 years and carrying a badge 18 years. What areas are you specifically interested in? Are you trying to pass a fitness test, creating fitness tests, interested in police olympics, etc?

I would be happy to give you the benefit of my limited knowledge.
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[patti - sue]

Thanks for your interest ... I am a fitness trainer with a local police department, and am very involved in the testing and training of new applicants, recruits, and current members. I am looking for ideas and info regarding current fitness testing .... running programs for recruits ..... etc......I am also an avid runner personally ....

[Micah Ward]

Patti, As I stated in the private message I am going to put these opinions out here for everyone to see and address if they so desire.

The fitness requirements for law enforcement as I see them are:

1. Cardiovascular fitness. There needs to be at least 4 sessions a week of 30-60 minutes of running, cycling, vigorous walking or swimming. Or considering you are in Canada nordic skiing.

2. Muscular strength and endurance. Paul and Dan, please chime in here. I don't think brute strength is as important as endurance here. If brute strength doesn't end a fight quickly then you have to have enough endurance to outlast the opponent. And more times than not that will be the case. So I like weight training with moderate weights and lots of reps. Also lots of body weight resistance through pull ups, dips and pushups.

3. Core strength and flexibility. As I have gotten older (47) I realize that flexibility is important, especially in the lower back area, glutes and hamstrings. Also strong abs to help support the entire mid trunk area. Recently I have been doing stretching a strengthening exercises from a Pilates book. Even though I haven't been to a class the exercises I have done have made a difference in the way my lower back feels.

Last summer I had the opportunity to attend the FBI National Academy (BTW my roommate was Canadian) and physical training was a big part of the curriculum. Some of the workouts that were enjoyed the most by the largest number of students were the circuit training workouts. If you can design some of these for your students I think they will like them and they will be easier to motivate. One of the workouts that everyone seemed to like was the Cyclone. There was a standard 400 meters track with four pullup/dip stations spaced out around it. Then two more stations were designated for pushups and situps. The workout lasted 30 minutes and began with two laps around the track. At the end of those two everyone stopped at a station and performed that exercise for a moderate number of reps. Then they ran another lap and on to the next station where they performed that exercise and then on again, etc, etc
So it was basically a 30 minute run with a stop every 2-3 minutes to do a set of pullups, pushups, dips or situps. It was a great workout and everyone seemed to have fun with it.

OK, I am tired. Someone else jump in.
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[Dan]

#2 sounds like a reasonable theory to me.

That Cyclone workout is fairly similar to the easy day "tempo workouts" I used to have the sprinters do, but with intervals in place of steady running. Intervals varied in length from 100m to 400m, with an average day being 8x200m. All the running was done at a very precise pace (not speed). At the end of each interval, we'd go straight into a core strength exercise: pushups, situps, leg lifts, back stuff, etc. Jump up and right into the next exercise... Took 20-25 minutes total. Felt like you were about to pass out during, but as soon as you finished, seemed like you had hardly done a workout. Legs were fresher than before beginning.

Dan
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[patti - sue]

Hey thanks - all of your mentioned workouts sound very familiar to me ... I teach several "boot camp" classes with my folks which are along the same line as what you mentioned. I stress the core strength stuff constantly as our officers wear duty belts which carry as much as 30 pounds around their hips for a 12 hour shift. Major low back complaints .... mostly taken care of through consistant core work .... I do add it to most running workouts.

I agree with #2 also, you may be stong, but you need to outlast the bad guy! And ... you need to be able to run to catch him in the first place.

I seem to be facing a problem of young recruits coming into training in poor shape ... due to an easy entrance exam, and then feeling "beat up" during the first few weeks of training! This ... will often turn them against wanting to run .... so my job seems to be to teach them to love to run ....

Speaking of running ... just came in from a nice 8 mile run .... our high today was minus 15 ....the streets were full of runners, excited becasue it is so warm today ... go figure ... Canadians!

[Micah Ward]

It is tough to motivate someone to run who doesn't have an interest in it. I think it is important to give them a goal that can become their reason for running. At NA the goal was the Yellow Brick Road which is a 9.4 mile cross country run with obstacles. In the first week of school we ran 1.5 miles then increased the long run every week for 9 weeks and did the Yellow Brick Road in the last week of school. Upon completion everyone was given an actual yellow brick with the class number painted on it. That brick was prized just as much (if not more in some ways) than the diploma.

So give these guys a tangible goal and reward while in the academy and hope they continue to run when they get out.
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[patti - sue]

The Police College sets a goal of 150 miles over 17 weeks, so less than 10 miles per week, which I think is very tame. Were your runs "group" runs or individual efforts? We also have an award for the most miles logged during training ... We do the traditional Scottish Mile Drills with them etc..... it seems the runners continue running ... and the non-runners struggle .... Our applicants are not testing in running when they apply, our test, known as POPAT simulates a police chase ... but a total of 2 and a half minutes of running is all that is completed ... so there seems to be a gap between the entrance requirement and the college expectations .... (does that make sense?) :question:

[Micah Ward]

During the first week of NA we ran a timed 1.5 miles on the track. We were then divided into groups based on our times and each group was assigned a specific color code. In the subsequent runs building up to the Yellow Brick Road we ran in our color coded group. So we built camraderie within our groups and each group supported all the others.

One of the cunundrums of police fitness testing is designing a test that is job specific. How do you construct a test that is valid and reliable and specific to the duties the officer performs? Although we don't have a fitness program in our agency we have had fitness tests for SWAT officers and bomb techs. We equated SWAT duties with that of a basic infantry soldier and used the Army fitness test for them. The bomb tech test is more specific in that the techs have to perform certain functions with their equipment while wearing the "bomb suit". But how do you design and justify a fitness test for detectives? Personally, I would justify it simply from the health benefits but what do you say to a guy who is overweight and smokes cigarettes but is still your best white collar crime investigator?

I'm open to suggestions.
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[patti - sue]

I suppose that jumps into the area of mandatory fitness testing for police officers. Ask the question, if they don't meet the standard of the test, but are currently performing their job to satisfaction .......what then ....

Lifestyles is where my passion lies .....

[Micah Ward]

You have hit the nail on the head.

Why not come over and add your opinion to the discussion on drug use in track & field. It is a good one.
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[patti - sue]

Thanks for the suggestion, I think I will mark that one as a "read only" for myself ..... some pretty interesting stuff!