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WillBrink
05-07-09, 08:37
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Functional Fitness For Law Enforcement
A regional RRT group in the New England area invited me to do a seminar, and I brought John Sullivan – a trainer for Optimal SWAT – along with me to help out. The seminar was followed by a group competition using low-tech functional exercise challenges. They were broken up into teams of 10, and were timed on a long course of rope climbing, obstacle course, chain drag, keg run, farmers walk, phone pole run, truck push, tire drag, and more! Alone, one of the units was not terribly challenging, but strung together and done continuously, the difficulty mounted quickly!

Vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZg1CKoGZes

As you can see, being creative with low-tech stuff found all around you is one way to develop a challenging circuit of exercises that are functional in nature and job applicable. Obviously, when working with a group this large, you will have a wide range of fitness levels, so you have to account for that fact and take into account not everyone is a cross training God or in Olympic Tri-athlete condition. These are real people with real jobs and responsibilities, not some kid who has all day to workout, so that has to be taken into account also. Anyway, it’s a short fun vid that may give people some ideas they can use in their own workouts, dept, or unit.

Just low-tech, good old fashion hard work and some fun!

Source:

http://www.brinkzone.com/blog/general-brinkzone-news/post/functional-fitness-for-law-enforcement/

Tracer
05-25-09, 11:45
I do believe that the Army's daily dozen is tops for general conditioning! However, if you wish to get stronger after doing the above for 45 days prior, then turn to the incline bench press, squat, deadlift and overhead press. Lift 3 times a week and start low with reps in the 10 to 12 range, later you can go down to 6 to 8 reps with heavier weight and sets should not be more than two the first week, then 3 sets. The first set should be a warm up set at 50 to 60 percent of last set.

WS6
05-25-09, 22:44
I will have to say, I have seen a lot of out of shape cops, but the State Troopers in my area always seem to be pretty fit. I think it would be good news if physical training were amped up a bit. I do live in the 2nd fattest state in the nation.

Mr.Goodtimes
05-26-09, 21:22
i do lots of cardio and bodyweight exercises and i still have quite a bit of mass on me. i consider some of more basic exercises some of the best.

WillBrink
06-19-09, 14:02
i do lots of cardio and bodyweight exercises and i still have quite a bit of mass on me. i consider some of more basic exercises some of the best.

I have added more cardio, some in the form of HIIT, some in the form of LISS, and have not experienced a loss of strength or LBM.

WS6
06-20-09, 11:12
I have added more cardio, some in the form of HIIT, some in the form of LISS, and have not experienced a loss of strength or LBM.

During my cut from 200# and @16-20% to 175# and 10.5% I lost 4# LBM roughly. I benched 225 then, and 275 now. Squat 335. Definitely nothing impressive, but just goes to show I didn't kill strength. I agree. Leaning down does not mean you give it all up.

Al U. 5811
06-24-09, 14:18
For most beginners or people who have been away for a while, that initial strength loss due to BW loss will happen. In time with consistant work you will increase your own strength to BW ratio. Often, people new to weight training work entirely too much on isolation movements when they should be doing heavy compound movements. Most lifters would benefit from sticking to basic lifts(bench, squat, deadlift, pullups, leg press, dips, military press) and scale back things like curls.

YMMV