Police Officer Preparation & Law Enforcement Resource - Archive

Ok, so here is my situation. I started the Academy August 27. I was 6' 317lbs. I ran 1.5m in 18:21, did 30 pushups and 26 situps in a minute. Today I am 6' 277, I ran my 1.5m in 13:15 and can do about 40-45 pushups and 43 situps in a minute. Unfortunately I have exactly 4 days from today to cut my run time 1:17 or I have to go through the entire Academy again. (I'm not looking forward to it, but the Commander of the Academy is making some financial arangements for me if I do, so it could be worse).

At any rate, since realistically I'll probably be doing the whole thing again:mad:, I'm trying to revamp my workout plan to fit around my Academy PT schedule. In the Academy we PT on Tuesday and Thursday, two hours a day, generally consisting of a 2-4 mile run and some calisthenics (focusing mainly on chest/tris/abs/quads).

So here are my goals:
1. Obviously cut my run time as much as possible, as quick as possible. If I could be under 11:58 by February that would be great.
2. Lose body fat (not necessarily weight)/Increase strength (not looking to be a body builder, but to just up my strength a bit).
3. Increase my functional fitness (by this I mean I dont care about how much I bench or curl... I want to have the strength/endurance necessary to save my life if I get into a fight on the streets. A lot of my strength comes from my size, but that disappears on the ground. And we all know being in shape and being in fighting shape are different).

Ideally I'd like a workout plan that is M,T,T,F of M,T,T,F,S and if its possible only do the Academy PT on Tues and Thurs. Thats usually a good hour and a half of work each day we PT. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Is this a live in academy or do they allow you to go home? That makes a huge difference. Mine you were there from Mon morn until released Fri night and you ate their food and did their workouts. That made it tough to do anything extra other than some push ups and situps in the room at night.

How's your eating? One of the best way to drop the run time is to drop some weight. That's not to say starve yourself but rather eating right. I can tell you from experience (to give my post here some verity) that eating 6-7 times a day, that's every 2-3 hours with smaller portioned high protein foods - you'll see a fat loss, a muscle gain, more energy and better living. Drink lots of water too - about a gallon a day. Water is huge.

Foods: fish (baked or grilled), chicken, lean steak, buffalo, egg whites, protein shakes, bananas, melon, (Kashi granola bars are awesome snacks)

No alcohol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

did I mention water?

Work on getting your legs stronger for the run. How? Squats and lunges are good. Run with weight on your back. In the summer I run with my 2+yo daughter in a hiking backpack - talk about a leg burn... When I can't do that - level IIIA vest is good with steel plates front and back if you have access to one. Run hills (up them :D ). Vary your speeds - use telephone poles. Sprint one - walk one.

Don't neglect the rest of your body though. Spend more time on the running and legs right now and just keep on with sit ups and push ups - those are what you need to pass.

Don't hesitate to ask any other questions. Also, a good creatine mix will help. I use a product called NOS Blast from Vitamin World . It's their product under "Precision Engineered". Members (free) of their store (online too) can get 2 for 1 on the first mon+tues of each month. So I get 2 5lb tubs of their whey protein (strawberry is best) for like 39$ and the Nos Blast 2 for like 60$ and that lasts me a while. Follow the instructions for use. Vitamin World is also VERY pro police. Good place for us.

Now for the verity in case you're asking who the hell is this guy to give me advice.....I am not a trainer or anything. Just a normal guy that wanted to be a cop but struggled through the physical aspect myself. I lost over 200 lbs in 3years and am now a police officer. I did everything on my own using the basic outline above. I was over 410lbs and graduated from the academy at 211. I'm now a fairly solid 225lbs and happy as a pig in **** (pun intended)

Honeymoon in 2003
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/RevLordNikon/random/ABC/PPmeunder.jpg

Sept 2007
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/RevLordNikon/police/IMG_1092.jpg


Good luck to you my friend. Stay positive and you'll get there.......

Well, I ended up spraining my ankle on the final assessment and when I went to the doc I found out I also had a stress fracture. So now I have a medical extension. So I have at the very least 30 additional days to work, so I may not have to repeat.

As far as my diet goes, a typical day looks like this:

6am: Cheerios and a Banana (I should probably knock out the cheerios and replace with oatmeal or something, huh?)
Supplements: 1/2 dose Osteo-BiFlex, Chromium, Multi-vitamin

12pm: Homemade protein/meal replacement shake w/ 100% whey protein, flaxseed, milk and a banana

6pm: Whatever is made for me at home (generally something like spaghetti, chicken breast and beans, or on the fatty end BLTs and Mac and Cheese or Burgers and Fries)

8:30pm: granola bar or 1/2 pb sandwich
----------------------------------------
Thats a typical day for me. I try to get plenty of water and also know I need to lay off the soda even though its always Diet and usually Caffeine Free. Other than that, any diet suggestions would be appreciated.

Also does anyone have any idea how far I would have to go on a bike or eliptical to equal a 4 mile run? Or in other words, what are some decent workouts I can do on stair-climbers, elipticals, bikes that would replicate the effort of a 4 mile run?

1st thing - I would throw another small "meal" in between what you have. 6-12 is a long time without food for your body to go especially if you're working out a lot. You need something in there. Doesn't have to be anything big, grab an apple or a banana a cantaloupe or other melon or pineapple (melon and pineapple are awesome foods for ya). And another in the afternoon midway through.

That's gonna give your body what you need to grow muscle and burn fat. I can't stress enough that you need to get the appropriate caloric intake. For me - at 6'4" and 225 with working out I need about 2800 calories a day (per my nutritionist and trainer). That is also with keeping the fat down and the protein up. So the foods that I mentioned before. When I was at my peak I was weighing everything and writing everything down. Seems anal I know but it helped me lose 200 lbs. Writing it down really makes you aware for everything you are putting in your body. I found that it helped keep me on track too. General rule is to get about 1g protein for each lb you weigh. It is VERY hard to do. You also don't realize how much food is 2800 calories but that includes EVERYTHING that goes into your mouth. I'm talking the 5 cal in the multivitamin....

I don't know the equivalent of the elip machine but most tell you on the panel how far you've gone and your pace. One thing that kicked my *** when I plateaued - with weights do 21s and the stairmaster. My trainer had me on the stepper doing a 10 in warm-up that kicked my ***.

Goes likes this:
minute 10 : level 7
min 9 : lev 12
min 8 : lev 7
m7:l12
m6:l6
m5:l15
m4:l7
m3-0:lev5

doesn't sound too bad but give it a go. If it's too easy go up proportionally.

You never thought a hurt ankle could be a blessing huh? :D

Well it had actually been sprained for about 3 weeks, but i was too stubborn to get it looked at. I just made it worse during the assesment. And even with that I finished 1:15 off pace. So, its do-able. Just gotta bust my ***. So Friday is actually the final day of the Academy, so after that i'll be able to workout longer and more often.

Sept 2007



Good luck to you my friend. Stay positive and you'll get there.......

Not to get you guys off track, but what Highland Games where you at in that Picture?

And, I'm right there with you man, I'm 5'11 260lbs. I'm trying to drop some weight and get my run speed up as well. I guess we'll hang in there together :)

Not to get you guys off track, but what Highland Games where you at in that Picture? :)

White Mtns NH

White Mtns NH

Nice, I've been going to Florida Highland games my entire life, I actually used to play in a pipe band. Both my Middle School, High School, and City have pipe bands. Our instructor was actually known at one time as the best piper in the world.

How does this look for a total body weight routine?

Total Body Workout: Complete 3 sets of each pair, then continue to next pair
One Arm Chest Press(Inc or Dec)/Deadlift
Chest Fly(Inc or Dec)/Back Fly
Hammer Curl to Overhead Press/Skull Crushers
Bicep Curl/Tricep Kickbacks
Leg Extensions/Leg Curls
Leg Press
Sit-ups/Flutter-Kicks

Alternate squats for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds and pushups for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds, and repeat, for 4 minutes.

Also, I was wondering, when I do my timed runs for PT tests, my legs get tired very quick. Can strength training help that. I've also heard strength training for the legs can hamper speed, is that true?

Looks good, if you have a gym that you're a member of, most of them have an in house personal trainer that you can consult with. You could get real in depth with a trainer and they can give you specifics - namely how to do the lifts. I was working out at home for over a year before I got a gym membership and a trainer. He was able to show me how to do the lifts and it's amazing how less than an inch can make such a difference.

As far as the strength training of the legs slowing you down - if you put on a lot of muscle then maybe. Again - I'm no pro so this is going from my own research and what I've been told. More muscle will restrict the stretching of the muscle which slows you down but you can easily counter that with stretching. I think you would have to be talking about serious muscle growth before you start to worry but make sure you stretch. Flexible muscles get stronger faster and the elasticity will make you faster.