Battle of the bulge

ALL content used in this not-for-profit blog remain the property of their respective owners.
http://www.policemag.com/channel/careers-training/articles/2013/01/the-bulge-in-blue.aspx
By Sgt. Jeff Baker, a decorated veteran of the Omaha Police Department. A law enforcement officer since 1988, Baker is a Federal Law Enforcement Training Accreditation (FLETA) certified police instructor.

Our life as law enforcement officers is full with activities.

Shift work and having to work on weekends and holidays, be available to attend parent-teacher meetings, kids' soccer games, home maintenance, and other matters constantly compete for our time.

But that doesn't mean you're off the hook.

Self Examination

I'm going to be blunt. Do you reason that only cops working the "bad" part of the city need to train? Think again.

Everyone dies. How about you investigators?

The fact you're on a desk and wear a suit is no guarantee. A detective and longtime friend once had his eye closed by a 100kg man with anvils for fists in a sudden attack during an interview.

Have you stopped to consider the danger you may pose to yourself and also to your brothers and sisters around you?

The leading cause of death in the line of duty over the last decade is "Job-Related Illness," according to the National Law Enforcement Memorial Foundation.

That's code speak for cardiac or respiratory arrest.

The plan here is to introduce a Monday-Wednesday-Friday exercise regimen that is unique, fast (sub-30 minutes each), and cheap.

Do as you read here for six weeks and you'll be nothing less than shocked at the level of strength and conditioning you attain with so little time invested in each workout.

These are ideas I've introduced at my precinct without spending a cent of my own money or departmental funds. So tighten your chin strap. This is fun, unorthodox work.

The Terrible Tyre

Look for a tyre in the range of 150% to 200% of your body weight.

Here's the technique:

1. Squat deeply, hands inside the feet, forearms flat against the tread, maintain a neutral lumbar, and let your legs do the work. 
2. When you get beyond 45 degrees, the tire will tend to right itself; release your underhand grip and forcefully check the tire away with open palms before chasing it for another rep. 
3. If it's too difficult to do a continuous set of 10‒12 repetitions, get a lighter tire rather than reducing reps.

For added challenge between sets, beat the tire with alternating overhand sledgehammer strikes. I signed one out of our property room for this purpose. Again, this requires no cost but reaps huge dividends.

This movement works the core and shoulders while keeping your heart rate up between sets, and it activates the same muscle group that's involved if throwing overhand hard-empty-hand control techniques when top-mounting an actively aggressive suspect.

Don't be discouraged early on; the results will come. The first time I trained this way, I could muster only 25‒30 reps before exhaustion. Nowadays, I regularly do upward of 130 repetitions on tire day.

Weighted Stadium Stairs

Some public stadiums offer limited access to their football field and/or the running track around it. Take advantage of this golden opportunity to engage in free, outdoor calorie burning.

You can get a good stair workout without a weighted vest or ballast-filled backpack, but I prefer one to up the intensity and shorten my time commitment.

Depending on the weight chosen, this training will pose a challenge to both novice and high-level athlete alike.

I used a pair of 15kg plates for a portion of the workout, but an industrious officer can use just about anything around the house: phone books, soup cans, or even a few bricks.

Walk, don't run the stairs; you'll tire too quickly otherwise. Vary how many steps you take with each stride.

Hitting every step and keeping your weight on the balls of your feet will place an emphasis on the calves; striding out and hitting every other step is more difficult and works larger muscle groups in the quads and glutes. Try both.

Go up, across, and down, then back up again—so as to eventually work the whole side of the stadium like a ladder.

Simply walk the stairs without stopping for 30 minutes or, early on, for as long as you're able. You'll gas quickly at first, but again, stay the course. Things will get better.

100m Sprints

Any high-intensity exercise burns calories, but precious little fans the flames of the metabolism like sprint work does.

Aside from how effective sprints are at whipping you into shape, there is real-world practicality for the police officer doing this type of exercise.

Ever seen an overweight sprinter? Neither have I. They're lean and well-muscled—hardly the build of their oftentimes emaciated counterparts in the world of distance running.

I'll tell you what I do after a warm-up and a few relaxed sprints at 50 percent: 8‒10 full-tilt 100-yard sprints, as hard as I can possibly go, with 2-minute recovery periods in between. That's it.

By the final two or three sprints I'm moving slow and pondering my considerable discomfort, but it's worth it. We're talking about a total body workout that takes under a half-hour to accomplish.

You will experience delayed onset muscle soreness 24‒48 hours after this workout; that's simply a byproduct of taxing your body in a way it's not acclimated to. Allow for some time to get past the soreness.

The Reward

I'm not a gifted athlete who gets by on good genetics. However, I know I would be stronger and better conditioned than almost anyone I encounter on the street.

Anyone can find 20‒30 minutes three times a week.

The workouts listed in this article cost no or little money. The reward of investing in yourself is far reaching for mind and body.

You'll experience better sleep, a heightened sense of well-being, clothes that fit, respect from your peers and the ability to better defend yourself and carry out your duties when the moment of truth arrives.

"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training."—Archilochus, Greek Soldier, Poet, c. 650 BC