As A Police Officer, How Do I Stay in Shape?

Police officers are required to engage in physically demanding activities on the job, such as on-foot pursuit and hostile arrests. If you’re a police officer, taking care of your physical fitness can improve your performance and safety on the job. Keep reading to learn about physical fitness for police and the best equipment for your training.

What Do You Need to Consider in Your Fitness Regime?

Knowing what you’re training for can help you plan a fitness regime that has actual benefits for your daily role. Some of the things to consider when planning your fitness regime are listed below:

The impact of prolonged sitting - as a police officer, you could be on surveillance or patrol duty, which leaves you sitting for hours. You need to implement flexibility training into your fitness regime to combat the impact of prolonged sitting.
Emergency response - You need to be in peak physical condition when it comes to emergency response. Your cardiovascular fitness directly impacts the likelihood of success in emergency response procedures. For this reason, you should include cardiovascular training in your fitness regime.
Resistive suspects - you will likely be faced with a situation where you must detain a resistive suspect. To ensure you stay energized in these situations, you must include strength training in your fitness regime.
Cumbersome equipment - during riot duties and other specialized response strategies, you will need to wear bulky equipment while running and restraining suspects. To prepare for these situations, you must increase your comfort level and agility while wearing and operating bulky equipment.

What Should You Include in Your Fitness Regime?

In this section, let’s discuss the main elements you should include in your fitness regime and some recommended exercises to help you plan and structure your workouts.

Flexibility Training

Flexibility training isn’t just for dancers and acrobats. Your flexibility level improves your range of motion, which can be highly important on the job. Here are some of the best exercises to improve your flexibility:

Conditioning classes - many gyms and public fitness centers offer conditioning classes for muscle rehabilitation. Attending these classes will help you to ensure your muscles are conditioned and your flexibility is not compromised by prolonged periods of sitting on the job.
Yoga - Yoga does more than improve your flexibility. It increases your connection and control over your body. You can achieve more balance, flexibility, and muscle control by introducing yoga classes into your routine.
Self-guided stretching - you can implement stretching on your own to improve your flexibility. Stretching the arms, legs, spine, hips, and upper back will help to reduce the impact of long sedentary periods on your fitness level.

Over time, you will notice that taking the time to perform flexibility training will improve other areas of your physical fitness and mobility.

Cardio Training

In active pursuits, you will need to maintain a sprint for long periods, which requires a high level of cardiovascular fitness. To perform cardiovascular training, you can include the following exercises in your regimen:

HIIT exercises - high-intensity interval training involves exercise circuits made up of burpees, star jumps, skipping, and other cardio-focused exercises. You can build your own circuit based on the exercises that will most benefit your role.
Sprints - uphill sprinting is one of the best ways to push your physical fitness to higher levels. You can perform uphill sprints on a treadmill, or you can find areas nearby where there are steep slopes.
Long-distance running - to improve your stamina, rather than your speed, you should consider adding long-distance running to your regime. It allows you to improve how long and far you can run, which is useful in a chase, when the person you’re pursuing may not be as physically fit as you.

By incorporating these exercises into your routine, you can ensure that your cardio fitness is of a high enough standard to ensure you do not lose a perpetrator in an on-foot pursuit.

Strength Training

Strength is just as important as stamina when it comes to a police officer’s fitness levels. You must be able to carry heavy loads, and you must have the strength to restrain a civilian in a resisted arrest. Below are some of the best ways to incorporate strength training into your physical fitness routine:

Weight training - you can use compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, bicep curls, and bench press to improve your overall strength, gradually increasing your weight ability over time.
CrossFit - is an exercise routine that combines weight training and HIIT to provide cardio fitness and improved strength.
Combat sports - sports like kickboxing and mixed martial arts can help you to improve your strength in physical altercations and will provide you with knowledge of moves that can help you to detain a civilian.

Source: PSPCorp.ca

Equipment Handling Training

You should include exercises into your routine where you wear riot gear, body armour, and other heavy and cumbersome tactical equipment. This exercise will ensure that when you are required to wear tactical gear in the line of duty, you are able to manage the extra load and cumbersome materials. You can also practice using certain pieces of tactical equipment in combat scenarios such as riot shields and batons. Improving your agility and strength using police equipment will improve your performance on the job. Additionally, you should visit the firing range option to improve your firearm handling skills, accuracy, and strength.

Shop PSP Corp. For All Your Police Fitness Gear

To keep up with your training and ensure you can handle your equipment efficiently and effectively, you need to engage in training with this equipment. At PSP Corp., we offer law enforcement gear like riot shields and plate carriers, allowing you to practice crucial exercises at home and improve your physical fitness as a police officer. Visit our website today to browse tactical gear and find the training equipment you need.

March 14, 2023 | View: 807 | Categories: Articles