I’m beginning PCSO (Police Community Support Officer) training at the end of September and wanted to get in an intensive eight-week fitness routine in prior to that as it may be the last period of extended time I get in a while to really let loose (especially given that my post-PCSO training break, i.e. November, will be taken up mostly by NaNoWriMo 2010). I have several aims, the most prominent three being increases in power generation, high-intensity endurance, and physical appearance. The last is justified by the fact that in my job I would benefit from an authoritative build. Still, given that basically any workout will result in changes, I have tried to structure the program in such a way that while hypertrophy is let in through the door, but not allowed up onto the furniture. The routine moves from being area-focused exercises for the first month to more about power exercises in the second month, with a transitory week. Also, the stretches are lumped together so that there are several days of working flexibility and then 96 hours of recovery, which according to this source is optimal recovery. However, only stretching once every four days seemed to me to be a little too little given that I only had eight weeks to fully dedicate myself. I anticipate that there may well be questions as to whether I actually have legs. I do, but they will be suffering the wrath of bi-daily stints of HIIT on a bike, free running, and weighted horse stance, and thus I chose to devote them fully to such pursuits (especially given that much of my leg-work as a PCSO and later a Constable will be made up of walking, cycling, and running, rather than lifting heavy objects). Anyway, I decided to post this here to see what people think of it, and I thought that to properly evaluate it, it would be best if the reasoning behind it was given. The following are the workout components for each area of the body. It should be pretty self-explanatory how this organisation works once you get to the calendar section. One thing to keep in mind is that the order in which it is written is not the order in which it will be undertaken; small circuits would be made out of the workout components, such as shoulder press > dumbbell curl > tricep extension > vertical row. Biceps Dumbell Hammer Curls –– 3x20 Barbell Curls –– 3x4 Concentration Curls –– 3x6 Reverse Grip Curls* –– 3x20 Chin Ups** –– 3x20 Wrist Curls*** –– 3x20 Reverse Wrist Curls*** –– 3x20 * Palms facing away from the body rather than towards it. ** Due to a lack of an in-home chin up bar, this is done separately from the rest of the workout; I will be using the monkey bars at the local park for that. *** I know wrist curls aren’t working the biceps, but for organisational simplicity I put them in this section because they were curls. Triceps Close Grip Barbell Press –– 3x4 Centreline Dumbell Press –– 3x4 Lying Barbell Extensions –– 3x4 Standing Barbell Extensions –– 3x4 Standing Dumbell Extensions –– 3x6 Kickbacks –– 2x20 Standing Kickbacks –– 2x20 Lying One-Arm Extensions –– 3x6 Shoulders Shoulder Press –– 3x20 Arnold Press –– 3x9 Behind-Head Press –– 3x4 Lateral Raises –– 3x20 Front Raises –– 3x20 Rear Lateral Raises –– 3x20 Vertical Rows –– 3x6 Dumbell Shrugs –– 3x9, 3x9 External Rotations –– 3x12 Internal Rotations –– 3x12 Chest Barbell Benchpress –– 4x4 Dumbell Benchpress –– 4x6 Dumbell Flyes –– 4x12 Incline Barbell Benchpress –– 4x4 Incline Dumbell Benchpress –– 4x6 Incline Dumbell Flyes –– 4x12 Back Deadlifts –– 4x6 Romanian Deadlifts –– 3x20 Barbell Bent-Over Row –– 3x12 Barbell Lying Rows –– 3x4 Dumbell Lying Row –– 3x6 Barbell Pullover –– 3x12 Dumbell Pullover –– 3x12 Abs & Hips Barbell Sit-Ups –– 3x12 Dumbell Sit-Ups –– 3x20 Leg Extensions –– 3x20 Weighted Crunches –– 3x12 Oblique Twists –– 3x20 Weighted Front Leg Raise –– 3x12 Weighted Side Leg Raise –– 3x12 Weighted Rear Leg Raise –– 3x12 Weighted Close The Gate –– 3x12 Weighted Open The Gate –– 3x12 Crane Circles* –– 3x10 each leg, each way * Raise your leg to the front parallel to the floor then draw small circles with pointed toes; ten circles clockwise, ten circles anti-clockwise, or figure-of-eights if a circle bores you. Power Barbell Clean & Jerk –– 4x4 Dumbell Clean & Jerk –– 3x6 Barbell Snatch –– 4x4 Dumbell Snatch –– 3x6 Barbell Split Jerk –– 3x12 Dumbell High Swing –– 3x6 Depth Push Ups –– 3 sets, as many reps as possible Alternating One-Arm Push Ups –– 3 sets, as many reps as possible Clapping Waist-Level Push Ups –– 3 sets, as many reps as possible Weighted Crane Dips* –– 3 sets, as many reps as possible Calf Raises –– 3 sets, as many reps as possible Plyometric Box Jumps –– 3 sets, as many reps as possible * Crane Dip = One-Legged Squat, with the ‘resting’ leg held out in front parallel to the floor. Stretches Dynamic Front Leg Raise –– 3x20 Side Leg Raise –– 3x20 Rear Leg Raise –– 3x20 Open the Gate –– 3x12 Close the Gate –– 3x12 Static Front Splits –– 3x1 min Side Splits –– 3x1 min Groin Splits –– 3x1 min Sit & Reach –– 3x2 min (3x40 secs, 1 segment for each of leaning left, right and forward) PNF (assisted) Standing Front Splits –– 2x1 min Standing Side Split –– 2x1 min Seated Hamstring –– 3x1 min Lying Straight Leg Groin Splits –– 3x1 min Lying Quadraceps –– 2x1 min The following section is how the workout plan looks. The Eight Week Calendar Week 1 (August 2nd –– August 8th) Monday –– Biceps, Triceps Tuesday –– Medical Examination, thus no workout Wednesday –– Chest, Back Thursday –– Shoulders, Abs & Hips Friday –– Rest –– Dynamic, PNF Saturday –– Triceps, Shoulders, Chest Sunday –– Biceps, Back, Abs & Hips Week 2 (August 9th –– August 15th) Monday –– Rest Tuesday –– Triceps, Shoulders, Chest Wednesday –– Biceps, Back, Abs & Hips Thursday –– Rest Friday –– Triceps, Shoulders, Chest Saturday –– Biceps, Back, Abs & Hips Sunday –– Rest Week 3 (August 16th –– August 22nd) Monday –– Triceps, Shoulders, Chest Tuesday –– Rest Wednesday –– Biceps, Back, Abs & Hips Thursday –– Rest Friday –– Triceps, Shoulders, Chest Saturday –– Biceps, Back, Abs & Hips Sunday –– Rest Week 4 (August 23rd –– August 29th) Monday –– Triceps, Shoulders, Chest Tuesday –– Biceps, Back, Abs & Hips Wednesday –– Rest Thursday –– Triceps, Shoulders, Chest Friday –– Biceps, Back, Abs & Hips Saturday –– Holiday Sunday –– Holiday Week 5 (August 30th –– September 5th) Monday –– Holiday Tuesday –– Power Wednesday –– Rest Thursday –– Rest Friday –– Power Saturday –– Rest Sunday –– Power Week 6 (September 6th –– September 12th) Monday –– Rest Tuesday –– Power Wednesday –– Rest Thursday –– Power Friday –– Rest Saturday –– Power Sunday –– Rest Week 7 (September 13th –– September 19th) Monday –– Power Tuesday –– Rest Wednesday –– Power Thursday –– Rest Friday –– Power Saturday –– Rest Sunday –– Power Week 8 (September 20th –– September 26th) Monday –– Rest Tuesday –– Power Wednesday –– Rest Thursday –– Power Friday –– Rest Saturday –– Acupuncture Massage Sunday –– Rest EDIT: Any day that reads "Rest" will include a couple of hours of light exercise in the form of learning Liuhe Bafa and practicing the Lau Gar forms. I will also be following a stretching routine that more closely matches Van Zandt's routine for high kicking, i.e. bi-daily dynamic and static and PNF as often as my girlfriend can help me.
From reading Van Zandt's work in the flexibility section, I think you would be safe with just one set of stretching exercises per muscle group. Good luck in becoming a PCSO. Taekwon, :hat:
Where is your cardio.. Police work is stationary 90% of the time and sitting in a patrol unit, but there are times when the merde hits the fan and you are in pursuit of an individual.. You don't want to tank out in the middle of an altercation and endanger your survival..
With that schedule, you're heading for a serious case of overtraining. Better to take your current schedule, halve it, then halve it again. What kind of routine do you work on a general week by week basis and what exactly have you been told about the fitness requirements for a PCSO?
Ah, I'll have to check out his work and take it into consideration. I'd prefer doing less stretching if I'm honest; the discomfort of stretching my hamstrings is undesirable. But, as I see, he recommends doing dynamic and static stretching bi-daily and PNF in the evening. I'm not sure what your complaint was regarding if I'm honest. Here: As I said I am partly trying to encourage hypertrophy for aesthetic reasons. I also didn't want to leap straight into a power-based workout, because I can almost guarantee that my back would be put out as a result; I've had problems in the past and need to spend a few weeks re-stabilising it- it needs a top up. If you think I could still afford to put in more power and less isolation, then I may well do that. Good point. I'd completely forgotten about those. Yes, on reflection I agree. I've edited the first post: do you think that looks more reasonable?
There is no need to try to isolate or define a muscle until you actually have muscle to isolate or define. You can encourage hypertrophy through many other means. Especially as an athlete, you want to be training movements more than exercises, so to speak. I think you're going to burn out very quickly if you try this. The main thing to do when trying out for something like this is to train ultimately with the goal in mind of passing the physical fitness portion of the training. Does the PCSO have a fitness test and if so what is it?
Ignoring, for a moment, that you appear to be suggesting I drop the first half and replace it with something more like the second half: would you suggest that the program order should be flipped in order to accomplish greater definition? This is more of an academic question if I'm honest, I've no interest in entering the world of body-building or being on the set of 300. I'm not trying to be defensive and ignore what you're saying, but I can't ignore the fact that my experience suggests otherwise. For several months last year I was training daily for two week blocks with a similar workout plan, and at one point went for seventeen days straight before I burned out; although two days rest was all I needed to be back in business- and no I don't use drugs and never will. I'm less concerned about burning out, what with the inclusion of rest days, than I am concerned about the first week as my body aches from re-acclimatising to a heavy training program. There is, apparently, no formal fitness testing for the PCSOs. The Constables have to be able to get to a certain level of the bleep test, and be able to bench and row a certain amount. That's it. But, obviously, anyone in the police needs to be as fit as can be. The main things that I am training in order to pass a potential fitness test that they could throw at me are bike HIIT, free running, benches and rows (given their inclusion in Constable-testing), and the Power training.
I'll be honest, Talyn, and say that I have a huge personal bias towards compound lifting, but it's for good reason. I'd be inclined to switch out the isolations in the first half and go all the way with compound lifts like deadlifts, rows, squats, presses, dips and chins. This will prepare you much better for the very dynamic lifting you have planned in the second half than any amount of isolations could.
I would actually say skip the isolation movements entirely and continue with the compound lifts. In terms of bodyweight, you should be pressing 1x, benching 1.5x, squatting 2x, and deadlifting 2.5x before you even start thinking of isolating your body for aesthetic purposes. Even then, bodybuilders already have an impressive amount of muscle mass before they use isolation exercises to target difficult areas. This isn't something the average guy needs to be worried about. If you want to look intimidating, lift heavy and get strong and you will get bigger and look stronger. There's not too many small guys squatting over 500 pounds. Fitness shouldn't be a quick fix, it should be something you can keep up for life. If you can train every day, you're not training hard enough in some areas. If you're burning out after two week blocks (which isn't enough time to actually start making any kind of strength gains, by the way) then maybe you are overtraining. About eight weeks is what one single strength training program should be devoted to at least. So work the bleep test often, devote a day per week to working on your benches and rows, general strength train the other day or two, and add in some endurance training and abdominal exercises. That's enough to fill 5 days and give you 2 days rest. Your body needs time to grow, if you just keep breaking it down it's never going to get that chance. Take for example the military press that I've been working on lately. I've only been pressing once a week, one week doing heavy partial lockouts from forehead height (working on a sticking point) for 5 singles, and the next week doing heavy dumbbell presses for 5x5. That's 20 sets a MONTH for overhead presses. I just tested my max barbell press and added 9kg to my press from the last time I checked it which was about eight weeks ago. Considering my press is already fairly respectable, that's a pretty big gain. Less is more in strength training. If you try to do too much, you won't get anywhere. If your program isn't working, chances are you're doing TOO MUCH, not too little. If you think your program is sound, go for it, but I'd be interested to see you keep a journal on here so we can see how long you last.
I wasn't aware of this. Interesting. I never meant to insinuate that I think it is. Last summer and this upcoming eight week period is simply a time when I have very little going on due to a break in full-time education/employment, and thus I wish to utilise it as best I can. Impressive, and thought-provoking. I will reconsider the regime structure given this new information. Thank you.
That's the beauty of putting together a well thought out long term plan rather than a "blast routine". I currently work on average about 60 hours a week and when I'm not at work I'm usually at home doing chores, fixing things, and helping raise my infant son. All that responsibility can quickly lead into "I don't have time for X and Y", yet aside from MA training 2-3x a week I still find time to run, weight train, skill training, and the necessary stuff like abwork and flexibility. All within a 5-day span giving me my days off literally "my days off" where I can spend time with my family and get stuff done around the house. Work your training into your life, not your life around your training. You'd be much better off with a simple, more focused plan. Work on achieving those numbers from before, because by the time you reach those you're going to have a solid foundation of strength and be stronger than a huge majority of the population. All those numbers are achievable (for a 200 pound man, that's a 200 press, 300 bench, 400 squat, and 500 deadlift, which may seem like a lot but to a serious trainer is definitely attainable).
On top of what the other guys have said, this routine seems designed to look like you can cope with the course rather than actually prepping you for it. Although it's still better than no routine I suspect the exhaustion and concentration on large volume small isolation movements would run a decent risk of injury which would ruin your chances of passing the medical.
Moi: That wasn't sarcasm. There was no sarcasm in my posts, nor is there here. I can see how it could be taken as sarcasm, but it wasn't. Well, the medical is in two days, so there wouldn't be a problem there. But I take your point. Okay, that sounds like a plan. I just have a couple of questions on it: 1) Would doing two power-based workouts a week improve the rate of progress or hinder it? This is assuming that they are on, say, Monday and Thursday every week, so there are gaps of two days and three days respectively. 2) If it would improve it, would three workouts a week improve the rate of progress or hinder it? I'm just curious as to when exactly adding sessions begins to hinder. 3) If two workouts would hinder progress, would adding in another kind of workout such as a plyometric one improve the rate of progress? 4) If two workouts would improve progress, would it be further improved by the addition of another kind of workout such as a plyometric one?
A lot of that really depends on your current physical ability. For most athletes and martial artists in particular, I think twice a week is plenty. Each one a full body workout working a couple exercises intensely and finishing with abwork and an exercise or two for your neck and grip. This way you still stay fresh for your skill training and have time to concentrate on other areas. Three times a week can work, but that reduces a bit what exercises you can really be intense on. The powerlifting split (squat - bench - deadlift) works well for that. That takes a bit more dedication and it takes some more time away from your MA training though. Going above and beyond that means you're a dedicated lifter, but you're definitely going to be concentrating more on your lifting than your MA. Plyometrics are okay to add in one day a week, but I wouldn't worry about that until you're squatting twice your bodyweight as you need a lot of strength in your legs for all the bounding and jumping. As to whether it would improve or hinder, it depends on how intense your other two workouts are.
Are these figures what should be used for a 5x5 routine, or are they the figures that should show up in a 1RM maximum theoretical?
That's why you need to work on it. You're going to get a hell of a lot of stick and at this present moment in time beating an abusive member of the public is going to be a no-no. Sarcasm will be the only weapon you have to fight the scrotes