Starting a workout to prepare for Police work and PT tests

Kurtka Jerker · May 16, 2012

I just finished a PT test for entry into a PD and while I passed with almost half the time to spare, it was a shock. I was not adequately prepared and I've decided it's time to start a dedicated conditioning program.

Any advice on things to add to workouts would be appreciated but the thread is mostly just to ask if rest days are better spread evenly or in one block weekly.

dormindo · May 16, 2012

I don't consider myself schooled enough to offer advice (I'm sure slip, kuma, cosmic, etc. will be in soon enough), but I did want to congratulate you on passing PT and wish you the best in this pursuit.

Aldwyn · May 16, 2012

What i took from Glenn Pendlay's forum, his recommendations for conditioning for MMA:

Add to this about 10 minutes of a fairly heavy conditioning exercise. These should also be rotated. Remember, the goal is overall strength and condition, not to get good at any one particular thing. Find 5 or 6 exercises that work for you and rotate through them, using one per workout. Keep track of the reps you get in 10 minutes on each exercise, and try to improve. Here are some good ones...

1) Push a prowler. use a set weight and distance, and try to increase the number of trips you get in 10 minutes each time you do the workout.

2) Kettlebell clean and jerks. Try to pick a KB that you can initially get about 50 reps with (25 each arm) in 10 minutes. When you achieve 100 reps, get a heavier KB.

3) Walking Lunges. Use a pair of KB's or Dumbells, and go walking. Dont worry about a lot of knee bend, just make sure you lean over and touch the KB's to the ground each step, and keep track of distance covered. When you can walk the whole 10 minutes without stopping, get heavier dumbells.

4) The vertical lift, best if with thick handled dumbells. This is easy, just bend down and pick up the dumbells with fairly straight legs, hoist them to your shoulders and with little or no hesitation, put them right on up over your head. Same rule as with KB clean and jerks, start with a weight you can do about 50 times, get heavier dumbells when you can do them 100 times in 10 minutes.

5) Farmers walk. Whatever implement you can use, keep track of total ditance covered in 10 minutes. If you dont put them down more than once or twice in 10 minutes, use heavier implements. A great implement for this exercise is 5 gallon buckets with rubber garden hose slid over the wire handle. They are awkward and hard to walk with, which makes them perfect for your purposes. Use sand to add weight.

6) Kettlebell snatch. Do just as you would KB clean and jerk.

7) "Freestyle" complexes. My Olympic lifters do these once in a while. Take a barbell, a light one, and keep it moving without setting it down for 10 minutes. Do whatever you can think of. squats, presses, cleans, good mornings, push presses. Just keep it moving and do not set it down. Try to make it hard on yourself. On this one there is no need to keep track of anything, just do work for 10 minutes.

8) Shouldering a sandbar or other awkward object. A stump or log would work, as would a large stone. Take it from the ground to one shoulder, drop it, then take it from the ground to the other shoulder. as many as you can in 10 minutes. When you get over 100, get a heavier object.

9) Turkish get ups. As many as you can in 10 minutes. Kettlebells work best for this, but you can do it with a dumbell.

10) Loading a log. Tie a piece of rope at waist height between two objects. Take a sandbag, log, or big rock and place it on the ground on one side of the rope. Pick it up and toss it over. Now duck down and crawl under the rope, stand up and pick the rock back up and throw it back to the other side. Repeat for 10 minutes. When you get more than 100 reps, get a bigger log.

11) Flip a big tire. You all already know what this is. Go for 10 minutes and aim to increase either number of flips or distance covered.

12) Make up your own. Got access to some ground that no one cares about and a 50 gallon barrel? Get a shovel and see if you can fill the barrel up with dirt in 10 minutes. Can you lay hands on some old telephone poles or logs? buy and ax and see how many 2" lengths you can chop off in 10 minutes. Use your imagination, but work your ass off for 10 minutes doing something strenuous and hard.

If you use a system like this, it is very easy to adapt when you get close to a competition. Simply drop 20lbs or so off of your poundages on your strength workout, and put a stop watch on your workout. Try to get through it quickly, and quicker as time goes by. And add on another conditioning exercise. Start with a 10 minute break between your first and second conditioning exercise, as time goes by decrease this rest period till you are going straight from your strength work to your first conditioning exercise and straight from your first to second 10 minute conditioning session.

Another adaptation that will be useful when going from "off-season" to preparing for a fight might be to lower the reps and raise the weight on the conditioning if you are far away from a fight and more worried about getting stronger than increasing conditioning. For example, when doing the vertical exercise, you might want to move to a weight you can only get done 20 times in 10 minutes, and stick with that weight till you can do 40 reps in 10 minutes. This example can be applied to most of the other examples of conditioning drills that i mentioned. When your attention turns to conditioning as a fight gets closer, continue with the same drills, but go to a weight that allows more reps and more continuous movement.
Click to expand...

That is to be done after lifting.

Mangosteen · May 16, 2012

Kurtka Jerker said: ↑

I just finished a PT test for entry into a PD and while I passed with almost half the time to spare, it was a shock. I was not adequately prepared and I've decided it's time to start a dedicated conditioning program.

Any advice on things to add to workouts would be appreciated but the thread is mostly just to ask if rest days are better spread evenly or in one block weekly.
Click to expand...

congrats!

btw what did the PT test consist of?

my uncle gave me a crap load of books on military PT prep, interesting stuff

Kurtka Jerker · May 16, 2012

A 12 minute max mile run to see if you are in the right ballpark with regards to fitness (got a 9.50 with the flu, so not great but not embarassing) and an obstacle course.
Quarter mile with an 8-tire tire grid, telephone pole balance beam, 8 foot wall to clear, 4 foot fence to clear, 2 foot pole to go under, 4 foot round and 10 foot long pipe to crawl through, 15-20 foot figure-8, a 4-foot window climb and a 25 foot, 180lb body drag at the end. I ran it in 3.30. 2.45 is a perfect score, 4.50 is too slow. Most everyone made it but about a third had to skip the wall. Plenty fell down dragging the bag but most were able to get back up and finish with a proper drag.
I'm happy with my time, but the drag kicked my butt. I've done it without a ton of trouble before but at the end of the run I had problems. My legs were gassing before I got to it. Fell down twice and when my legs wouldn't lift it anymore I dragged it by an arm a quarter of the way to the finish. Hopefully they were impressed with the commitment but it wasn't quite how I wanted to perform. Being sick might have contributed but I want to be able to do it comfortably in under three minutes and I want to be capable of running it in under two.

Another department had a test with like 25 pushups, 30 situps, a 1.5 mile run (so long as you don't stop and walk you pass) a figure eight (don't spontaneously combust or have a stroke and you're cool), a 300yd sprint, a 25yd dash with a vest and rifle and a 4-foot fence jump. I think one person failed because they couldn't jog that long.

I picked up a 100lb training bag today to work on lifts and drags. As cash permits I'll likely buy another to tie together for drags or carries.

Bennetnoir · May 16, 2012

Burpee's, race to 100, killer...

Kuma · May 17, 2012

A few recommendations from my end:

http://www.stewsmith.com/
(A former SEAL who has loads of workout ideas and great strategies for PT tests)

http://www.nsca-lift.org/tsac/
(The Tactical Strength And Conditioning report is always interesting reading)

http://www.corpsstrength.com/
(retired USMC MGySgt who aims to develop in you "working fitness" that is easy to add to a busy schedule)

http://www.military.com/military-fitness/
(General S&C info for all kinds of military/first responder needs)

http://www.itstactical.com/topics/fitcom/
(ITS Tactical is just the bee's knees)

Hannibal · May 17, 2012

Soem more food for thought here (garish site so be warned!)

http://www.thesealteams.com/SEAL_workouts/

And I assume you have Ross Enamaits stuff already, but he offers some KILLER stuff!

http://rosstraining.com/blog/

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