Healthy Lifestyle In An Unhealthy Profession

Answering the Call: Proper Physical Training for Police and Military in the in the 21st Century

Pages 58-61

The patrol cops. The backbone of the department. I know many of you are in better shape than a lot of the public. However, let's be honest here, many cops are not. I am sure the population reading this is different. You all are here trying to learn and many of you have been training for years and are beasts just looking for refinement or another method. 

Regardless, I still remember my time as a cop. I never forgot my first day when one officer walked in to shift meeting and was so overweight the flashlight on his belt was damn near perpendicular to his body. He could have used it like a headlight. When that kind of physicality gets to that point departments should have the ability to step in and require some kind of standard when the officer becomes a safety and/or financial liability. It is still beyond me that there are no basic strength and conditioning standards at all police departments. This doesn’t mean I expect police to be division one athletes, but there should at least be a pass/fail test so we don’t get to the situation I outlined above.

Random Stuff for Success

Before I get to the specifics of the example of the base “day to day” programming, here are just some things that worked for me when I was a cop to stay in shape. Looking back, compared to most of coworkers I was in absolutely astounding physical condition. I laugh when I write that because I soon learned after entering special operations and the population narrowed a bit I was nothing special.

A constant reminder to always surround yourself around people better than you and stay humble. If you’re the smartest person in the room find a new room. If you are in the best condition, seek out others who are better than you.

I would do some things different today. My time as a cop was over a decade ago now, making some of this list hindsight. These concepts will be especially helpful for the individual still in the academy or is thinking about walking down this insane path.

1. Blackout curtains for your bedroom if you work nights or swing shift. SO IMPORTANT. Along the same lines, try and maintain your sleep schedule even when you’re off as life allows. Super hard with family but just be as close as you can. DO NOT break up your sleep like some officers told me they did. Never works long term and they never looked rested. Power naps are great when you can but don’t let them turn into long sleep session. 20-30 minutes seems about right but your mileage may vary.

2. Wind down after your shift. I remember until I started having a breakfast “dinner” and listening to a podcast or reading a bit I had trouble getting to sleep. Who knew that doing CPR on somebody who was obviously dead right before you went home would make it challenging to relax. Just one relatively tame personal example from many. I know you all who still do this job have your own version of that story. If I was on the job today I would work in some deep breathing right before going to bed. I get it, I thought a lot of this stuff was stupid when I first read it. Just try it. I won’t tell anyone.

3. Pack a water bottle. A big one. Keep it in your car and keep yourself hydrated.

4. Pack 2 lunches – one real meal, and then a “fast lunch” that you could eat in five minutes or less. The “fast lunch” could consist of a protein shake, nuts, a carbohydrate source, etc. Something that is shelf stable but relatively healthy so it can sit in your bag for long periods of time. Jerky isn’t bad to have in your patrol bag as well. Once eaten, replace it so you always have something on hand. Is this perfect? No. Neither is working 8-10-12 hour night shifts and dealing with some of the most complicated and dysfunctional facets of society with little pay...dear God why did you sign up to do this?

5. If you do get food while you are working, stop at a grocery store. They tend to be open late at night and they appreciate having you in there. Walk over and buy a big bag of pre-washed vegetables or some that are already cut up and prepared. Bring a can opener and get some canned veggies if there is nothing there you like. Try to get the less processed options. Grab some deli meat that isn’t overly processed or even some tuna packets. If you’re a low carber, some mixed nuts or natural peanut/almond butter works well here. Spoonful should work and only takes a second to get down. Pop some fish oil if you haven’t yet. I am not a low carber most of the time so for me eating some wheat or sour dough bread was an easy option. This meal isn’t perfect but it is better than the vast majority of other crap you have access to at 2AM. Final note, depending on where you work and how some fast food employees may feel about your profession you will at least know at a grocery store nobody spit (or worse) in your food...

6. Pace yourself on caffeine. If you work nights keep it to the earlier portions of your shift (I think this applies to day shift as well). It is hard enough to sleep when the sun is up don’t make it worse. I broke this rule constantly and honestly still do sometimes in my current training. When I do my sleep suffers.

7. Plan your hard training days accordingly. For the shifts I was on, I rarely got a really good workout later in the work week. We worked 12 hours shifts and by the third day max effort work would have been pointless. I tried once to workout after my shift in the morning and it was a total failure. I would not recommend it. What worked for me was training hard on off days, and then maybe hard on my first day in the “work week” and then easy/medium workouts or off/recovery days on other work days. When I made this change I made much more progress. If I knew who Tim Anderson was back then I would have done his work here. I knew a lot of Gray Cook stuff but I was too stupid to realize the value in it. I also knew who Stuart McGill was and still failed to use his stuff as much as I should have. I also knew this guy Dan John’s work and was also too stupid to listen to all of the advice in his books. Noticing a trend?

8. Remember the world doesn’t stop even though you work a flipped schedule. So you’ll get screwed with random day time training in some departments, or you’ll have to testify in court midday despite getting off at 6 or 7am. There is no shame in just pushing your workout to another day if you literally haven’t slept or just got a couple hours. Keep your diet dialed in, and this is where some mobility work will do dividends instead of just wasting your time in the gym by adding to your recovery debt. SLEEP. YOU NEED SLEEP. SLEEP IS A WEAPON.

9. Get outside and get some sunlight prior to your shift. I failed at this often when it was the winter months. I would wake up and it would almost be dusk or even dark. Like you are working in the arctic. It was easier in the summer and looking back on it those were the time periods I was in a better mood and I also physically looked better. I am convinced it's probably because I made it a point to get outside and train. Please ask your doctor I am not dispensing medical advice, but I think almost all night shift workers would benefit from taking Vitamin D. I got blood work done recently while working normal hours and it was low. I can’t imagine where it was when working midnight shift in the winter. I would venture a guess I was chronically low working nights, and I probably raised that value a bit in the summer training outside and it contributed to good things happening. Bring your conditioning to a park. Get on a track. Say hi and smile to the normal people who appreciate everything you do when you’re out of uniform. Remind yourself you are mostly dealing with the 10% of the population that routinely break the law or are career criminals. You need to remind yourself this so you don’t become the angry 15 year cop who hates everything.

10. I wish I did this: Once an hour or so when feasible, get out of your car, desk, whatever, and stand up and move. I think it would be odd to see a patrol officer get out of the car and do some six point rocks or crawling progressions so maybe avoid that in public but standing up and doing a few body weight squats and/or hipflexor stretches would absolutely put you in a better position for when that routine traffic stop turns into a 400 meter relay that progresses into an MMA fight. If you can do more than that, do more. I know the 12 year overweight day shift cop who hates everything would laugh at this, but I really think an organized warm up in shift meeting would be great for most departments. Just warm up and get loose. It will put you in the right mindset before you leave the station.