Not really a bitch but...

I have been watching On Patrol Live and it just seems as though many cops are not in very good physical shape. Lots of them look to be way too heavy. Some of the bigger ones look to be muscular but too many just look fat.
I recall that when I was a kid/young adult cops were much more fit.
Am I imagining this or have the standards been lowered?

High stress, combined with long periods of sitting sedentary in a car, combined with limited options for healthy quick meals on short meal breaks (or even skipping meals altogether due to call volume), is a nasty combination that can easily lead to weight gain if that individual officer isn't really dedicated to remaining physically fit and eating right.

Fitness standards vary from department to department. Some only test fitness at initial hiring, and thus there's less institutional incentive to remain fit throughout their career. Others have routine fitness tests on an annual or even quarterly basis. A few don't test physical fitness at all, even at hire.

There's also the fact that basically every officer nowadays is wearing an armor vest, either in an outer carrier or concealed inner carrier, and the bulk of that can make anyone appear at first glance to be fatter than they actually are.

(Plus the camera adds 10 pounds. )

When I left the trades union in Columbus, OH and relocated to Virginia to begin my LE career I put on some weight.

I never really needed to lift because I dug ditches and ran a jackhammer six days a week for years. Well it was a kick in the pants when I realized that my waist size started expanding.

The problem was that I was still eating like I was doing heavy construction, assigned to nights along with the hours of siting. So my body was really out of whack.

A few of the guys I served in the Army Reserves with had trouble keeping the weight off. They were fit but crappy or no meals, mandatory overtime along with rotating shifts battled against them..
(Week 1 days, Week 2 afternoons, etc..)

Plus, society as a whole is not as active as they used to be. Kids are brought up playing video games instead of sports, hiking, camping etc..

Not just them but everybody nowadays seems to be a sloppy mess.
There are two younger popo's in my town that try to look all tacticool and act tough but neither would survive a 100 yard run without an o2 mask and some insulin. Pathetic.

quote:

Originally posted by gjgalligan:
I recall that when I was a kid/young adult cops were much more fit.

Everyone was.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
There's also the fact that basically every officer nowadays is wearing an armor vest, either in an outer carrier or concealed inner carrier, and the bulk of that can make anyone appear at first glance to be fatter than they actually are.

(Plus the camera adds 10 pounds. )

This was my first thought.
Had a neighbor at my first house that was in gang enforcement in S Houston
Average build guy, maybe 5'9" 175lb. Saw him leaving for a shift & he looked completely different with a vest under his uniform. Made him look considerably different.

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
Not just them but everybody nowadays seems to be a sloppy mess.
There are two younger popo's in my town that try to look all tacticool and act tough but neither would survive a 100 yard run without an o2 mask and some insulin. Pathetic.

I went to a semi-organized (i.e., not IDPA/USPSA) steel target shoot last year. There were about 36 of us. The original plan was to run 100 yds at the beginning of the course and have it included as part of the shooter's time.

The entrants balked, b/c about 40% of them couldn't run 100 yds to save their lives. Another 40% could run 100 yds but then would be too winded to successfully complete the course, so the course organizer removed the running element.

A gun is an equalizer, a force multiplier. It is not a panacea. Too many gun owners' entire self-defense plans are wrapped up around, "I have a gun."

70% of Americans are fat or obese. It’s been an epidemic for many years now so it’s not limited to officers. People just can’t stop over shoveling food down their throats. Fast food is equal to cigarettes. You have to eat clean and exercise. And it has to be mentioned that eating healthy costs money, and time. Healthy food is often more expensive, and the only way you are going to eat healthy is to make it in your own kitchen. Restaurants, the food is too calorie dense, and the portions are too large. Fast food, worse.

Our officers work long shifts, have stress laden jobs, much more so than your average worker. If anyone gets a pass on physique, fat %, etc, it’s them. Living your life in a car is a mother fucker.

To be lean, strong, and healthy, is a lifestyle and takes an extreme amount of effort and dedication. It can be done. Tupperware, cooler with refreeze ice, and most 24 hour gas stations have a microwave. It can be done. It’s just easier to go through a drive thru. Usually it takes a health situation to get people to change.

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
Not just them but everybody nowadays seems to be a sloppy mess.

^^^^^ This

I occasionally get too fat and decide it has to come off. (Generally happens when I fall off my exercise regimen.) So I go on something of a "diet." (Which mainly involves cutting between-meal snacks, after-dinner deserts/treats, and alcohol, and reducing portion sizes.)

I happens, during these phases, that I'm obliged to turn something down because I'm watching my diet and I'll hear "You? You're fine. You don't need to lose any weight."

Well, yeah, I do, because I've a gut, it's unhealthy, and that's got to go.

Americans are so used to being overweight and out-of-shape, and being surrounded by others who are likewise, anybody who's not looks skinny, if not downright anorexic, to them.

Btw: That out-of-shape thing goes for the military, too. There's a young lady I know in one of the U.S. armed forces branches that was seriously fit when she joined. She's now obese. I don't mean just a little overweight. We're talking morbidly obese. My wife will see a photo in her or a family member's FB feed and ask "Have you seen so-and-so lately?", and show me. I don't understand how that's tolerated.

The other day I was poking fun at our local Sheriffs deputies, this is a snapshot of a vid on FB for MLK day parade



Me: MEATHEADS!!

Unknown guy: You should look who our mutual friends are before you start name calling.. Sport!

(we had a few mutual friends, not sure what that had to do with anything)

Me: Wait,, are you the guy with a pack of hotdogs and the back of his neck?

Now known Deputy: Yes that's me, (name of mutual friend) would be happy to confirm


Me: So you have a lot of meat on your head, wouldn't that make you a Meathead??

I guess he wasn't amused

quote:

Originally posted by iron chef:

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
Not just them but everybody nowadays seems to be a sloppy mess.
There are two younger popo's in my town that try to look all tacticool and act tough but neither would survive a 100 yard run without an o2 mask and some insulin. Pathetic.

I went to a semi-organized (i.e., not IDPA/USPSA) steel target shoot last year. There were about 36 of us. The original plan was to run 100 yds at the beginning of the course and have it included as part of the shooter's time.

The entrants balked, b/c about 40% of them couldn't run 100 yds to save their lives. Another 40% could run 100 yds but then would be too winded to successfully complete the course, so the course organizer removed the running element.

A gun is an equalizer, a force multiplier. It is not a panacea. Too many gun owners' entire self-defense plans are wrapped up around, "I have a gun."

I'm not running 100yds to shot anybody. Let them come to me lol.

I just got asked yesterday by one of the new officers. He asked if I was sick because it looked like I lost a lot of weight. I wasn't wearing my outer carrier. I'm a little overweight but I can still run and chase and fight so I'm okay. Pushing 49 later this year. I'm 5'11.75" and 195#. When I started I was 210# and got up to 230#. Back down below 200.

quote:

Originally posted by rtquig:
I'm not running 100yds to shot anybody. Let them come to me lol.

The point of shooting drills that involve a burst of exercise immediately beforehand isn't necessarily to represent running a long distance before shooting someone.

It's to help simulate some of the physiological responses that your body experiences from the adrenaline dump of a sudden, stressful, life-or-death situation, like increase heart rate and breathing rate, muscle trembling of the limbs, etc.

I am now old and decrepit, and can't hardly walk anymore, but there was a time I was young and fit. I was just back from Vietnam and a rookie on the local PD.

I noticed, after a couple of years, that I was putting on the weight-pants from 31-32 to 34 and the 34s were feeling tight...Rut Roh!


I started running and then running with a friend. I can't tell you how much I hated doing that, thought I'd die in the first 1/4 mile (always felt that way) but after a couple of miles, I got my second wind (I guess) and cruised as far as I wanted to go.

My point is, at least for me, that I not only lost the flab, but found that I didn't eat so poorly or so much.

For me, it was eat less, eat right and exercise. I know that's not a new prescription, but so many people don't do any of the three, let alone all of them.

I've heard and read that walking similar distances and eating less and right will do the same thing.

IF that's true, that would be easy enough to do and, I think, easy enough to incorporate into one's lifestyle.

Bob

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

the camera adds 10 pounds

It's not that bad until they start using multiple cameras.

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:
Me: MEATHEADS!!

Hey... I resemble that remark.

Here's a shot of me from a news story several years ago.

^^^ That's a knowledge knot, not the same as a pack of hotdogs or a place to swipe your debit card

It’s bad. It’s one of my pet peeves, too. I got fat for a few years, busted my butt to get back down. Crap hours, night shifts, stress, shift of hyper-vigilance followed by basically depression, over and over every day.

Departments pay lip service, encouraging “wellness” but not actually taking steps to do anything really designed to address the problems.

We have officers that are massively obese. I’ll never be fat again.

Had a much longer reply all written. Shorter & clearer version: It's everywhere, but it's epidemic in the public safety occupations.

We had mandatory annual fitness testing, but-- not making this up-- no minimum score requirement. Just "participation" is good enough.

About half of the people in my place took fitness seriously (they ran, they played active sports, they ate right) but that "half" actually was pretty transitory as people fell off- and climbed back on- the wagon. Big case in progress / trial prep / getting beaten up about keeping your cases moving? Less time for working out, crappier diet. Clear that stuff and have a few months of breathing space? Time to get healthy again.

(Fun fact: I have "fat armor" and "skinny armor" because the weight swing was that big. I felt like a 20-something girl complaining about her jeans.)

They paid us to work out. Literally, three one-hour sessions per week, go do something physical, have fun. But it generally WASN'T used (of roughly 3000 possible hours in time there, I used maybe 300) because even though it should've been a personal priority, a bigger priority was keeping a) my job and b) the spotlight OFF my productivity.

quote:

Originally posted by chongosuerte:
shift of hyper-vigilance followed by basically depression

It's a sad truth that many of those who aren't in law enforcement may not realize, but that's a nasty cycle that a number of officers (especially new ones) fall into. They're basically so emotionally/mentally/physically exhausted from the stress, trauma, and hypervigilance of their work shifts that in their off hours and on their "weekends", they crash and do little more than sleep, eat, and lay around the house. (The description of it as "depression" is actually not that far off.)

It's not a routine that's conducive to staying active, eating right, and being physically (or mentally) healthy.

It's especially bad if their agency throws rotating shifts in there, which means they're also having to battle sleep deprivation every few weeks or months as they go from day shift to night shift and back, and their body tries desperately to adapt.