One of the things I loved most about being a cop was the foot chase. I enjoyed running down bad guys who after they were cuffed, told me they often outran cops. Then I had a motorcycle crash that crushed my lower right leg. I can still run, but not like I could before the injury. In my prime years I was 6/4 and 175. About 15 pounds more in full gear.

Once they pass the physical fitness test to get hired by a PD, very few require any further fitness tests or requirements.

I had heard some PD's will offer incentives to keep fit; extra pay, quicker promotions, etc. I don't know if this is still a thing or not.

I'll be starting my 25th year in February and as mentioned, all those bad things such as poor diet, long hours, trying to shove a burger down your throat in the 5 minutes between calls add up.

About 10 years ago I was pushing the 300 lb mark. I'm a big guy (6'2") so I kind of carried it okay....but I had let myself go. I decided to do something about it.

I started working out on my treadmill.....had to do walks because there was no way I could run distance. But, I got better and started loosing weight. Dropped a bunch of weight, worked myself up to running. I was doing 5k's, 10k's and even did a half-marathon (13.1 miles). I was either running 3-4 miles every day or riding my mountain bike 15-20 miles. I also ate better.

This past year I back slid a little due to dealing with cancer. But my cancer is in remission or non-active and I'm back to work. I was starting to hit my treadmill again, but that crapped out.

I plan on buying a Air Rower in the coming weeks instead of a new treadmill. I plan on hitting the mountain bike again as soon as winter clears.

Once you get into the habit of doing things to keep yourself healthy, it's pretty easy. Like the year+ I was dealing with my cancer and couldn't run....I was really missing it.

I have a large frame and will never weigh 180 lbs. I'm shooting for getting down to about 220 lbs this year. My wife said if I go under that, I'll look terrible! LOL!

We have a wellness program. Now there is no incentive to work out but, we have a program that you do every quarter. Meet w/ a wellness nurse talk about health goals and get weighed and blood pressure checked. One of the quarterly meetings includes a blood draw which they test about everything. You do that the city deducts $40 off your bi-weekly insurance premium.

Every two years any officer hired after 1989 has to have a physical done by their doctor and they have to sign off on a checklist the city has in reference to abilities on different aspects of the job.

In fairness, society hasn't allowed us to actually police anything since 2014 or so...

We have a graduated scale based off your score on a 2000m row test, variables added for age, gender, height, weight - incentive pay is then added to your salary, up to $150 per month.

Cops are a subset of society. Americans have a globally recognized stereotype of being overweight, and if you look around it's hard to argue that they're wrong.

I'm 6'5" 190...roughly the same numbers that I was at when I graduated high school. At one point in my life, I was up to 275, but that was working a desk job in an office before I got into LE. I knew a lot more fat people in that job than I do in LE.

It takes work. I hate running and I hate working out, but when I decided I wanted to do this full-time, I made the effort to get it done. I dropped from 275 to 210 before I did the entry test to get hired and lost even more weight at the academy (in large part because the food was inedible, lol).

There was one winter since then that I got lazy, slacked off and put on an extra 20lbs. It's easy to do...you're stuck in a car for at least 12 hours a day, and you're a slave to the radio for that whole period, which means you can't get out and walk long distances or take long lunch breaks at real restaurants because you will inevitable get called somewhere the second they take your order. On night shift it's even worse, because nothing but fast food and gas stations are open.

When my uniform pants started not fitting, I realized it was a problem and started running again. Then Covid happened and I figured the best way to not get sick and die was maintain good cardio, so I doubled down. I was back down below 200 when I got diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, so now exercise is a mandatory part of daily life. I get up at 4:30am to make breakfast and run a couple of miles before work, and rain or shine walk the dog for a couple more when I get home in the evening. If I can get a few miles in on foot or on the bike working special details at work, I'll do that too, but it's not really an option during a regular patrol shift. I pack low-carb lunches and eat on station instead of going out, and try to put in miles on the bike at work if the weather permits.

It's not fun, and you have to be intentional about it. It takes a lot of time and effort, you don't get to eat what you want, and you give up on the social interaction of going out for lunch with the guys. So far, though, it's kept me feeling better and the doctors happy with my BMI and bloodwork.

I do know cops who are grossly overweight, type 2 diabetic, and will sit there and scarf down three donuts and talk about how they'll just up their insulin dose. It used to piss me off, but it's a personal choice, and I can only control what I do. My hope is that my effort makes me more effective at my job, keeps me healthy to provide for my wife and kids, and hopefully alive long enough to someday enjoy life after retirement.

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Originally posted by rtquig:

quote:

Originally posted by iron chef:
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.

Thanks for the laugh.

If physical fitness standards were required to keep a LE job you would loose 50% of your department on day one. Another 25% would be licking their chops at a chance to go out on a duty related injury (fitness test is work related).

Majority of LE work now has less to do fitness and everything to do with your mind and mouth.

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Originally posted by KevinCW:
In fairness, society hasn't allowed us to actually police anything since 2014 or so...

Lot of truth there….

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Originally posted by gpbst3:
If physical fitness standards were required to keep a LE job you would loose 50% of your department on day one. Another 25% would be licking their chops at a chance to go out on a duty related injury (fitness test is work related).

Majority of LE work now has less to do fitness and everything to do with your mind and mouth.

This reminds me of an argument I read that police officers should be held to the same handgun qualifying standards as the FBI.

Right, you do that, and you're going to lose the majority of your police force. On top of that, few PDs have the time, budget, & resources to train & maintain their LEOs to that standard.

quote:

Originally posted by gpbst3:
If physical fitness standards were required to keep a LE job you would loose 50% of your department on day one. Another 25% would be licking their chops at a chance to go out on a duty related injury (fitness test is work related).

Majority of LE work now has less to do fitness and everything to do with your mind and mouth.

This is probably true. Also, based on the quality of the hiring pools that I've seen lately, I'd suggest that the public is likely to be better served by a lot of the older, experienced but out of shape cops than many of the recent new-hires.

My state we were required to take a qualifying PT test that included flexibility, push ups, 1.5 mile run and sit ups. My Agency required a yearly retest adding balance tests, jumping fences, a dummy drag, etc... Yes, we had bigger officers here and there but many of them were surprisingly agile. Failing the test gives you a retest in 6 months. No one I know ever failed the retest. My PD also allowed people to work out on duty and had arranged for gym memberships for officers who wanted to participate.

I am 6'5 and 220. Living in Utah means mountain biking and skiing so I never had much of a problem with our tests. As a group we were pretty fit and managed to handle any bad guy we ran up against. I never lost a foot pursuit.

As for the FBI... I have never been impressed by the agents, firearms skills or any of their vaunted capabilities. My take on all the three letter folks was we LEO's don't need advanced degrees, years of military weapons training, or government testing. I'll take common sense over everything else.

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Originally posted by gw3971:
My state we were required to take a qualifying PT test that included flexibility, push ups, 1.5 mile run and sit ups. My Agency required a yearly retest adding balance tests, jumping fences, a dummy drag, etc... Yes, we had bigger officers here and there but many of them were surprisingly agile. Failing the test gives you a retest in 6 months. No one I know ever failed the retest. My PD also allowed people to work out on duty and had arranged for gym memberships for officers who wanted to participate.

I am 6'5 and 220. Living in Utah means mountain biking and skiing so I never had much of a problem with our tests. As a group we were pretty fit and managed to handle any bad guy we ran up against. I never lost a foot pursuit.

As for the FBI... I have never been impressed by the agents, firearms skills or any of their vaunted capabilities. My take on all the three letter folks was we LEO's don't need advanced degrees, years of military weapons training, or government testing. I'll take common sense over everything else.

Reference your last paragraph. I have learned that the best fed agents were cops before moving on to what they thought was greener pastures.

I've been at this job going on 32 years now. My weight has fluctuated about 20-25 pounds up and down my whole career depending on my shifts and assignments. One of the worst things for my health has been the (mostly) standardization of 12 hour shifts. It leaves no time for exercise or working out if you have any kind of family responsibilities to deal with. It also forces you to eat at least 2 meals out. Even if you try bringing food from home it is not always easy. When I was on 8's I used to work out either before or after shift without issue. Although 12 hour shifts are great for the extra days off most guys spend them working OT or details anyway.

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

Opposite here. I saw more cops here that were fat/out of shape in my younger years.

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Originally posted by iron chef:
This reminds me of an argument I read that police officers should be held to the same handgun qualifying standards as the FBI.

So, you get the fact that the FBI standard or any 3 letter agency is not that difficult.

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Originally posted by Alyron:
I've been at this job going on 32 years now. My weight has fluctuated about 20-25 pounds up and down my whole career depending on my shifts and assignments. One of the worst things for my health has been the (mostly) standardization of 12 hour shifts. It leaves no time for exercise or working out if you have any kind of family responsibilities to deal with. It also forces you to eat at least 2 meals out. Even if you try bringing food from home it is not always easy. When I was on 8's I used to work out either before or after shift without issue. Although 12 hour shifts are great for the extra days off most guys spend them working OT or details anyway.

Can you get in your contract to get work out time in? An agency not to far from us do 12 hours shifts but, their contract has a provision that they have two hours in their work day that they can work out, go and get something healthy to eat, hit a doctor’s appointment if needed, etc….

A Proper Human Diet is a highly credentialed area of instruction. Hard to tell someone what to do unless forced. They usually have to figure it out for themselves.

I always want to tell those who generously donate cookies, donuts and other snacks they are really anti-police. I kid, most probably don't know any better.

I saw and ad for dog kibble (Sunday's). It's as simple as that. You are your own K9 unit. If you're hungry, eat meat..mostly. Dogs and humans have similar guts (except for chocolate). People really should have hobbies that doesn't involve the taste buds (other than chocolate).

Gonna have to watch Bullit again to see how many fatties there are.

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Originally posted by jljones:

quote:

Originally posted by iron chef:
This reminds me of an argument I read that police officers should be held to the same handgun qualifying standards as the FBI.

So, you get the fact that the FBI standard or any 3 letter agency is not that difficult.

It's not that difficult for people who like to shoot and practice shooting on their own time, i.e., shooting enthusiasts; however, the vast majority of LEOs are not enthusiasts. Most of them practice the bare minimum required of them to meet their department's qualifying standards; that's if they have required practice at all.

You have more experience in this area than I do, so if I'm way off base, then let me know.

357Fuzz-

quote:

Can you get in your contract to get work out time in? An agency not to far from us do 12 hours shifts but, their contract has a provision that they have two hours in their work day that they can work out, go and get something healthy to eat, hit a doctor’s appointment if needed, etc….

I work for a large Sheriff's Office in a Democratic County . We have a ridiculous time just trying to get a decent cost of living raise, they have no interest giving us time to work out. I used to work in a larger District here that had a gym in the station and we had supervisors that would let us take a dinner break and work out (this was on nights). I now work in a smaller District, no gym and shorthanded most days so no chance of squeezing in a workout.

Iron Chef-
"It's not that difficult for people who like to shoot and practice shooting on their own time, i.e., shooting enthusiasts; however, the vast majority of LEOs are not enthusiasts. Most of them practice the bare minimum required of them to meet their department's qualifying standards; that's if they have required practice at all.

You have more experience in this area than I do, so if I'm way off base, then let me know."

I was the Firearms Instructor at my last agency for several years. We had some guys and girls who could barely qualify and we were lucky they knew which end of the gun the bullet came out of. These type had no interest in bettering their shooting skills, or any tactical skills for that matter. We also had guys that were constantly asking for ammo to go shooting every chance they could. I didn't particularly like instructing but I loved getting to go to every shooting/training class I put in for along with a basically unlimited ammo supply and open range time.