Military to Law Enforcement Career

My grandfather has had an interesting life.  He enlisted into the Army in 1936 and retired a Chief Warrant Officer after two wars and nearly 30 years of active duty service.  Afterwards, he took the highly developed skills of his military career and applied them to become Chief of Police of his hometown for nearly 20 years.  With two retirements coming in monthly, he has provided nicely for himself and his family throughout the years.  Careers in military and public service are fantastic opportunities to serve your country and be well cared for with health and retirement benefits.

My expertise in this career change begins here with preparing physically for different physical fitness tests of a law enforcement position.  Some of the exercises are the same as any military physical fitness test, such as the basics calisthenics tests of a timed run, pushups, situps, and pull-ups.  Depending upon your law enforcement career decision, a variety of exercises will also be tested to include:                       

           Bench press                                  Agility Tests

           Shuttleruns                             Timed runs from 1 mile to 5 miles long

           Weighted pull-ups (SWAT Vest – 25lbs)  Pushups, situps, pullups

                   500 yard swims                             Rope climbs

                   Obstacle Courses                           Victim Drags

Excelling in these tests takes practice as with any other physical event.  Many of the tested events above can also be better prepared for by a series of exercises that involve the muscle groups utilized. For instance, the FBI Swat Team has a job related Performance Standards Test (PST) where several tasks are performed and timed.  These include a pullup test with a 25lb SWAT vest and the following events

The Assault Dash is not your ordinary 40 yd sprint you may have run in high school.  This one requires you to wear body armor weighing 18 lbs (SWAT vest of 11lbs + 1 - 7lbs plate), carry a Remington 870 shotgun and wear a helmet.  Starting in the prone position, the candidate must run 40 yards as quickly as possible.  Some of the exercises used to help develop this tested event are:

                           8 Count bodybuilder pushup               Bear Crawls                 

                           Squats                                            Lunges

                           Sprints                                           Variety of abdominal exercises

                                                Lower back exercises

 The Tactical Obstacle Course is a challenging ½ mile run with three job related tasks thrown in at the 220yd, 440 yd, and 660 yd marks.  These tasks are:

        220 yd mark - Cone running weave (40 yds long) – 9 cones spaced 5 yards apart.

       440 yd mark - 175lb victim drag (10 yd drag)

       660 yd mark – Cone running weave dropping to the prone position at each cone.

             This event test speed, endurance, and agility.  Done in regular exercise clothing, the candidate will not be weighed down by the SWAT Vest.  The exercises to help train for this event are:

                       2 and 3 mile Track Workouts             8 Count bodybuilder pushups

                       Squats                                           Sprints

                      Agility drills / Box drills                     Lower back exercises

                                            Grip exercises – towel pull-ups

 For full workouts and descriptions of the law enforcement physical standards of many of the federal, state and local divisions, check out the StewSmith.com Fitness eBook Store.  If you need assistance with any training feel free to contact Stew Smith at Stew@stewsmith.com, he is here to help.

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