Training for Police Academy

[ktsecor]

Hello, fitbit users.

So, I've never been an athelete and I'm definitely not in the best shape I could be.  But I want to apply for the police academy when I graduate from college.  I know it's going to take time to get me into shape (30+ pushups, 30+ situps, 1.5 miles in under 13 minutes, and a 75 yard run in under 19 seconds and I currently can't do any of these)

Does anyone have any advice on how I can train for any of these?  I'm hoping to apply in the next 2 years.

Thanks, everyone!

[WendyB]

Just start out slow and add when you can.

For the running you could try the C25K program. Goolge it. It starts you walking it and then running some. You add on less minutes walking and More Minutes running until you are running the whole thing. Works well for many people just starting to run. 

Once you get it down you can work on the speed.

[Moe1260]

two years is a long time to get yourself in training. I would assume you have or are working on a Balachelors  degree as most agencies want this. Additionally  depending on the agency you would like to pursue a careers with depends on it you will put yourself thur a academy or will they. Do yourself some research and take some spanish so you become bi lingual and a added benefit to them.

The couch to 5k is wonderful app  do it.

Good luck.

[Maxit]

For the push-up portion, start training by doing pushups on an incline - I used stairs in the beginning, starting at an incline that with a set of 15, the last 2 were hard, and by the third set, I hit failure at 12.   Keep your feet together and your body straight, elbows in, stair (or bar or whatever surface you are using) touching breast points at lowest part of the movement.  When you find whatever level you are at doable, take the incline down a step or two.  When I am at the gym, I use the squat rack bar.  

For sit-ups, doing them on a swiss ball will be helpful, I think.  Abdominal pull ups will be, too. 

Keep a log so that you can continue to challenge yourself 🙂

[Gershon]

I suggest going to a police academy and asking.

[loveabull]

I admire you. I'm too old to apply now but law enforcement was always a career I thought I'd pursue. I agree that you should research what the actual physical requirements are so you can more accurately plan a workout routine. The other suggestion might be to check out a magazine like Men's Health. I don't want to knock the women's magazines, but the police academy is tough. Not as tough as say the army but you want endurance and strength training.

[SunsetRunner]

Since the body isn't used to alot of training, start slowly and don't do to much at once. When muscles hurt, feeling sore,.. allow yourself to recover and honor the body with the rest it needs. Muscles can only grow, recover and getting stronger when they get rest. Training every other day can help as well, so the body can recover and get used to the training.

[sr8olguin]

For push ups and sit ups, it just takes practice of doing it over and over. For push ups, you could try those 30 day push up challenges where it might start at 5 or ten and ends at 40-50 and the same for sit ups. Sit ups though you can actually do every day just add 1 or 2 the following day. Running is another matter, you need to first build up endurance and then focus on speed. If you just start to quickly you will become more prone to injury. That happened to me, im in the army and i was trying to get a perfect score on my run and i injured myself because i pushed my body to hard trying to achieve it, so im recovering from my injury now and i didnt get the score I wanted. So take it from me, just find an easy pace and work your way up. Good luck!

[gmurtie]

I've been a cop for over 30 years now.  If you are the right person it is a great career.  I would start to train with some people who are into fitness and make it a part of your life.  You will need it.  Lots of cops get in good shape to get through the academy and then stop working out.  It will definitely catch up to you.  To start with mix up walking and jogging at a comfortable pace.  Learn all you can about strength training and flexibility.  Learn about nutrition as well because if you need to lose weight it starts in the kitchen and not the gym.  If you can afford it get a personal trainer for a while.  I'm assuming you have a fitbit if you are on this site so keep up the steps.  A bunch of people in my department have them now.  Good Luck, George

[ColeyBear08]

Some departments have workout plans on thier websites as a guide. Some come equipt with a log so you can record your results each time too.

[Syianna]

I'm not a sworn officer but I do work for the police in my town. We have a work out plan for our trainees to get them up to snuff, so you may want to check with your academy and see if they have something like that. Good luck, its always nice to see more ladies in the service. 

[EdsonFitbit]

It might be a good idea practicing martial arts like Kung Fu or Karate. They do constantly a lot of exercise and after a couple of months you should be ready to apply for the policy academy.  Good luck!