Posted: 4/29/2014 10:21:17 AM EDT
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The purpose of this thread is to keep a record of my progress and to hold myself accountable.
I supose some background is in order: I was born a skinny little kid. Played baseball and soccer growing up. My dad is a distance runner and got me started at about age 10. From 10 to 14 we ran about 5 miles a day 5 days a week. A 10 mile run on the weekend barely broke a sweat. Then, at 14, I destroyed my ankle on a soccer field. 3 surgeries, 6 weeks in a wheel chair, 6 MONTHS on crutches, 6 weeks in a walking cast. My running days were over. I still have hardware in my leg. With running/soccer gone, I became a gym rat in high school. 5 days a week, sometimes 3 hours a day. I had a great coach who really pushed me. Freshman year I started at 95 pounds and was up to 150 pounds by the summer - and I only grew 2 inches. My gains were ridiculous in both size and weight. My body is covered in strech marks from growing too big, too fast. Anyway, that lasted until I was 16. Once I had the drivers licence, the appeal of the gym went away. I spent the next 10 years playing with motorcycles, chasing girls and killing braincells at the bar. Wasted decade. Got a desk job and got soft over the years. Now I am looking at a change in a career path. Pursuing a job with a badge. The following are the physical requirements for graduating the academy: • Vertical Jump - 14" • Agility run - 19.5 seconds • Sit ups - 30, one minute • Push ups - 23, no time limit • 300 meter run - 68 seconds • 1.5 mile run - 16:57 Over the weekend, I got myself a gym membership and got started on setting a baseline for the requirements: Vertical Jump: DIDN'T TEST Agility Run: DIDN'T TEST Sit ups: 30 in 45 seconds Push ups: 25 is all I could do 300 meter run: DIDN'T TEST 1.5 mile run: 20 minutes and it just about killed me 
I don't want to walk in to the academy being able to pass the test. I want to walk in to the academy able to DESTROY that test. So, I know where I am at and I know where I need to be. Here is where I will record my progress. |
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Quoted:
Couple questions: What makes up the agility run? For the three things you did not test, how do you think you'll fair? What's the plan for training so you can destroy these requirements? 1. I THINK the agility run is the Illinois Agility run, http://www.topendsports.com/testing/tests/illinois.htm 2. I am unsure how I will do on the vertical leap, but I am not too concerned. Maybe I will test it tonight. The 300 meter sprint will take some work as will the agility run. 3. Plan (as of now): tons of treadmill time for runs, main lifts for strength (squat, bench, cleans) and clean up my diet. I need to shed 15-20 pounds to get back down to my high school lifting weight - I'm at 205 now. I mostly stay on a high protein, high fat, low carb diet. Not sure if I should modify that at this point or not? I am open and appreciative of suggestions. I have been out of the gym so long it feel like a foreign place to me now. You guys are the experts and I like to learn. |
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<---- PA state trooper
What academy are you going to? If the academy you're attending is anything like ours the graduation standard shouldn't be what you goal is upon entry. You'll be asked to do far more than that in the PT sessions, boxing, handcuffing drills, etc. Also, you definitely don't want to be one of the guys that stand out as a "weak link" physically when you show up. Your plan looks pretty good though as far as putting in a lot of treadmill time and working on the major compound lifts. I'd make sure your doing a lot of push ups and pulls ups too and you should be good to go. The more work you put in up front the less painful the academy will be. |
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Quoted:
<---- PA state trooper What academy are you going to? If the academy you're attending is anything like ours the graduation standard shouldn't be what you goal is upon entry. You'll be asked to do far more than that in the PT sessions, boxing, handcuffing drills, etc. Also, you definitely don't want to be one of the guys that stand out as a "weak link" physically when you show up. Your plan looks pretty good though as far as putting in a lot of treadmill time and working on the major compound lifts. I'd make sure your doing a lot of push ups and pulls ups too and you should be good to go. The more work you put in up front the less painful the academy will be. Thank you very much for the response. The academy will be the local POST program. As you have noted, I want to be in better shape than what they require. In all honesty, my problem right now is designing a program to get me to the point that I can exceed the requirements on entry. I know my cardio needs work, so that is going to be my main focus for awhile. Something like running Monday, Wednesday and Friday and doing my pushups/situps and lifts Tuesday and Thursday. I feel the need to be doing SOMETHING everyday, but I don't want to overtrain, either. Kind of lost on developing a program/schedule. The good news is, time is on my side. |
| Start doing a beginners strength program, like Starting Strength. Start out light , get your form right. Don't worry the weight gets heavy quick. Then after about 6 months on the program switch over to something with some more cardiovascular conditioning in it, like Crossfit. |