Rookie Strong Cop

[akendall]

Introduction
Rookie cop with a new found interest in strength training. I'll post training history later. Any tips and tricks, and constructive critiques are welcome. I love discussion about fitness and strength in the military and first responder fields.
Currently:
23 y/o 6'2" 194lbs ~15% bf
Squat 3x5 200lbs
Bench 3x5 165
Press 3x5 105
Clean 5x3 140
Deads 1x5 285

These are actually major improvements from when I started at 160lbs two years ago!

Starting goals are basically
Squat 350
Bench 250
Dead 500

Probably will do weekly updates.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Welcome from an old one-time cop and now retired from a long and unusually varied career. Careful where you post around here. E&P and occasionally other places are not particularly friendly toward cops if political correctness, and snowflakery is not recognized and accommodated.

Carry on the torch.

[carson]

Tips: wear the proper shoes. Wear a belt on work sets. See a Starting Strength coach if not each session then on regular intervals. Read the books and follow the instructions. Do overhead press.

Welcome.

[akendall]

Merry Christmas! My wonderful wife got me a new pair of chuck taylors and my Best Belt came in the mail just in time for the holidays, so I'm looking forward to experimenting with the belt!

I wanted to log a little of my training history and why I decided to focus on strength training. Who knows, maybe if I find success somebody with a similar body type and training history will benefit from looking at my log.

I wasn't super sporty in high school. I was pretty tall/lanky/shrimpy (still am a little!) and I just did my push ups in the morning and my mile run in the evening and called myself fit for it. I was 6'2" and 170lbs and had never touched a barbell. College got me into distance running and weird diets that made me run forever but I lost 10lbs. I was at a pretty unhealthy 7% body fat or so but I didn't care because I was just running and not thinking about strength in the least. That changed big time at the beginning of 2016 when I got job working in the county jail.

I think I figured I would just be sitting in a box pushing buttons and waving a metal-detector stick around. I guess I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I definitely wasn't expecting having to go toe to toe with crazy/juiced up inmates with nothing to lose. You lock yourself alone in a block full of 130 dudes that have nothing better to do than think of ways to hurt you and not one of them gives a poop (not sure what level of censorship this forum requires) how many miles you can run. I thought about quiting a couple times but I have this thing where I have a hard time giving up on something until I've mastered it. So running and weird diets were out and eating lots of meat and a globo-gym membership was in. I had a roommate at the time who was into fitness. At least, he had a six pack and 3k Instagram followers so it was at least as good as a crossfit certificate, right? (Ohhhhh, burnnn!) He helped me put on 10-15lbs but the strength gains were probably negligible. I still hadn't deadlifted and the only squats we did were on a smith machine so looking back on it it was probably a waste of time, but at least I was getting active and I looked a little better in the uniform. I was around 175lbs at this point.

2017 I was asked to attend the academy and become a patrol deputy (a real cop!). PT there was a little boot-camp-ish/crossfitish with lots of pushups and running and jumping around so I kind of shifted gears again, figuring that what I did there would be the best type of training for on the road. Cops do a lot of running and jumping, right? Well, at the very least some guys taught me how to deadlift so it wasn't a total waste, but I kept up with mostly bodyweight stuff and went kind of paleo with the diet. Sure enough I got good at running again and I lost some weight. I got perfect PT scores because of it and felt pretty good moving though graduation. Back to 170lbs. Still hadn't done much in the way of actual strength training.

Fast forward to just a few months ago. I got into a pretty serious fight where the juiced-up perp just about got access to my gun. Adrenaline got stupid and any meaningful martial-arts training I had picked up went out the window. Fortunately I was able to fight him enough that he gave up the fight and made a run for it. And what do you know, running I was good at! Caught him, tased him, cuffed him etc. Other cops showed up and I walked away a lot better off than he did. But what another wake up call! 1) Catching a perp doesn't mean anything if you're not strong enough to handle him when you have him, and 2) when am I ever going to run more than short sprints? Something was gonna have to change.

A few google searches later, Mark Rippetoe and Starting Strength! It took me while to feel like I had correctly learned the forms, but just in the last few months I've put on 20lbs and pretty well doubled most of my lifts.
23 y/o 6'2" 194lbs ~15% bf
Squat 3x5 200lbs
Bench 3x5 165
Press 3x5 105
Clean 5x3 140
Deads 1x5 285

I'm always down for tips from experienced lifters and I've come to love discussing the importance of strength in combat and first responder roles. I'll most likely post weekly updates.
Current question: Anybody learned how to make their lifts survive night shift? It seems impossible to get enough rest and I've had to slow down my progress because of it.
Stay Strong,
AK

[akendall]

Welcome from an old one-time cop and now retired from a long and unusually varied career. Careful where you post around here. E&P and occasionally other places are not particularly friendly toward cops if political correctness, and snowflakery is not recognized and accommodated.

Carry on the torch.

Snowflakery on a Starting Strength forum? Say it aint so! Thanks for the heads up!

[akendall]

Tips: wear the proper shoes. Wear a belt on work sets. See a Starting Strength coach if not each session then on regular intervals. Read the books and follow the instructions. Do overhead press.

Welcome.

Thanks! I know Mark isn't about the Chuck Taylor game, but they are gonna have to work for me until I can make another investment. Just got my Best Belt in the mail! I'm hoping to find a Starting Strength coach soon as well. Small Southern towns are unfortunately not too populated with them!

[Mark E. Hurling]

1) Catching a perp doesn't mean anything if you're not strong enough to handle him when you have him, and 2) when am I ever going to run more than short sprints? Something was gonna have to change.

I played football and threw the shotput and discus in HS. I went from your basic 225 lb farm boy to 180 from the end of football season my senior year to entering college. I briefly entertained college ball until I saw how big the running backs were. And the linemen? Nope. Not equal to that challenge. This was the onset of Ken Cooper and the running thing which I did for miles. I started practicing Karate in HS and made the SIU Judo team my freshman year and dabbled around in Shotokan and Isshin Ryu all 4 years of college. All still with a lotta running, but I retained some basic strength from tossing 75 lb hay bales from age 12.

My own take on the physical requirements of being a cop: (dated perhaps, but check with your FTO)

Most foot pursuits are over in less than 400 yards. The bad guy either trips, pukes, or just gives up. OTOH, A few times I hung back and let the bad guy tire himself out to make subduing them easier. Cruel and unusual punishment. But hey! It was the 70's.

Fights are generally over in 30 seconds or less. Not just officer involved fights, but Joe (drunk) Citizen fights between mutual combatants in some sawdust floor road house as well.

Cops today can't get away with punches and the occasional standing kick these days in hand to hand engagements. Public outrage makes such things out of bounds. Same with chokes, although there has never been anyone die in Judo or MMA from one. More activism from community organizers put paid to them. Which is a pity, because they are more humane and less painful than getting hit by a baton and I suspect a taser. Not that I cared or care about that all that much. But why inflict unnecessary hurt? Joint locks, throws, and control holds don't look as bad on video as strikes do.

Law enforcement command and consultants have been looking for the magic bullet since the introduction of Mace in the 60's. Chemical sprays too often fail on a really determined, enraged combatant. Tasers didn't subdue Rodney King.

Strength is more important than conditioning. Good hand to hand skills are a close second to strength. Avoiding target fixation and tunnel vision is the most important every waking moment at work. Always check your 6.

Merry Christmas.

[carson]

But the Chuck Taylors are not designed for the stability required to do strength training. Use them for walking around or sitting at your desk. The Best belt is a good choice.
Do you have the SS books? Have you consulted a certified SS Coach?

[akendall]

But the Chuck Taylors are not designed for the stability required to do strength training. Use them for walking around or sitting at your desk. The Best belt is a good choice.
Do you have the SS books? Have you consulted a certified SS Coach?

I know they're not IDEAL but they feel a lot better than the other sneakers I used. I have pretty flat feet, so they work well for me for now. I understand I need to invest in a good set of lifting shoes, but one investment at a time.
As for the reading I have read starting strength but I haven't read other material. Annnd getting with a SSC is high up on the list of to-do's, but time, distance, and money are all factors I need to push through first.

[akendall]

12/26/17

Alright! Very rarely have I purchased a product with high expectations and actually had those expectations surpassed! Best Belts sent me a friggin' work of art!

If I had been smart I would have ordered it when I started lifting so it would be here when I needed it! Instead I feel like the last few weeks were pretty slow to progress. I kind of hit a wall with my squats at 200lbs but with the belt 205 felt too easy, even though I hadn't slept properly in several days and was feeling weak! I know Chuck Taylors aren't ideal, but I could feel a difference using them compared to the running shoes i was in before. I really felt like all my leg muscles were syncing up and working the right way, so here's for using a belt! Can't wait to see what they do for my dead lifts.

The only thing I had to adjust to was using the belt during my power cleans. At first I was getting hung up on the belt as I came up. I decided to blame my form first though and dropped 15lbs to focus on form. Sure enough, when I focused on form I had no problems.


Today's lifts (not including warm-ups)
Squat 3x5 205lbs
Bench Press 3x5 160 lbs (still recovering from an injury in my arm so these were a little wobbly at time)
Clean 1x3 150 lbs 4x3 135 lbs
Chins 2x12

Oh, yeah. I need to work on my chins!