Police work demands a wide range of physical skills and abilities. Police must be able to run fast, hit hard and take split second action under difficult environmental conditions.
A police officer must have strength, endurance, power and speed in equal measure in order to apprehend and control a subject who may be determined to escape or cause the officer serious harm.
Police also need to deal with the demands of shift work, stressful situations and a high workload that can take its toll on health and fitness.
The key demands of police work are
- An unknown time and place for each incident
- Multiple opponents or threats
- A hostile environment
- Action is brief but intense
- Repeated efforts may be required to control a situation
- Your opponent may be intent on killing you
Traditional programs found in fitness magazines and gyms fail to recognise the nature of police work and the demands that this work places on an officers physical capabilities.
The challenges police face cannot be divided up neatly into "leg work" or cardio and therefore any training plan that attempts to do so will fail to match the needs of police.
At Octogen we specialise in developing fitness programs that meet the specific demands of police work.
