Advice for Increasing Strength, Endurance, and Shedding Fat?

Hey all!

So I wanted to know some thoughts on conditioning as I am training to become an LEO. My training is geared towards getting my mind and body as fit as possible to consider myself academy ready. I’m not worried about the standard PAT during application process.

With that said, I love bodyweight training, enjoy DB training, and work out at home.

Equipment I have - DBs, Kettlebell, resistance bands, weighted vest, dip bar and pullup/pushup bars.

My current training method is this.

M and F -

20 minutes - AMRAP (rounds) with 10-20 reps each exercise of:

Squats, Push ups (variations), Sit ups.

W -

HIIT workout - I have checked out a few from Funk Roberts. I like his variety and looking to try one of them out.

T and Thurs -

Run 1-1.5 miles.

Back in May this year, I suffered an injury which was a partial distal bicep tear. It set me back two months and after released from physical therapy I was back at bodyweight from scratch. For awhile I was mixing BW with DB work. So far so good. No discomfort and progressing slowly. During my injury time, I did not run so I am starting all over again.

I guess what I am looking for is some feedback regarding the way I mapped out this current routine. What type of routine I should consider or if any additions to my routine I may want to pursue.

MMA style HIIT conditioning and those types of sports seem to fall in line with police work. It toughens you mentally and pushes limits.

If you’re wondering - I cannot do pull up/chin ups… My arm is still not strong enough for that just yet to handle. I can manage australian style, but not for many reps. My forearm from grip and the current weakness in that arm fatigues fairly quickly with that exercise.

Looking forward to some comments. Trying to keep my routine simple, yet effective. Sometimes very basic exercises over time can give great results.

Thanks!

If you really want to build your endurance try and build up to longer than 1.5 miles.

Doesn’t need to be anything massive, even making them 4 mile runs will do a lot.

In terms of bodyweight stuff, maybe add some shoulder work and pulling to prevent imbalances. Maybe add a couple sub maximal sessions throughout the week (you can do other stuff on that day, it won’t take too much out of you).

Thanks for the response.

For running, I’m back to scratch so that’s why I’m starting 1-1.5 miles. When I was consistently running, I was clocking 12:30 for 1.5 miles and then started doing sessions of 2 miles.

Last night I changed my routine a bit.

Took me 25 minutes to complete -

Prisoner squats 3x 20
Pyramid style diamond pushups - Count was 6 (1-6;6-1)
Resistance band rows with 15# DB - 3x 10
Crunches - 2x 20
Flutter kicks - 2x 20
Rotating mountain climbers - 2x 6 each side

Anything I should consider adding? This hit my whole body along with push/pull. 30 sec rest between sets; 60 rest between exercises.

Looks ok to me, but I’m not very experienced with bodyweight routines. Maybe add some reverse sit ups for some back work.

Running wise (which is what I know more way about), don’t worry about pace for long runs. Practing running fast for the test distance is a decent idea, but just do it once a week, (make sure you do some dynamic warming up first). For building endurance the optimal way to do it is slow right down. Increasing your mileage up to 10% a week is considered safe, so just put all that into the long run. If you get it up to around 6 miles that’ll give you a pretty solid base. Ideally go an easy walk the day after the long run to help recovery.

Do lots of negatives with chin-ups. Otherwise, all looks good. As long as you have the right mindset towards conditioning (which is to mention it, and do it, despite the inertia to stop), you will not go wrong.

Tell you a trick. Do it when you are at your most fatigued. Then, it becomes easier. The prologue is always the hardest, the most bitter and the most satisfying.

Some good advice on the running. First day back Tuesday I ran a mile in 9:38. Slower than my usual pace, but it’s a start. Running is something I need to get use to and learn to like lol.

The other day I actually was using my dip bar for chin ups. I did not get in to position for australian chin ups though. I sat under the bar got a close grip and pulled myself up. How I maintained the reps was to not let me butt hit the floor even though there’s not much space. Definitely felt it in my biceps though and it kept the tension there.

I’m a bit skeptical to even try the negatives. Last my doctor said was that by January/February my arm will be as if it never happened strength wise. The tendon is much better and feels strong. Sometimes I feel a weird sensation, but that’ll probably remain indefinitely.

Maybe I’ll utilize the resistance bands to assist with those negatives and see how it feels to test my strength.

Thanks!

A bicep tendon is pretty hard to tear. The way to program it.

One max set starting out.
One sub-par max set added per week
To ten.

Get over the trauma of letting it happen. Don’t let it weaken you. You will definitely feel some unnerving sensations but it’s all part of the process.

I like your intelligence in doing it from the dip bars if I must say so.

Thanks again for the advice. I definitely need to get over that small fear of the injury. I certainly won’t let it stop me from progressing forward though.

As for the chin ups on the dip bar, yeah I was doing some curls and glanced over at it and figured let me just try to sit underneath like in an L- sit position and see if there’s enough room to actually pull myself up. I figured a close grip will allow me to make it more challenging considering it’s like a “half” chin up. So far so good. As I get stronger I can probably progress to australian versions and work in those negatives.

First back is always rough. Just take it easy and you’ll get used to it again. Just focus on building the distance a bit for now.

It might be a good idea to do some sort of repeats instead of a second continuous run. It’s a good idea to practice the test distance but that can wait. Get a warm up in then do something like 400m repeats. But I’d wait until you can run 3 miles or so reasonably comfortably first.

Try and get a walk in atleast on most days you aren’t running as well, it’ll help with getting your endurance up a little without taking much out of your recovery. Doesn’t need to be an epic hike even just a 20m stroll.

Good advice. Value distance, it pays off.

Yeah I was thinking of doing some walk/run intervals for a set period of time to help also. walk for 1 minute, run for 2 minutes and repeat for let’s say 20-30 minutes time.

I definitely don’t want to just work distance timed because that will burn me out and I think it’s not a good way to gauge progression.

Maybe not a bad idea. You could look at couch to 5k plan, which basically uses this idea.

Having a look for advice for beginners I also saw it suggested you should walk for 10min before you start and 5min after you finish.

Yeah I always do a cool down walk. Never really walked before starting to run though. I go through a small session of stretches and hop around like 5-10 jump squats to get the blood flowing.

Just downloaded an app called 5K. Looks like it’s geared towards getting you to run 5K within 8 weeks. Gonna try it out tonight.