I am 27 years old and just graduated a local police academy. I attended the academy full time at night and worked full time during the day. I had to quit lifting b/c I did not have time to go to the gym and b/c of that I dropped from 175 down to 155 at 5 foot 11 in tall.
I did however continue training with body weight exercises like situps, pushups, mountain climbers, bulldogs, planks, hindu squats and hindu pushups, one legged squats etc.
2 months before graduation I bought a 44 lb kettle bell and I have been lifting it. I enjoy it very much and it has made me stronger. I started my doing 5x5 with turkish get ups, one arm clean and press and one arm snatches. I also started doing two arm swings at 5 sets for 10 reps. I am now up to 5x15 with the turkish get ups and presses and snatches and 5x30 with the swings.
It has built up some great functional strength for me. I can tell a difference in my everyday job as a commercial garage door installer. Everything feels lighter.
However, I just got offered a job in corrections and it looks like that is were I am going to start my law enforcement career. I am looking for a routine that I can do along with my kettle bell training in order to get as functionally strong as I can be. I would love to put back on the size again, but it took me a year and a half to gain that weight before, so for now I am looking for a program that will help me if I was to get into a fight with a 200 lb bad guy that don’t want to do what I tell him to.
I was looking at the Rippetoe-Starting Strength program. It looks like it is tailored for strength and looks like a guy might be able to add 10-15lbs. However, it does not look like they allow for auxiliary lifts. Which would cut out the kettle bell. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
