If anyone could help I would like some advice or help on scheduling my new workout plan because of work. I’m a correctional officer and each week for us is different I have a long week which is Monday, Tuesday work 12 HR shift. Wednesday and Thursday off and Friday, Saturday and Sunday 12 hr shifts. So basically my long week suck and only have two days off to workout. My short week is Monday and Tuesday off Wednesday and Thursday work 12 HR shifts and Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. My short week are amazing. Anyways I’m planning on applying to become a police officer in about 6 months or and my cardio is so awful!! I love lifting but honestly I need to be realistic and tell myself that I need to relax on lifting and focus on cardio because my 1.5 mile is awful I finish in about 17:30-18:16. I always just focused on strength because that’s what I was good at but what’s the point in lifting heavy when I can’t run for crap! Anyways would like some input on my schedule and what you guys think. I still want to lift weights but I would want to be focused on getting my time better.
Long week
Monday- work , Tuesday-work
Wednesday-chest/shoulder
Bench 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Incline dumbbell bench 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Incline bench 4 sets of 6-8 reps
OHP 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Dumbbell seated press 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Standing behind the neck 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Cardio 1.5 miles as fast as I can
Thursday - back/legs
Deadlift 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Barbell bent over rows 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Dumbbell rows 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Squat 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Front squats 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Hack squats 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Cardio 1.5 miles as fast as I can
Friday-work, Saturday-work, Sunday-work
Short week
Monday-legs
Squat 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Front squats 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Hack squats 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Leg press 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Cardio 2-3 miles incline at 6-9 at a slow speed of 3-4
Tuesday-Chest
Bench press 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Dumbbell incline 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Incline bench 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Dumbbell bench 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Cardio 2-3 miles incline at 6-9 at a slow speed of 3-4
Wednesday-work, Thursday- work
Friday- back
Deadlift 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Barbell bent over rows 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Dumbbell rows 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Seated cable rows 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Cardio 1.5 miles as fast as I can
Saturday- shoulder
OHP 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Seated military press 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Behind the neck military press 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Seated dumbbell press 4 sets of 6-8 reps
1.5 miles as fast as I can
Sunday- cardio
400 meters as fast as I can 4-10 rounds
I see too much “as fast as I can” in your running and most of it is the same distance. Mix it up.
This is general advice, grain of salt and all that.
You have 6-7 running sessions every two weeks.
A. 4-8 Shorter runs (200-400m) at about 80-90% of your 400 time. Rest about twice as long as it took you to run each rep.
B. 4-6 moderate runs (400m-800m) at about 70-80% of your 800 time. Rest about 1.5x it took you to run.
C. Longer run(s) 1-2 miles at about 60-70% of your mile pace (If you break it up into two or three reps, push the higher range, if you do one longer run, go even lower). Rest as long as it took for each rep.
Do each one twice over the two weeks. Then either increase your speed slightly, your distance slightly, or reduce your rest period.
Mix in a slow recovery walk/run every two weeks, and take a recovery week every 6 weeks.
I don’t know what bracket you in for the run, but where I work you’d fail unless your over 50. You need to make time to run. Other then benching your BW no department cares about weights or looks. Get it so you can pass the run with ease and make through an acadmey without struggling. Then lift heavier snd more frequently when you a cop.
That’s fine, especially because your weight routine is all kinds of screwed up.
6 different kinds of pressing on chest/shoulder day is, like, dumb. Get on a super-basic plan. 2 or 3 well-designed sessions per week is plenty if it’s laid out right. This 5/3/1 plan is a basic approach. Alternate “easy” bodyweight work with the big lifts for even more conditioning. Push-ups with deadlifts, chin-ups with squats, etc.
Some basic, hard conditioning 2-3 days a week (after training or whenever you can hit it) will further help build the base.
Is their a specific goal time you need to hit for the academy?
x2. (fixed)
What’s your height, weight, and general fat level (pudgy, lean, muffin top/moobs, ripped, etc.)?
Recently graduated a fairly demanding police academy fwiw. I don’t know about the agency the OP is applying to but I believe the 12:00 mark is a pretty common standard.
The other upside of losing weight/fat is that most police academies still do a fair bit of 5k-ish group running and high rep calisthenics as well as crossfit style circuits in their PT programs. This is obviously much harder at high body weight, even if you’re strong as f@#k. I went in at a fairly lean (top 4 abs visible) 230 and came out an almost scrawny (all abs, ribs and some internal organs visible) 200.
There’s really no point in bitching that this isn’t the best way to train for police work (but people do, non-stop). Even if that’s true, you have to get that badge and then worry about how to prep for the field.
Do some research into cardiovascular conditioning. Understand what aerobic vs anaerobic training will get you in terms of meeting your goals. You will get results just from running a lot; but if this is important to you, I think you will get better results from understanding how your training affects your energy systems.
