title: Physical Fitness of Police Academy Cadets: Baseline Characteristics and Changes During a 16-Week Academy.
abstract: Police academies traditionally emphasize the importance of being physically fit. The purpose of this research was to determine cadet baseline physical fitness characteristics and assess effectiveness of a 16-week training program. Sixty-eight cadets (61 men, 7 women) volunteered to have baseline physical fitness characteristics assessed, and 55 cadets (49 men, 6 women) completed further testing at weeks 8 and 16. The testing comprised hand grip (strength), arm crank (upper-body power), 30 seconds Wingate (lower body power), sum of skinfolds and percentage body fat (body composition), 40-yard dash (sprint speed), 1 repetition maximum bench press (strength), T-test (agility), and sit-and-reach (flexibility). In addition, cadets completed standardized state testing (push-ups, sit-ups, vertical jump, and half-mile shuttle run). The training program consisted of 1 hour sessions, 3 d·wk, including aerobic, plyometrics, body weight, and resistance exercise. Significant changes were found in agility (p < 0.01), upper-body and lower-body peak power (p ≤ 0.05), sit-ups (p < 0.01), push-ups (p ≤ 0.05) across the first 8 weeks, and in agility (p ≤ 0.05), lower-body peak power (p ≤ 0.05), sit-ups (p < 0.01), push-ups (p ≤ 0.05), half-mile shuttle run (p < 0.01) across the full 16 weeks. However, none of the variables showed significant change across the second half of the program (weeks 8-16). A number of individual parameters of physical fitness showed evidence of improvement in the first 8 weeks, whereas none of the variables showed significant improvement in the second 8 weeks. This suggests modifications could be made to increase overall effectiveness of cadet physical training specifically after the 8-week mark.
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Exercise Science and Community Health, University of West Florida, Pensacola, Florida; 2Department of Movement Science, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan; and 3Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of West Florida, Pensacola, Florida.
authors.forename: Amy A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Crawley
authors.forename: Ross A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Sherman
authors.forename: William R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Crawley
authors.forename: Ludmila M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Cosio-Lima
mesh_terms: D000047:Academies and Institutes / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000328:Adult; D004493:Education / Q000379:methods*; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010807:Physical Endurance / Q000502:physiology*; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology*; D016495:Police