Training for a Police Agility

**IronPumper80** · 09-10-2004, 01:56 PM

Whats up bros....was lookin for suggestions to build my stamina so I can do a mile and a half in 11:30. Right now it take me 12:40 and thats me busting my azz and almost passing out.

**nickrizz** · 09-10-2004, 02:23 PM

breath in through nose out through mouth and longer strides, helps me personally

**partyboynyc** · 09-10-2004, 02:28 PM

i would use HIIT(high intensity interval training) to shave time off your 1.5 mile run. this is what i use with some of the troopers i have gotten ready for their test. i use perceived level of exertion as my guideline for intervals instead of time. sustain your max pace as long as you can, use active recovery in between sprints, and take notes as to the time in each interval. your AR times are important in that you want them to decrease and your max pace increased. give yourself (for a 1.5 mile run) approx 6 weeks to train for it if you need to shave 70 seconds off. you will be suprised at what it will do to your mile time.

**saboudian** · 09-10-2004, 10:02 PM

Originally Posted by nickrizz

breath in through nose out through mouth and longer strides, helps me personally

I have heard of that breathing technique before, I know a couple that use it in warm ups, but i haven't heard any one using it in a race, this is primarily coming from sprinters.

I wouldn't worry too much about longer strides, if you force it, you will just end up losing momentum stride to stride.

Running an 11:30 should be pretty easy, just general conditioning should get you there, make sure you have a good warmup routine so you don't injure yourself, and don't overtrain, ie don't run every day, especially be careful if you're also training legs in the gym, most injuries come from overtraining, not enough recovery, too much volume.

**kboxer** · 09-11-2004, 07:08 AM

I shaved my time by running 4 days a week and some jump rope. I was already training when it came time but I shaved mine to 10:40 and I am 230lbs. Make sure your bench press and stretching is in check. I had to run an obstacle course too. It was easy though. And I was not in the best shape cardiovascularly due to some newly added mass.

**1badcamaro** · 09-15-2004, 04:28 PM

i myself have started to train for the police agility test for the san diego pd. I have to run an obsticle course thats like 500yds long in like 3 minutes. I'm just gonna start running sprints and stuff. Tryin hittin squats and legs real hard, that'll build they're strength and should help out.

**nickrizz** · 09-15-2004, 06:46 PM

yea i just learned i have to do the 1.5 mile and im going to start training now.

**1badcamaro** · 09-16-2004, 03:58 PM

lol, come on guys, its only 1.5 miles, i suck at running and i'm not even that worried about it

**TheChosen1** · 09-16-2004, 05:20 PM

Originally Posted by nickrizz

breath in through nose out through mouth and longer strides, helps me personally

Primo advice, Nick. I personally learned that the hard way when I was running a police academy agility test, as well.

For starters bro, speaking from experience, I'm assuming that you train in the gym. Build up your crunches and benches. The reason is, depending if that agility is the same as Louisiana's State Police agility, you may be required to do a certain amount of push-ups and sit-ups. Of course, the bench presses will strengthen you for push up and I found that the crunches helped me push out alot more sit-ups than they wanted me to do.

I have never been a runner, myself. But I knew that if I wanted to pass the police agility, I had to train myself for it. Bro, this powerlifter couldn't run more than a lap (needed to run 6 laps to equal 440 yards/meter ?). At my age range (at the time, 32), I was required to run the 440 in 14 minutes. So what I did to build up my speed and agility was to practice a lap to see how face I could run it. And I built myself from that.

Good luck, bro.

**nickrizz** · 09-16-2004, 06:08 PM

good advice chosen 1

**Panzerfaust** · 09-17-2004, 09:13 AM

I am also gonna pursue a possible career in law enforcement. Maybe in Tx though as i already have family that are officers there.

**smurf0852** · 02-09-2005, 05:42 PM

guys wtf is going on 1.5 miles is not far as a basic fitness test in the british army we had to run 1.5 miles as a squad in 15 mins
turn around and run back in under 11.5 mins in boots.
they later changed it to under 10.5 mins in running shoes
and that was to just keep your job.
most guys used to do it sub nine mins and we thought we were
slow????????

**SwoleDave** · 02-09-2005, 09:05 PM

Originally Posted by smurf0852

guys wtf is going on 1.5 miles is not far as a basic fitness test in the british army we had to run 1.5 miles as a squad in 15 mins
turn around and run back in under 11.5 mins in boots.
they later changed it to under 10.5 mins in running shoes
and that was to just keep your job.
most guys used to do it sub nine mins and we thought we were
slow????????

dude, it's not the british army that they are training for... have you ever seen american cops???? they arent the finest phyisical specimines that i've ever seen...

**spitzor** · 02-11-2005, 07:43 PM

should require u to run it in under 8, 8 always seemd to be the default mile time to me

**fullspeed** · 06-18-2005, 10:04 AM

if that was required theyre wouldn't be many cops around...

**Big M** · 06-18-2005, 12:18 PM

Thats not a problem man, you dont have to be scinetific to achive that

just run the mile a couple of times, it´s really impressive how fast you can get better. My long distance running SUCKED!! But after just 4 or 5 serious training sessions I got MUCH better

**SprinterOne** · 06-18-2005, 01:25 PM

One thing I haven't seen suggested is breaking the run down into parts. So instead of running 1.5 miles all the time and hoping your time drops, try running half miles at speeds faster then you can currently run the 1.5 miles. So right now you do it in 12:40, that is about 4:15 per half mile. Your goal is 11:30 which is a 3:50 half mile, so maybe set your goal at 3:45 for the half mile. Once you can run the half mile in 3:45, then you add distance. A sample practice for you right now might be something like:

6 x .5 mile trying to run it in 4:00 with full rest in between each run.

**TiptronicSoldier** · 07-12-2005, 11:30 PM

I used to have to run the 1.5 on thursdays during offseason. You had to beat your time from the week before every time. So most of us would start off in the 10:30 then end up in the 9:20 and less. If we didn't beat it we would have to run it on Fridays until instead of getting to scrimmage. It worked pretty well

If I were you I would run intervals like everyone is saying, then test yourself once or twice a week. If you don't improve, you run it the next day and so on until you beat your time.

Whats the point of training if you aren't improving, thats why everyone bumps up the poundages when we lift.