When Are You Strong...Enough?
When does chasing personal records on lifts become a detriment to first responders (or anyone) and how to safely do it.
How is progress defined for the athlete, Police Officer, or Soldier? Is it weight on the bar? Run times? Ruck times? Anything can be measured, and depending on the program or service the priority is…whatever the priority is. In the Army for decades your worth was measured by the push-ups, sit-ups, and two mile run. Later the argument was made it wasn’t correlating with performance and now we have the Army’s ACFT.
With athletes the higher you climb the elite pyramid things change. In college the push in many programs is always hitting a personal record (PR) on core lifts. Achieving a PR in this context is a testament to hard work and continued progress. For years this is probably how they (or anyone) should train- strive to get stronger to assist with sport/job performance. With this logic if you keep increasing your numbers you’re becoming a better football player, baseball player, Police Officer, and SWAT Operator...right?
Or is there a point of diminishing return? Does bringing a 800lb squat to 805lbs really make someone a better football player? I’m not sure it does. Dan John, a former elite thrower and coach, has put the strength standard for discus throwers as:
400 pound bench
250 snatch
300 clean
450 back squat
Dan argues as a thrower, if you’re this strong, but can’t throw a discus far, strength isn’t the issue...you’re strong enough. Maybe it’s technique or psychological but whatever it is you’re not too weak.
What’s the application for our tactical populations? Once we pass selection gates, where grit should be tested, is the idea of whatever we are defining as progress or toughening helping or hurting the people we ask to do the impossible?
I made up (yes, made up) a standard for police based off observations while in the profession, gaps I’ve noticed in training, and other data from the cooper standard. In my very humble view, the standards I outlined are achievable for anyone who halfway applies themselves to a long term strength and conditioning plan and healthy lifestyle. In fact, a decent high school athlete could probably do this:
1.5 x Body-Weight Trap Bar Deadlift x 3 (I’ll even go with using the high handles on the bar)
.3 x Body Weight Single Arm Overhead Press x 3 each
1 Strict Pull Up
Then:
14:21 1.5 mile run
or
800m run- In full uniform and equipment- In 4 Minutes or less
I would love for those standards to be higher, especially for SWAT or proactive units. I would also love all of our Police Officers to have the athleticism of NFL linebackers who also have PhD's who never age or get hurt. For the real people in the profession, if you can maintain these numbers for a 20 year career, you’re probably doing OK.
While the less motivated officers could use this as a minimum to maintain, for the motivated this could be the “any day” standard. Meaning you could roll out of bed and regardless of hours slept or if you’re well fed you could hit those numbers no problem. It also doesn’t matter whether you are 25 or 45...can you do this over a couple decades in your career. This is the challenge for most.
PRs- When is chasing them the wrong goal?
As stated earlier many younger athletes or trainees gauge their progress on hitting personal records on certain lifts. If you’re a powerlifter or Olympic lifter this is where you live. Your goal is to move as much weight as possible and inch your totals up. I would argue if you’re a Soldier or Cop, much like the thrower example above, there will come a time where you are strong...enough.
I know if I could go back in time and talk to myself at 25 I would blow this advice off, but the reality is your back and other joints are going to feel whatever you do. Remember that ugly rep you squeezed out just so you could say you moved x weight from point A to B? Did it make you a better cop? Are you really stronger if your form was probably…questionable? When 45 year old you wakes up with back pain will you even remember that lift? More importantly, did the adaptions stick or did you just peak that day and move some heavier weight? Does it matter if you “PRed” if you can’t display that strength again when it counts?
This isn’t to say you can’t chase personal records or work incredibly hard. It just requires a different type of discipline I know I’ve lacked multiple times. For motivated populations you have to build some brakes in for yourself otherwise sometimes your ego might hurt you, especially as we get older.
As an example, let’s say you’re 40 and a fit SWAT Officer. The minimum I outlined has become your “any day” standard, and you’re actually well beyond those numbers. For whatever reason you want to bring your bench press up. I don’t think this will change your life but sometimes we do things like this to keep training interesting.
A checklist to make sure this doesn’t get stupid:
1) Are you gaining weight to achieve this number?
2) If you are, can you still hit the other standards I outlined above?
3) If you can’t hit the minimum standards above, but your bench is going up...are you helping or hurting your performance/health/longevity?
There is nothing wrong with going after a number. I just caution sacrificing your other qualities that make you a balanced officer. Like I discuss in my book, you can never be too strong, unless of course it interferes with other qualities that support your performance.
Think about the elite that seem to last forever. Yes, God blessed them with some incredible genetics. Even still...do you really think their strength coaches are making sure they’re always putting more weight on the bar after a certain point? Or do goals transition to a holistic effort of maintaining their strength and athleticism to free them up to further refine their skills and performance?
For me Tom Brady and Jerry Rice come to mind. You can’t question the dedication and hard work these two were known for. Brady had a full time staff with his life dedicated to his training while Rice put a premium on hill runs for his conditioning. I think Rice’s chosen modality is telling as hill running is not only challenging, but usually lends itself to less impact and injuries.
I would argue choices like this, possibly through Rice’s intuition, may have helped the longevity of his career. The point is Rice did something he could do for the long haul. I don’t think he would have made giant swings to chase random PRs. Rice still trained like a beast, but he was grounded and consistent..and he was one of the best for 20 years. Ironically the length of a first responder’s career.
Cops and Soldiers...if some of the greats are managing their athletic careers like this...why aren’t you doing the same?
