Rational Weight Training
for Peace Officers
Part One

by DataRat

The DataRat shouldn't have to convince
anybody in this biz about the advantages of
being stronger. Most violent situations
you'll deal with don't involve gunplay. But
a gun is brought to every encounter you'll
be in: The one you're wearing !

Weight training can make you stronger, and
thus better able to defend yourself, your
partners and fellow officers, and your gun.
Even if you have a good repertoire of
defensive tactics, everyone of them works
better when you are stronger. But, frankly,
most officers don't have a lot of technique.
So physical strength is all the more
important.

In this series of articles, The DataRat will
detail a system of weight training that is
both effective and preeminently practical
for officers. He realizes that there are many
theories on the way weight training should
be done. And that adherents to those
theories defend their methods with religious
zeal.

DataRat isn't here to start a holy war over
training methodology. If you're currently
weight training, and getting the results
you want, stick with what works for you.
But if you'd like to learn about a system
that doesn't keep you in the gym for all of
your off-duty hours, yet still produces
results, please continue reading.

Systemize

Weight training seems so simple that
people think all there is to it is "pumping
iron". Wrong ! You can waste a lot of
time and energy -and get practically no
results- without a systematic approach.

Everybody (almost) sees some sort of
strength and muscular size gains in the
first month to three months of weight
training. It's after that period that gains
stop and people drop out of training in
droves. Long term progress (after the
initial three months) is determined by
the methodology you use, and how good
it is.

Also, there are always a few people who
get strong and big regardless of how
they train. If you've read this far, that
probably isn't you !

More commonly, some body parts respond
really well to just about any kind of
training. The DataRat's triceps, for
example, become stronger if he just gets
near a bench press machine. The strength
we need in police work requires more than
merely one strong body part.

Without a system of training, your progress
will totally stagnant in a few months. And
the overall physical development you need
won't happen.

Be Real

Don't compare your progress in weight
training to anybody else. The guys on the
covers of the muscle magazines are
pumped alright. Pumped full of steroids !
Their livers go out -if they live that long.
And several of 'em have just dropped dead
prior to contests.

But don't even compare your progress to
the guy next to you in the gym. We all
have different physiologies, and his is not
your's. The real test of progress in weight
training is: Am I stronger and bigger than I
was two months ago ?

Conclusion

These are the first two principles of
rational weight training. In subsequent
articles in this series, The DataRat shall
describe more specific methods for
increasing your strength without consuming
all your off-duty time.