What I’ve learned as a Trainer

                I’ve been a personal trainer for the last 4 years, a weight trainer 2 years prior to that, and a volunteer coach for a few years prior to that. And over the years I’ve learned a lot when it comes to training, coaching, and the industry. Below is some of my random thoughts of what I’ve learned, enjoy.

• Everyone should learn to lift
• Everyone should learn how to move their body
• Everyone should learn to move more in general
• Squats, such a basic movement done wrong by many
• Push-ups (see squats)
• Deadlift, great exercise for lifting heavy
• What’s the best training program out there? The one that you can stick to.
• You can’t do high intensity every single day, every week of the year; give your body a break
• Recovery is how the body improves
• Variety in training is important, but it doesn’t mean constantly changing your routine every day
• Never stop learning, always improve
• Barefoot running, not for everybody
• And if you’re gonna run barefoot, gradually build up to it
• It took time to get that beer belly, don’t expect it to be gone in a week
• And don’t expect endless crunches to get rid of it (spot reduction does not work)
• Nutrition, vitally important whether your goal is to lose weight, gain mass, improve performance, etc.
• It’s always good to have a goal to shoot for, helps give purpose to training
• Have some fun when training, even when it hurts
• Runner’s need strength, triathletes too (hell, endurance athletes in general need strength)
• Exercise alone isn’t the best way to lose weight (exercise + good nutrition is), but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it
• If you can, get a training partner. They keep you accountable and stay motivated
• Weight loss and fat loss are not the same; if I had to choose one, I’d choose fat loss
• To succeed, you gotta have “The Drive”
• There’s a difference between working out and training; working out sounds boring, going through the motions. I like the sound of training, it sounds purposeful.
• Heavy strength training is great, but never underestimate the power of bodyweight training

Police Test Warm-Up (PARE/POPAT/SOPAT/COPAT)

                Warming up for your police test is essential if you want to do well on test day. So many people going into their test, whether it’s the PARE, POPAT, SOPAT, or COPAT, fail to take advantage of what warm-up time is given to them before their test. Some have the false belief that shouldn’t do anything at all for fear of wasting energy, but that is so far from the truth. Here are a few reasons why you should warm-up:

1. You ‘prime’ the body to get ready for action
2. Your muscles are warmed up and loosened and ready to go
3. Your joints get loosened up, decreasing the chance of injury
4. Your HR slowly increases, that way it doesn’t jump from 0-60 when you start your test; it’s already elevated
5. It gets you mentally ready, which is crucial when you’re hurting at the end and you need to dig deep to find that extra gear

                I’ve put together a basic warm-up routine that you can follow for your next test. It’ll take you about 10 min to complete. If you’re among the first 3-5 to test, you can still take advantage of the warm-up. If you’re around the middle of the pack or near the end to test, you can redo parts of the warm-up as your turn is about to come up, that way you get the body ready again.

Below is the routine: 

• 4 laps around the gym
• High knee grabs x 10
• Walking lunges, forward, reverse x 10
• Shuffle walk x 10

The following is done half the length of the gym (~40-60ft)

• High Knee skips x 2
• Straight leg skips x 2
• Butt kicks x 2
• Star Shuffle x 2
• Back pedal x 2
• Carioca x 2
• Power Skips x 2 (full length, rest 0:30 between skips)
• Sprints x 2 (full length, rest 0:30 between sprints)

If there’s time, run a couple laps of the course and practice the push/pull. Finish with:

·         Forward and back legs swings x 10 (per leg)

·         Side to side leg swings x 10 (per leg)

·         Forward arm circles x 10 (one arm at a time)

·         Backward arm circles x 10 (one arm at a time)

·         Arm crossing x 10

·         Arm swings x 10

To see how most of the routine is performed, watch this video: