You have a mission to go home and to live.
Everything we do comes down to that…..”Go home and live.”
You are a husband, wife, brother, sister, son, daughter, aunt or uncle. You are important and loved by many. Every day we need to W.I.N (What’s Important Now) and to WIN we all must be alert to stay alive and be ready for anything.
The foundation of that is fitness.
Without it, our chances for success in other areas of law enforcement are rare.
Fitness is the umbrella that protects us from everything else.
Work & Time
Fitness takes work and time. Both of those involve eating the right things. Eating right does not happen overnight but as officers we owe this effort to our families, communities and fellow officers. Remember brothers and sisters, we are servants of our towns, cities, counties, states and ultimately our country. We serve the people and it is our job as sheepdogs to be the best we can be at what we do, what we stand for and how we present ourselves. We are the line between chaos and calm. It takes work and that work takes time.
Eating Right
Eating right isn’t about what you do all the time but what you do most of the time. The best way to approach that is one step at a time and one meal at a time.
Drinks
Soda and sweet tea should be limited and even eliminated. Any drinks with sugar are unhealthy and ripe for packing on weight and giving you health issues. Many struggle in this area so I would recommend moderation. Limit yourself to 1-2 per day and work towards total elimination. Water is your friend. Try it at every meal and 12 ounces in between meals. The results will be immediate and will probably surprise you. Keeping water in your patrol car at all times is a great way to remind you of this. A great rule is to drink half of your body weight in water each day and add to that as you exercise, etc.
Carb Intake
Lowering your carb intake is important to health and fitness. Breads and pasta are the biggest culprit and I would recommend limiting carbs to 100 grams daily and do not eat carbs 3 to 4 hours prior to sleeping.
Goals
It is about taking baby steps. Set small goals because if you work toward the small goals you will be more likely to succeed. Immediately starting with big goals is a recipe for disaster. Use each of your small goals to create a big goal in time.
Plan and prepare daily with your food and activity. LawOfficer.com is a great way to find out what works for cops. It is all about moderation and I like the 80/20 rule. Eat clean and right 80% of the time and if you have to cheat, do it no more than 20% of the time. Eventually, you should be able to reduce those cheat meals to no more than 10% of the time. This is a marathon and not a sprint. You didn’t get out of shape in a few weeks and it will take some time to get back to where you need to be but you will get there.
Never quit and always stay focused. Do your best and train yourself to be fit and in the best shape of your life so you can survive anything that comes your way.
As police officers and servants, our time is precious and I also understand that not everyone can afford a gym membership so you may have to adapt to whatever situation you are in. You are worth it!
We all have heard the saying “I would rather be judge by 12 than carried by 6.” Take care of #1 and that means come home every day and be fit to fight. Do what it takes because you are warriors and servants. Make the change to WIN and give God all the Glory.
“The more your Sweat in Training, the Less you Bleed on the Streets”
Jeff Becker joined the United States Army and Served nine years with two combat tours in Iraq. He has been a certified peace officer in Alabama for 8 years and is an avid trainer in health and nutrition as well as a certified strength and conditioning coach with ISSA .
