POLICE TRAINING

POLICE TRAINING – The Difference between Combat & Sports

Extract courtesy of CrossFit Journal“The difference between combat and sports is that in combat you bury the guy who comes in second.” - Unidentified Navy SEAL on the Discovery Channel’s “U.S. Navy SEALS II,” 1999

Our work and acceptance in the law enforcement, tactical operations, and military special operations communities has been both extremely gratifying and very exciting.  Increasingly the professional combatant comes to CrossFit Auckland aware of the reality that, on average, the fitness challenges they are most likely to face will not be best met by a specialized or narrow focused fitness programme.  That is the sole domain of the sport athlete.

Incredibly, the fitness needs of professional combatants, police and military, have not been given the same quality analysis, commitment, or even funding that is generally given to sport.  The obstacles to better training are often due to widespread misunderstanding of the physiological needs of police work.

Let’s take a look.

CrossFit’s Perspective
It is CrossFit’s contention that cops and soldiers are professional athletes.  In fact, we argue that the physical preparedness required of military combat – and by extension law enforcement – matches and regularly surpasses that required of Olympic athletes.  In light of this view, we find it disturbing that few police departments offer formal fitness instruction after academy graduation.  Careful examination of the physical demands of police work and the success of CrossFit’s training model suggests a solution to adequate training.

Combat vs. Sport
For ease of discussion we refer to the collective physical demands of police work, including defensive tactics and arrest and control, as “combat”.

The fitness demands of the modern MMA/NHB (Mixed Martial Arts/No Holds Barred) competitor are extraordinary, but imagine for a moment that we were to change the rules of the competition as follows:

  1. The date and time of the fight are to remain secret.  The fight is “on” when the opponent(s) appear.
  2. The number of opponents is unknown – one, two, three… ten?
  3. There’ll be no referee.
  4. The fight may or may not include weapons.
  5. There are no rounds, time limits etc.
  6. No information can be provided regarding the opponent’s size, skills, or background.
  7. Innocents are present that must not be harmed.
  8. Your opponent may be intent on LITERALLY killing you.

Now, we ask, have the physical demands for this “sport” been lessened or heightened?  Only the most punch drunk of pugs would fail to recognize at once that both the physical demands and the stakes have been terrifyingly increased, not lessened.  This is the nature of combat compared to sport.  Ultimately we come to see martial arts as tamer subsets of combat.

The fact that the requirements of combat are marked by largely unforeseeable circumstances and combat not being a game or sport has contributed to the exercise science community’s showing little interest in the training needs of police and military personnel.  If Olympic medals were awarded for “arrest and control” the coaching community and exercise scientists would be climbing over one another to lend a hand.  Continued…

Download full CrossFit Journal Article


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