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As John Danaher, world renown Jiu Jitsu and MMA coach, puts it simply: “Jiu Jitsu is the science of control that leads to submission.”

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) is a martial art and defensive tactic that is mainly focused on grappling. The art revolves around gaining control of an opponent and forcing the opponent to submit due to seizing their mobility with a joint lock, strangle, pressure technique, or some combination of the three.

BJJ can also be trained specifically for cops via what is newly titled Police Jiu Jitsu (PJJ). PJJ is technique and concept bypasses or shortcuts, picked from Jiu Jitsu, explicitly for cops. Leaders in the field are Chad Lyman, Rener Gracie, Craig Douglas and Renzo Gracie.

Jiu Jitsu For Law Enforcement Officers

The main objective for a Law Enforcement Officer is to get home safely after each shift.

BJJ should be a mandatory component of defensive tactics training to aid this mission - getting home safely after every...

What is Agility?

According to the National Strength and Conditioning Association, agility can be defined as rapid, whole-body movements that require single or multiple changes in velocity (acceleration or deceleration) or direction (vertical, lateral or horizontal) in response to an external stimulus.

In the Effective Fitness Program, agility is a routinely trained fitness trait that involves changing direction quickly and intentionally.

We include agility work every week in our training, and in some cycles, it is multiple times per week. We also have an agility specific assessment that is tested 2x per year.

Why is agility an essential component of a Law Enforcement Officer's training program? 

We know that training and testing our agility skills is essential for Law Enforcement Officers due to the nature of encounters on the job.

In 2018, the FBI collected assault data from 11,788 Law Enforcement agencies that employed...

"How do I make time to workout while having a career in Law Enforcement?"

This is a question we hear all the time in the law enforcement community.

It can be daunting and difficult to fit your workout routine into your busy schedule.

The 12+ hour shifts, night shifts, family time, and all other responsibilities we have makes it feel like there is not enough time in the day to consistently make it to the gym.

Oftentimes we end up sacrificing our own health and wellness for others.

If we want a long, successful career and life, we must prioritize our training and find a way to fit it in.

Use these 5 tips to help you make training a priority and consistently make it to the gym so you can become stronger, leaner, faster, and fitter!

1) Find the Right Time of Day

We all have a time of day that is best for us to workout. This is typically when we are the most alert and have energy to burn. The exact time of day is...

Starting a workout routine can be challenging.

Habit formation requires 18 to 254 days for a person to form a new habit and an average of 66 days for a new behavior to become automatic.

Starting a workout routine takes time, energy, focus, and determination.

We created this article with 3 simple steps for you to implement and get started training consistently today.

The 3 Steps: Crawl… Walk… Run

The Crawl, Walk, Run (CWR) training methodology is used in the US Military to train soldiers for combat, but it can be a highly effective concept to apply anywhere in your life, and is especially beneficial for beginning your fitness training journey.

Step 1: Crawl

The crawl portion of this method is creating a goal and a plan to achieve that goal.

Goal Setting

Everything starts with a goal.

Start by writing down this goal in a journal, on a social media platform, in your phone, or...

“One of the biggest threats to Law Enforcement is Law Enforcement itself.” -Adam, CEO of Effective Fitness and PolicePosts 

No truer words have been said. 

Why do we feel this way?

Simply put, it’s the nature of the job. 

This article will serve to shed some light on how the career can affect your health as well as give you tips and resources to take control of your health so you can enjoy life outside of your shifts and long after you retire.

Police Work is Sedentary

In the Law Enforcement profession it is highly likely that you will spend a good amount of time sitting down or just staying in the same position for long periods of time. Whether this is due to sitting in a car on patrol or desk time, police work is primarily sedentary. 

This leads to weight gain and a plethora of unhealthy habits and lifestyle factors for cops. 

It is also very common to be sedentary for an extended period of time, then suddenly need a burst of...

Let's get this straight from the start. Every police academy is different. The standards one agency has may be completely different than the standards of another agency of an agency city or town.

The first step in preparing for the Academy is to reach out to the agency you are interested in joining and learning from them first hand what to expect.

Find an officer that is fresh out of the academy and ask them all the questions you have.

Common questions to ask include:

• What is the typical day look like in the Academy? What about a week?
• What does the PT look like?
• How many days were you running?
• Did you do any strength training?
• Did you get any breaks throughout the day?
• What does education look like?
• How much time did you spend time outside the Academy preparing or studying?
• Is there anything that you wish you knew before starting the Academy?
• Is there any advice you can give me before I start?

It is best to do research about the requirements of...

Train Hard. Be Hard. Go Hard.

What do those phrases mean to you?

Does it mean train hard every day in the gym?  Does it mean to be mentally tough? Does it mean going 100% in everything you do?

There are multiple interpretations of the word “hard”.  It’s a catchy word, used in the tactical/LE community. It is thrown around in order to produce an emotional response which will then trigger action.

But how "hard" do we need to train?

How long do we need to train?

Should I be doing more reps, more sets, more cardio, etc?

Sometimes... but more often than not training LESS is better.

I'm sure you are asking yourself "What did he just say?" 

"Less is better? He must have had a typo there..."

No, you read it correctly. 

Training LESS is often better than training MORE! 

Why is training less better?

Being a police officer or a tactical athlete is stressful.

Our body can only tolerate and handle so much...

The Kings of Calisthenic Exercises

Push ups and pull ups are the hands-down the most popular upper-body bodyweight exercises.

While both of these movements are so commonly done in the gym, there is a lack of education and knowledge on how to properly progress them.

Most people just do max effort sets a few times a week and hope that by doing that, they will achieve more reps in a few weeks.

While that works sometimes.. there are better ways to go about it.

We have found that doing more sets of less reps leads to a higher number of max reps in just 4 weeks when compared to performing max rep sets.

Instead of doing 3-5 sets of max reps and waiting 60-120 seconds and repeating, we discovered that doing 6-9 sets of 35-50% of the reps and resting 45-90 seconds leads to better results.

By taking this approach you prevent yourself from fatiguing out after the first set and not being able to achieve the same number of...

Weight loss is EASY, keeping it off.. That's the issue..

First Responders and Tactical Athletes don't have a problem losing weight. Every January, thousands of first responders start dieting. 

The majority are successful at shedding a few pounds through February/March! But.. by April many of them are starting to struggle with their weight-loss and begin adding the weight they all worked so hard to get off at the start of the year.

They get frustrated and blame themselves for a lack of "discipline" or blame their "bad genetics" for their inability to reach their goals.

Introduction

As a first responder/tactical athlete, shift work is part of the job. Throughout your career, you will have both night and day shifts. Often, you may have be alternating back and forth between the two. A massive challenge you will experience is structuring your nutrition plan to help you to achieve your health and fitness goals.

When you finish reading this article, you will understand why eating is so hard during shift work as well as develop an action plan to get you on track towards your performance goals.

Research Statistics:

In the US, up to 18% of the US work force alternate shift schedules. Recent studies have shown that when compared to non-shift workers, shift worked had a 17% increased risk of all cardiovascular events and close to a 20% increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease 

Another study shows that shift workers had a 9% greater risk for diabetes when compared to non-shift workers.

...