KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

The police culture has historically been diametrically opposed to the concept of its members being fit.

While it’s not that police agencies or individual officers aren't enthusiastic about working out, or that agencies don’t want their officers being fit, quite the contrary, it is the officers’ lifestyle that can prove to be a detriment to sustained fitness. Certain aspects of police fitness have been getting better in the past few years based on general public knowledge of health and exercise; newer members have grown up in the age of instant fitness “knowledge” available on the internet.

Unfortunately, there will always be some things about the police culture that will probably be detrimental to your workout routine, regardless of how educated those in law enforcement become.

It is not uncommon in our line of work to pursue excellence in other areas. Maintaining the mystique of general badassery is no easy job and for many of us, it is a balance between daily duties and several hobbies or sports. Many of us compete in various activities that enhance our operator skill sets.  Our skill sets, as nuanced as they require both on and off duty time to enhance making us better in our demanding and frequently dangerous profession. For some of you, this is competitive fitness, 3-gun, IDPA matches or like me Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.  At SOFlete we preach a simple lifestyle model of die living. The life we live everyday comprised of our job, sport or sports feed into our core goal; our every action echoes the mantra of daily optimization allowing us the peace of mind knowing that if we are to die today, we will die at our best. We shoot in our downtime because we shoot in our on-time and we workout daily to optimize our performance when duty calls. While many aspects of these sports cross the boundary between fake and real life, I’d like to take a moment to discuss our off-duty approach to “sport training” ensuring that we don’t build bad habits for the sake of sport.

Introducing the SOFLETE Shooting Program.

The First Ever Continuous Firearms Training Program

The mission of the Ranger Regiment changed dramatically during my time there. Each change was accompanied by different tactical and physical requirements. Despite these changes, the basic physical fitness foundation was never lost. That foundation is arguably what brought the Regiment to where it stands today. My own physical preparedness mirrored this constant progression, grounded firmly in a mastery of the basics. I will admit that I was never the best at anything when it came to PT. I walked among Giants - guys that played NCAA Division I or professional sports were not an oddity in the Ranger Battalion. But what I lacked in extraordinary fitness I made up for in two areas: consistency and grit.