# Charles Poliquin: Physical Readiness Tests



## Bo (18 Sep 2006)

Interesting read. I wonder what he would say about the CF's standards...



> Fat Cops and Physical Readiness Tests
> 
> Q: Charles, you mentioned in another article that you've done some consulting with the US Army about updating their physical readiness tests. Everyone knows that most of these tests for the military and law enforcement don't have much application to real life. What changes did you suggest?
> 
> ...



http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1257805


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## medicineman (19 Sep 2006)

Interesting - I was thinking many moons ago of applying for Winnipeg's EMS.  You first had to pass the Cooper's test and then a flexibilty test of the lower back.  If all went well, you then had to - (1) Take a Defib, O2 Kit, and jump bag totalling about 45-50lbs, and walk quickly up 5 flights of stairs; (2) Do perfect CPR on a mannequin for 10 minutes; (3) Carry 110 lbs backwards down those same stairs; (4) place the weight on the floor; (5) bring the weight up to waist height; (6) and then replace it on the ground.  A little more realistic than the Cooper's test.

MM


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## The_Falcon (19 Sep 2006)

Interesting article for sure.

Alot of what he has said has already been implemented in the PREP test in Ontario, body drag, scaling a wall, running up and down stair, simulated arm restraint stations, all while wearing a weighted belt to simulate a duty belt, it could be improved.  Right now it is not that difficult, you have to complete in under a specified time, but it pass or fail, so buddy who storms through is measured the same as buddy who barely runs, as long as both pass.



> Also, one of the toughest things a soldier has to do is take a case of 50 caliber ammunition and put it on the back of a truck. So that's another task I suggested to the Army. No amount of push-ups will correlate with that!
> 
> 
> 
> But any time you do something like that you piss off a lot of people. They just like tradition because of tradition. What we're trying show is that dragging a body under fire is a lot more correlated to what happens in Iraq than how many pull-ups you can do. You can train for those kinds of tests, but it doesn't mean you're a good soldier.



HMMM, that sounds familiar (ammo crate lift).  Oh wait that is one of the tasks on the APFT  but for some reason, has still not been implemented yet.


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## missionessential (18 Mar 2007)

I realize that this is an old thread, however it is very relevant to what is happening at my unit.

Over the next month or so, Charles will be conducting physical testing at my unit. This is in an effort to revamp our fitness testing to better prepare members for the job we do and to prevent the numerous injuries that members are getting through traditional training methods.

I will post again when the results of the testing are complete.


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## ZipperHead (18 Mar 2007)

Good article. I missed it the first time around, I think.

I would like to see training, not just testing, like he mentions (bring on fatigue, and then force pers to do complicated tasks). As it is, how many people here know of units that stand down their pers (or have in the past) after the 13km march?!?! I have seen people incapacitated for days, if not weeks, after this. Then the knee-jerk reaction is to think about REDUCING the standard, because if people are done in by it, it can't be good for them?!?! Sadly, that is how some people think, as though the most important thing in the world is to have a high pass rate, not a high fitness/performance level.

As I alluded to before, and the CDS's message awhile ago emphasized, it shouldn't be about testing, it should be about instilling a culture of fitness (not just physical, but mental). Training like you fight (i.e. doing tasks that you would likely do in combat) and working-in difficult tasks that challenge your mental capabilities as well, is what we need, not watered down testing that causes people to train exclusively for the test (i.e only doing ruckmarches, or pushups, or situps, or whatever the test consists of). 

In case I haven't mentioned it in the last 2 minutes, and if you haven't heard of it before and are interested in actually performing at a level higher than the lowest common denominator, here you go: http://www.crossfit.com/. It will hurt, and it will suck, but it's a good type of hurt/suck!!!!!

AL


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## missionessential (18 Mar 2007)

Al, I couldn't agree more. Along with the individual testing and developing a new testing procedure for my unit, Poliquin will also be working with the members to develop training regimens to address the needs of tactical police work. Also being in the infantry, I suspect this will also have a bearing on how I train for military tasks as well.

ME


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