TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2012//
TI  - Fitness Characteristics of a Suburban Special Weapons and Tactics Team
JO  - Journal of strength and conditioning research
A1  - Pryor, Riana R.
A1  - Colburn, Deanna
A1  - Crill, Matthew T.
A1  - Hostler, David P.
A1  - Suyama, J.
SP  - 752
EP  - 757
VL  - 26
IS  - 3
N2  - Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) operators are specialized law enforcement officers who traditionally perform their duties with higher anticipated workloads because of additional body armor, weapons, and equipment used for enhanced operations and protection. This elevated workload increases the need for SWAT operators to improve or maintain their physical fitness to consistently perform routine operations. Typical tasks require trunk rotation, overhead upper extremity use, upper and lower body strength use, and long waiting periods followed by explosive movements while wearing additional equipment. Eleven male SWAT operators from 1 SWAT team performed flexibility, strength, power, and aerobic capacity tests and a variety of job-related tasks. Data were compared with age- and gender-based normative data. Fitness testing revealed that officers ranked high on tests of muscular strength (leg strength, 90th percentile; bench press, 85th percentile); however, body composition (55th percentile), core body strength, and flexibility ranked lower. Furthermore, aerobic capacity and muscular power had a wide range of scores and were also not ideal to support maximal performance during routine operations. These data can assist exercise specialists choose fitness programs specifically for job-related tasks of SWAT operators when creating fitness programs. Fitness programming for law enforcement should focus on improving aerobic fitness, flexibility, core strength, and muscular power while maintaining muscular strength to meet the needs of these specialized officers.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1064-8011
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0b013e318225f177
ID  - ref1
ER  -