Štefan, L, Kasović, M, and Culej, M. Normative values for health-related physical fitness in first-year police officers. J Strength Cond Res 36(9): 2530-2535, 2022-The main aim of the study was to develop normative values for health-related physical fitness tests in first-year police officers. In this cross-sectional study, we recruited 773 police officers aged 19-28 years old (mean age ± SD = 22 ± 3 years, 34% women). Health-related physical fitness included: (a) polygon backwards (agility), (b) standing broad jump (explosive power of lower extremities), (c) sit-and-reach test (flexibility), and (d) 2.4 km run (aerobic capacity). In addition, maximal oxygen uptake (V̇ o2 max) was calculated. Sex- and age-specific centile smoothed curves for the 20th, 40th, 60 th , and 80th percentiles using Cole's LMS method were created. The results showed that men performed better in all health-related physical fitness tests ( p < 0.001), compared with women. The median values for polygon backwards, standing broad jump, sit-and-reach test, 2.4 km run and V̇ o2 max were 8 seconds, 210, 15 cm, 721 seconds and 49 mlO 2 ·kg -1 ·min -1 in men and 10 seconds, 165, 10 cm, 915 seconds and 39 mlO 2 ·kg -1 ·min -1 in women. No significant interaction between age and health-related physical fitness was observed. This study provides sex- and age-specific normative values for health-related physical fitness in police officers. Findings from this study may be used in detecting a group of police officers who have lower levels of physical fitness. Thus, policies aiming to enhance the level of physical fitness could be implemented within the system.

Deartment of Sport Motorics and Methodology in Kinanthropology Faculty of Sports Studies Masaryk University Brno Czech Republic; and

Department of General and Applied Kinesiology Faculty of Kinesiology University of Zagreb Zagreb Croatia

Department of Physical Education Institute of Police School Josip Jović Zagreb Croatia

Zobrazit více v PubMed

Beck AQ, Clasey JL, Yates JW, et al. Relationship of physical fitness measures vs. occupational physical ability in campus law enforcement officers. J Strength Cond Res 29: 2340–2350, 2015.

Berria J, Bevilacqua LA, Daronco LS. Motor fitness and ability for the work of military police of the special operations battalion. Salusvita 30: 89–104, 2011.

Boyce RW, Jones GR, Schendt KE, Lloyd CL, Boone EL. Longitudinal changes in strength of police officers with gender comparisons. J Strength Cond Res 23: 2411–2418, 2009.

Burger SC, Bertram SR, Stewart RI. Assessment of the 2.4 km run as a predictor of aerobic capacity. S Afr Med J 78: 327–329, 1990.

Cole TJ. The LMS method for constructing normalized growth standards. Eur J Clin Nutr 44: 45–60, 1990.

Crawley AA, Sherman RA, Crawley WR, Cosio-Lima LM. Physical fitness of police academy cadets: Baseline characteristics and changes during a 16-week academy. J Strength Cond Res 30: 1416–1424, 2016.

Dawes J, Orr RB, Conroy R, Pope R. The effect of age on push-up performance amongst male law enforcement officers. J Aus Strength Con 24: 23–27, 2016.

Dawes JJ, Lindsay K, Bero J, et al. Physical fitness characteristics of high vs. low performers on an occupationally specific physical agility test for patrol officers. J Strength Cond Res 31: 2808–2815, 2017.

Dawes JJ, Orr RM, Flores RR, et al. A physical fitness profile of state highway patrol officers by gender and age. Ann Occup Environ Med 29: 16, 2017.

Dimitrijevic R, Koropanovski N, Dopsaj M, Vuckovic G, Jankovic R. The influence of different physical education programs on police students' physical abilities. Polic Int J Police Strateg Manag 37: 794–808, 2014.

Fernandes AC, Furtado AB, Dickel DC, Fantinel EM, Daronco LS. Motor skills of the military police of the course of the training school and improvement of sergeants (ESFAS) of the military brigade of Santa Maria-RS. Conexões 13: 36–52, 2015.

Leischik R, Foshag P, Strauß M, et al. Aerobic capacity, physical activity and metabolic risk factors in firefighters compared with police officers and sedentary clerks. PLoS One 10: e0136224, 2015.

Lockie RG, Dawes JJ, Kornhauser CL, Holmes RJ. A cross-sectional and retrospective cohort analysis of the effects of age on flexibility, strength endurance, lower-body power, and aerobic fitness in law enforcement officers. J Strength Cond Res 33: 451–458, 2019.

Marins EF, Cabistany L, Bartel C, Dawes JJ, Del Vecchio FB. Effects of personal protective equipment on the performance of federal highway policemen in physical fitness tests. J Strength Cond Res 34: 11–19, 2020.

Metter EJ, Talbot LA, Schrager M, Conwit R. Skeletal muscle strength as a predictor of all-cause mortality in healthy men. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 57: 359–365, 2002.

Myers CJ, Orr RM, Goad KS, et al. Comparing levels of fitness of police officers between two United States law enforcement agencies. Work 63: 615–622, 2019.

Orr RM, Kukić F, Čvorović A, et al. Associations between physical fitness measures and change of direction speeds with and without occupation loads in female police officers. Int J Environ Res Public Health 16: 1947, 2019.

Ortega FB, Ruiz JR, Castillo MJ, Sjöström M. Physical fitness in childhood and adolescence: A powerful marker of health. Int J Obes (Lond) 31: 1–11, 2008.

Ruiz JR, Castro-Piñero J, Artero EG, et al. Predictive validity of health-related fitness in youth: A systematic review. Br J Sports Med 43: 909–923, 2009.

Silveira CL, Paiva de Souza TS, Batista GR, et al. Is long term creatine and glutamine supplementation effective in enhancing physical performance of military police officers? J Hum Kinet 43: 131–138, 2014.

Stanish H, Wood T, Campagna P. Prediction of performance on the RCMP physical ability requirement evaluation. J Occup Environ Med 41: 669–677, 1999.

Venckunas T, Mieziene B, Emeljanovas A. Aerobic capacity is related to multiple other aspects of physical fitness: A study in a large sample of Lithuanian schoolchildren. Front Physiol 9: 1797, 2018.

Vrbik I, Sporiš G, Štefan L, et al. The influence of familiarization on physical fitness test results in primary school-aged children. Pediatr Exerc Sci 29: 278–284, 2017.