body control simulator

[torontocop]

I attended the TPS PREP practice last night. I found the hardest thing of all to do was the body control simulator. I work out 6x a week and I am in good shape, but I am use to staying stationary when I am using weights. Does anyone know of any good exercises that would help prepare for the body control simulator? In specific I'm looking for exercises for the push portion of the test. Thanks!

[Gerda]

Yep. Stop exercising 6 times a week. Your body has no time to recover.
Other than that, I would suggest excercises that strenghten your core.

[torontocop]

Thanks Gerda for the advise. I talk to my doc every year at my annual physical about my workout routine and he's got no issues with me working out 6x a week. I've also run my routine by personal trainers and there is plenty of recovery time built in between working different parts of the body. Yes, if you are doing a full body work out 6x a week that is too much. Its all how you go about structuring your week.

And yes, the body simulator does seem to be about core strength which I'll work on over the next few weeks. I was looking for anything specific people have found that has worked well.

Thanks.

[wortman]

That was amazing advice Gerda shared, rest helps! A good core strengthing exercise is doing planks; front and side planks; hold for a minute, rest for a minute then repeat.

[Alida]

Hi Toronto Cop

I work out 5-6 days /week as well, and as you probably know, its important to rest muscle groups. So if you lift (weights) for upper body on Mon, you would do lower body Tuesday, upper on Wed, lower on Thurs etc. Giving each area over 24hrs recovery time.

Ab work you can do EVERY day......running can be done at least 4 days in a row, but you should do interval training...so 2 miles steady (at an incline if you're on treadmill)..try incline 2...then 3. Remember...police work is all about the Anaerobic muscle.....quick energy. That on a monday....hills on Tuesday.....Wednesday, do sprints...Thursday back to 2 miles...Friday off....you should mix a bike ride in at some point as well if you're in a gym.

You should be able to at the least bench press 70lbs in the prone position, and sitting. 3 sets of 12. Your legs have to support you as well for the push, so doing squats. By the time you finish the wall and steps, and get to the push, your legs will feel weak, lactic acid build up....so your leg muscle developement is important. Lots of sprint work, stop and go.

Concentrate on that ...more than doing long easy runs for 45 minutes. If you have access to a gym, or don't feel funny doing it outside...do lunges, step out long,with right leg then go down, bending both knees, like sitting. Then left... Walk all the way around a gym, or block....sounds funny but..my trainer has me do this with a 50lb vest on.

Get a chair, stand in front of it, facing away from it. Go as if you will sit on it, then just let your bum touch chair and back up. Lift arms up in fron of you as you 'sit'. Do 6 or 7 sets of 50 every other day. Your legs will hurt after the 4rth time, but those are the muscle groups that will supprt your push and pull. Sit ups...6-7 reps of 30....these things develop your core. Also push-ups. I have a link for you if you're interested about how to increase your pushup power. Easy to do at home...no gym required.

let me know

Good luck

[torontocop]

Thanks Alida. I do alternate my workout days. Upper/lower body on alternate days, giving at least 24 hrs between working the same part of the body. For running I've been focussing on doing intervals. I have no problems with the shuttle run getting up to level 6.5. I do abs almost every day. As far as weights are concerned I can bench press 125 pounds (free weights laying down, 4 sets -12-12-10 and 8 reps--can do more on the decline bench and a bit less on the incline). I can squat the equivalent of my weight. I have to admit I hate lunges, but I'll start doing them again. As far as the body control simulator goes I can do both the push and pull. I'm just looking to be able to improve my form so I go a bit faster on it. It just seemed harder then it looked thats all. Thanks for the great tips!

[torontocop]

I did the ATS practice session in Thornhill on Sunday. I highly recommend going for one of their practice sessions. I found the people with ATS that take you through the test to be very supportive and helpful. They gave some great tips on getting through some of the segments of the test.

I did the circuit in 2:30. I would like to improve on my time a bit, just to add a bit of safety at the end, as the hardest part (despite my previous posting) is the dummy drag. I started to lose grip on the dummy but managed to hang on to the end. Now that I know the pace I'll go a bit faster on the wall/stair segment. One more practice test with TPS next week then the real test on Feb 7th!

[elespa]

I did the ATS practice session in Thornhill on Sunday. I highly recommend going for one of their practice sessions. I found the people with ATS that take you through the test to be very supportive and helpful. They gave some great tips on getting through some of the segments of the test.

I did the circuit in 2:30. I would like to improve on my time a bit, just to add a bit of safety at the end, as the hardest part (despite my previous posting) is the dummy drag. I started to lose grip on the dummy but managed to hang on to the end. Now that I know the pace I'll go a bit faster on the wall/stair segment. One more practice test with TPS next week then the real test on Feb 7th!

I'll be re-certifying my PREP on the 7th in Thronhill as well!

[Abdul A]

awesome i'll be seeing you all on the 7th! i'm making the trek from ottawa

[Alida]

Hi there

Congratulations Torontocop!!

It sure gives you a boost when you can get through it with decent time!

I've now done the practice prep and shuttle....and am very confident going in. I've done the shuttle twice now and feel great about it. No problems getting to 6.5.

The dummy I found it easiest to lift him up under the arms. Believe it or not. Once he is in your arms, it is much easier on your legs to carry him around backwards. I find with the wrists, it gets slippery, and you stand the chance of losing time if you stop to re-position, and you use more leg energy. If you get a chance to practice again, ask if you can try the lift. Just give the head and shoulders a huge push forward, arms underneath and lift.

It took me 2 seconds to lift him up and into my arms (timed 2 seconds).

If you have decent upper body strength, and are a bit on the taller side, it will be easier. If you are on the shorter side, you would need to practice to see if you can balance him that way.

I'm only a 150lbs....5'9.......and I find it much easier on me to actually lift.

All the best to everyone who is testing on Feb 7th......

[torontocop]

when i asked about lifting the body at TPS they all kind of looked at me strange and the guy at ATS recommended against it. So I'm assuming you approach the dummy from the head, squat down, then wrap your arms around its chest under its arms and lift so you are standing with your arms around the dummies chest, then drag just its feet? I guess the hardest part is the initial lift which if done properly would use leg strength to stand up.

I have one more practice session with TPS, I may give it a try before I run my actual test if I have a chance.

[Alida]

Hi there

When you approach the body, you are directly behind, you push the head up with all your strength to make him sit up and lean forward a bit, then stick your left and right arms under the armpits and lift.

Don't attemp to push the shoulders up, thats too hard from the ground. Put your hands behind the head and push him forward into the sitting position, then your arms under. Yes you have your arms around his chest, and you are dragging the legs.

If you are taller, it is easier that way. At least ask them to let you attempt it before you actually do the run just to see how you feel about it.

Again, it not all about the strength, but the technique as well.

The reason they probably don't reccommend it is, if you have never tried it or practiced it, you may just not get that lift right. If you just try it once or twice, you may feel different.

Its a big difference for me, and a time saver.

Alida

[torontocop]

ok, so once he is sitting up I grab him around his chest then pull him up so I am on my feet and he is dragging his? What about putting hip down? I assume they don't let you just drop him at the end...haha. I'm 5'10" so this might work for me, but definitely need to try it out first.

[elespa]

awesome i'll be seeing you all on the 7th! i'm making the trek from ottawa

That's quite a trek indeed! Hopefully you pass all sections so you can get the stage II done the same day : )

[Alida]

Yes....he is sitting up, you put your arms under his arm pits, and just stand up straight. All you're doing is slightly bending over to push his head and body up, straight back after that, lift up with your legs, and start going backwards. His legs are dragging on the ground. You will not be able to get to his hips.

At the end, you turn him around, and let his bum hit the ground, place body down and align everything up just like if you were pulling him.

They will let you try it for practice for a minute if you ask. You will see exactly what I mean if you just try it out.

Good luck!!!!







ok, so once he is sitting up I grab him around his chest then pull him up so I am on my feet and he is dragging his? What about putting hip down? I assume they don't let you just drop him at the end...haha. I'm 5'10" so this might work for me, but definitely need to try it out first.

[torontocop]

ok, just returned from the TPS PREP practice. I tried the fireman carry twice. The first time (not doing the circuit) I had no problems. A bit awkward getting the body up and in the right position, but once I had him up no problems. Then I ran the actual circuit doing the drag method--had a time of 2:06. When I was finished one of the recruiters asked me to try the fireman's carry again. I had already taken the weight belt off so I quickly strapped it on and picked up the dummy. I started out well.. got him up in my arms really fast. Part way through the belt came lose (probably because I didn't put it back on properly). I was trying to stop the belt from falling off completely while dragging the dummy around. I made it 85% of the way and lost my footing and went crashing to the floor with the 150 pound dummy on top of me. I was fine, but if this happened in the real test I would have been done. To get the body back into the right position to drag it to the end or pick it up again would have taken way too long. So I'll be sticking with the drag method. You can move really fast doing the fireman's carry but if something goes wrong its not easy to recover.