Mission
It is the mission of the CSP Training Academy Physical Training Program to create an environment that fosters physical, mental and emotional growth by providing students with strong fundamentals in anatomy and physiology, general health and wellness, nutrition, exercise technique, programming and self-motivation. The program focuses on remaining injury free. It, in fact, focuses on reconditioning and improving upon existing injuries and limitations, while simultaneously improving a student in all aspects in a group environment. Specifically, the program focuses on individual successes with Cadets, giving them the requisite foundations to prevail as Colorado State Trooper over a long term career.
Vision
Sample CSP Academy Physical Training In-Practice/Application (4 sessions per week)
Week 1 - Classroom and Clinics
A four-hour block of classroom based lecture includes vast amounts of discussion on the topics of exercise and nutrition in line with POST standards. A priority is placed on student involvement and satisfaction while relaying all necessary information.
An additional four-hour block of classroom learning addresses the topics of Stress and Trauma and provides students with a realistic outlook on physical and emotional stresses and stress relief techniques.
Practical sessions of movement pattern clinics will introduce students to proper techniques in foundational movements in an effort to progress their physical training while remaining injury free.
Weeks 2 & 3 - General Conditioning and Dynamic Warm-Up (Block 1)
The two weeks following the clinic are spent increasing the student's mobility and general aerobic condition by learning a dynamic warm-up that includes dynamic stretching, agility work, isometrics and band resisted isotonic movements. Group-paced running intermittently between movements will allow general conditioning to improve in relation to the increased mobility and general work capacity.
These three weeks (12 training sessions) focus on training the student in complex full-body compound movement patterns under load. There is a concentration on progressing to heavier loads with an extreme emphasis given to safety. The whole idea through this block is ‘bigger and stronger motor units are capable of moving more weight and therefore performing more work.
Weeks 7 & 8 - Complex Loaded Movements accompanied by Aerobic Conditioning (Block 3)
Weeks 7 and 8 continue the basic elements of lower repetition ranged strength and power movements. while adding an element of running and cardiovascular training techniques that elevate the heart rate and ask the student to perform heavily loaded movements safely and purposefully while improving the aerobic system.
Weeks 9 & 10 - High Intensity Interval Training Utilizing Large Compound Movements (Block 4)
Utilizing the movement fundamentals developed in the earlier phases of the program, high intensity interval training will utilize all three metabolic systems (phosphogenic, glycolytic and oxidative) causing each training session to differ from one another. Training sessions may consist of running, rowing, lifting, racing, battle-ropes, kettle bells and numerous other methodologies.
Week 11 - Interval Training to Include Striking and Mid-Term Assessments (Block 5)
All the methodologies from weeks 9 and 10 will carry through to this week. However workouts will begin to include a striking regimen for an easier transition into the two consecutive weeks of Defensive Tactics and Arrest Control (DTAC).
Week 11 also includes a mid-term assessment to further track student progress.
Weeks 12 and 13 - Defensive Tactics and Arrest Control (DTAC)
These two weeks are, in essence, what the students have been training for up to this point. They will participate in no other physical training program other than DTAC itself. These two weeks are extremely demanding both physically and mentally.
Weeks 14, 15 and 16 - Combination of Blocks 2, 3 & 4 (Block 6)
Students will move purposefully throughout components of all foundational blocks of training and will begin to more fully develop components such as power, acceleration, muscular endurance and aerobic capacity. Movements will be fine-tuned and continually tied to job necessities.
Weeks 17 & 18 - Programming Education and Self-Direction Transition (Block 7)
Students will learn the process of programming their own exercise routines and will begin to use what they have learned to work out on their own, but still under instructor supervision. Most of their weeks' sessions will be done as a group but individual sessions will carry with them self-directed activities.
Weeks 19 & 20 - Self-Directed Training and Exit Assessment (Block 8)
The last two weeks of the Physical Training Program include a final physical assessment and will allow the students to workout however they see fit. Instructors are still present and attentive and are available for questions and guidance. However, instructors are more hands-off than in the previous phases to allow students the individuality to guide their own experience. This method allows the student to utilize what they have learned, gives them the tools to effectively program themselves, and allows them to operate within their own areas of comfort so as to more enjoyably engage in what may become a long-term and sustainable program.
Progress and Program Tracking
Assessments
A total of three (3) physical assessments are performed throughout the duration of the Academy process. The first assessment comes at the onset of the Academy. At the beginning of the first week all students are assessed and are assigned an injury risk profile. Those who are the most deconditioned and are at the subsequent highest risk rating (if the risk rises to the Extreme Risk of Injury level) are spoken with as to mitigate injury risk and make them aware of where they must be most careful so as to successfully complete the Academy.
A mid-term assessment is performed at the halfway point of the Academy and allows students to see how much progress they have made thus far in the program.
Finally an exit assessment is done that reflects the effects of a 20 week (8 block) training program. Students are able to perform a self-analysis and engage in a conversation of where to proceed from this point and how to keep a modicum of fitness throughout their upcoming career.
Program Tracking
Students engage in a Google Sheets tracking program that records their daily workouts. Students also record their fatigue levels along with a perceived level of difficulty associated with that specific workout. Through this self-reported monitoring technique, we ensure that a class is not ‘overtraining’, however are still being given the best opportunity to progress physically while still engaged in all of their other training obligations. Again, physical training does not exist in a vacuum. The final step in the feedback loop is the critical feedback of the recruits and their opinions of their progress and the difficulty and demands of the program.
Summation
It is the goal of the CSP Academy Physical Training Program to provide each and every student with the highest caliber of training available to any tactical population anywhere in the world. By utilizing proven methodologies while progressively exploring new models, we seek to affect a student’s ultimate potential in all areas. Doing this in a competitive and enjoyable environment fosters an attachment to exercise that a student can carry with them throughout a long-term career as a CSP Trooper, while providing them with the tools to face whatever this potentially life and death career throws at them.
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