We all know that in the business of policing there are many challenges. In my career I’ve faced some very difficult situations but the story I’m about to tell can be likened to hell on earth. A story of pain, frustration, and anger. The people involved were full of manipulation and deception. What, you ask, is this tragic tale? This is the story of the time I tried to get two cops and a dispatcher to eat healthy, get enough sleep, and exercise, all at the same time. Well hang on, I’m about to let you know what a pain in the butt it was.
A few weeks back I was pacing around my living room, thinking about something interesting to write about for my next article. The light came on and I thought what a FUN idea it would be to do a “Get cops fit” project and write about it. I don’t know why but I routinely torture myself with my ideas. Make cops and dispatchers eat really healthy- I thought… it would be FUN- I thought… But seriously, what a better way to align my article with my page, Fit Cops (www.thefitcops.com), and show how life changing it actually is when you simply adjust your lifestyle to include a healthy diet, more sleep, and exercise?
Project Nearly Impossible started innocently enough by posting on my social media pages for volunteers for a “Health project.” As you can imagine I got plenty of useless…well…funny responses from my friends and family. It quickly became apparent they didn’t trust me and my vague post. I’ve learned over the years that most get nervous when I start talking about getting healthy. I confess I can be somewhat of a fitness dominatrix. I elaborated in my SECOND attempt that I was looking for a few volunteers to participate in an 8 week program that included guidance in the areas of sleep, nutrition, and fitness. I ran this by my contact at Cellucor (PROMO CODE: “FITCOPS”) and they agreed to supply the participants with supplements at no cost. So far so good right? I had a good idea and great support but that’s where “easy” fled from me like a drug dealer with a busted tail light. (Cellucor also offers a public safety discount: www.cellucor.com/publicsafety)
The Participants:
My first volunteer, victim as I am sure he would like to be called, was a brother-in-blue I work with, Police Officer Ryan. I knew right away Ryan was going to be a challenge for several reasons. One, sleep was going to be a huge problem. Ryan’s wife had just had a baby in addition to his not quite 2 year old. Apparently “Fit Cops Cardio” is not an issue in the Ryan household (If you don’t know what FitCops Cardio is, check out the FitCops facebook page). Ryan was confident he could find the time to sleep and he was not worried too much about the diet and exercise. Second problem, like any brother-in-blue, he likes to annoy me. How so? With questions like “can I still have cookies” and constant complaints about, “I’ve got this event to go to,” and, “I want to hang out with my friends.” Once I laid down the law to Mr. Socialite Cookie Pants he promised to buckle down and do what I needed.
The second volunteer was Elissa. Elissa is a 911 dispatcher I work with. She was eager to get started with this project. As my friend, Elissa thought it would be fun to screw with me by letting me know she was currently sitting in her chair at work, eating chocolate covered pretzels and drinking a diet coke, at the same time she volunteered. Ugh… what did I get myself into? Elissa also had some hurdles to overcome while participating in the exercise portion. She had major back problems that had plagued her for years but she is a trooper and said she would be able to do most exercises. She advised she would not be able to do any jumping, running, or heavy lifting… sooo pretty much everything I like to prescribe with workouts. But hey, I can still work with that… especially if it keeps me from getting a bone call at the end of my shift.
The third volunteer for the project was Joe. He was a Police Officer from agency nearby. Joe started out as my freaking golden child. He assured me there were really no hurdles to overcome. That was until he got his peanut butter protein. Guess what? Joe had a peanut allergy. Really? Peanuts? Come on man! That made healthy snack ideas a little challenging but I had to admit this was the least of my troubles. A quick call to Cellucor and problem solved. When I told Joe I was going to be stringent with the program I got little nervous at how excited he was to have me scold and him and tell him what to do. I wonder what goes on with Joe and his wife. On second thought, maybe I don’t want to know.
Volunteers selected, I started the, “Bang my head on hard objects,” task of getting their stats and photos. I asked the participants to send me their “before” photos. After more pissing and moaning than a burglary suspect caught in the act, they finally sent their photos. I laughed out loud when I got Elissa’s email, lovingly titled “Ugly Ass Photos.” Photos and questionnaires submitted, I asked the participants to get the “My Fitness Pal” app so they track their daily food intake. I advised them that I would doing random checks on their diet by asking them to send me screen shots of their food intake without notice. After this project, I have a new found understanding for the work Parole Officers must do. I informed the participants the first week would consist of changing their diets only. The second week we would add getting as much sleep as possible while adding the Cellucor supplement ZMA. The third week through week 8, an exercise program and Cellucor supplements (whey protein and C4 pre- workout) would be added.
Yes, I know, shift work is toooo hard to be healthy, blah blah blah. I know the world doesn’t stop needing our help, ever, and the idiots don’t stop being idiots, ever. Our jobs are around the clock, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But how do we change our health? We start small and build upon our success. Ultimately the goal of the project was to show a healthy lifestyle can be compatible with shift work.
Stay tuned for the final outcome and progress pictures in September!
