Effects of Training and a Semester Break on Physical Fitness of Police Trainees

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of a physical training program and semester break periods on the chosen physical abilities and basic body composition indicators among police trainees. Body weight (BW), waist circumference (WC), push-ups (PU), sit-ups (SU) and 2.4 km run (RUN) times of 420 male trainees attending the Abu Dhabi Police College were collected. The testing was conducted by the police education centre during routine testing periods (June, September, December, May) which bracketed the semesters and could be used to investigate the impacts of the physical training program and any potential detraining occurring over the semester break. A repeated measure analysis of variance was performed to identify changes in results across the time periods with a Bonferroni post-hoc adjustment to identify where differences, if any, lay. The level of significance was set at 0.05 a priori. Following the semester break period from June to September, BW, WC and RUN increased significantly (p<.01), while PU and SU decreased significantly (p<.01). WC and RUN significantly decreased from September to December and December to May (p<.01); BW significantly decreased from September to December (p<.01), but did not change from December to May (p=.267); PU and SU significantly increased from September to December (p<.01) and December to May (p=.018 and p<.01, respectively)

A brief review of body composition in police workforce

It is evident that success in performing certain police duties undoubtedly depends on the level of certain physical abilities, while good health status is necessary for each employee in police workforce. Tasks performed by police officers can involve chasing fleeing suspects on foot, grappling, wrestling and handling uncooperative belligerents, and carrying injured or unconscious people. Next to the “foot soldiers”, logistics and administration jobs are less physically but mentally very demanding and stressful. In both cases, body composition has twofold importance in physical fitness: performance-related and health-related. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to gather the studies that dealt with body composition in police workforce using various approaches with the aim to make a clearer insight into what has been done so far, and what might be done in the future

Age and Gender Differences in Nutritional Status of School Children According to WHO, CDC and IOTF References: A Statewide Study from Montenegro

Nutritional status of school children has been discussed over the past decade, focusing on timely and adequate response that can positively affect the reduction of the health risks of overweight, obesity, and malnutrition. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate a nutritional status of healthy children from Montenegro according to three most common worldwide references. The sample of 1480 healthy school children was consisted of girls (N=733), mean age=10.98±1.38 years, mean body height BH=152.25±10.22 cm, and mean body mass BM=43.93±11.51 kg, and boys (N=747), mean age=10.95±1.41, mean BH=153.26±11.18 cm, and mean BM=46.16±13.21 kg. A nutritional status was defined by body mass index (BMI) and compared to the references developed by World Health Organization (WHO), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and International Obesity Task Force (IOTF). Prevalence differences relative to age and gender were analyzed as well. Results suggest that IOTF is the most appropriate method in absence of national references for growth and nutritional status. Furthermore, increase in prevalence of overweight and obese in boys was relatively high considering the time frame (5 years), while increase in girls was somewhat smaller, but nevertheless present. In total, every third (WHO) or every fourth (CDC and IOTF) child in Montenegro aged 9-13 years is either overweight or obese