Associations Between Body Fat Percentage and Fitness among Police Officers: A Statewide Study

Abstract

BackgroundPolice work is generally sedentary although there may be situations that require physical endurance and strength, such as foot chases and arresting suspects. Factors such as excessive body fat can impede an officer's physical ability to deal with such occurrences. Our objective was to examine associations between officers' body fat percentage (BF%) and performance on a standardized fitness protocol.MethodsData were obtained from fitness screening among 1,826 male and 115 female officers in a large US police agency. The screening consisted of a 2.4-km run, push-ups, sit-ups, and sit-and-reach test. Sex-specific body fat percentages were estimated from skinfold thickness measured using calipers. Linear regression models were used to examine unadjusted and adjusted mean scores of fitness tests across BF% tertiles.ResultsThe prevalence of overall fitness was 4.3 times greater in male officers and 3.6 times greater in female officers having the lowest BF% tertile compared with the highest tertile (30.3% vs 7.1% and 46.0% vs 12.8%, respectively). BF% was linearly and positively associated with the time of 2.4-km run (p < 0.001), and linearly and inversely associated with the number of push-ups (p < 0.001), sit-ups (p < 0.001), and the distance of sit-and-reach (p < 0.001) in men. Similar associations were observed in women with the exception of sit-and-reach (p = 0.122). Associations were independent of age, race/ethnicity, rank, and duty station.ConclusionOverall, BF% was inversely associated with fitness levels in male and female officers. Future longitudinal studies should be initiated to explore the potentially causal relationship between BF% and fitness in law enforcement officers.

Waist Circumference and Waist-to-Hip Ratio in Law Enforcement Agency Recruits: Relationship to Performance in Physical Fitness Tests

“…Law enforcement is generally seen as a spasmodic profession where sedentary work can be dispersed with a physically demanding occupational tasks (e.g. civilian rescue, suspect pursuit and restraint), and places great physiological stress on those in this occupation (11,25,28,44). As a result, it is important for LEOs to maintain an appropriate level of physical fitness (33,44).…”

The Relationship between Fitness and Marksmanship in Police Officers

“…A career within the police force encompasses two conflicting occupational physical requirements, one of which involves sedentary, desk-bound administrative work, and the other involving physically demanding, field-based manual tasks [1]. These physical tasks can include running, jumping, crawling, balancing, vaulting, climbing, lifting, carrying, pushing, pulling, fighting, dragging and restraining a suspect [2,3].…”

Core Stability and Symmetry of Youth Female Volleyball Players: A Pilot Study on Anthropometric and Physiological Correlates

“…Previously, it was observed that BF correlated with WAnT Pmean in both adolescent and adult female volleyball players [22], where high BF was related to low WAnT Pmean. It has been also shown that a higher BF was related to a lower number of sit-ups in 1 min in female police officers [32]. This negative role of BF for core stability and muscle endurance might be that fat was an extra load that should be sustained without contributing to muscle contraction.…”

“…It might be assumed that the intermittent nature of volleyball did not facilitate the development of muscle endurance. The relationship of core stability with BF might be attributed to the negative role of BF in exercise performance related to muscle endurance and anaerobic capacity [22,32]. Previously, it was observed that BF correlated with WAnT Pmean in both adolescent and adult female volleyball players [22], where high BF was related to low WAnT Pmean.…”