Abstract
Objectives
Law enforcement agencies require minimum fitness standards to safeguard their officers and training staff. Firearms instructors (FI) are expected to maintain the same standards as their operational counterparts. This study aimed to quantify the daily physiological demands placed on FI.
Methods
19 FI (45 ± 5 years) completed occupational tasks whilst wearing heart rate (HR) monitors for a minimum 10 days. Maximal oxygen consumption (VO
2
max) testing was conducted on FI during a treadmill test (TT) and a multistage shuttle test (ST). Linear regression models were used to model the relationship between VO
2
and HR throughout the TT. This model was applied to HR data from occupational tasks to infer oxygen consumption. Repeated Measures ANOVAs were used to compare time spent in VO
2
max equivalent zones throughout.
Results
The VO
2
max achieved during ST (45.1 ± 5.6 ml/kg/min) was significantly higher than TT (39 ± 3 ml/kg/min) (p = 0.014). Time to exhaustion (TTE) was sooner on ST (06:26 min) compared to TT (13:16 min) (p 2
max ≥30 ml/kg/min, but
Conclusion
Using ST to assess cardiorespiratory fitness resulted in a quicker TTE and a higher VO
2
max. Predominantly, FI occupational tasks are low intensity with sporadic exposures requiring a VO
2
max of >40 ml/kg/min. To safeguard FI from occupational-related cardiorespiratory or long-term health issues, it is intuitive to suggest fitness standards should exceed a VO
2
max of 40 ml/kg/min.