Effects of a single-day pre-academy physical test training session on physical fitness scores of police candidates

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Concerns are sometimes raised by police applicants undertaking physical fitness testing that they were unfamiliar with the test requirements which in turn negatively impacted their performance. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a single day physical test training session on physical fitness scores of police candidates. METHODS: The sample consisted of female police candidates (n = 133) who attended a pre-academy training session. On the first day of pre-training, candidates’ physical fitness was measured following official assessment day protocols. Measures included maximal handgrip strength, number of push-ups in 10 sec (PU), number of sit-ups in 30 sec (SU), standing long jump (SLJ), Abalakow jump test (AJ), 12 min Cooper running test (CT), and a motor educability test (ME). After the assessment, the overseeing UCIPS staff provided a detailed test skills briefing to candidates (e.g., common mistakes made during testing, how test performance could be improved, etc.). Immediately after the briefing, candidates performed the tests once again. Differences between results were measured using a paired samples t-test with significance set at 0.05. RESULTS: Paired sample t-tests determined significant (p <  0.001), large (Rank-Biserial Correlation = 1.00), improvements in physical fitness scores during the second assessment following familiarisation and feedback on test performance. CONCLUSION: Pre-academy training may be effective in improving candidates’ physical fitness scores, in most tests, prior to the official assessment for the enrolment to police studies. Thus, to optimise initial candidate scores and opportunities for successful enlistment, police agencies may benefit from providing pre-assessment training.