Adopting CrossFit for Police Training

By Scott McGee and LeAnn Alfonzo

September 02, 2011

At the first annual CrossFit Law Enforcement Summit, officers share their CrossFit success stories. One of them is Santa Monica Police Department SWAT officer Scott McGee, who has helped his department adopt CrossFit. In Part 1, he critiques the classic long, slow method of police training and shows how he integrated CrossFit into their program.

“We snuck in a CrossFit workout without them knowing. So it helped us break the monotony of our long, slow duration,” he says of the department’s first workout. Afterward, the ranking officers were on board. In addition to CrossFit for officer training, their SWAT-officer obstacle course qualifier has been changed to the Hero WOD Murph.

McGee says adopting CrossFit has benefited the department.

“We saw that our team camaraderie went up. The enthusiasm to actually do some physical training went up,” he says.

In Part 2, officer LeAnn Alfonzo of the San Jose Police Department shares another method of bringing CrossFit to police training.

“Everybody is going to start doing this, you know, police and fire and military. We need to be the leaders on this,” she says.

Through Alfonzo’s efforts, the San Jose Police Department adopted CrossFit through a large grant and has made CrossFit part of its wellness program. To integrate CrossFit with a police department, Alfonzo says you need funding, authorization, support and autonomy.

“Your administrators and the city are where the funding is coming from. They want results,” Alfonzo says. “So not only do you have to try and make your officers better physically, but you have to be able to show something to your administration.”

Alfonzo says the results of CrossFit training have been astounding. In addition, CrossFit has reduced stress and injuries and has improved biological markers and morale.

Part 1:
20min 49sec

Part 2:
22min 28sec

Additional reading: Police Training by Greg Glassman, published March 1, 2003.

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8 Comments on “Adopting CrossFit for Police Training”

wrote …

Keep up the great work, LeeAnn!
Godspeed!
George

wrote …

Been waiting a long time this one! Great job to those who put it togther!

wrote …

I've been a police officer for near 22 yrs and prior to that Canadian military. obviously this makes me a little long in the tooth now but i can say i've never experience a more life changing program than crossfit. I can say now (at almost 50 yrs of age) that i am as fit or better than when i was half this age. My energy level is through the roof - my strenght and stamina for work and other off duty activities seems to be endless. Slowly i've been introducing the program and your website to others at work and i don't find anyone who doesn't rave about it.
Thank you crossfit and keep up the good work.
Smitty

wrote …

Those 2 Police Officers are some of the most intelligent people I have seen on why CrossFit works, how it works, and what it can do for a person/organization. What they did was so well organized and executed that it is no surprise their departments implemented CF. I have found that departments and organizations that are claiming to be "anti-CrossFit" usually have no factual idea of what CrossFit is. Once people understand what we do and why we do it the "issues" they used to have disappear. These 2 Officers did just that, they educated people and backed it up with factual data.

I will use this journal video as a reference to steer people to for direction when I receive questions at seminars from military, fire, or police personnel about how they should go about implementing CF at their unit.

Thanks for sharing your stories. Good luck!
Pat

wrote …

I was at this LEO summit and it was amazing. I learned a lot of different ways and ideas to get this rolling with my department. Thank you so much Crossfit and all the staff that was there for making this happen.

Stay safe and train hard!

William

wrote …

I agree with Pat Sherwood that this is a great resource for those trying to implement CrossFit at their agency.

On a similar note, I recently visited the Fremont Police Department (Fremont, CA). They have a large and fully equipped CrossFit facility at their station. The city of Fremont has recognized the value of CrossFit in improving health, reducing injuries, enhancing camaraderie, and preparing its officers for duty. Their entire facility was outfitted with funds from the city's Risk Management department and they have sent many of their officers to become certified Level 1 instructors. The city of Fremont Risk Manager and their police department would probably serve as another excellent resource for bringing CrossFit to your agency. I believe they are currently in the process of providing a similar facility for their firefighters.

V/R

Ryan

wrote …

I noticed at the end of LeeAnns video, she mentioned contact info but it didn't give it. Do you have that info? Tyson

wrote …

Is there any contact info for LeeAnn, I am hoping to get the ball rolling with something at my own department