Preparing for D.T.

[morehousegrad]

Hello! I am currently in the night academy, and we do not do alot of P.T. for some reason. I was wandering if any of you could give me some tips and exercises to do so that I can be prepared for Defensive Tactics. I know that endurance is a major part, but I also have very stiff ligaments and very bad knees!! I am not able to go to a gym because I work all day and class does not end until 10pm. So any home exercises or stretches that any of you have found helpful, I would appreciate it!

P.S. How bad is the "O.C. Spraydown"????

[CO_Hopeful]

Hi,

I am also currently attending a night academy, which is from 6-10pm, and all day Saturdays. I'm not sure what your work schedule is, but I manage to find an hour before my class starts to go to the gym. If I didn't have time then, I would go to the gym in the morning. This is majorly important.

As far as tips go for exercises, I'm not a PT trainer or anything....so I'm not sure what to tell you. Why not keep it simple. Jog, do some sit-ups, push-ups, and jumping jacks? Doing that is better than flipping the channel changer during your free time.

[JerseyBoy]

I don't know what type of OC you will use, but from what I remember, it feels like somebody ignites a match in your eye.:eek:

Have fun!!!:D

[gaboy]

Don't worry about any of it. Most Departments DT classes offer only the basics. They count on the individual officers to go outside of the agency to get a continueing education.

As far as the oc spray. Well it hurts. Your eyes sting, its hard to breath, and your face burns a little. However it goes away.

One tip. After you get sprayed, and they hose your down. Don't go and take a shower right away. The oc will get reactivated during your shower. If you were sprayed in the face it will take the oc down below. Other areas may begin to burn. What you should do is just go about your day as normal. Take your shower befor you go to bed. Hopefully the oc will have fallen off of your body and fallen harmlessly to the ground.

[WILawman]

morehousegrad,

You can do the basic gym exercises but your body will ache anyway. Defensive tactics uses muscles that generally aren't used very much, unless you play basketball, racketball or another type of aerobic activity.

I don't know how intense your particular academy is with defensive tactics, but your knees should be fine. If you don't run during the academy, they may have you run in place during the warm-up. Make sure you stretch before and after every session and continue to stretch when you're at home.

Now the O.C. is not fun. It is an inflammatory which will affect your mucous membranes and your eyes will clamp shut. Basically the O.C. burns like crazy and you will probably end up snotting on yourself. Do not open your mouth when sprayed because it will affect your respiratory system, making it difficult to breathe. After 15-20 minutes you will be able to open your eyes but your face will feel like you have a bad sunburn.

It will stick to your hair and will affect you when you take a shower so be wary. Good Luck!

[morehousegrad]

Thanks for the tips. According to our instructor, after being sprayed with the OC, we have to keep a subjet under control for 3 minute. How didany of you pas this with "liquid hell" in your eyes!! Thanks for the advice

[GPD840]

Hey don't feel bad- I've been sprayed 3 times already for the department I work part time for, and a fourth time coming up on April 12th for the Recruit School training. In our class we have to get sprayed and do knee strikes to our instructor who has the redman suit on until he says stop then we have to do the pull/in push down decentralization, disengage and pry one of our eyes open and draw open weapon on him. Seems like a lot to do, but hopefully it'll go quick and with what i know from prior experiences, I know what to expect and how I'll react to it so yea.....

Hmmm 15-20 minutes on some people maybe i think the normal is 30-45... and I'm more sensitive to it and lasted a dew hours- well not the full effect...

[PonchIUP]

O.C. Spray

I remember doing this last summer when I was in my acadamy, I know the instructors get a kick out of it. I thought it felt like someone stuck glass in my eyes and then started rubbing my eyes. We had a big horse trough to wash out our eye with when we were done, but by the time I got to it, it was already full of everyone elses spray that was on their faces. I remember it burned for about an hour after I was done. It also depends on the % of O.C. in the spray. Good luck to ya! Let us know how it turns out.

[ThomasAckerman]

WILawman has summed it up quite nicely. He's right on the money. Don't neglect the stretching. Not only can it keep you from getting hurt, but additional flexibility will go a long way during DT. Best of luck.

TOM