Differences and relationships between push-up and sit-up variations among male law enforcement cadets

The purpose of this study was to explore variation-dependent differences in push-up and sit-up tests, as well as to identify the relationships between push-up and sit-up variations commonly performed among tactical personnel. Data from 41 (age5 21.1 6 1.8 years, body mass 5 89.5 6 15.5 kg) male police cadets from one US-based training academy who performed the standard push-up (PU Standard), hand-release push-up (PUH and-release), standard sit-up (SU Standard), and hands behind the head situp (SUBehindHead) were examined. The maximum number of repetitions completed for each exercise was used for analyses with paired-samples t tests used to identify significant differences between outcome measures and effect sizes (ES) to determine change in magnitude. A significant difference, with a large ES, was found in the number of repetitions completed between the pushup variations (p,0.001, ES50.75) and sit-up variations (p,0.001, ES51.02). Performance in PU Standard was only able to explain39% of the variation in PU Hand-release (r 5 0.62, r2 5 0.39, p , 0.001), and performance in the SU Standard was only able to explain29% of the variation in SU BehindHead (r 5 0.54, r2 5 0.29, p , 0.001). The current study suggests differences in performance capabilities may be dependent on the push-up and sit-up variations chosen for testing. Although it is still unclear whether one variation would be a better predictor of police work performance, agencies must give special attention to the overall construct validity of fitness tests for entry and retention of law enforcement officers.