Physical fitness tests as a requirement for physical performance improvement in officers in the military police of the state of Paraná, Brazil.

INTRODUCTION

Physical fitness is crucial for the work of military police officers. Over time, officers show a substantial decrease in physical fitness. State military officers must undergo a physical fitness test every year, but prior to 2015, failure on this test had no impact on career advancement. State Law No. 18.659/2015 included passage of the physical fitness test as a requirement for promotion for officers in the Paraná military police (Polícia Militar do Paraná).

OBJECTIVES

To verify whether the obligation to undergo the physical fitness test had any effects on the physical performance of military police officers.

METHODS

The physical fitness tests results from 2016-2019 (n = 1705) were entered into an electronic spreadsheet and stratified by year. The spreadsheet included scores on individual tests (, upper body and 12-minute run) as well as the sum total across all tests. Then, descriptive statistics, normality test, Kruskal-Wallis H test, and post-hoc comparisons were performed using the Mann-Whitney U test. with a significance level of p < 0.05.

RESULTS

Significant differences (p < 0.05) were observed on all variables in the physical fitness test when compared between the years of 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. Mean scores on the shuttle run (96.91 ± 7.54) and upper body tests (82.60 ± 24.81) were highest in 2019, while the mean score on the 12-minute run test was highest in 2017 (60.33 ± 28.38). The effect size of these differences (r) was small.

CONCLUSIONS

The evidence suggests that the inclusion of the physical fitness test as a requirement for promotion can contribute to the improvement of physical performance in military police officers.