Why Shift Work Breaks Traditional Training Plans (Part 1)

A canine officer walks into a coffee shop and asks a simple question:

“How am I supposed to follow a strength program when my shifts are all over the place?”

This episode tackles a problem almost every first responder, police officer, firefighter, paramedic, and shift worker faces and almost every strength and conditioning program ignores.

Shift work doesn’t change the need to be strong. It changes the nervous system, sleep, hormones, recovery, and readiness to train. And if your program doesn’t account for that, it’s not just ineffective… it can actually set you back.

In Part 1 of this two-part series, the Tactical Trio break down:

• Why traditional 7-day training programs fail shift workers
• What’s really happening physiologically during night shifts, rotations, and long tours
• How fatigue impacts police fitness, firefighter fitness, and first responder performance
• Why “meet your body where it’s at” is not laziness, it’s smart programming
• How to adjust workouts based on readiness instead of the calendar
• Why flexible programming is essential for adaptation, recovery, and injury prevention

If you’ve ever felt like you’re “bad at sticking to a workout plan,” this episode will show you the problem isn’t you, it’s the program.

Part 2 dives into exactly how to build a strength and conditioning plan around shift work.

Have a question you want answered on the show?
Send it to askthetacticaltrio@gmail.com and it might be featured in a future episode.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to Ask the Tactical Trio, where your questions meet real-world experience. We're three ATs and strength coaches with over 45 years working with first responders.

SPEAKER_02 0:14

From health and resilience to performance, leadership, and longevity, you ask, we answer. The perspectives shared in this podcast are our own and are intended to support conversation and learning. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations we work with, serve, or are affiliated with.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Real questions, real experience, real tactical wellness. Let's get into it. Welcome back, everybody, to the Tactical Trio with Becky, Tracy, and Anna. Today we're talking about how strength and conditioning for first responders must be different. Not because the principles change, but because the physiology you're training inside does. Today's question actually comes from a personal encounter Becky had with a canine officer in a Starbucks. So I will let her take it away.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

Yeah, so I'm glad that we can address this question nice and early in our podcast uh experience here. As uh I talked with this officer early on during our brainstorming of the podcast. I think we had come up with the name and we were trying to determine the length of the podcast. And I'm sitting there, I love working in coffee shops because it just helps me get focused. And you can easily pick out an officer, right? Especially if you're in uniform and there's obviously a canine handler. So I walked up to him and once I explained uh what we were doing, he seemed pretty eager and excited. And I was like, well, if there's any questions or any struggles that you have, like please share and I'll see if we can get it addressed. And his was around strength and conditioning, especially with shift work. Um, as a canine handler, he wants to make sure that he can control his dog, that he stays safe. And you could tell just from his physique, he took fitness seriously. But his struggle was when he reaches out to whether it's a strength coach or a personal trainer for support in this, he'll get a seven-day program and they won't understand how to adjust the workouts around shift work or if he's looking for one online. And so that's where one of his big struggles are. And this is not an uncommon thing for me to hear, and especially in the area that I am in Canada, there is not a lot of police departments with uh a subject matter expert in physical health and wellness. So they're either grabbing programs from themselves, from online, or maybe somebody went to school for uh exercise science. But uh I thought this was a great one for us to address. So thank you for letting us answer this one today.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Yeah, it's uh it's just really exciting, I think, um, that we're getting questions from so many different places. So all you people out there on podcast land, don't be afraid to stop us at a coffee shop and ask your question. So Stiffboard doesn't change a first responder's need to be strong. It changes their nervous system, their sleep, and their recovery. How should that reality change the way first responders approach their training on any given day? Okay, so I'll take this one.

SPEAKER_02 3:13

Um, and this one can be quite deep. There's a lot of different places uh that we can go on this, and uh either of you feel free to jump in at any time for it. But one of the ones that I always talk about with my officers are just how are they feeling throughout the day? And this can be different in terms of what shift patterns your department does have because it's going to impact what you can do, right? So we know that shift work is hard on individuals, and if you are up all night, so on night shift, your body is dealing with a lot of stuff at that time, a lot of stress, and maybe not um emotional, psychological stress from things that you're seeing, but just physiologically it's stressful. Your hormones that are supposed to be trying to make you sleep are now altered, right? Your cortisol and melatonin levels are gonna be altered. Um, your body's not gonna be digesting food as well like it will in the middle of the night. We go through all these different recovery processes in the middle of the night. And so when you come out of shift work, your body is busy sending a whole bunch of energy to those areas trying to catch up on delayed work, if you want to put it that way. And so we need to factor in what is the state of the individual throughout their work week and where can we put in workouts where they can actually benefit from it? Because if we like the goal of a workout is to stress the body, so we create adaptation. So then you get stronger faster and you grow from it. But if your body is already struggling with J day-to-day upkeep, applying a workout that causes more stress of the body, you're not necessarily gonna be able to adapt to it. And it might actually send you down farther. So we want to make sure that your body's actually in that state where it can adapt. Now, I don't know about you guys, but the shift patterns that we have here. So my current department's a little bit of an easier one. Two days, two nights, four days off. Two days, two nights, four, four days off. So they have that two-day um period that they have to adjust to of night shift. However, my old department, they had a rotating shift for patrol where they would do um four days early shift, so starting around six in the morning, four days off, four days midday shift, starting around one, four days off, four days late afternoon shift, four days off, four days working at 6 p.m. and then four days off. And I would see significant fatigue, not necessarily sure during those four night shifts, but those four days off and recovery afterwards and those four days early shift, that's where they really struggled. And so I started adapting my programming in that area because I'm like, there's no point in me really physically loading you on these four days off after night shift and your first four days on back on day shift because you're you're telling me you're fatigued, you're telling me this is the hardest shift. So, how can we adjust that program to that? Because I don't want to hammer you while you're down. And Tracy, it looks like you have something you want to add to that. So I'll stop here before I yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

Well, because I think uh the law enforcement side, I see that with my agencies as well. But when we go to the fire side, I've got a couple agencies that run different schedules, right? Um, the more popular one right now is 2472. Don't have any agencies on that schedule, so I can't directly comment on it. But I've got a lot of agencies on that 4896, which um just you know a couple of years ago kind of was the gold standard schedule for the rest. And I'll tell you, that first day, they look great, right? We have great lifts, movement is good, um, everything's crisp, right? But by the time the second day comes along, we are already dragging. The fatigue has set in, right? And that's usually when I want them focusing their workouts a little bit more on mobility than like the harder strength aspects of it. But the one that's still out there and it's a very, very common schedule is that California schedule. That's where you're 24 on and you're 48 off, and it just kind of keeps repeating for you know for two cycles, and then you got a four day. Well, when they come back from the four day, they always look great. Um, but that 24 on, 48 off by the third or even the fourth 24. I'm sorry, by the second or the third 24, um, again, they're starting to look fatigued and we have to train them just a little bit differently. And so I find it very interesting between the law enforcement side and the fire side, and I think sometimes as strength coaches, and we don't key in as much to those shift schedules as we should be. Do you agree?

SPEAKER_02 7:40

Yeah, and it's it's one that like I like to to promote being like, let's adjust, and it's based on like what can your body do right now? So, like you said, adjusting to mobility, meeting your body where it's it's at is important. And I think for some new strength coaches coming into this area where they're looking at the science and like, well, we got to load you this much for adaptation and growth. Um, they're not taught, okay, well, what about if they're not sleeping at all, right? Because they're used to working with athletes. And so you have to learn to be very adaptable in your programming and almost make it less specific because it's not realistic to follow a regular scheduled periodized program if somebody's going through shift work. Um, and then say if somebody pays for an app, those are based on seven days. Like, I don't know if and Anna and Tracy, if the any of the strength and conditioning apps you use, if they're adaptable to eight days versus seven, I would love an eight-day app for my officers because when I do programs on paper, I do eight-day work weeks. That's how I'll I'll rotate them through different different items. Um, the app that we're using right now is fantastic because we can either go at a set pace or their own pace. My officers have found this amazing because they won't ever miss one day. It's just you pick up where you left off and then they can adjust it. So it also increases the likelihood that they'll do their workout and not miss it. But then they can also make sure that they do that workout when they are in that state to actually get that achieved amount. So in running, um, and this is the best way I can put it, uh when I would coach marathons, I would tell people don't do this heavy intensity run if you can't make those metrics that day, because then you're gonna do junk miles and you only get so many miles a run a week. So maybe change that day because we want to get the best bang for our buck. And so having programming that's flexible is really important. And part of this is too, if you're trying to get, let's say you're working on some power and you're recovering from night shift, you're not gonna have that same reaction speed or coordination. Um, your nervous system just doesn't have um that efficiency to it because it's working on that recovery. And so maybe switch, like you said, your mobility to that day and then do your power day or some of that focus on that day when you're feeling refreshed. Um, so that's really important is having that flexibility. So it's one where it's really important for tactical operators to be a little bit more focused on their resilience like their readiness-based programming. So, where are you currently at versus doing it because it's day three and I'm supposed to do it regardless of how I'm feeling. And I'm curious on how that would fit in with fire with the 24 and 48, like navigating some of those shifts.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Well, tricky, right? And I'm kind of with you on the app side of it. If you've got an app that's going to allow you to change it, or it's going to be, you know, you go from one to the next and it's constantly building on the previous workout. The hard part with that is is what about the weeks where like all the chaos breaks out with fire, right? Where they have two, three, four fires that are back to back, and you know, you show up that day. And I mean, and I've been there where I've showed up to the department and I walk in and I'm like, hey, BC, how's it going? It's like four fires last night. Got it. What's the plan for the day? Nothing. You know, nothing. We're resting, we're recovering, we're cleaning equipment, we're washing turnout gear, you know, we're drying hoses, we're just getting everything ready for the next event. In those cases, I look at myself, I'm like, all right, today we are on like heavy mobility. I'm running around with my hydration packets, making sure they're getting some electrolyte replacements, right? I'm keying in on the nutrition, like who's cooking for the day? What are we making? Right. Can we put in a couple extra carbohydrates in there just because of all the activity that's going on? And so um, yeah, the workout side of it has to be adjustable. And I don't know, and and I don't know, Anna, if you've got any insight either. I don't know that I found an app that does all of it that I want. I think the closest is is an app, and I'm trying to stay very neutral here, where you can, as a strength coach, change and adjust the workouts for those individuals and say, okay, this was the workout of the day, but now because you had four fires last night, I'm gonna quickly go in there and I'm gonna change it all up and we're gonna do this one instead. Um, I don't know. Any other thoughts?

SPEAKER_01 12:11

Yeah, so I want to point out something that maybe is obvious to everyone else, but I like for people to point out obvious things for me. So for all of you in podcast land, I'm gonna go ahead and I just I want us to look at um the just the vast difference of chips that's out there. My midnights people never come off of midnights, they're just on midnights and they do a two, three, three, two, three, two type of a deal. But fire could be going literally for 24 hours straight. So you're not just dealing with like my midnights people technically have time to sleep, but how how good is that quality? Whereas a firefighter might not even have time to sleep, or depending on how the shifts are run, um, or whether or not you get assigned a court, because that's where my my law enforcement midnights people get caught up, is they have to do court during the daytime when they should be at home sleeping after working a midnight shift. So I just wanted to point that out that it's there's like compounding problems here. It's not just the sleep cycles and day and night. Um, it's also just the deprivation in general. Um, and then to directly um address your question about the app, um the uh and I I don't know if we're advertising for people. I'm very spoiled I have several strength coaches. We use a particular app that's very flexible. And so they actually just released 15, 30, and 45 minute options that authors can use based on what time and what readiness they have. And this is the question that I'm gonna have for Becky is what does readiness mean and how do we know? Because we know we're dealing with a population whose nervous system sometimes don't allow them what to feel what's happening in their bodies quite as accurately as we would like them to. And that is an additional challenge. Um, but yeah, our app is very flexible. It gives you a typical seven-day calendar, but you can add um like they program five days a week, and then they also have this 1530, 45-minute option that you can choose based on how much you have in the tank and what your particular goals are. And so um, so Becky, I'm bringing it back to you. Um, and uh and and and you heard my question about readiness, but I think you've got something else you'd like to say first. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:25

Um, I will definitely go to the readiness one. Yeah, the app that we have, it is handy because I wanted to bring up RPE, so working out according to the ratings of perceived exertion for anyone who isn't aware of that, who's listening, versus um fixed percentages for our lifts. So in traditional strength and conditioning, it will be okay, 80% of your one rep max, you're gonna lift this much. And and that's great, and that's great for your more typical strength and conditioning um situations, or even let's say in military where they know they have days where they can can build themselves and they're not on night shift depending on where they're at in their deployment. But using the ratings of perceived exertion, that's gonna change from day to day. So, what feels like a six out of ten effort for me today will feel will be likely, very likely less uh weight lifted on a day after being up all night, right? So that's going to change. And the app that we use is I really like it for that fact, is after every exercise, you it asks for your RPE and then it determines if you're working at a hard enough level. And so it can be very perceived, and then it starts adapting, and you can always override it. You can choose to switch out any exercises. So if you don't like one, you can click on it. So maybe you're too tired, you need something a little bit less intense for the system. So maybe shifting from a complex uh like a compound movement to an isolated movement because that's easier on the nervous system. You can go and select and it'll give you a list of exercises that still matches that movement goal, but might be a little bit better for you in that day. And that's been a big feedback for our members being like, oh great, like this has been really helpful because some days I just I can't do a back squat right now. So what are my options? Right. I know that three of us can list off probably a hundred different types of way to squat, right? But uh a lot usually just get stuck on those, those main ones. So they found that helpful. Now to go back to the resilience question, because this one's great, is what does that readiness look like in the gym? And this can be it's very independent and it takes some self-reflection, and there's different tools that you can do. So, a standard one for a lot of strength coaches is just even some visual analog scales being like, How do you feel? And we'll track that. Like, are you an unhappy face and has it been an unhappy face for a few days? Okay, we need to dial it back because that's a sign of that your your body's having a hard time of recovery. For yourself, you might notice your heart rate is just higher than usual during your workouts. That's a sign that unless you're working out hard, um, something's off, right? Because we want that lower resting heart rate. We know we're in a good state of recovery and we're adapting well to our workouts if our resting heart rate's staying the same or if it's dropping down. And that's the beauty of some of the technology that's out now is like um like I have an aura ring and a Garmin watch. So I have a lot of data because I I like to be a nerd about it. Um, people have stuff on their phone, and it can be a very useful tool if you're not sure what your readiness is. And so I've been measuring my heart rate variability for over a decade now. And what intrigued me about it back in 2012 when I first started was um we're working with a population, and especially back then, who were taught ignore your feelings, ignore how you're feeling, push through, continue on, and forget about that. And so I was using it as a tool to re-educate my officers on how to start recognizing those signs of stress and poor recovery and educating them that stress isn't just emotional. It can be from sleep, it can be, or of poor say uh your workouts, alcohol. It can be from eating, you know, a whole bunch of junk food because your body does not know what to do with red dyes and who knows what other chemicals you might be putting in your body, though it tastes yummy and there's time and place for anything we like, right? But it's all stress on the body, so it gives you that idea. And so you can start using some of these wearables to start teaching yourself signs of how you're feeling. Um, but don't hold on to those numbers too tight. They're a good indicator, but they really do fluctuate. So if my heart rate variability drops suddenly overnight, it doesn't mean absolutely that I'm poor recovering. It's well, what caused that? Was it because I ate late last night? Was it because it's a poor sleep? Is it signs of an early illness coming on? And so I think where some people get stuck on some of the readiness with the wearables, depending on how they know how to read them, is the sudden reading versus the reading over time, because that reading over time gives us a better indication, especially with heart rate variability, on where we're at in terms of uh beginner to intermediate knowledge of some of the wearables. But yeah, sorry, okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:11

So breaking it down for the simple among us, if I feel good, but my Garmin, because I'm a nerd runner and I have a Garmin, tells me that it is a trash day to work out and my body battery is at three. May or may not be a true story, who do I listen to? That's a good one, right?

SPEAKER_02 19:34

And I can go, it depends. Um, if you're new to it and you're not sure how your body's feeling, I'd say take it, take it seriously, right? Because you're you're learning how to read your your body. Um but if you're where I'd say is like, especially if you're feeling because we can go the other way, where it's saying you're great, and you're like, I am not great, right? And we've had those before. Once you start feeling it, and yes, you might take some wrong steps, trust how you're feeling because a a lot of the wearables, right? They're on our wrist and and they're great, but they're still noise. So they're not as great as the hardcore metrics when we're doing a test rack measurement as well. And so it's taking it that with that grain of salt and using it for the bit of guidance. But I try and use it more as a learning tool for somebody to start learning their own signs for themselves, right? And so you can say, well, what's my breathing like? What's my rest like? Are my legs feeling heavier than usual? Um, and then if you're not feeling great, okay, do a light warm-up. How do you feel now? Right? Or is your I'm going good? Is it more because you're stuck in that fight or flight phase and you're just running off adrenaline? Because I know I've been there before, like I can go, I can work out hard. But now knowing, I'm like, oh wait, let me see if I can calm my system down a little bit because I'm too revved up to do now harder workouts, if that makes sense, right? Like I'm trying to think of how to explain that better. Where no, that's it. But it's going to cause a big crash and burn.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

Yeah, that's an eck that's an excellent point. Um, by just starting with a light warm-up and feeling it out and see how your body progresses through that light warm-up to does the warm-ups make warm-up make us feel better? And if so, how much better? And then choosing your activity based on sort of the feeling after you've tried it out, but then understanding that if you do the light warm-up and you still feel like trash, maybe it's time for some mobility in a nap.

SPEAKER_02 21:34

Absolutely. Right. And what uh, like I was liking with like with that, and with even what Tracy was saying in terms of when her officer, her firefighters are feeling crummy after that day, and they're like, Okay, we're doing mobility. By still going in there and adjusting, what I love about it is you're still keeping that habit. And I've been talking a lot about this with my officers because I'm like, no matter how many years you've trained for, and I've lifted weights for 30 years, if I get out of my habit. It those stupid first two, three weeks of getting back in the habit of the gym suck no matter how long you've been working out with, right? So just get in the gym. And if you get in the gym and you're like, okay, well, I'm supposed to go in the gym, and these are a lot of A-type personalities, right? And so they want to stick to the plan, do as they're told, get in there, otherwise they're a failure, it's not gonna work out, right? We we get stuck in this mindset a lot. Getting in the gym is a win, okay. And I'll tell my my officers, my civilians, if you get in there and 10 minutes in you're feeling worse or you're not feeling it, it's okay to call it a day. And I've done it, and I flat out I just was in the change room the other day. I'm like, I'm going in. I can't say I'm gonna last in there long, but I'm putting my clothes on, I'm going in, and we'll see what happens. So so it's one where keeping in that routine is so big.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

Yeah, consistency is um is the the key, I think, to so much of it. Um, and 100%. That's a really, really important point. So let's say now um I feel okay, but it's been a really long day, and if I choose to work out, I'm not gonna be able to get that coveted seven to nine hours of sleep, or even more realistically, if I work out, I'm gonna drop from five hours of potential sleep to three hours of potential sleep. What um how should I look at that? Choose sleep.

SPEAKER_02 23:26

That's that's absolutely as you're starting to say that question. My face is starting to grimace like, no, no, you can't catch up on this sleep debt, right? Um especially if it's gonna get you down to that three hours. Like cognitively, you're setting yourself up for issues the next day or on your next shift pattern, and we do not recover from sleep debt that quickly. When we are sleep deprived, our injury risk increases because our reactive reaction skills go down, our cognitive abilities go down. And uh we come closer to mimicking that state of being under the influence, even right? Like when somebody's been up for, and I can't remember the amount of hours, and I think it's even like 20 hours, you start mimicking a little bit more of that, uh, what you would see for somebody who's impaired with driving. And that's also you know why you need to have that recovery after that night shift. So choosing that, um, you're choosing trying to just get that workout done, which you won't have that recovery time and benefit from it, right? So three hours is not gonna allow you to recover from it. Um, and so that's where I'd say ego might get in the the the struggle mix a little bit there is if you're gonna do a workout and it's you're thinking I might have to sacrifice sleep, when is your body going to recover to actually adapt and grow from that? Right? Because if it can't have that sleep and that recovery period, you're not gonna have that adaptation and you're not gonna get those gains that you want.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

Yeah, absolutely. I think that um it's important to note here, it feels like we're talking about some conflict between consistency and getting sleep because you can't predict what's gonna happen on those midnight shifts or those 24-hour shifts. And so um, I would just like to point out that when sometimes when I have that conflict, what I will do is I will make my consistency a mobility or um maybe even a soft tissue rolling um routine that actually helps me get better quality sleep. So something very brief and something very short. Um so then I still get sort of the feeling like I did something physically good for my body, but without taking an hour and a half and trying to push through a bunch of heavy deadlifts, and it sets me up for a better night of sleep. Um, because I think we all talk about length of sleep, but quality um is equally, if not more, important than length of sleep. And so um, so if you're concerned about losing consistency because the number of times you have to skip your big workout to sacrifice that for sleep, then um still doing some gentle movement in the right way can set you up for a good night's sleep. Absolutely, right?

SPEAKER_02 26:15

And it's one where I like with that mobility because it's gonna prime your nervous system to actually start shifting into that sleep. And so one of the risks of saying, Well, I'm gonna do my strength workout and sacrifice some sleep, when you do that, your cortisol level goes up. So cortisol is your awake hormone. We need it, it's not a bad thing, it's an absolute fantastic hormone to have, but now you're spiking that, which is gonna dampen your melatonin, which is your sleep hormone. So now you're already hindering your sleep. So, yes, you might have um potential three-hour window, but you're not actually gonna get through those stages of sleep. So doing mobility, keeping with routine, or maybe doing one lift and then finish with mobility, getting that system shifted out can be such a good plan to adjust, right? Um, so just yeah, that reminder, if you're that workouts do jump up our quarters also if it's one that's right before bed, but be mindful of that.

SPEAKER_01 27:14

Great. And so let's say that we're, you know, we're the day after we got a poor night of sleep. What can we still do um in the gym that's going to keep our consistency up, but maybe not um not wreck us?

SPEAKER_02 27:30

You could even do the lighter, higher reps, right? And having that little bit bigger uh rest period because any sort of stimulation to the muscle, yes, you might not make gains, but you're gonna have that maintenance. Um, and there's been a great paper that came out recently about just how much stimulus do we need for resistance and training in healthy adults to maintain. And it's not not a lot. So you're not going to go backwards, you're not gonna lose it. So maybe really decrease the load and stay away from failure, but neurologically it's still gonna benefit it, benefit you blood flow-wise, you're still gonna benefit. And maybe you're going to perfect technique a little bit more, too, right? So you can make it a little bit more of a mental exercise versus a physical exercise.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

Fantastic. Now, uh, before we close out this segment of the podcast, because it is about time, um, looks like we're gonna go into a part two on this one, which is very exciting. Our first two-parter, um, so many firsts in a brand new podcast. Um, Tracy, I feel like you had something maybe you wanted to say a little bit ways back, and I did not do my job as a moderator and get that to you. Do you have anything to help us wrap up before we um go to part two?

SPEAKER_00 28:45

Now you guys are just rolling. I didn't want to interrupt it and just let it happen. Um, I think sometimes we get really caught up on the apps and we get caught up on the fancy technology. And maybe it's still I'm just a dinosaur on some of these things, but working um around uh some of the aspects and with just some of the different departments, and I you just you don't need it. And I just want our listeners to know that you don't you don't have to have those things to still recognize where your body is at from the fatigue piece of it, right? And I think it was kind of said, but I'll say it again go in the gym, see how you feel, move around. And if you're feeling like things are just heavy, then maybe we need to change out what we're doing for the day, you know. And I think uh, you know, I use kind of the the green amber red um theory or philosophy with my officers, and I'll say, hey, you know, if you're if you're feeling a no, then then then don't. Maybe we're gonna go back, we're gonna take a rest, you know, maybe we're gonna do some light mobility. I think Becky kind of hit on that a little bit earlier. And then if it's a if it's a yes, then go ahead and push a little bit, but just know that you don't have to have the things to recognize how your body is and and what your body's telling you for the day. But this was great. I loved all the signs you guys brought in.

SPEAKER_01 30:01

I I love I and I love what you just said so much because I think that, um, and I can't remember who brought up sort of this type A personalities we're working with, but I think there's a real tendency to go into um a shame spiral um or like really be disappointed in ourselves um or um judge ourselves harshly when we can't like I mean, I know I'm a I've been a long distance runner for a long time, and checking the exercise box like really feels good. And uh and if I can't do it for whatever reason, like today was a long day. We onboarded a new academy class. I knew I wasn't gonna get a Friday workout in. Um, and uh, I still a little bit have that mental battle. And so so, so important for you guys to have grace for yourselves um and not and understand that you're actually doing good things for yourself sometimes by stopping at mobility or just taking a day and making sure you get a good night of sleep. And so, Tracy, I think that's such a great, um, great addition, is that reminder of like we can get off into all the science and all the wearables and all the things, but so much is like, can we have that grace for ourselves and can we um just feel what our body is feeling in response to that in a really natural way? So amazing, ladies. Um are we are we doing a question of the the day?

SPEAKER_02 31:24

Yes, I want to.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

And I know I had Ed cho put out some, but I can't find them. That's okay because I remember one of them, and I'm not sure I have a great answer for it, but I really love controversial food takes. So um we will start with uh Tracy. What is your best and most favorite controversial food take? I don't know that I have an answer to that. Well, I mean, like pineapple on pizza or tacos or a sandwich, or oh, I got one cold lasagna for breakfast.

SPEAKER_00 31:58

Dan always gives me such a hard time with this one. I like pears and I like canned pears, like Del Monte canned pears, and I'm not biased, right? But I love canned pears and cottage cheese.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

Oh, you know what I love with cottage cheese is canned pineapple. Ah, see.

SPEAKER_00 32:16

Yeah, so with the cheese and the fruit, and it is like the texture is good.

SPEAKER_01 32:22

Yeah, it's good. Fantastic about it. Good. Becky, what about you? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:29

Mine is my my husband hates it. I don't see anything wrong. That I love cold food. So I refuse to warm up my lunches. Like if I can have leftovers cold, whether it's pizza, like I hate warmed up pizza, like it's good fresh, but then don't ruin it. I love cold pizza, cold Chinese food. Like I am not one to warm up my food. And do you eat cold soup? I gotta know. No, because I won't reheat any of like cold soup. Like it'll be, yeah. So I won't do cold soup. But otherwise, like everything else, it's always I I won't warm up any anything. And I I just think it tastes better. Yeah, like I don't mind, like I like my my like my like if dinner was cooked, I love it hot. But if it's leftovers, leftovers cannot be warmed up, they must be cold.

SPEAKER_00 33:15

I feel like that's one of those, like, tell me you're an athletic trainer without telling me you're an athletic trainer, right?

SPEAKER_01 33:21

You have learned to you have learned to love something that's a necessity in your life, or else you don't funny.

SPEAKER_02 33:27

I had a conversation with one of my officers about that because he was I can't remember, we're just in the kitchen, he's warming up, but like, because he was shoveling food, we're heading between meetings, and I'm like, yeah, I'm used to never being able to warm up food because of working on a field. So yeah, I just said that yesterday to somebody. So, anyways, that's historical.

SPEAKER_01 33:44

And I just believe, especially Italian foods for some reason are great cold for breakfast. Okay. That is not my controversial take, though. Uh I don't want nuts in cookies, I don't want nuts and brownies, I don't want nuts in any of my sweets. I just want my sugary foods to be sugary foods without anything remotely healthy anywhere near or around them. Um, so I think that's controversial for some people, but not so much for us.

SPEAKER_00 34:10

No nuts for Anna.

SPEAKER_01 34:11

Got it. I mean, I love nuts, like on their own in other foods, but I don't want them in my brownies, my cookies. It's just don't grow on a good cookie. Or raisins. Don't put any fruit in there either. I don't want any raisins. I don't want any dates. I don't want any of it.

unknown 34:27

Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 34:28

Good to know. Okay. Sugar and chocolate.

unknown 34:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:33

All right, all right, awesome. All right, that is a wrap on today, ladies. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02 34:39

And while we remember to, uh please take a time to review and maybe follow the podcast. And if you have any questions, send them to askthetacticaltrio at gmail.com.

SPEAKER_01 34:51

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unknown 34:53

Boop boop.

SPEAKER_01 34:56

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SPEAKER_02 35:02

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SPEAKER_01 35:06

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