Fall 2025
How exercise science shapes elite first-responder leadership
A well-designed strength and conditioning program built upon exercise science principles can be a fantastic tool to take any first responder tactical team to the next level from a leadership perspective. A strength and conditioning program, synonymous with exercise programs written exclusively for college and professional athletes, has been reserved for those athletes. Still, in recent years, it has progressed into the tactical community within the military.
However, strength and conditioning coaches, who are subject matter experts in these prescribed exercise science principles, are underrepresented in the law enforcement, firefighter, and overall first responder community. A leader should be tenacious, committed, empathetic, honest, trustworthy, and a motivator, to name a few. Leaders are placed in positions within an organizational hierarchy to serve as role models for their colleagues and their respective department. The vision they establish, attainable through the use of both short-term and long-term goals, will determine whether the department’s culture accepts these principles and will be modeled through their behavior. Departments can sink or swim depending on their leadership, and ineffective leadership can have far more catastrophic effects than initially comes to mind. Ineffective leadership not only creates negative feedback toward the command structure but can also create differences of opinion within the rank and file of those men and women who are the backbone of the respective department.
Now that we have set the table concerning attributes of leadership within a department, how can a leader implement these strategies for their tactical teams? Tactical teams can be found in many departments throughout various assignments. Developing eventual leaders through effective strength and conditioning programs can lead to a more focused and driven team with high energy and high caliber, resulting in a more productive workplace.
The tactical team will need to focus on, first and foremost, the ability to lead when developing this framework. Does the individual have some of the previously mentioned traits to lead a team? Do they exhibit command presence? In a tactical setting, lives are on the line both for the assigned operators and the subjects they interact with. They need the ability to make decisive decisions concerning the present situation to avoid the potential and ensuing chaos. Also, the leader must be able to engage with and afford their team members an open line of communication. Just like anything in life, if there is an inability to communicate with one another, then the fundamental concept of collaboration with a team member will never develop.
Next, pursuant to these fundamental concepts, can the leader delegate authority? Delegating authority to a subordinate illustrates several things. It illustrates the confidence needed to realize that you do not need to do everything yourself, that the burden needs to be lightened, in which, quite honestly, another individual may be better equipped to achieve an ensuing objective than you. Surrounding yourself with an empowered team will enable you to become a better leader for that team.
Lastly, the hardest part comes during a tactical team debrief or an after-action review of the previous mission or operation. Reflecting on one of my first debriefs as a young Special Agent after a mission, it was quite honestly brutal. Fellow officers and agents told each other where they went wrong and what they should have done, which would have resulted in a better operational outcome. Tensions were high, but we were quickly reminded that as mature professionals in our chosen tactical career, we need to be open to feedback from a different perspective, which was intended to make us more cohesive as a tactical team. The subsequent results in our future ops were quite positive because of these earlier debriefs and after-action reviews.
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Future leadership can be developed through well-designed strength and conditioning programs within tactical teams by a strength and conditioning coach working with that respective team. Just like a SWAT Team may utilize a Tier One Operator to provide firearms training based upon their budget, a tactical team should utilize a strength and conditioning coach as a subject matter expert. The strength coach can work with and develop future leaders through creating effective fitness programs. As a tactical operator, it’s not about doing bi’s and tri’s or running a sub X-minute mile, but can the operator, as a future leader, devise a program that benefits all? A leader should be interested in creating a tactical team through the implementation of physical adaptations of a strength, power, and muscular endurance program. Cardiovascular exercise will be devised through the utilization of training heart rate zones (HRZ).
These are the same educational concepts that are afforded to college and professional athletes, so why wouldn’t a tactical athlete be afforded the same training in which their life is on the line as opposed to playing a sport? If an individual operator learns these fundamental scientific concepts through an educational and perseverance perspective, and takes command of these concepts, they will then illustrate leadership qualities through these concepts.
Daniel J. Borowick, MS, CSCS, and founder of DOMEX Strength & Fitness, is a former DEA Special Agent who has over 27 years of tactical experience in federal (Drug Enforcement Administration/DEA) and state (New Jersey State Police). Borowick was previously a strength and conditioning coach serving in the U.S. Army’s (H2F) Holistic Health and Fitness Program, working with local, state, and federal law enforcement personnel and aspiring young adults prepping for their chosen first responder career field. You reach him via his website, www.Domexstrengthandfitness.com, Instagram, LinkedIn or Domexstrengthandfitness@gmail.com for a consultation on a personally designed strength and conditioning program.
