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Firefighters – Do this Exercise to Reduce Back Injuries
Back injuries suck. While not 100% avoidable, there are some things that you can do to prevent them. A lot of injuries of firefighters, EMTs and medics occur due to excessive torque on the back while twisting. Moving patients to a cot, advancing heavy firehose, and carrying equipment all involve some twisting that can wreak havoc on your back. Working out consistently and taking care of your body can reduce your chances of back injury. Especially if you are training correctly. While all back injuries are not avoidable here are some great exercises that you (as a first responder) should incorporate into your workouts. The Side Plank- a great core exercise… The side plank is a great exercise to help build core strength and stability through the transverse plane. As stated above, a lot of back injuries occur due to twisting while carrying a heavy load. The side plank…
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10 Simple Rules for Firefighter Fat Loss
Would you agree that a leaner athlete is a better athlete? I know this is a “loaded” question. A lot of the answer has to deal with the sport in which the athlete is participating. One thing that research shows is that a leaner athlete is a “more efficient” athlete. When it comes to firefighters, this is a valid finding. Efficiency in general terms, describes the extent to which time, effort or cost is well used for the intended task or purpose. So, a more efficient Fire Rescue Athlete will be able to do more work with less physical effort. This is especially important since most of our “more intense” work as Fire Rescue Athletes comes when breathing air via an SCBA. The winter months can be a challenging time to keep your weight and body fat in “check.” So, to help you stay lean and perform better on (and off) the fireground, I…
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Firefighter cancer prevention- 5 Ways to give cancer “the finger. “
Cancer- I think almost everyone in the fire service knows of someone that has had it or is currently fighting it. Over the past few years cancer has been one of the most often discussed topics in the fire service. There has also been a tremendous amount of research dedicated to deciphering why we are more likely to get cancer. The facts- Before I talk about ways to combat it, I think it is very important to understand the facts about the numbers. There seems to be some very extreme statistics out in social media about the instances of cancer in the fire service. There are no hard, fast numbers when it comes to cancer and fire fighters. There have been numerous studies done each having different outcomes based on the study group. The one study most people reference is the NIOSH study of 2010 of approximately 30,000 fire fighters…
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Top 5 Firefighter Fitness Apps
As Firefighter Fitness becomes more critical due to the continuing challenges that we face. It becomes ever so important that we track our workouts, nutrition, and have options to release pressure while on shift. So here are the Top 5 Firefighter Fitness Apps for the Fire Rescue Athletes getting Fit for Duty. 1.) My Fitness Pal Looking to add a free central hub to link your fitness workouts and track daily nutrition. This app owned by Under Armour is it. The app is very connective friendly with health devices Fit Bit, Polar, Garmin, Strava, Map My Run, and etc. Within this app you can enter food you eat by simply scanning a bar code, searching generic to your popular restaurant dishes, and even save a meal that you make or eat on a regular basis to make it easy to enter in the future. The only down side is while…
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The Best Nutrition Tips and Hacks for First Responders- Firefighters, EMTs and Medics.
Learn how healthy first responders prepare and plan their nutrition. These tips and hacks will have you eating better and making fitness progress.
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What is the Best Firefighter Workout Program?
This topic is near and dear to mine and your hearts and careers–Workouts for Firefighters and Fire Rescue Athletes. Over the last couple of months I’ve been researching, talking, tweaking and writing about some of the more popular workouts seen in firehouses across the world. Read the Pros and Cons of P90X (click here) and CrossFit (click here) for Firefighters I’ve received a ton of feedback about those articles both good and bad (please keep it coming) and used all of this information to create what I believe is one of the BEST Workouts for Firefighters-The Ultimate Fire Rescue Athlete. Why is it one of the best? Because it contains these five vital components that are essential for the Fire Rescue Athlete. Does your current program include these components? #1. The program must be planned using sound periodization and science (click here to read more). The program must be planned using sound periodization and science. Training should…
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The Ultimate Firefighter 9-11 Tribute Challenge Workout
Every year on September 11th, a significant workout tribute is encouraged to honor those who sacrificed their
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First Responders- Foods for a Healthy Immune System
Nutrition is one of the best ways to boost immunity and deal with flu and virus season. Here are 15 great foods that first responders need to eat to boost immunity and keep your body and mind working efficiently… #GETFRF
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Firefighter "Fit for Duty" Workout Schedule
Do you workout on shift? Should you workout on shift and what is the best workout to perform? How do you schedule your workouts around your shifts or calls? This is a major concern for the fire rescue athlete. On one hand we know we should be working out to stay and get fit for duty. Yet , if we burn out in the gym we won’t be able to perform when it really matters. I recently post workout options and get a lot of emails to post more. But, before I do, I think its really important to keep the big “fitness” picture in mind and see how all these workouts should be organized. Part of the big picture is to figure out “what is the best form of exercise to perform on duty?” If you want a done-for-you program that incorporates the best firefighter workouts organized in a…
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