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Five Steps to Getting Fire Rescue Fit in the Next 40-days.
The last five years, I have been sponsoring the FRF “Fit for Duty” Challenge. This past year there were over 100 submissions from firefighters, EMTs and medics from all over the world (the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) that made some great fitness progress and helped change their lives with improved health and fitness. Reading all these stories is both humbling and motivating! My mission with Fire Rescue Fitness is to educate and motivate 100,000 firefighters, EMTs and medics to get “fit for duty.” Each year after the Challenge is completed I feel like I/ we (the FRF nation included), are getting there but there are still a lot more work to do. It prompts me to ask pondering questions… Why do many people that want to get fit for duty fall short and fail? Why do other succeed? What is the major difference between success and failure? After…
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How to Create a Workout for Your Crew…
Let’s face it, working on your cardiovascular conditioning can be very boring. Personally, I suffer from workout ADD, I constantly like to change things up to keep me interested in the workouts. Over the last couple of years, I have toyed with various workouts on shift; high intensity, heavy lifting, stretching only, and even some yoga. I have found that these crew interval workouts are not only very effective but a great way to incorporate fire ground movements and good way to build crew camaraderie. Click the video below. Creating a crew Workout. Step #1- Choose at least 4 exercises for the active warm-up Every good fire rescue workout begins with an active warm-up. Choose 4 or 5 movements (chops, knees side to side, inverted hamstring, spidermans) and perform them at least 5 or 6 reps each. If you are very tight you will want to repeat them again. If…
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Get Fire Rescue Fit with this Firefighter Workout Option.
I get a lot of requests for example workouts from the various Fire Rescue Fitness Programs. This is one of the workouts you will find in the our FRF workout programs. Click here for more information on FRF Workout Programs. All programs include workouts, eating guide, app, coaching and more… This is a great Firefighter Body weight workout that doesn’t require a lot of equipment and is very efficient (like you need to be on a fire/rescue scene). Give this a try! You must perform the active warm-up first. This warm-up will increase your core temperature, improve range of motion and get you ready for the workout. (Click here for a quick overview of the warm-up exercises). Perform 2 circuits of the following 5 exercises: 1. Chops (5-10 reps) 2. Knee Hugs (5-10 reps each) 3. Spidermans (5-10 reps each) 4. Knees side to side (5-10 reps…
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How to Create a Fitness Program for Firefighter Recruits…
As firefighters we protect life and property by any means necessary. And by “any” we mean the “safest and the best.” This means we do not marry ourselves to any one response modality or school of thought. We don’t always go interior on a fire attack…or always use a Halligan to force open a door (sometimes it’s already unlocked) right? We take into account certain factors along with the environment, resources, etc. and make the best tactical decisions we can. Granted, we do have protocols and procedures to follow that help guide us along our process but we must be able to adapt and compromise. Going into a situation, a well prepared firefighter should have a plan in the back of their head but also must be able to adapt to changing conditions. To create an effective recruit fitness program and/or training program for the academy, you must take into…
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Firefighter Fitness Myth- Never Let your knees go past your toes during a squat.
Every once in a while I will get a question about fitness that stirs up some great conversations. One question I get asked often is about squat form and if we, as fire rescue athletes, should never let our knees go past or over the toes when squatting. Here is a great answer to that question. The claim: Allowing your knees to move too far forward during exercises such as the squat and lunge places dangerous shearing forces on your knee ligaments. The origin: A 1978 study at Duke University found that keeping the lower leg as vertical as possible during the squat reduced shearing forces on the knee. The truth: Leaning forward too much is more likely to cause injury. In 2003, University of Memphis researchers confirmed that knee stress was 28 percent higher when the knees were allowed to move past the toes during the squat. But the…
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Eating out Guide for Firefighters, EMTs and Medics…
Eating Out Guide for Fire Rescue Athletes Maybe it’s for business, maybe it’s for school, maybe it’s a date, maybe it’s a special occasion or maybe you and the crew don’t have time to prepare food. It doesn’t matter. The last-minute restaurant meal will likely occur at some point. Instead of sabotaging your health, here are some good guidelines that will help you keep your meal selection on the right track. Let me note that it is alright to indulge (I try to do it 2x per week) but if you need a good, healthy meal while eating out, here are some tips. When menu-scanning, you can use several strategies. Select any one of these options for your meal (not all of them): Order a good protein–Is there: grilled chicken breast, lean beef, shrimp, tuna, beans, etc.? Start with the protein, then add veggies (such as a side salad instead…
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Functional Firefighter Crew Workout Option…
I get a lot of emails asking for good workout options for the firehouse when on-shift. Working out on-shift is a major concern, you want to make sure you keep your body in good “fit for duty” condition but also want to make sure you have enough “left in the tank” to respond and perform in an actual response. Over the last couple of years I have toyed with various workouts on shift; high intensity, heavy lifting, stretching only, and even some yoga. I have found that interval workouts are not only the most effective but a great way to incorporate fireground movements (steps, crawls, sledges, drags, lifts, carries, and some core). Here is an example of a on-shift workout that I did with my crew. Active Warm-up Perform 2 circuits. Set an interval timer for 35 seconds of movement with 5 seconds between to transition (click the red link below…
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Josh Fulk lost over 100 pounds with FRF…
Heart disease, obesity, cancer, diabetes are all huge health issues facing the fire service. Depending on which report you read, the fire service is facing epidemic levels of these issues. I do feel that there is progress being made on combating these issues and the fire service in general is becoming more health conscious. The mission of Fire Rescue Fitness is to help members of the fire service get more fit and healthy by providing resources and support. Over the past year, FRF has sponsored the Fit for Duty Challenges where we provide motivation, prizes and guidance to help firefighters, EMTs and medics lose weight, tone up and gain strength to ultimately get more “fit for duty.” One individual has used these challenges and workouts to transform his health. Josh Fulk has lost over 100 pounds and is now motivating other in the fire service. Please click the video below…
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Intermittent Fasting for Firefighters
FRF (Fire Rescue Fitness) was created to help transform, motivate, and educate firefighters, emts and medics to get “fit for duty.” One of the things I truly enjoy is researching creative ways to do this! Along with researching about fitness, I am also a firefighter (like you) so. I understand how difficult it can be to workout regularly and eat healthy on our schedule and with the fire service culture. One thing I have been experimenting and researching lately is a new eating pattern that I think can have some great benefit to fire rescue athletes. Have you heard of intermittent fasting? Intermittent fasting (IF) is a term for an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating. It is an eating pattern and does not address which foods you should eat, but rather when you should eat them. In this respect, it is not a “diet” in the conventional sense. It…
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