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Firehouse Nutrition- Why Diet Soda is Bad…
Drink Diet Soda? There’s been a lot of discussion around the firehouse lately about the “dangers” of drinking soda and diet soda. The topic was started after I revealed my personal “diet soda” experiment. Three years ago I wanted to know if diet soda was bad for you or just getting a bad rap. My experiment was to drink one 16 ounce diet soda everyday for one month and report my weight, energy level and overall health throughout the month. The results….by the middle of the month I had gained 5 pounds and was drinking over 32 ounces of diet soda a day. My energy was awfully low, I craved and ate sugar all the time and had some bad mood swings. Needless to say after that little experiment I decided to avoid diet sodas as much as possible. It’s not surprising that drinking all the sugar in sodas…
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Firefighter Workout Tip- Warm-Up to Reduce Injuries…
Flexibility is often the most overlooked component of a an effective firefighter workout program. Incorporating flexibility exercises in your workout program has shown to help firefighter performance and reduce injuries by: Increasing physical efficiency and performance Increasing neuromuscular coordination Decreasing risk of severity of injury Decreasing risk of lower back pain Decreasing delayed onset muscle soreness Decreasing stress and tension What is the best way to increase flexibility? If you are like most of us, you were taught how to stretch in your high school weight lifting class and you’ve likely continued with pretty much the same routine ever since. Science, however, has moved on. Researchers now believe that some of the old school workout warm-up regimens are not only a waste of time but actually pose potential risk. This “old school” warm-up routine of starting your workout with a brisk walk or jog, then some simple body-part static stretches (holding…
Read MoreFirefighter Interval Overhaul Workout Option…
Now, as you probably know from reading my previous blog posts that I think that interval training is very applicable to what we do on the fire ground. A unique component that I’ve added to my workouts is a 10-minute Interval Overhaul. These interval Overhauls are a combination of exercises that challenges the total body, allows me to work on firefighter skills and simulates work on the fire ground. And they really “jack-up” my metabolism too! I challenge you to try one at the end of your next workout. Here is an example of an Overhaul I did after my strength workout the other day: To really see how to effectively incorporate these Overhauls with a solid strength and core workout check out the FRF Ultimate Fire Rescue Athlete Workout. Give this a try! Stay safe and Get FRF! Aaron Zamzow
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One of the Ten Best Firefighter Exercises- Farmers Carry
We as fire rescue athletes are generally moving in unbalanced positions. Whether its climbing a ladder, pulling hose, or ventilating, we are usually in an unbalanced, split stance. Therefore one area of focus should be the deep balancing muscles of the core. These muscles play an important role in holding and stiffening the pelvis to prevent it from bending and can be challenging to train in normal bi-lateral lifting and pulling exercises. In addition, we as fire rescue athletes are routinely required to carry heavy loads and equipment. The farmers carry (and other carry variations) addresses these issues, it engages the core, improves balance and at the same time improves grip strength. It’s a simple movement, grab some fairly heavy objects, engage the core by bracing your abs and slowly walk (chest up, good posture). The longer and heavier you go the more you challenge the core and your grip.…
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Fire Rescue Fitness Birthday Challenge Workout
I like challenge or out-come based (OCB’s) workouts because: #1 They are tough, #2 They are a great way to measure your level of fitness. The last 4 years (including this one) I have completed this special “Birthday” workout to help me measure my fitness and determine where I need improvement. This particular workout doesn’t require a lot of equipment and can be done at home or at the gym or firehouse (even if its 22 degrees below zero). I encourage you to do this workout (or a similar one) every once in a while to help keep you motivated and to gauge your level of fitness. This “Birthday” workout is difficult but can be scaled to meet your available equipment and level of fitness. Before you begin this workout, like every workout, perform an active warm-up. Active warm-up (perform for 30 seconds or 10 reps of…
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"Pull" for Better Firefighter Fitness
The muscles of the back are used for almost every motion on the fire and rescue ground– pulling hose, moving patients, climbing ladders and stairs (grabbing the hand rails) to name a few. Here is an exercise you need to add to your Fire Rescue Workout to insure you are strengthening theses valuable muscles. I honestly believe the inverted (body) row is extremely underrated. Besides being a great pure muscle-builder, the inverted (body) row is valuable because it strengthens your rear shoulders and upper back. These often neglected muscles directly complement the muscles used in most pushing exercises which can help prevent shoulder injury, chronic back pain and slumped posture. The reason most people blow these off initially is that they just seem too easy… However, I urge you to try them first before jumping to that conclusions. You can elevate your feet on a bench or a stability ball to increase…
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"Pull" for Better Firefighter Fitness
The muscles of the back are used for almost every motion on the fire and rescue ground– pulling hose, moving patients, climbing ladders and stairs (grabbing the hand rails) to name a few. Here is an exercise you need to add to your Fire Rescue Workout to insure you are strengthening theses valuable muscles. I honestly believe the inverted (body) row is extremely underrated. Besides being a great pure muscle-builder, the inverted (body) row is valuable because it strengthens your rear shoulders and upper back. These often neglected muscles directly complement the muscles used in most pushing exercises which can help prevent shoulder injury, chronic back pain and slumped posture. The reason most people blow these off initially is that they just seem too easy… However, I urge you to try them first before jumping to that conclusions. You can elevate your feet on a bench or a stability ball to increase…
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Firefighter Fitness- 4 Reasons Why You are Not Seeing Results…
Its the dead of winter, football season is over and spring seems so far away. This is also the excuse season, the time of the year where most people fall off the fitness wagon and start to make excuses. Its especially easy to make excuses and miss workouts if your not seeing results. So, today I wanted to give you a little guidance and motivation (check out the FRF Fit for Duty Challenge) to help you stay on track and make some fitness progress. If you’re working out, you should be progressing. If you’re not, there’s something wrong with your program (or lack of a program). Simple. Right? What’s not so simple is understanding why you’re not progressing as you’d like and whether or not your expectations are realistic. Sometimes what feels like a plateau is simply a time of consolidation preparing you for the next leap in your skills.…
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Tips for Healthy Snacking at the Firehouse
Everyone (especially around the firehouse) loves a good snack. But what actually is a “good” snack. If you ask some, they will define a good snack as something that tastes great but doesn’t fill you up like a meal. If your stomach starts rumbling and lunch is still two hours away, you’re going to need a snack to make it through the day. What we as fire rescue athletes (firefighters, EMTs and medics) must remember is that the foods you eat at snack time can make a big difference in your energy level, decision making, performance, and overall health. Choose the wrong snack, and you’ll feel dragged down, tired and cloudy. Choose wisely, and you’ll get the boost and performance you need. Choose your snacks wisely, you never know when you will need the exra energy. Before your next snack break, think twice about what you are about to eat and…
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