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How Do You Define Firefighter Fit?
Are You Firefighter Fit?Most people, when asked this question, will normally think about how much weight they can lift or if the are overweight or not. I argue that being “firefighter fit (fire rescue fit) is much more than that. You may be able to lift heavy weights but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you are that strong. When talking about Firefighter fitness you are only as strong as your “weakest” part. You see true strength comes in the form of functional fitness, fitness that can be applied and used in fireground situations, not just in a gym.When you carry the saw from the truck to the scene or lift a patient into the ambulance you use many muscle groups which have to work together to achieve the job at hand. The Fire Rescue athletes’ body must work as one unit, integrating all the muscles together. Weight training in its conventional form (on machines),…
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The Best Nutrition Advice for Firefighters
Today I wanted to piggy-back on my post about inflammation and heart disease (keep the comments and emails coming). I know that in health and fitness sometimes the best results are obtained from the simplest advice. So here goes, in my opinion the absolute best thing you can do to lose weight, get healthy, or live a life full of energy is to eat by this ONE RULE: “Only eat whole foods with ONE ingredient.” That’s it. The reason why one ingredient whole foods are the best for you is that they contain zero processing and zero artificial ingredients that have been linked to increasing inflammation. One of these common ingredients is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). HFCS is a man-made sweetener that is 20 times sweeter than sucrose (table sugar). It is mainly found in soft drinks and fruit juices. Americans as of 2001 were ingesting on averaging 63 pounds of HFCS per…
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Reducing Heart Disease in Firefighters
Its been very well documented that the leading cause of firefighter-on-duty deaths is related to heart disease. Therefore any information regarding decreasing the chances of heart disease are very valuable to the firefighting community. I’ve recently been researching the correlation between cholesterol and heart disease and have found some interesting correlations. The long-established dietary recommendations of yesterday have created epidemics of obesity and diabetes, the consequences of which dwarf any historical plague in terms of mortality, human suffering and dire economic consequences. Despite the fact that 25% of the population takes expensive statin medications and despite the fact we have reduced the fat content of our diets, more Americans will die this year of heart disease than ever before. Statistics from the American Heart Association show that 75 million Americans currently suffer from heart disease, 20 million have diabetes and 57 million have pre-diabetes. These disorders are affecting younger and…
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Firefighter fitness- Does P90X Measure Up? The Cons
A few days ago I posted on the pros of the P90X fitness program for firefighter fitness. I recieved some great emails (please keep them coming) from firefighters that have used P90X, some with success some without. The purpose of these posts is to not tell you wether P90X is the “best” program for firefighter fitness (shortly, I will post on this) but to give you the pros and cons so you can make an educated decision if its right for you. So, now that you know some of the pros, let’s look at the cons of P90X. –Time Investment: The schedule requires at least 60 minutes a day for 6-7 days each week. Weight and abdominal workouts are 75 minutes combined. The yoga workout lasts 92 minutes. –Teaching Technique- The videos show people performing the exercises but doesn’t spend a lot of time actually teaching the proper form. This is especially a problem…
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Firefighter Fitness– Does P90X Measure Up?
It’s often said that any movement is better than no movement at all. I personally have to agree with that statement, I think its imperative that everyone (especially FireRescue Athletes) are active. The big question milling about in the Fire Rescue field is what is the most effective type of activity for firefighters? Ideally, we should be performing movements that support, enable, and enhance our physical skills and add to the quality of life. Our exercises should make us stronger, faster, and more capable of accomplishing just about any physical feat a “job” throws at us. One of the more popular programs floating around firehouses these days is P90X. P90X is the extensive fitness program from Beach Body fitness created by Tony Horton that claims it can get you “ripped in 90 days….guaranteed.” Does it work? Maybe, but as Firefighters, EMTs and Paramedics we need to be more than just “ripped”…
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Firefighter Fitness Motivation
As FireRescue Athletes we must remember that our level of fitness may save a life…perhaps even our own. This should be motivation enough to stay in top shape and continue to strive to stay “fit for duty” but sometimes we may need more. Today’s post is all about motivation (actually I’ve got some great requests to create more motivational posts). What motivates you? Fun Runs, Tough Mudder, and Triathlons The fitness plateau, chances are that if you have worked out regularly then you’ve probably experienced one. A plateau is a point where you don’t seem to be making any progress…regardless of what you do. At one point during my personal trainer days, I was training over 100 people (not every day but through out the week). One of the challenges of training that many people was finding something to motivate them and to keep them from hitting the dreaded plateau. The best…
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Firefighter Fitness– Recruit Academy Fitness Programming
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. Trainers, chiefs and officers should take this same approach to creating a fitness program for recruits. There is no “best” workout program for recruits, just as there is no “best” way to force a door. Going into a situation, a well prepared firefighter…
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Firefighter Fitness– Is CrossFit it? The Cons.
Last week I posted about the “pros” of using CrossFit for Firefighter fitness. I recieved some great emails and comments on that post, please keep them coming. Today, I wanted to post the cons of CrossFit. So here we go. The use/misuse of Olympic lifts – One of the CrossFit Foundations places a heavy emphasis on Olympic Weightlifting because of their unique ability to develop an athletes’ explosive power, control of external objects, and mastery of critical motor recruitment patterns. And yet, the workout for June 29, 2011 included a set of 50 push presses. This is a little contradicting to the above statment. You do 50 reps for endurance, but the point that CrossFit makes is that Olympic lifting should be explosive power. Olympic lifts can also be fairly complex, so if the goal (which it is of CrossFit) is to get in, get sweaty, and get out, how…
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Firefighter Fitness– Is CrossFit it?
I’ve worked in the fitness industry for over 20 years and have seen a lot of “fads” come and go. Not to age myself but when I started in the industry step classes, leotards and zubaz where still popular. Back in the day every health club focused on having the most updated machinery possible, today you see more minimalistic gyms pop up all the time. Along with these fads have come the “next” best workout program. I remember the day when everyone was “Jazzersizing” or “Sweating to the Oldies” or following the “Body for Life,” program. There were also the days of “Tae-bo”, “Spinning” and who could forget “Fitness made simple”? Some of these fitness fads have come and gone while others are still around. Today I wanted to talk about another fitness “fad” that has seemed to catch the attention of the firefighting and tactical communities. Yep, you guessed it….CrossFit. This…
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