STRENGTH

Basic guidelines

-Include 1-2 strength workouts for every three day work cycle. For example, on “A” shift day schedule a strength day routine and again, possibly, on “C” shift day. “B” shift day choose from another exercise category.

-Choose the strength training method that fills your physical requirements. For example, you need to gain muscle endurance, you would follow the muscular endurance guidelines listed in this chapter.

-When choosing exercises remember to balance pushing, pulling and leg based exercises equally to prevent injury or over training. None of these three are more important than any other.

-We are athletes, not bodybuilders or fitness models. Routines should be designed to accomplish Savannah Fire tasks proficiently and injury free, not designed around looking good in a bathing suit.    

STRENGTH FOR FIREFIGHTING

Strength can be a complex subject with as many ways to train it as there are trainers. To simplify we just have to look at what we do for a living and prepare for this in a logical and progressive fashion. How strong does a firefighter need to be? The basic strength requirements consist of joints and muscles capable of resisting injury, carrying and properly using firefighting gear/equipment required by our current SOP for structural fire fighting for a length of time consistent with a typical fire scene and the strength to lift or drag an average size adult victim or downed firefighter. As you can see, the basic requirements are performance based rather than cosmetic based. We are concerned about our firefighters ability to lift a heavy object, not concerned about the shape, size and looks of the muscles involved in that lifting process. The training for each is different; a body builder shapes muscles for visual effect while the firefighter trains his or her muscles for the specific goal of increasing overall strength.

 What type of strength does a firefighter need? Look around the average gym and you will see plenty of weight lifters capable of bench pressing extreme amounts of weight. If you were to ask that same weight lifter to perform a one single-leg squat with simply their body weight for resistance typically they would fail. A firefighter must learn and train to manipulate their own body in addition to external loads from positions seen on incidents. These positions commonly consist of whole body movements, not lying down in a position where 90% of the body’s muscles are unengaged. The firefighter’s muscles need to be used to working in correlation together and ground based. Strong legs or a strong base equals a strong firefighter. Not training this way is like placing a strong ladder on an aerial with weak outriggers; it makes no sense.

 There are two basic strength workouts we are going to focus on for firefighting, heavy resistance training and muscular endurance training. The idea of moving an object or yourself for a set amount of repetitions remains the same. Also, the safety factors will remain the same as well. While participating in any kind of resistance training is important we do the prescribed warm-up, we always have a workout partner and we utilize proper lifting technique (proper form takes precedence over simply lifting a heavy weight).

HEAVY RESISTANCE ROUTINE

The goal is for us to move progressively heavier loads over a realistic time period by developing total body strength. To progress, as the firefighter gets stronger, the amount of weight lifted in one exercise is increased slowly over a matter of months. Remember, we want to balance upper and lower body lifting as well as pushing and pulling exercises, alternate these from workout to workout. To ensure that the body is constantly being forced to adapt we want to change the workout in some way. One option is to change the exercises we have selected on a regular basis. Another method would be changing the amounts of repetitions and rest time allowed in between sets. For example, if we are lifting for 4 repetitions of a particular exercise the weight would be heavier and the period of rest between sets would need to be longer. To change it up we can decrease the weight amount of weight lifted and the rest period between sets but increase the amount of repetitions we are performing to 8-10. When selecting the correct amount of weight to lift consider two things, we want to lift enough to stimulate muscle growth but we also want to refrain from over taxing our muscle for recovery reasons and safety reasons. If we want to lift for increasing strength, for example, we want to keep our weight and rest high and our repetitions low. In this workout four sets of four repetitions could be used. In between sets we want to rest for two to three minutes and weight in which we safely struggle to lift on the fourth repetition of the fourth set would be used. If the firefighters goal was to gain muscle mass the weight lifted and the time of rest need to drop but the repetitions done increase. In this muscle building case the repetitions would range from 10-12 while the rest period drops to 60 seconds. The weight drops to where we are able to complete all lifts until safely struggling on the tenth to twelfth repetition of the fourth set.

 One major aspect we need to keep in mind is the type of lifts we assign to ourselves. We understand the idea is to train with weights to be better equipped physically to complete fire related tasks. Therefore, it makes sense that the gym lifts we do mimic fire ground lifts. Fires and rescues vary from scene to scene; some generalizations have to be made. Among them, lifts are generally done from the standing position, lifting objects from the ground to waist to shoulder height. Weight is likely not to be distributed evenly in both hands; one side of the body will have a heavier load than the other. Gym straps and grip assists will not train the hands and grip properly since victims and debris does not always come with easy grip handles (you’re only as strong as your hands).

General guide,

It is important for us to realize that the approach we take for strength gains will be a little different than the approach for size gains (hypertrophy). While in either program we see improvement in both categories, each has its specific target goal. We also want to understand the most basic weight lifting principle, the overload principle. The overload principle states that our bodies will adapt to what ever rigors we place them under. This means increasing loads lifted, volume of weight lifted or decreasing rest periods. In some way we want to make it harder slowly over time. If we do not require this of ourselves we cannot expect our bodies to change and adapt. Keep in mind that this applies to all aspects of physical fitness.

-To increase overall strength keep weight and rest periods high, keep repetitions low.

 >4 sets of an exercise (squats for example), this means 4 separate times you will lift the weight while performing the exercise of squats.

 >Each time you would lift the weight, you would lift it 4 times.

 >In between lifts you would wait 2-3 minutes and rest up for the next lift.

-To increase overall muscle size the weight (in pounds) would drop, as would the rest periods. The over all amount of repetitions would increase.

 >Each time you would lift the weight you would lift it 10-12 times, this would be done 4 separate times for each lifting exercise.

 >In between each lifting exercise we would rest for 60 seconds before returning to lift the next set.

MUSCULAR ENDURANCE ROUTINE

The goal here is to improve total body endurance and resistance to fatigue. Muscular endurance workouts should typically be completed within a thirty minute period. These types of workouts can be completed with or without the use of gym equipment and can be completed in or outdoors. For this reason it may be beneficial to complete these on days away from the fire department if you do not have a personal gym available and to do your heavy resistance exercise on duty at the assigned gym location. Typically, a muscular endurance routine is done in what we call a circuit. A circuit is simply any number of exercises conducted back to back with little or no rest in between. It is important to monitor the pace in which we conduct these exercises. On one hand we don’t want to go so hard for a half hour that we cannot conduct real life firefighting on shift day or the day after. On the other hand we do want to push ourselves to a point of overloading our muscles so that when we recover we can handle more intense physical tasks. There are many ways in which to progress our muscular endurance over time. One method is to add resistance in the form of an outside weight, such as a dumbbell or weight vest. Another method would be to increase the repetitions done at each station. For example, if our body adapts to conducting 10 pushups, 5 pull-ups, 10 sit-ups and 15 body weight squats continuously for 30 minutes we can add difficulty in a couple of ways. We can progressively increase the amount of repetitions to 12 pushups, 6 pull-ups, 15 sit-ups and twenty body weight squats repeated continuously for the 30 minutes. We can keep the repetitions the same but wear a weight vest or we can try to hit each station more times within the 30 minute time.

Tabata intervals are another very effective muscular endurance method. These are high intensity, short duration (20 seconds) exercises done with short rest periods (10 seconds). This is repeated 8 times for a total of four minutes. This formula has been proven to increase both anaerobic and aerobic endurance. An example workout utilizing this method would look like this: 20 seconds of body weight squats, 10 seconds rest, repeated 8 times for a total of four minutes. Two minutes of rest and repeat the four minute drill, this time using burpees (see exercise library section) for the exercise, again followed by two minutes rest. A third and fourth four minute set can be added over time or immediately, depending on your fitness level.

 Another very valuable tool in your “fitness toolbox” is the bar complex. Simply put, the bar complex is a circuit in which you stay in one place and use one piece of equipment, a barbell. Before the exercise is explained, answer this question for yourself. Who is stronger? The firefighter athlete who bench presses 400 pounds once or the firefighter athlete who lifts 30,000 pounds in twenty minutes? Now, we know from the strict definition of the word the bench press feat is the better example, but the point is made.

Barbell or dumbbellcomplex workout structure=

-Proper warm up.

-Select open area with enough roof for barbell (or dumbbell) width and depth enough for movement exercises such as squats and lunges.

-Select a lighter weight for novices, more weight for fit, trained firefighter athletes. Keep in mind that continuous movement is the idea, if you are constantly stopping to rest or because of too much weight you have sloppy form than it is time to cut back. Do not let ego hamper progress or get you injured.

-Select 8-12 exercises you can do with a barbell and/or dumbbells, all using the same amount of weight (you will not be adjusting or changing the weight once you begin). Some of these exercises may include dead lifts, back squats, front squats, lunges, straight legged dead lifts, side lunges, upright rows, bent-over rows, overhead presses, curls, shoulder shrugs, cleans, triceps press, or good mornings. As you can see, there are plenty of exercises to choose from and you can work just about all muscles in the body in one workout.

-Place your exercises in an order you wish to do them continuously, writing them on a dry erase board may help remember them once you begin.

-When you start, complete 10-15 repetitions of each exercise before moving on to the next, without stop.

-After all 8-12 exercises have been completed rest for 60 seconds, repeat for a total of 20 minutes. Keep in mind that we want to better our physical well being here, the idea is not to completely exhaust ourselves so much that we injure ourselves or become incapable of performing our job, firefighting. That would be counter productive to our goals and lack common sense.

-Alternatives to the complex vary. One method could be to lift continuously until a specific amount of weight is lifted as apposed to an amount of time. Progress would be gauged is how long it takes to reach a weight goal. Another method would be to lift in partners, one lifts and passes the weight to resting partner after his/her bout is complete.

-Because of the whole body nature of this particular exercise, it is suggested that it be limited to once for every three day work period, if not half that. Also, if this is used on a regular basis it should work in correlation with all other weight lifting routines as to not over work muscle groups.

-This exercise can be used as a substitute for a muscle endurance exercise or a heart and lung exercise bout due to its nature.   

Body weight complex example routine=

-Proper warmup.

-Select 8-12 exercises done with body weight from the exercise library or your own list of body weight exercises. Each exercise is a station to be hit in a rotation, one exercise right after another for 10 to 25 repetitions each (depending on your fitness level, fitness goals or phase of training cycle). This can be done in several ways. One method could be to hit all 12 stations and then rest for 60 seconds, done 10 times. Another method could be to complete as many stations as possible in a set time period such as 10 minutes. Record this time and compare it to futar times.

DENSITY TRAINING

Choose five exercises and load each up with approximately a 10-12 repetition maximum. When you exercise you will perform 8 repetitions of each exercise in the circuit fashion for a set time period. Be sure to watch your pace and not go so fast in the begining that you burn yourself out.

ON/OFF WORKOUTS (30/30’S)

This routine is made up of 30 seconds of work followed by 30 seconds of rest. The loads lifted have to be lighter than the density training since the goal here is a fast pace (amount of repetitions are the goal here).

50,000 POUNDS WORKOUTS

This type of routine is for the more advanced firefighter athlete. The number 50,000 indicated the total amount of weight lifted in the routine and can be adjusted to the athletes fitness level and goals. Select  8-10 exercises which can be done right after another. These should be whole body exercises so more weight can be lifted faster and in less repetitions. Each time you do a particular exercise you will lift it 10 times and not stop rotating until the goal is hit. An example workout would be= 10 deadlifts @ 135 pounds (1350 pounds lifted) + 10 push presses with two 30 pound dumbbells (600 pounds lifted at this station) + bent over rows with two 40 pound dumbbells (800 pounds lifted here) + 10 front squats @ 135 pounds (1350 pounds) + 10 upright rows @ 95 pounds (950 pounds) + 20 lunges (10 each leg) @ 95 pounds (1900 pounds) + 10 kettlebell swings with 53 pound bell (530 pounds) and 10 core rows (each side) with 20 pound dumbbells (400 pounds) for a total of 7880 pounds every time you complete a full circuit. This means in order for you to achieve your 50,000 pound goal you will need to complete a little more than six total rotations.

24’S

Another great type of fire ground related lifting method is what is called 24's which has traditional repetition sets performed back to back with the goal of finishing all sets as fast as possible. Take, for example, four exercises, such as squats, squat jumps, lunges, and split jumps. The goal is to push throughthese four exercises, each for 24 repetitions, and then keep track of the time. This type of mini circuit can be easily tacked onto the end of a typical lifting routine to add some extra difficulty in a short matter of time.

HAND STRENGTH

 There’s a strength training saying which states “you are only as strong as your hands”. It sounds like an obvious statement, but do we really train with this in mind? What good does it do us if we can squat 350 pounds when our hands can only hold 50? What are those strong legs going to pull without the proper grip strength to grab the load on a fire scene?

 When choosing exercises to add to our routine, think about how we can incorporate grip strength training at the same time. For example, thickening the diameter of the dumbbells grip helps tremendously. The exercise you do with the dumbbell stays the same but in order to complete it you are working all the muscle in the hand just to hold on. Other methods include plate pinching, rope climbing, or the use of a towel through the machine grip, all listed in detail in the exercise library.

KETTLE BELL TRAINING

 Kettlebells are an exceptional tool for firefighters who need to train aerobically AND anaerobically, have limited equipment, space. The exercises typically used are the clean and jerk and snatch. These exercises are full body and are multi directional movements that do a great job of mimicing the fire ground. This makes a kettlebell an outstanding tool we can use for our routine. Some (not all) kettlebell exercises are listed in the exercise library. Keep in mind that a kettlebell is a weight and therefore it can be substituted into any of the above listed routines.

PLYOMETRICS

-Should be done at least once per every 3 day work cycle.

-Try to avoid scheduling leg dominant plyometric exercise bouts the day after heavy resistance or muscle endurance bouts if they are leg dominant in nature.

-Always properly warm up and use proper form.

-Stress using a few strong and powerful movements over a lot of sloppy, half hearted movements.

-Combine strength movements with similar explosive movements.

While jumping and bounding type movements don’t specifically mimic movements a firefighter athlete would typically do on scene, their importance can be easily understood. Our goal is to prepare our bodies for the rigors of firefighting, these plyometric types of movements and impacts stress the body, thus forcing it to adapt by building a sturdier, more resistant combination of muscles, ligaments and tendons. Think about it, if you were to sprint the length of a parking lot right now as fast as you could would you fear “blowing out” or damaging something in your body. Now picture yourself after six months of proper warm up and slowly building up your sprinting and jumping ability. Your body adapts to the new workload by building stronger muscles, tougher tendons and ligaments. That same parking lot sprint becomes a laughably simple task. At this point your body would obviously be far more likely to resist a lower extremity on scene injury.

 The most important thing to stress is slow progression after a proper warm up. If you are new to these drills you want to perform the easier versions and stay on the lower end of the prescribed repetitions and sets, build a foundation. As time goes and your body strengthens we will slowly add repetitions, sets and difficulties.

Beginner example (building a foundation)

-Proper warm up.

-4 sets of squat jumps (see exercise library)

-Each set consists of 8-10 repetitions

-Approximate 1-2 minutes rest in between sets.

Advanced example

-Proper warm up.

-3 sets, split jumps (see exercise library)

-3 sets, Lateral bounding (see exercise library)

-3 sets, double-leg hop (see exercise library)

It should be noted that the medicine ball drills in the core 360 chapter also are considered plyometric in nature, therefore can be substituted in the place of bounding and jumping drills. Keep in mind that variety and fixing weak areas is the goal, not choosing the perceived easier exercise.

Gaining explosiveness

Another plyometric drill we can use that is great for gaining explosive strength is what we call stacking. Stacking means taking two similar exercises, one strength based, the other movement (or throwing) based, and completing them back to back. We want to keep the strength exercise heavy in weight and low in repetitions. The movement/throwing exercise should be kept short and explosive. The idea is to work on and build powerful movements, not endurance. Here are some examples. Complete one set of heavy dumbbell bench press, 4-6 repetitions. When this is completed, the dumbbells are dropped and you remain on the bench. Your lifting partner now stands above you and drops the medicine ball to you, which you chest pass back to him for 6 repetitions as hard as possible. Another example could be performing weighted pull ups, with enough weight to limit you to only completing 4 pull ups. When you finish, drop weight belt and pick up medicine ball and complete 6 medicine ball slams (see exercise library) as hard as possible.