WARM-UP AND INJURY PREVENTION

Basic guidelines

-Always precedes exercise.

-Mainly focus on the muscle groups to be exercised.

-Focus is on slowly bringing heart rate to exercise range.

-Perform 5-10 repetitions of each exercise.

-Slowly progress through and increase range of motion and speed with each repetition.

 Before the workout is started, the warm up must be completed. This particular process makes the firefighter athlete stronger, faster, coordinated, and improves both the endurance and flexibility. This is a ground based series of calisthenics that require the body to stay moving and activate the muscles to be exercised as well as slowly work the range of motion in the joints. A good way to think of this portion of the exercise routine is warming up with a purpose. Not only will this improve performance but it will seem like part of the workout if not feel like a workout in itself for some beginners. For the beginner through the advanced athlete, your body will soon adapt and you will perform better for the workout (now), the fire ground (in the near future) and in everyday life (long term).

 A commonly referred to but excellent example of this portion of the workouts obvious importance would be thinking of your body as a high performance car. We wouldn’t even think of firing up the engine and immediately stomping on the gas without giving the engine and fluids enough time to  warm up and achieve top performance without damage. We also would expect that a machine that is run hard would need regular maintenance to keep it running correctly. We should, but typically don’t, think this way of our bodies.

 To perform this portion of the workout go to exercise library, choose 8-10 exercises from the “warm-up and injury prevention” portion. Perform 1 set of each selected exercise for 5-10 repetitions. These exercises should be performed back to back and steady enough pace to increase heart rate but it should also be done in a controlled fashion. Proper form is key.