INTRODUCTION TO THE PROGRAM

The basic idea behind this program is to get all Savannah fire service and local 574 IAFF union personal trainers and firefighters on the “same sheet of music”. At the time of writing there are several Fire Department, union and civilian strength and conditioning coaches. These coaches come from different backgrounds and this is reflected in their various approaches to physical training. The physical requirements for each firefighter, no matter what station or battalion, remain the same, yet, the instruction varies significantly. Also, another very important concern is no matter how successful and knowledgeable the fitness trainers are, because of their limited numbers; there is no way for them to practically serve the entire union and department.  By establishing a service wide physical and health training standard and educating the small unit leaders and above we will accomplish three major objectives. The first and most important, we will improve the quality and length of the firefighter’s life. Second, the program will lead to an overall control of injuries. This includes a reduction in the overall number of injuries per employees as well as the severity of these injuries, thus saving the department money and improving firefighter quality of life. Third, improvement in performance on the fire ground through a standardized fitness program. This is based on the fundamental philosophy that we want to be better tomorrow than we are today.

 In order for a fitness program to be adopted, used, and “survive” for any lengthy period it needs to accomplish several goals. It needs to be an easy to read and use format, such as “fill in the blank” schedules and routines. Because of our 24/48 hour work schedule, busy daily work calendar, and various fitness levels the program would need to have a flexible schedule. The numbers of fitness advisors is limited so the program would need to be formatted into an easy to distribute medium, such as this start of an online fitness manual, for all unit leaders to read and educate themselves with.

 This online manual is an attempt at answering these union/department needs. The philosophy behind the program is that firefighters are athletes. We depend on our physical fitness for job success, we, therefore, are athletes and must live and train like it. This lifestyle requires us to exercise specifically for firefighter tasks, intake the proper nutrition, and remain healthy and injury free.

 With these requirements and goals/needs in mind, the program is broken down into several focus areas. It is not practical to jump into a routine without a basic understanding of what makes up a complete firefighter athlete. Each area must initially be studied and understood separately before being combined into a program or routine.   What is a fit firefighter? What physical attributes does he or she posses? Looking at the many physical tasks a firefighter might be asked to do at any given moment you realize it can range from heavy lifting and carrying, overcoming long periods of fatigue, climbing over and under many objects and resisting various injuries, to name a few. From this we begin to understand that there are no physical attributes we should ignore when we are in the gym preparing for these different tasks. This online manual will attempt to break fitness down into several easy to understand groups, each equally important and required for a firefighter to be at his or her best.

-Strength. This physical attribute is the ability of a firefighter to lift him or herself or an outside load, such as other people or equipment. For simplicity, this category combines several subcategories of strength such as power and muscular endurance into one chapter.


-Heart and lung development (HLD). Typically referred to as endurance training, as the title implies, we are mainly focusing on strengthening the heart and lungs of the firefighter.


-Flexibility. A very important but commonly ignored attribute in athletes. By increasing the firefighter’s range of motion in the limbs and torso we see an increase in performance and a decrease in pain and injury.


-Work specific tasks. This chapter consists of movement based drills which increase coordination, agility as well as strengthen the firefighter’s trunk and lower torso. These exercises mimic fire ground movements and tasks.


-Core 360. This chapter promotes strength and stability and all directions in relation to the firefighter’s body.


-Warm-up and injury prevention. In order for the firefighter to engage in physically demanding exercise he or she must prepare the body for movement. This preparation reduces the likelihood of injury by increasing blood flow and increasing core temperature as well as decreasing injury on the fire ground by strengthening weak points and increasing flexibility.


-Building a routine. Here we focus on putting it all together in a realistic and easy to follow “fill in the blank” style. This is based on varying workloads and exercise demands to ensure firefighters are progressing physically and rested enough to work on duty.


-Exercise library. This is a menu of exercise to introduce what may be new exercises to choose from when filling in your exercise routine. The exercises are described in detail and photographs are used for clarity. In addition, a progression of difficulty may be described for some exercises so different firefighter athletes with different fitness levels can follow a similar circuit together.


-Nutrition/Hydration. Here we have a basic guide to correctly fueling yourself to improve body composition, increasing performance and increasing length and quality of life.


 The individual firefighter is the most impressive and valuable resource available to us in this profession. To properly care for ourselves and prepare ourselves for our tasks we must train all aspects of fitness equally. We never know how tough the next incident will be or where, we just have to assume it will be very tough and right around the corner of any fire station.

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.

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.

HEART AND LUNG DEVELOPMENT (HLD)

Basic guidelines

-One to two times for every three day work period.

-Progress by no more than 10% each week.

-Some of this type of training is completed at a sustained  moderate pace for 30-60 minutes while other types are conducted in a much shorter (but much faster) method and pace. This will depend on your fitness goals and the phase of training you are in.

-The pace of constant pace heart and lung training should be at a “talking” pace, or pace in which you have enough breath to carry on a conversation while exercising. Interval training pace should be done at prescribed pace but is typically done at a much faster tempo.

 It does not matter how experienced, technically proficient, or strong the firefighter athlete is,  if you are fatigued you are vulnerable. As firefighters we know cardio respiratory refers to the heart and the lungs. These are the “engine” of the body, the more tuned they are the better and longer we can perform. A strong heart and set of lungs is obviously important since our time period we work in is typically determined by air management with an SCBA. A realistic goal for firefighters is to plan on conducting heart and lung training two times for every three day work period, such as once on “A” and “B” shift, taking “C” shift as a rest day or selecting exercise from another category. The typical progression should be no more than a 10% workload increase each week and determined by either time or distance. It is important to remember that we are not training to be distance runners or tri-athletes, so hard and/or long runs are not necessary and the impact may hamper physical progression rather than improve it when combined with strength training and plyometrics.  It is also advisable to use every fourth or fifth week as a recovery week from impact. This is a low impact and slower consistent pace done in the pool or on low impact cardio machines at a gym such as an elliptical machine or rowing machine, allowing the body to recover.

In the heart and lung program the bulk of our training is done either running, swimming or on low impact cardio machines. However, it should be noted that some muscular endurance and tabata routines, as well as some skill specific tasks listed later, can also be categorized as cardiovascular and therefore substituted in. 

Most athletes/firefighters find endless hours behind a treadmill or on the road running boring. It is unrealistic to think “non-runners” will dedicate four hours a week to this for the length of their fire service career. To counter this there are multiple methods we can vary our methods and environments. Interval training is one way in which we can do this. 

Intervals

-30/30’s. The name is derived from the work to rest ratio that we follow when exercising. 30 seconds of “pretty hard” running (80-90% max effort) and 30 seconds of walking. This is repeated for the duration of the heart and lung training. A great thing about this routine is it can be done on a treadmill, on the road/track or on any cardio machine.

-Track intervals. This is a prescribed distance, using a prescribed effort level for a prescribed amount of time. Rest is determined by the amount of distance run. 

Distance (yards)/ effort/ # of intervals/ rest between intervals in minutes

200/ 90% / 15/ 1.5-2

400/ 80%/ 6/ 1.5-3

800/ 2 mile pace/ 3/ 2-3

This method can also be based on time if no track is available

Time (min:sec)/effort/ # of intervals/ rest between intervals in minutes

0:45/ 90%/ 15/ 1.5-2

1:30/ 80%/ 6/ 1.5-3

3:00/ 2-mile pace/ 3/ 2-3 minutes

-Swimming. The purpose is to improve cardio vascular health while lowering the overall impact on the joints of the body. At the current time the Savannah Fire department/GSAR has a contract with the Savannah aquatic center. In general, the workouts should be done at a slow, steady pace for periods ranging from 30 minutes to an hour. A wide variety of swimming strokes should be used in order to reduce over use injuries and in order to add variety to the fitness bout.

-Shuttle runs, 300 yards. While it is sprinting, the repetitive returning to the cones makes this an ideal candidate for aerobic exercise that can be done at a fire station with traffic cones if space is available, or on a day at home.

-Stair climbing. This has obvious work related benefits. To increase difficulty and/or realism the addition of a weight vest and high rise pack may be added. The increase of 10% per week still applies, whether it’s in time or stair flights.

-Rope jumping

Use of the heart rate monitor

 This is a very valuable tool for training. It can tell us how hard we are working, how well our body is adapting to the exercise over time and if we are over training. When lifting weights, it is easy to tell if you are improving, you are lifting heavier weight. For heart and lung training it is more difficult.

 Having a heart rate monitor on during heart and lung training is like having a speedometer in a car, you now know what it feels like to go at that speed. This feeling can be transferred across the board to all the types of cardiovascular training as a gauge or a standard. By wearing a heart rate monitor during training you have more feed back to not only how fast your legs are moving but how fast your heart is moving. This information logged over time with the details of the exercise bouts can be useful in the long run when determining how well your current routine is working. See “putting it all together” for more heart rate monitor techniques.

Advanced techniques,

Iron lung training, level 1-5.

 Simply put, this is a heart and lung training method based on time and heart rate (you will need a heart rate monitor to do this properly). Any exercises can be substituted once the basic “blueprint” is understood and is in 5 different levels of difficulty. These are intense, yet brief bouts of exercise designed to train the firefighter physically and mentally. Remember! Proper warm up is mandatory before participating in any sprinting or lifting activity! Because of the intensity this is especially important when doing Iron lung training.

Iron lung level 1,

The purpose here is to introduce the Iron lung to beginner firefighter athletes with no experience in this type of exercise.

You will need the following items=

-Treadmill

-Heart rate monitor

Workout blueprint=

-10 second sprints on treadmill at moderate to low intensity.

-After each repetition of sprinting wait until heart rate has returned to at least 120 beats per minute before starting next sprint.

-6-10 reps are completed.

-Rest periods should be timed and recorded. These are compared over time to ensure the overall rest time in the workout is shortening, meaning the heart and lungs are getting stronger.

-The Iron lung level 1 training should be done for two weeks in order to condition the body properly before moving on to the next phase, or level 2.

Sample Circuit=

Treadmill at 9 mph and at 6% incline for 6-10 sets with recovery periods in between (recover until heart rate has dropped to at least 120 bpm).

Iron lung level 2,

As time progresses in the initial phase (level 1) your body adapts to the workload. It will be time to introduce longer sprint periods (up to 12-15 seconds) and medicine ball training in between bouts to ensure we force the body to continue adapting. Do for two weeks of training before moving to level 3.

You will need the following items=

-Treadmill

-Heart rate monitor

-Medicine ball

Workout blue print=

-12-15 second sprints, for 9 total sprint sets. The pace for the first 3 is moderate to low, but the pace increases by 1 mph every 3rd set.

-2 sets of medicine ball exercises are completed in between each set.

-All of these medicine ball sets are completed at maximum speed.

-It is not necessary to monitor heart rate before moving onto next set, though it may be useful for keeping track of progress.

Sample circuit=

-Treadmill at 9mph and 8% incline for 20 seconds for 3 sets, with 2 sets of the following medicine ball drills in between. 10 reps med-ball toe touches, 10 reps med-ball pike ups.

-Treadmill at 10 mph and 8% incline for 20 seconds for 3 sets, with 2 sets of the following medicine ball drills in between. 2 sets of 25 repetitions, boxer’s dumbbell speed twist w/ med-ball.

-Treadmill at 11 mph and 8% incline for 20 seconds for 3 sets, with 2 sets of the following medicine ball drills in between. 2 sets of 12 repetition med-ball triangle crunches.

Iron lung level 3,

By this point in time the abdominals have adjusted to the workload, and full body exercises are introduced into the progression for a specific time frame. Sprints will now be 15-18 seconds. Do for two weeks before moving to level 4.

You will need the following items=

-Treadmill

-Heart rate monitor

Workout blueprint=

-15-18 second sprints, 9 sets.

-1 minute of full body exercise in between, no rest or pause.

-It is not necessary to monitor heart rate before moving onto next set, though it may be useful for keeping track of progress.

Sample circuit=

-Treadmill at 10 mph and 10% incline for 18 seconds, with 1 minute of burpees (see exercise library) continuously in between, this is one set. Repeat for a total of 9 sets without stopping.

Iron lung level 4,

After six weeks of training, higher intensity can now be tolerated. Weights are introduced to the formula. Sprints are now 20-25 seconds. When choosing weights to lift, the general rule of thumb for level 4 training, pick a weight that is 30%-50% of your maximum for that exercise. Level 4 training should be done for a two to three week period before attempting level 5.

You will need the following items=

-Treadmill

-Heart rate monitor

-Dumbbell or barbell

Workout blueprint=

-The workout is now split into three exercise blocks. Each block consists of three sprints with two lifts separating them.

-The sprint speed is now increased, as well as time sprinted.

Sample circuit=

-Block 1. Treadmill at 9 mph and 10% incline for 20 seconds. Bent over rows (see exercise library) for 8 repetitions. Treadmill at 9.5 mph and at 10% incline for 20 seconds. Shoulder press for 8 repetitions. Treadmill at 10 mph and 10% incline for 20 seconds.

-Block 2. Treadmill at 10.5 mph, 10% incline, 25 seconds. Chin-ups for 8 repetitions. Treadmill at 11 mph, 10% incline for 25 seconds. Weighted dips for 8 repetitions. Treadmill at 11.5 mph, 10% incline for 25 seconds.

-Block 3. Treadmill at 12 mph, 10% incline for 25 seconds. 8 barbell squats. Treadmill at 13 mph, 10 % incline for 25 seconds. 8 barbell squats. Treadmill at 14 mph, 10% incline, 25 seconds.

Iron lung level 5,

This level of training is reserved for highly fit firefighters with two off days of recovery time. Sprints are 20 seconds or more. Full-body exercises are used exclusively.

You will need the following items=

-Treadmill

-Heart rate monitor

-Dumbbell or barbell

Exercise blueprint=

-3 blocks of 3 sprints with 2 exercises in between.

-Sprints vary from 20-30 seconds.

-Exercises vary.

Sample Circuit=

-Block 1. Treadmill at 9 mph, 10% incline for 30 seconds. Farmers walk (see exercise library) 40 yards. Treadmill at 9.5 mph and 10% incline for 30 seconds. 12 push presses (see exercise library). Treadmill at 10 mph, 10% incline for 30 seconds.

-Block 2. Treadmill at 10.5 mph, 10% incline for 25 seconds. 10dead lifts. Treadmill at 11 mph, 10% incline for 25 seconds. Lunge 10 repetitions each leg. Treadmill at 11.5 mph, 10% incline for 25 seconds.

-Block 3. Treadmill at 12 mph, 10% incline for 20 seconds. 10 push presses. Treadmill at 13 mph, 10% incline for 20 seconds. 10 push presses. Treadmill at 14 mph, 10% incline for 20 seconds.

FLEXIBILITY

Basic guidelines

 

-Regularity. To be done at the completion of every workout.

-Used to help slowly bring the heart rate back down after exercise.

-Stretches held for 15-60 seconds each, 2-4 times each side.

-Typically done from toes to head, in an organized fashion.

-Help reduce heart rate to within 20-30 heart beats of the exercisers resting heart rate.

-Tight muscles should be stretched continuously all day.

 

 The flexibility portion of the fitness routine serves multiple functions. When done at the end of an exercise period it provides the athlete a method to “cool down” at a slow, safe rate. The body’s temperature, heart rate and respiratory rate need to slowly drop as opposed to suddenly ending abruptly. A flexible limb or joint can handle heavier loads, strike with more force due to increased range of motion and resist injury at a much higher probability. It is obvious many of us typically “blow off” the cool down or stretching portion of our exercise routine, this should be avoided. Time should be allotted for flexibility, even to the extent of doing these drills during our “off” days to assist recovery and performance. During the flexibility portion of the workout it is also a great time to rehydrate and replenish the body with the nutrients discussed in the nutrition chapter of this manual.

CORE 360

Basic guidelines

 

-We want to gain true core strength and stability in all directions, not just the frontal plane (such as abdominal crunches).

-1-2 times per three day work cycle.

-Focus should be on truly mastering each exercise and position, the idea is strength, not only “smoking” ourselves.

-Sloppiness promotes injury, not strength.

-Planks are usually held 15-60 seconds, depending on your fitness level and how it is being incorporated into the routine.

-Medicine ball drills are done at a 1:1 work ratio (10 seconds of work, for example, followed by 10 seconds rest, repeat).

 

A strong core is essential in properly executing the fire ground objectives to standard and without injury. All physical tasks performed there involve the body’s core muscles in some fashion. One misconception in some fitness routines out there is that core simply refers to “beach abs”. While these muscles are, in fact, part of a firefighters core, they are only one portion. The 360 in the title 360 core refers to 360 degrees around the body, and every muscle around the body needs equal attention in order to perform our best. Attention must be focused on executing the prescribed exercises in good form to avoid injury and developing poor spinal alignment. When a firefighter becomes fatigued it is suggested to limit the time in position or repetitions attempted and refocus on posture.

 

Planks/Bridges

 

Bridging and plank exercises are used to develop strong pillar strength that is resistant to external loads and movement. In most exercise routines the core of the body is trained in either front to back movement (such as situps or crunches) or side to side movements such as russian twists. These exercises are valuable and these movements do in fact mimic some of the same movements seen on the typical fire ground but not all. Roughly half of the movements and needs of a firefighter in action require the opposite of these movements (or "anti-movement"). For example, when lifting a portable power unit for the cutters and spreaders at a motor vehicle extrication and then carrying the unit 200' would require the firefighter to hold a heavy load on one side of his body without bending at the waist as he or she walked. If the athlete has trained in the workouts to resist an external load bending his or her body then the lifting and carrying of the power unit will seem easier and less likely to injure. These planks and bridges are added into the routine slowly over time and progessively made harder. For example, if you have never held your body in a plank then adding one side plank for 15 seconds on each side may be enough on the first workout. Within a month you should be holding your body in the side planks three time each side per workout and for 30 seconds each. This is still to be considered very basic but there are no limits. Adding a weighted plate or planking on your extended hands as apposed to your elbows are more ways to increase difficulty. A detailed list of brdges and planks is given (but not limited to) in the exercise library.

 

Medicine ball drills

 

Medicine balls have may firefighter task related uses and its usefulness is only limited to your imagination. Medicine ball exercises such as high tosses can be added in higher volume (done for 5 minutes straight at moderate pace with other similar type exercises) to increase endurance. If this same exercise is done alone and in smaller repetitions with more rest it can be used to increase power. A few medicine ball exercises are listed in the library.

WORK SPECIFIC TASKS

Basic guidelines

-Always conduct proper warm up preparation before movement drills are attempted

-Variety is the key to advancing a firefighters fitness level

-Simulate the fire ground with actual fire ground tasks turned into exercises or drills

-Adds variety to a routine in order to avoid overuse injury or boredom

-Generally these exercises would be added together in a circuit and used as a muscle endurance or heart and lung exercise bout. In some circumstances, though, the argument can be made that some drills maybe considered strength drills.

In order for a firefighter to advance physically he or she must continually place a workload on the body that stresses it. If the workload is the same exercises using the same weights, after a period of time the body grows accustomed and stops responding. To counter this, the movement drills chapter pulls physical tasks from a large tool box to continuously force the body to adapt. The basic idea behind the movements here is to simulate fire ground movements or use exercises that will stimulate the body’s muscles, tendons and ligaments and make them more injury resistant. At the same time these exercises work multiple muscle groups in one coordinated movement series, muscles that may normally be ignored receive attention, reducing the likelihood of an underworked muscle being pulled climbing through a crawlspace or falling through a floor, for example. Much like a football team may train with weights and sprint drills, they will move from the gym onto the field to bring these physical movements into a task specific environment.

 The makeup of these drill had no specific guideline per say, it is simply using what you have on your apparatus, training center or what you may find, and putting together simulated fire ground related tasks together in a circuit. For example, dragging “Rescue Randy” around a series of cones could be one station. The second station could be the  Keiser sled for a 20 second period. Moving on the firefighter could drag a partially sand filled 2 ½” hose for a prescribed distance before finishing one “round”. Another fire fighter would begin, the original exerciser would rest until it was his turn to repeat. Now, obviously, at the current time, this may not be realistic to do at every station and may require the use of the training center. Imagination is needed sometimes in absence of equipment, if Rescue Randy is not available an old Army duffle bag filled with sandbags maybe substituted. If a Keiser sled isn’t available an old tire maybe used. The bottom line is firefighters are resourceful people, if you really want this type of physical training you can find the space, time and equipment to make it happen. Again, imagination and the desire to be better tomorrow than you are today are key ingredients in this portion of training.

 Other options for the future may include adding these fire related tasks to night drill, or having the equipment and space set up for firefighters to use at the training center on their off days. An obstacle course simulating a typical fire ground may be beneficial for rookie school candidates and current firefighters alike, and fits perfectly in line with the philosophy of work specific tasks chapter. Other work specific exercises and equipment is listed in the exercise library

BUILDING A ROUTINE

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

 There are several factors that need to be understood when developing a successful physical fitness regiment; it is not simply exercising randomly until exhausted day in and day out. A steady state of progression, regularity, overload, exercise variety, proper recovery, balance and work related activities are the key ingredients of physical success.

Progression

 It makes no sense to begin an exercise routine with no specific goal in mind. The process of establishing an attainable goal, reaching it and reestablishing new goals is vital. This process can be applied to several specific tasks in a routine or in setting one overall fitness goal for an individual. An example of this could be one firefighter wanting to beat her personal 5 mile run time, number of push-ups performed in two minutes and amount of weight dead-lifted in the gym. Another firefighter’s fitness goals might be more generalized, such as scoring a new personal best on the fitness test or loosing a certain amount of weight in a reasonable time period safely.

Regularity

 The body adapts to the workload it is subjected to. If we understand this we then understand to achieve and maintain any respectable level of fitness you must exercise on a regular basis. If we stop exercising and become sedentary our bodies will adapt, becoming soft and weak.

Overload

In order to create a body that can lift more or run longer, for example, we must provide the body with the proper stimulus. This means pushing our bodies to become stronger and faster slowly over time in an educated formula. It should be obvious that if a person enters a gym facility and never exerts themselves with a selection of light weights, the body has no reason to start producing larger muscle. The same theory would apply to running or walking, if you don’t exert yourself your body sees no need to improve itself.

Exercise variety

 The human body has an amazing ability to adapt to its current environment. If we follow the same routine, order and intensity of exercise for any extended period of time our bodies adapt and stop evolving, it has met the expected requirement. This creates a problem since we are never content with “good enough” and follow the philosophy that we always want to be better tomorrow than we are today.

Proper recovery

While one hand we want to continually overload our bodies with a variety of exercise, on the other we want to ensure our bodies have plenty of time (and nutrients) to recover and rest. Days of heavy lifting, impact such as sprinting and jumping or difficult endurance bouts will generally require either a day of rest or a day of light intensity, low impact exercise (such as swimming or an elliptical machine). To skip these days risks overtraining and injury. A fine line has to be drawn between exercising enough to stimulate progress while also allowing enough time for recovery. One reliable barometer we have to measure over training is the human heart. To do this we first take our resting heart rate, our heart rate during a period of time we are not engaged in intense exercise. For our purposes here, say your resting heart rate (in the morning when you wake up) is 60 beats per minute. From this point on we take our heart rate when we wake up in the morning and write it down. We know we are risking over training when our heart rate increases by six beats per minute. At this time we undertake a period of light exercise and recovery until our heart rate drops to or below normal rates.

Balance

 In the fire service it is imperative firefighters train and progress in all aspects of physical fitness. This means following the prescribed formula of combining warm-up, heavy resistance, muscular endurance, heart and lung training, flexibility, movement drills, core training and injury prevention in a well thought out, realistic progressive schedule. Even further, a balance must be found within each category such as (for example) swapping between running, swimming or cardio machines for our heart and lung training. Or combining a continuous rotation of body weight exercises or weights (dumbbell or barbell) when training heavy resistance.

Training cycles

A training cycle is a period of time in which exercisers, typically sports teams, adjust workloads and volume of work to accomplish sports related goals by the end of a specific time period. These sports related goals may be a one month power training cycle or a two month long hypertrophy (muscle building) training cycle. The amount of work is slowly increased over the time period until the athlete’s bodies are overloaded. Then an appropriate rest period would follow to ensure proper recovery (say 2 weeks, for example) so that when the athlete enters the next training cycle he/she is at a higher fitness level, ready to start over again. This is repeated over time, slowly hitting all aspects of fitness in phases and ensuring that the athlete is improving and well rested.

 Within training cycles, we have two basic versions. One version is linear, where the athlete trains for _ weeks on hypertrophy (for example), then _ weeks on power training, followed by _ weeks of endurance training. One benefit of this is that we focus hard on each area we want to improve in. One problem is that you could go long periods of time without training certain physical attributes. Firefighters do not have “on” and “off” seasons, we need a high level of fitness in all physical attributes year round. The other training cycle version is called undulating periodization. In this type of training we hit all of our physical attributes week round. We slowly build our volume and work loads over the period of the cycle until we begin to overload our bodies, in which at this point we enter our rest period. This type of cycle allows us to change up our sets, reps, loads and distances constantly and remain active in all physical areas year round.

HOW TO USE YOUR PRINTABLE FILL IN THE BLANK STYLE EXERCISE CALENDAR

The printable fill in the blank style calendar is ment to be an easy way for firefighters of any fitness level and knowledge level to use. It is ment to be customized and ment to allow the firefighters to schedule a logical and continually progressive routine that is accountable. When you view your calendar you will notice "phases" printed on the top in bold print. This dictates the pace, time intervals, weight and types of exercise generally done. These paces, time intervals and exercise types are printed on the paper for each day. The only thing you as the routine builder need to do is fill in the blanks using the exercise library or any other source at your disposal such as crossfit.com, coreperformance.com, any exercise book or magazine (as long as these follow our basic priciples we have mentioned previously).

REMEMBER...

Some of our basic training principles, methods, and terms,

-Progressive resistance. Your muscles adapt to the work load put on to them. When we stress them in order to grow in size or strength it is referred to overload. Muscles will not grow bigger or stronger unless this key ingredient is used. Eventually the muscles will adapt to this new work load and you will stop seeing results. When this happens, the only way to make your muscles grow is by further increasing the stress or overload put onto them. This gradual increase of work must remain constant over time.

-Reps. This is a term for one single, complete, exercise movement. In other words, lifting and lowering the weight or yourself once. When a group of these are done together it is referred to as a set.

-Training to failure. This is when the athlete lifts the weight to a point in which he/she cannot do anymore repetitions in that set. It does not mean going to the point of absolute exhaustion, it just means the body cannot recruit anymore muscle fibers to contract before resting.

-Full range of motion. Generally (there are exceptions listed later) every exercise should take the muscles through a full stretch to full contraction. This is the only way to ensure every time we are exercising the muscle to the best of our abilities.

-Heavy training. In order to help keep track of progress and stimulate the muscles it is good every once in a while to lift for maximum strength. This information kept in a training diary will be enormously useful when looking at what in the program is working and what is not. It is suggested that once a week a different exercise is attempted at maximum strength and logged. Obviously, the use of proper warm up and training partners is mandatory.

-Breathing. An easy way to remember is exhale as you exert. As you push the weight out you exhale, as you lower it you inhale.

-Rest periods between sets. With as many different approaches to exercise principles as we have covered in this book it is suggested that you reread the strength chapter in entirety for specific times and rest periods if you still have questions.

-Stacking. This is the combining of a strength exercise and a movement to build explosive power. Examples are given in the plyometrics chapter of this book. Remember to keep repetitions low and there should be no pause between lift and movement.

-Forced reps. This is a method to overload your muscles by having your workout partner assist you with repetitions when you can no longer complete them on your own. This requires experience and a partner who knows your abilities. Another method that stresses the muscles in a similar way is stop/go training. You lift to failure, rest a few seconds, continue. The longer the rest, the more reps you need to do.

-Partial reps. When you have lifted a weight until failure it is sometimes still possible to partially lift the weight or your body somewhat. This is done to further fatigue the muscles and ensure all muscle fibers have been recruited in the exercise.

-Isolation training. When one specific muscle needs extra attention in rehabilitation or correcting a muscle deficiency we isolate it. For example, if we do pull ups we are exercising in a compound fashion. We are training the biceps and the latissimus dorsi (lats). If we want to specifically want to simply train the biceps alone, isolation training, we would do one arm curls on a curl bench. For the most part, the bulk of our routine is comprised of full body, compound exercises, though isolation training does have its benefits.

- Negative repetitions. This method is done with the assistance of a training partner and is another method of fatiguing the muscles. When the last repetition is completed without assistance the partner steps in to help lift the weight, the weight is then slowly lowered by the lifter alone. This process of assisted lifts and slowly lowering the weight is repeated.

-Cheating method. This is another tactic we can employ where we are trying to further fatigue the muscles beyond normal methods. When we are using strict form to lift a weight, standing shoulder presses for example; when we are fatigued we have to lower the weight. If we use the cheating method we can use our legs to “hop” and assist in completing another repetition.

-Stripping method. This method uses the removal of plates after every set in order to increase the amount of overall sets done. For example, we want to do squats and have the weight on the bar in 10 pound plates. After each set, we drop one 10 pound plate off each side before continuing. As we fatigue, we lighten the weight.

-Staggering. This method has the exerciser moving to different body parts or moving between pushing and pulling exercises to remain fresh for each set. The exerciser may move from a chest (pushing) exercise to a back (pulling) exercise. When the exerciser moves back to the chest (pushing) exercise again the muscles in the chest have had a chance to recover and lift to their full ability.

-Priorities when strength training. When we want to lift we follow a rule of “big to small”. This means when we put out a mental list of muscles we want to train we have to come up with an intelligent order that fatigues them equally. If we want to train pulling muscles, for example, we would want to do exercises that incorporate all the “pull” muscles first. As the routine goes we work into exercising secondary muscles. First could be pull ups, where all the back muscles and the arms get worked. After, we may do a set of curls to focus on the biceps. If we were to do curls first, the biceps would be fatigued when we moved to pull ups, preventing us from completing enough pull ups to fatigue the lats.

-Supersets. This means completing two exercises, at least, in a row. This usually is two different exercises working one muscle group. Squats followed by lunges would be an example.

-I go/you go. This partner drill has the partners facing each other. When one participant finishes the other completes the exercise. This is a great motivator, turning the exercise into competition, since no one wants to be out worked or out done by their workout partner.

-21’s. An exercise is broken up into halves, the upper and lower half. When we do the exercise we do the lower half for 7 reps, the upper half for 7 reps, then 7 full reps to finish.

-Hybrid exercises. The concept is easy, combine two or more similar exercises into one fluid movement. There is no set list of exercises, just use your imagination. Examples include but are not limited to combining push ups and pull ups. Perform one push up, stand, jump up and grab pull up bar and complete one repetition. Drop to standing position. This would be one repetition.

NUTRITION/HYDRATION

NUTRITION AND HYDRATION

Basic guidelines

-You are what you eat. Garbage in, garbage out.

-Fuel. Ingest the right fuel at the right times

-5-6 medium to small meals/snacks a day

-Try to eat approximately every 2.5 to three hours

-Pre-make smart snacks, plan ahead. Prior planning prevents poor performance

-Use glycemic index table to help make smarter food choices

 Most firefighter’s food routine is a series of chaotic choices with little or no thought at all put into how that food will impact their bodies. What little though put into the food choices usually revolves around taste, convenience and cost. A typical day might look like this, if anything is eaten for breakfast (sometimes nothing) it is an after thought and just grabbed as they run out the door, something quick. The morning is spent checking out the apparatus and station duties are done, among other things. The next thing you know it is lunch time and you are starving. A heavy meal that makes you drowsy is made or bought from a sandwich shop. Dinner is another heavy meal that makes us drowsy. The final meal is something, anything, we find in the cupboards or freezer at about ten at night. This is not the case for every firefighter, but it seems to include a very large percentage of the work force. Let’s look at some ways we can clean this up, make it quick, healthy, cheap and taste good.

 We notice most of us eat three very large meals a day. This is part of our culture and is very hard to convince people to break away from. What happens is that there is so much time in between meals we get overly hungry, our brains exaggerate how hungry and how much food we really need. This causes the over eating and drowsiness. To combat this we should try eating those three main meals, but try and add snacks in between to help regulate and control apatite. It is also wise to have these snacks premade in order to control what we are eating, when we are eating and control the cost.

 Another key is portion size. Typically when firefighters hear people from the health industry talk about portion size they throw their hands up and claim that “a guy my size with my appetite could never survive on those portion sizes”. Usually what the person fails to remember is the additional meals we have added. We vary well might be eating the same total food in a day that was being consumed as before, it is just spread out over the day into smaller individual meals and some food choices may be different.

THE GLYCEMIC INDEX TABLE AND CARBOHYDRATES

The glycemic index table gives us a great list of foods we can pull from. The general idea is that some foods break down faster than others. For example, something very high on the glycemic table, table sugar.  100 calories of table sugar eaten breaks down very quickly and is absorbed into the body. The body takes what it needs and rapidly places it into the blood stream as energy, the sugar rush. If the blood sugar levels are topped off the rest goes into storage all at once, made into fat. Let’s look at another food item that is very low on the glycemic table, an apple. When the apple is eaten it takes the body longer to break this down to use as energy. As the food is slowly broken down, the body gets a sustained flow of energy, no crash. Because the calories (energy) are released to the body over a long period of time, as apposed to all at once with sugar, it is less likely to be stored as fat. The items low on the index table generally are less processed, therefore require your body to work harder for the nutrients. This controls appetite, fat absorption and energy levels.

 Another general problem we see in the fire service is that when a firefighter finds him or herself with a weight problem they will jump on a fad diet and want to loose that 50 extra pounds NOW, even though it might have taken ten years to put on. This leads to low carb diets, among others. It has been proven; not eating carbs is one way to lose weight in a hurry. If we eat one gram of carbohydrate we store three grams of water. When a fire fighter does this kind of diet the numbers on the scale go down, a lot of water and sometimes muscle is lost, not to mention energy. When you eat carbs again the weight comes back. You will eat carbs again., the body can only go so long without what it needs. Lets look at it from a firefighter point of view now. The low carb diet dehydrates us , keeps us from our primary source of energy and leads to muscle loss. Doesn’t fit into our saving lives and performing physically well plan, does it?

 On the flip side of this carbohydrate coin, if we eat too many carbs and have too little activity, or consume foods high on the glycemic table, we end up storing fat. We need to understand that carbohydrates are essential to our diet when consumed relative to our activity level and within the lower end of the glycemic index.

 Fiber is an indigestible but essential carbohydrate, it is vital to a long and problem free life. Low fiber diets lead to heart disease, cancer, diabetes and gallstones. 20-35 grams of fiber is recommended by the National Research Council. Any raw fruits and vegetables are good sources of fiber and should be consumed in place of man made or processed food options.

Examples of good sources of carbohydrates=

Apples, oranges, grapefruit, strawberries, spinach, cucumber, raw or cooked broccoli, fresh corn, green and yellow string beans, raw carrots, cabbage, peas, milk, almonds, yogurt and any whole or multigrain pasta made from non-refined grain.

PROTEIN

 Gaining and maintaining muscle and gaining strong ligaments and tendons is a key element for healthy and productive firefighters. In order to accomplish this protein is necessary. Not only does it build and maintain muscle, but it boosts the immune system, a key benefit for firefighters. An amount of 0.6 grams of protein a day per pound of body weight is recommended for the average firefighter. More physically active firefighters can bump this up to 0.8 grams per pound. Remember, this is broken up into the 5-6 meals a day we are going to be consuming.

 Our main sources of protein should be “clean” sources (low in fat). This could include fish (which contains “good” fat, listed later), baked or grilled chicken, lean cuts of beef, eggs (not cooked in grease), or whey for example. 

Examples of good sources of protein=

Lean beef, chicken breast (baked or grilled without fatty seasonings), light turkey meat, fish (again, stay away from fried foods, bake or grill), cottage cheese, egg, low fat or skim milk, peanuts, sunflower seeds, black beans, pinto beans or lentils.

FAT

 You wouldn’t think it if you looked around at a local grocery store, but fat is essential to a health body. “Low fat” and “fat free” is everywhere. Fats help regulate blood sugar levels and keep us feeling full from meal to meal. They help repair cells and joints, help mental clarity, and memory retention.

 What we need to do is understand the different kinds of fats, the ones to eat that will help us, and the ones that will hinder our progress that we want to avoid. Saturated fats (bad) clog arteries and threaten the heart, unsaturated fats do not.

 At room temperature unsaturated fats will be liquid, like olive oil, flaxseed oil and our fish oils. These generally are healthier options, though not always. An exception is something like vegetable shortening; it is unsaturated but contains trans fats. We have heard a lot about these in the news lately. Trans fats raise bad cholesterol (LDL) and not good (HDL) cholesterol.

VITAMINS AND MINERALS

To be physically fit and resistant to disease the firefighter athlete must ingest a wide variety of foods to ensure he/she is getting the proper vitamins and minerals. Vitamins and minerals come from many different foods and provide many different benefits.

-Thiamin (B1) increases energy by metabolizing carbohydrates, promotes normal appetite, digestion, maintains a healthy nerve system, grows and maintains muscle tone. Found in pork, seafood, wheat germ, bran, whole grains, and organ meats.

-Riboflavin (B2) metabolizes carbohydrates, protein and fat, releases energy to the bodies cells, and helps maintain vision. Found in milk, eggs, beef, lamb, dark poultry meat, dark green leafy vegetables, and broccoli. 

-Pyridoxine (B6) metabolizes protein and carbohydrates, forms oxygen carrying red blood cells, and is required in the production of antibodies. Found in whole grains and meat, fish, poultry, spinach, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, bananas, and watermelon.

-Cobalamin (B12) metabolizes carbohydrates, protein and fat; forms red blood cells and may help protect against heart disease. It is found in meats, dairy products, eggs, liver, and fish.

-Niacin is key in producing enzymes that convert food into energy, metabolizes carbohydrates, protein, and fat. Niacin also improves circulation and reduces cholesterol levels in the blood as well as possibly protect against cancer. Found in lean meats, liver, poultry, fish, peanuts, and wheat germ.

-Folic acid regulates growth, breaks down proteins, forms red blood cells, protects against heart disease. Folic acid is found in green leafy vegetables, poultry,legumes, orange and grapefruit juice and liver.

-Biotin breaks down fats and is found in egg yolks, nuts, seeds, legumes, and liver.

-Pantothenic acid (B5) is key in cellular energy production, fatty acid oxidation, manufactures adrenal hormones, and is required in the production of antibodies. It is found in a very wide variety of foods.

-Vitamin A, key in growth and repair, building of body structures (hair, nails, gums, skin, glands), good eye sight, reduces risk of certain cancers and premature aging. This is found in low-fat or skim dairy products, fortified cereals, green or orange vegetables, deep yellow or orange fruits and organ meats.

- Vitamin D, key to bone growth and development and is needed for body to absorb calcium. Sources include sunlight, fortified dairy products, and fish oils.

Vitamin K, key in glycogen formation, blood clotting, and normal liver function. Sources include spinach and other leafy green vegetables, milk and yogurt, oats, wheat bran, potatoes, and cabbage.

-Vitamin E, helps form red blood cells, muscles, tissue, and preserves fatty acids. Sources include poultry, seafood, seeds, nuts, cooked greens, wheat germ, fortified cereals and eggs.

-Vitamin C, helps bind cells together, strengthens blood vessel walls and acts as an antihistamine against colds. Good sources include citrus fruits, citrus juices, strawberries, cantaloupe, watermelon, sweet potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, red and green peppers, plantains and snow peas.

-Calcium, helps build strong bones and teeth, promotes proper muscle and nerve function, helps blood clot and activate enzymes needed to convert food into energy. Sources include milk and milk products, canned salmon (with bones), oysters, broccoli, and tofu.

-Phosphorus, works with calcium to promote strong bones and teeth and convert food to energy. Sources are dairy products, egg yolks, meat, poultry, fish, and legumes.

-Magnesium, activates enzymes needed to release energy into body, bone growth, and make new cells. Sources include green leafy vegetables, beans, nuts, fortified whole grain, cereal, and bread, oysters and scallops.

-Iron, essential in making hemoglobin (carries oxygen) and myoglobin (stores oxygen in muscles). Found in red meat, liver, shellfish, legumes, fortified bread and cereal.

-Zinc, key in digestion and metabolism. Beef, liver, oysters, yogurt, and fortified cereals and wheat germ are great sources.

-Selenium, interacts with vitamin E to prevent breakdown of fats and body chemicals. Sources include chicken, seafood, wholegrain breads, wholegrain cereals, egg yolks, mushrooms, onions, and garlic.

-Copper, stimulates iron absorption, needed in making red blood cells, connective tissue, and nerve fibers. Sources include lobster, organ meat, nuts, dried peas, beans, prunes and barley.

-Iodine, essential in normal thyroid gland function. Sources include iodized salt and seafood.

-Manganese, needed for normal tendon and bone structure, metabolism. Sources include tea, coffee, bran, dried peas, beans and nuts.

-Molybdenum, needed for metabolism and regulation of iron storage. Sources include dried peas and beans, dark green leafy vegetables, organ meats, and whole grain breads and cereals.

-Chromium, works with insulin for proper glucose metabolism. Sources include whole grain breads, and cereals, brewer’s yeast, and peanuts.

-Sulfur, component of several amino acids, needed to make hair and nails. Sources include wheat germ, dried peas and beans, beef, peanuts, and clams.

-Potassium, with sodium, helps regulate body fluid balance, promotes proper nerve impulses and muscle contraction, and proper metabolism. Sources include bananas, citrus fruits, dried fruits, deep yellow vegetables, potatoes, legumes, low-fat milk, and bran cereal.

-Sodium, helps maintain body fluid balance. Sources include salt, and milk.

-Chloride, important in digestion. Sources are the same as sodium.

HYDRATION

 The human body is 70 percent water. Your muscles are 80 percent water. You can go for a long time without food, but without water you will die in just a few days. Establishing and maintaining hydration is possibly the most important physical thing you, as a firefighter, can do to ensure success and health. To be on duty dehydrated could very easily be considered a safety hazard as dehydration leads to earlier fatigue and loss of coordination. This can be eliminated by drinking the proper fluids throughout the day. It is not enough to rely on thirst as a signal to drink water, we all should know that when you’re thirsty you are already dehydrated. Urine color is an accurate meter in determining our hydration level. Pale color or no color at all generally means you are hydrated, although caffeine and alcohol both have this affect as well.

A note about “biggest looser” type competitions and the fire service.

 Firefighters are often asked to participate or compete in these “who can loose the most weight the fastest” inter department competitions. For our safety, and for the well being of the citizens and visitors of Savannah, we should avoid this and set long term, lasting weight management goals. What these competitions usually end up doing is teach risky unhealthy behavior such as carbohydrate restriction and encourage water restricting techniques. As firefighters we need to be ready to engage in very strenuous physical activity in extreme heat with extreme consequences for failure. If we sat in air conditioned offices or had no consequences for a day we just didn’t feel like being active it would be fine. But a firefighter entering a building to make a save that has depleted his/her diet of fats and carbohydrates for energy risks making the biggest mistake of their life. For what? The weight lost from any quick results, win a “biggest looser” competition will be gained back in a short period, continuing the poor weight management and risking lives. Firefighters need to set long term goal they will do for the rest of their lives and be ready to fight fire right now.