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Thread: Strength Training in Firefighters

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
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    Default Strength Training in Firefighters

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    by John Musser

    "Many don’t understand how dark it is inside a burning house,” Brent said. “You simply move toward the glowing fire – you are stumbling and sometimes falling over what’s left of somebody’s stuff. It is always interesting to go back in afterwards, to see what you got hung up on. But since I’ve been training, I do have an extra ten minutes of air. That’s been helpful."

    Article

  2. #2
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    Feb 2012
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    Greensburg, PA
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    Great article Musser-- Applied Strength Science at its best. I'll be printing out copies and delivering them to the local Hose Companies in the area.

  3. #3
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    I'm a retired fire chief. I survived a heart attack related to a line of duty incident, and Starting Strength has been a large part of my rehabilitation. I exchanged emails with the author, and he asked me to share my experience.

    ----------------------------

    Kirk,
    Thank you very much for sharing this with me, and most importantly thank you for the work you do.

    I very much appreciate your comments, especially considering your decades of fire fighting experience and your use of Starting Strength to get back up and running.

    Your story is an important one and your comments are valuable. Would you consider sharing this on the Starting Strength Forum?

    thank you again,
    Be safe
    John

    On Wednesday, February 17, 2016, Kirk Fredericks <KFredericks@wolfville.ca> wrote:
    John

    Excellent article. Your description of the work we do is the best I've ever read. You captured the stresses and dangers perfectly.

    I've been training seriously for close to two years now, and it's definitely made me a better firefighter. I'm just short of 60, and am in the best shape of my life, mostly due to doing powerlifting. I was the Chief of our department for a few years, and during my time in that role I had a good gym area set up including a power rack and 400 pounds of proper weights, in addition to a cable strength machine and cardio equipment. Firefighter fitness was one of my obsessions. I'm proud to see over a third of the members working out in a serious and regular manner.

    I had an unexpected heart attack in 2014, a day after a smoke inhalation incident. I was fit aerobically, but not lifting very seriously at the time. It was a close call, and mainly hereditary issues. I had little to change in my lifestyle except less stress and more exercise. I stepped down as Chief 10 months later at the end of my term to reduce the demands to one job. We are volunteers and I still work full time.

    I worked hard at my re-hab, and took to powerlifting in a big way. I'm committed to an hour of exercise a day for heart health, and figured I might as well lift to build a toy for the wife. I recently had a cardiac stress test to see if I could go back into SCBA and SCUBA for recoveries. Thanks to the fitness results from SS, I crushed the test and at 59, am actually fit enough to deploy with the military. Despite this, the kids still wet themselves when I strap on an air pack or scuba, so I content myself with driving the big trucks.

    Thanks for the insightful article. Few get it right when describing our work.

    Kirk

    _____________________


    Kirk Fredericks
    Retired Fire Chief
    Full time Grandpa

  4. #4
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    Feb 2016
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    Good article! I have 12 years on a career dept. In an inner city in nj . Shifts are 24 hrs long. And we are busy from start to finish. Weight training, cardio, and sports keep me in shape and have become a cornerstone for me. Something very important not mentioned in the article is that exercise can help you keep injury free. Joints become stronger and more protected. My knees have never been better since squats are always being done. And another detail, when a report of a fire comes in at 2am after u been sleeping for an hr or 2 and the report says victims trapped. Your heart goes from a slow 60 bpm right to 100 and you immediately start to produce adrenaline. This can be very hard on one's heart. So good cardio at least helps. Also after the adrenaline the cortisol comes next and we know what cortisol does to muscles. So proper diet and training helps in that area as well.

  5. #5
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    May 2015
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    John - Inspiring & fascinating article. Thx for sharing it.

    And to Farback, Whippedeye, Brent.....and the all the rest of the firefighters out there (especially the ones using strength training!) a big thank you from the rest of us who sleep better at night knowing you are out there waiting to help whenever & wherever needed.

  6. #6
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    Great article John! Your description of what it is like to work in a structure fire and especially your description of a vehicle extrication were very well written. As a career firefighter, 4 years into what I hope will be 30 years, I completely agree that the development of strength is highly important for job performance and safety.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
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    starting strength coach development program
    Thanks to all for taking the time to comment on the article.

    Nick, thank you for distributing the article to those it will benefit and I look forward to seeing you and your lifters soon.

    40Stronger, thank you for the kind words, and getting stronger as you get older is something to be very proud of.

    Thanks especially to the firefighters for your comments and the back ground information to provide context. I tormented Brent with a lot of questions to make sure the article was accurate and your responses are very rewarding.

    Be safe
    John

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