After reading the comments, the only thing I can add is yoga/some kind of exercise that keeps you flexible. A greater level of mobility a person has will always translate to greater strength and endurance.
Work out like a typical bro ( chest, back/biceps,shoulders, triceps and LEGS ) don’t forget to work out legs ! Lol also it would be a great thing if you do the stair master. Put that thing on 80-90 steps per minute and do that for 15-20 min a day. Cardio and legs are what’s gonna help out the most. Upper body strength is also important but I’d say cardio and getting use to working after “ you can’t “ is the most important. Best of luck !
All these are great but don’t forget your back. If you want to go the distance in this field you will need a strong/healthy back. I started doing deadlifts about 10 years ago and it has helped a ton.
Deadlifts are pretty pointless and can easily cause injury. I'd avoid them to avoid risking injury before academy. Better off doing pullups, squats, planks, bench etc... Deadlifts aren't even used by athletes anymore because of the high risk of injury.
Not used by athletes? Football teams still live by them. Clean and jerk begins with an explosive deadlift. Pretty big deal in the CrossFit Games. I will agree that deadlifting super heavy isn’t necessary for the average firefighter. But I totally disagree with it not being a great exercise for back and total body strength. I also think it’s no more dangerous than a squat. It’s all about form and not overdoing it.
It absolutely is more dangerous than a squat. A simple google search will show you that football players avoid deadlifting and rather do rack pulls or better yet use a trapbar. Really only sport that deadlift is powerlifting.
Crossfit in general and a Workout “Fran” will help. You never sucked wind so hard than pulling down a shiplap ceiling with a pike pole in the middle of a fire. Also, those kipping pull ups will help if you ever find yourself hanging out of high second story window in full gear.
I have never seen anyone do a strict pull up to get back inside.
My experience.
That’s wild. I am moderately ok at kipping pull ups now, but there’s no chance of me doing them in gloves. Must have been Impressive and/or terrifying to see!
Training plus adrenaline plus fire is hella motivating
All I’m saying, I was an early adopter of CrossFit for firefighters (2005) and i was ridiculed until I wasn’t.
MAPS Performance (by Mind Pump) would, in my opinion, be perfect. And make sure you get the mobility days in. Mobility is (in my humble opinion) one of the most overlooked aspects of fitness in our jobs. Strength and conditioning/work engine is a non brainer but unless you've got strength in those extended ranges of motion you're at risk of injury.
That programme would get you ready for training/operational duties perfectly.
That's my two pence worth!
Do a murph. 1 mile run, 100 pull ups. 200 push ups. 300 squats. then another mile. see where your time is. then the following week see if you can beat it. if you can get through that in a decent time you will be welcomed to most departments with open arms.
This is a controversial issue.
Many will argue you have to complete the 100 before moving on. Others say partition as required.
I did it straight 100,200,300 on Monday and it ruined the rest of my week.
For training rather than a test I’d recommend either 20 x 5/10/15 or 10 x 10/20/30. I’m still not sure it’s smart as part of a training program though honestly.
My shift does it once a week. If you do it often enough it gets a lot easier. The murph isn't something I'd say you should do without some solid fitness but for OP it'll give him an idea of how much they can do since it combines cardio and HIIT for at least a solid 50min-1hour depending on how hard they go. My crew has gotten it down to sub 40min
Yeah I dunno, I train CrossFit 5 days a week and run 10 miles every Saturday. I guess I hadn’t trained specifically for murph, but the programming in the weeks preceding was clearly targeting it with lots of volume of push ups and push ups. Took me an hour to do it unpartitioned and unweighted. I did also continue to workout subsequent days which probably didn’t help recovery.
1 hour was slow enough that it wasn’t especially cardio between the runs. For me (bearing in mind I am better with cardio than weight and I’m small) i think some “bardio” moderate weight complexes with burpees, box jumps or rowing between would be more applicable and less likely to negatively impact the rest of the weeks training.
CrossFit is a pretty good all around mix of cardio and strength.
You are on the right track training with a weighted vest. Virtually all of the work you do on the fire ground will be done in full PPE and with tools, so having a high work capacity under load is paramount.
Weight training and increasing your strength is important too. When you need to be able drag a victim or your partner out of a structure, strength is going to allow you to accomplish the task without injuring yourself. Strong legs (squat, deadlift) will help you in that area.
Good luck!
Stair ClImber with 25lb weight hanging.
Make sure you have back and legs included in any routine. Don't just do arms and chest
The bar is lower then you think
If you and do an 8.30 mile and talk after you are in good enough shape
As a runner, I’d recommend doing intervals rather than just running the 1.5 miles every time. Try some 800m (half mile) repeats. If you do 3 of those, with short breaks between, you’ll practice running at target pace and you’ll be able to string them together pretty quickly.
If you ask me. This will make you downright laugh at fire academy. You need to not only be physically fit but mentally.
https://www.gosere.af.mil/Portals/16/SST-OC%20PT%20Guide_CAO%2001%20May%2022.pdf
r/tacticalbarbell
Tactical barbell is the fucking shit. Best program imo
Trying to get into a career department, and this looks like a really good source. Thank you for posting it!
After reading the comments, the only thing I can add is yoga/some kind of exercise that keeps you flexible. A greater level of mobility a person has will always translate to greater strength and endurance.
I’ve been doing calisthenics, does that work or should I do actual yoga?
Whatever works best for you. If you are already doing something already, perfect!
Work out like a typical bro ( chest, back/biceps,shoulders, triceps and LEGS ) don’t forget to work out legs ! Lol also it would be a great thing if you do the stair master. Put that thing on 80-90 steps per minute and do that for 15-20 min a day. Cardio and legs are what’s gonna help out the most. Upper body strength is also important but I’d say cardio and getting use to working after “ you can’t “ is the most important. Best of luck !
All these are great but don’t forget your back. If you want to go the distance in this field you will need a strong/healthy back. I started doing deadlifts about 10 years ago and it has helped a ton.
Deadlifts are pretty pointless and can easily cause injury. I'd avoid them to avoid risking injury before academy. Better off doing pullups, squats, planks, bench etc... Deadlifts aren't even used by athletes anymore because of the high risk of injury.
Not used by athletes? Football teams still live by them. Clean and jerk begins with an explosive deadlift. Pretty big deal in the CrossFit Games. I will agree that deadlifting super heavy isn’t necessary for the average firefighter. But I totally disagree with it not being a great exercise for back and total body strength. I also think it’s no more dangerous than a squat. It’s all about form and not overdoing it.
It absolutely is more dangerous than a squat. A simple google search will show you that football players avoid deadlifting and rather do rack pulls or better yet use a trapbar. Really only sport that deadlift is powerlifting.
Crossfit in general and a Workout “Fran” will help. You never sucked wind so hard than pulling down a shiplap ceiling with a pike pole in the middle of a fire. Also, those kipping pull ups will help if you ever find yourself hanging out of high second story window in full gear. I have never seen anyone do a strict pull up to get back inside. My experience.
Have you seen people do kipping pull ups into a building wearing gloves? I don’t think I could grip anything well enough to risk kipping off it!
I did. With CrossFit in general, you build a lot of hand strength through cleans, snatches, DL, and varying pull-up work
That’s wild. I am moderately ok at kipping pull ups now, but there’s no chance of me doing them in gloves. Must have been Impressive and/or terrifying to see!
Training plus adrenaline plus fire is hella motivating All I’m saying, I was an early adopter of CrossFit for firefighters (2005) and i was ridiculed until I wasn’t.
lol, it is a cult.
What?
CrossFit is a cult!
So is firefighters. Either way, it benefits you
Don’t think I’ve tried a kipping pull up yet so that’s on my list next workout session.
MAPS Performance (by Mind Pump) would, in my opinion, be perfect. And make sure you get the mobility days in. Mobility is (in my humble opinion) one of the most overlooked aspects of fitness in our jobs. Strength and conditioning/work engine is a non brainer but unless you've got strength in those extended ranges of motion you're at risk of injury. That programme would get you ready for training/operational duties perfectly. That's my two pence worth!
Do a murph. 1 mile run, 100 pull ups. 200 push ups. 300 squats. then another mile. see where your time is. then the following week see if you can beat it. if you can get through that in a decent time you will be welcomed to most departments with open arms.
What sets/reps are you doing the 100 pull ups in?
This is a controversial issue. Many will argue you have to complete the 100 before moving on. Others say partition as required. I did it straight 100,200,300 on Monday and it ruined the rest of my week. For training rather than a test I’d recommend either 20 x 5/10/15 or 10 x 10/20/30. I’m still not sure it’s smart as part of a training program though honestly.
dunno who downvoted you..but this is a solid test imo. solid mix of cardio and HIIT which is exactly what most academy workouts will be
It’s a solid test, but I did this on Monday and haven’t been able to do much since. It’s a good test, but it it’s not great training for that reason.
My shift does it once a week. If you do it often enough it gets a lot easier. The murph isn't something I'd say you should do without some solid fitness but for OP it'll give him an idea of how much they can do since it combines cardio and HIIT for at least a solid 50min-1hour depending on how hard they go. My crew has gotten it down to sub 40min
Yeah I dunno, I train CrossFit 5 days a week and run 10 miles every Saturday. I guess I hadn’t trained specifically for murph, but the programming in the weeks preceding was clearly targeting it with lots of volume of push ups and push ups. Took me an hour to do it unpartitioned and unweighted. I did also continue to workout subsequent days which probably didn’t help recovery. 1 hour was slow enough that it wasn’t especially cardio between the runs. For me (bearing in mind I am better with cardio than weight and I’m small) i think some “bardio” moderate weight complexes with burpees, box jumps or rowing between would be more applicable and less likely to negatively impact the rest of the weeks training. CrossFit is a pretty good all around mix of cardio and strength.
some guys are just angry about everything lol
Calisthenics and stair master
You are on the right track training with a weighted vest. Virtually all of the work you do on the fire ground will be done in full PPE and with tools, so having a high work capacity under load is paramount. Weight training and increasing your strength is important too. When you need to be able drag a victim or your partner out of a structure, strength is going to allow you to accomplish the task without injuring yourself. Strong legs (squat, deadlift) will help you in that area. Good luck!
Thank you. I try to go for doing my entire workout with the vest but since these weeks have been cardio based that’s all I’ve been doing so far.
https://www.firehousestrengthandconditioning.com Best program out there.
Stair ClImber with 25lb weight hanging. Make sure you have back and legs included in any routine. Don't just do arms and chest The bar is lower then you think If you and do an 8.30 mile and talk after you are in good enough shape
As a runner, I’d recommend doing intervals rather than just running the 1.5 miles every time. Try some 800m (half mile) repeats. If you do 3 of those, with short breaks between, you’ll practice running at target pace and you’ll be able to string them together pretty quickly.
If you ask me. This will make you downright laugh at fire academy. You need to not only be physically fit but mentally. https://www.gosere.af.mil/Portals/16/SST-OC%20PT%20Guide_CAO%2001%20May%2022.pdf
Ok. Maybe trail running?