Firefighter Strength Building Plan

by Personal Trainers

QUESTION:

I am 5'8" tall, weigh 203 pounds do not know my body fat but am a type 2 diabetic for the last 8 years. I am a volunteer firefighter and I am 47 years old. A bunch of us at the station have decided to enter the Firefighter Combat Challenge scheduled for September 2010. I am active but not exercise orientated. I still go into working fires but feel in oreder to compete I need a good strength building workout plan. What do you suggest?

ANSWER:

According to the information on the official website for the firefighter Combat Challenge the events are as follows:

Wearing "full bunker gear" and the SCOTT Air-Pak breathing apparatus, pairs of competitors race head-to-head as they simulate the physical demands of real-life firefighting by performing a linked series of five tasks including climbing the 5-story tower, hoisting, chopping, dragging hoses and rescuing a life-sized, 175 lb. "victim" as they race against themselves, their opponent and the clock.

While strength is important for fighter fighting what you're looking at is more anaerobic endurance. You can look at Anaerobic endurance as bridging the gap between strength and aerobic endurance. The events for the Firefighter Combat Challenge are going to last longer than pure strength activities such as powerlifting but shorter than pure aerobic activities such as 10k running.

Since the event is about 6 months away you have time to properly train yourself to do well in the event as well as better your fitness which will help you turn 50 in the best shape of your life and no longer be a diabetic.

Your training should begin with general cardio such as a stationary bike or stair stepper until you are comfortable with completing 30 minutes. After you establish a base level of fitness then you can become more aggressive in your cardio training adding higher intensity, activity specific exercises such as the Versa Climber to your program along with high intensity interval cardio as well as weight training.

Since your events will likely last from 60 seconds to no longer than 5 minutes, you should try to get your training program to mimic the activities as much as possible, but establishing your baseline fitness level should be your #1 priority at this time.

High Intensity Interval Cardio Workout Examples