All of you bombero's hear me out, I fight MMA and boxing as a pro. It has been brought to my attention that my off-duty passion may be a little hazardous to my health, but I bring to the table a lot of perks for the department. First of all, i help all the guys with diet, physical training and any training for free no questions asked for my brothers! Second of all I believe it is a great way to get the fire department's name out in the public for P.R reasons( even though i am not a PIO yet). Finally, it gives us all something to look forward to when fights come around and the support from the department is vital hence the code of the brotherhood. Even though i am not the only firefighter fighting pro, I am the only Federal Fireman as of now. Everybody knows the stats of heart attacks and physical limitations of firefighters when $@IT hits the fan. That will not be me and I don't want any of my fellow firefighters going down either, if i can help it! Let me hear your thoughts and ideals about how I can make this a regular physical training method for all departments in a controlled setting of course.

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Best of luck on your career DB.

As far as hazardous off-duty injuires, I can see your department's concern with you being unable to report fit for duty, or arriving un-injured or possibly suffering an on-duty event that may unveil an old or recent MMA injury. You see the department would be concerned with inheriting all your body's physical abuse over your fighting career.

As far a PIO thing, I can't really see how this would be a positive image thing for any department. Don't get me wrong, I love MMA and watch it alot, but I can't think of a fire department who would get any positive PR from a guy who kicks the crap out of other people for money. We are supposed to be tough, deal with fires, rescues, medical emergenices but we are not in the enforcer business either.

As far as personal training, and diet help - absolutely good perks for the brothers. But I know in my department this first duty related exercise injury, workmen comp will be investigating the injury event, what we were doing, was it "department approved" exercise activity and was it JOB RELATED?

I have seen guys with a broken finger from playing basketball get denied claims as it is not job related...
Hey DB,

Here's my thoughts:

While I totally admire the courage and commitment it takes to excel in this sport, if I had a dedicated, capable FF on my crew. One that was obviously willing to do what it takes to be 100% physically ready for this job. And I spent the time and money to train this FF to think his way out of any situation and to be mentally prepared to deal with all the psycological demands, I would do everything within my power to encourage this FF to avoid activities which involved repeated blows to the head.

TCSS

Reg
I agree with FETC and Reg. I'm a former fighter (age won that fight) who became involved in firefighting. And I know what it feels like for the next couple days after a "good" fight, whether you win or lose. Now consider getting toned in the wee hours. You will not be in your best shape to be a firefighter, and that is a bad thing. I know I want to be 110% if my brothers need me, not fighting the battle within of trying to overcome previous injuries. Also, I agree that Workers comp. will give you a hard time with benefits when they find out about the MMA deal. They get kinda picky about those things.

I do,however, agree that with your knowledge of exercising and diet, you will be very beneficial to your crew and anyone else who wishes to participate. I believe every firefighter should strive to be in the best possible shape that their situation allows. And you would be a prime candidate for helping those who wish to do that. I wouldn't try to get a full contact firefighter squad though. I've helped people in our dept. with exercise tips and such too. But I would never, even in a controlled setting, gear up a MMA training plan for firefighters. The exercises-yes...the diet and nutrition---yes......the fighting--no.

Anyways, ..just my 2 cents. I applaud you in what you are doing and I wish you the best in being the best fighter you can be and the best firefighter you can be.

Who's getting the win next Saturday? I'm going with Evans.

Keep safe and have fun bro.

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