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Workout regimen ideas???
So in order for me to have a chance as a firefighter i need to lose quite a bit of weight. I'm hoping you all could offer me some tips, ideas, work outs, etc on what i should be doing? and eating? etc. If anyones got a good one, please respond!!
-Lacey
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by WestPhilly on
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1. Walk/Run
2. Lift weights
3. Eat less/Eat healthy
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Permalink Reply by Amanda Pearson on
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If you google CPAT workouts, that will be your best bet! Good luck!
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Permalink Reply by Lacey Hudson on
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Thanks guys!
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Permalink Reply by Fabulous Heather Days of Summer on
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Get a stable amount of sleep.
Workout every day. Good cardio exercise at least 5 days a week.
Yoga is great to help with agility and breathing management. Stretch out daily so you don't pull muscles on scene.
My favorite workouts - water aerobics, swimming laps, indoor aerobics, step aerobics, water skiing, snow skiing, volleyball, and racquetball. Pick your favorites.
Get a few stable friend workout buddies who will consistently workout with you every week.
Machine weight training on each part of your body helps too. Think - 3 major muscle workouts - Strong upper body strength - strong core torso - strong legs.
It is not so much about how much you weigh - it is about being strong and healthy using what you have - so you don't get injured.
You must have a strong back and good abdominal strength with good muscle health.
You will spend a lot of time bending, lifting, crouching, squatting, climbing, and crawling. Some people even wear knee pads under their gear because they find they have knee pain from all the knee activity.
Since women are not built with the muscle mass options that men are, you will need to work out personally more than the average male firefighters. But you may also have some physical skills as a woman, that the average man does not have such as physical flexibility and the ability to climb into small places and your young female body (well-conditioned) may be better at air management compared to some of the big guys.
Emotional health is even more important than physical health - don't bring your personal drama to the fire house.
If you have physical health issues - get them cleaned up - such as allergies or old injuries or diabetes. Get stable medical health - since you will need to pass a medical clearance. You don't ever want to be on pain on scene from an un-addressed medical issue. Even dental pain can be distacting - andbeing distracted on scene can lead to death - so budget overall good health care !!!
Get a good massage therapist - it helps when you have a hard day with very little sleep and a great deal of emotional and physical stress and grief over your job - you can work it out and collect yourself for the next day.
Read some of the old posts - these cover this topic.
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Permalink Reply by Vic Silverfish on
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Heather, this is a great post!
I would add one thing:
Women don't have the brute muscle mass that men have, so you need to work smarter then the blokes. This means focusing on technique and putting some thought into how you will do things that require a lot of strength - raising ladders, carrying entry kit, rescues, etc. Men can often bull their way through it, women need to use their heads and be smarter than the men - usually this is not difficult.
Good luck and stick with it! Even the most brutal fitness regime becomes a lot easier after the first 3-4 weeks!
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High Protein - always have protein on hand. Nuts, Peanut Butter, & Eggs are good, quick sources. Eat and stretch right after calls, since you may end up with back to back calls and may not get a chance later. Make sure you eat before / enroute to calls - PB&J Sandwiches work on the go - so that you have energy to work on scene - and you may not be back to the station of home for 20 hours or more... and you may not see food (or a bathroom) for 10 hours or more.
Pee before you leave your house for every call - if you can. One call may turn into 5 calls. So don't ever assume you will be back home quickly. It may sound odd, but you need to focus on scene - and unlike the men, you can't easily step behind a tree and pee.
Don't ever assume you "will get a chance later" to do anything. Often, the pager will take away that chance. Most departments don't get 3 consecutive nights of sleep - so taking naps helps too.
And DRINK LOTS OF WATER... and always have gatorade on hand to help balance your electrolytes. And always have Ibuprophen on hand for the days when your joints and muscles are swollen and tired and need an extra helping hand.
Get protein bars / granola bars and water to always carry in your vehicle. And carry an extra change of clothes and shoes.
Watch your fried food intake and cholesterol. Since the adrenaline rush which comes with each pager tone dumps adrenaline... and bad cholesterol... into your body system. IF they are false alarms or short calls, your body will transfer the adrenaline into bad cholesterol, so you need to work out physically right after false alarm calls to burn the excess chemical dump out of your body.
I was also thinking about clothing. Sweats works well. Tight jeans - not so much. You have to wear flexible clothing under your gear.
You also have to take off all metal - no earrings, piercings, rings, underwires, etc. Nothing sucks more than getting burned because you forgot to take off something metal. Leave your valuable things like wedding ring - in your car.
And if you are injured, consider NOT going to calls for a few days or weeks to heal - because your injury will compromise you and will put the whole team at risk.
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Permalink Reply by Spanner 122 on
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Crossfit
Nutrition
Two very easy answers. If crossfit is not for you, hit the weights to increase muscle mass. This will help you burn calories/fat more efficiently.
Nutrition is key though. Lower your meat intake, get lots of fruits and vegetables, healthy grains and lean protein (do not overdo it as many will believe the "marketing hype" and tell you to take in 30-50%... WAY TOO MUCH, 15% protein is all you need), easy on the fats!
Work hard, sacrifice a little and you will not only see the weight fall off, you will see yourself getting stronger as well!
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Permalink Reply by Roger Waters on
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Hey Lacey, a great workout site is crossfit.com
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Permalink Reply by 21knc5ex67i8w on
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P90X and/or Insanity!
www.beachbody.com
no question the best workouts I have ever done. You will have no trouble passing a CPAT or any physical agility test any department throws at you.
From personal experience, I dropped 40lbs in 12 weeks on P90X and got extreme physical conditioning using Insanity. These programs are not an entry level workouts by any means, but you can tailor them to your current physical abilities and then you will be surprised how fast you get in shape and asking for more!
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Yes, the Beach Body Workouts are awesome. P90X is there newest and you can easily do it at home for cheap.
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Permalink Reply by Elijah Davis on
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The best fittness program I have found is p90x which most departments use p90x and crossfit but I like the p90x better
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