Firefighters

Preparing for Fire Academy

A common mistake made by prospective Firefighters is a lack of physical preparation for the job. Recruits will spend months preparing for the written tests, years in school getting certified, and countless hours studying for interviews. Why spend all that time preparing if you show up to your first day of Academy out of shape?

The Paradigm Shift

Conventional physical preparation has been centered around making sure you could just pass the Physical Agility Course specified by the Department you’re testing for this month. Running for aerobic endurance and weight lifting for strength are the only training most prospective Firefighters will do. While endurance and strength are important for firefighting, they only represent 1/5th of the 10 General Physical Skills!

Expect this question during your Chief’s Interview, “What have you done to prepare for the physical challenges of your Academy and the job?”

They do not want to hear that you run once in a while, or that you just started working out 2 months ago. Even worse- if you make something up, they will call you on it. Many of you will only prepare for the Physical Agility test, expecting your Academy to be the easy part… Big Mistake!

The Leaders

Fire Departments like Orange County Fire, Honolulu Fire, Parker Fire District in Colorado, and the Marietta Fire Dept. in Georgia have all recognized the importance of CrossFit. Conventional PT was failing to produce the results, motivation, and team-oriented environment that Firefighters need. They now use CrossFit to train everyone from the new recruits to the seasoned vets and the results speak for themselves.

“Putting Out Fires”

This article by Lon Kilgore, Ph.D. reviews a few of the departments who have implemented CrossFit style training and their results.

Click here to download the CrossFit Journal Article “Putting Out Fires” (384 KB PDF)

Excerpt:
“Traditional physical training used by lots of firefighters is often limited to linear aerobic movement (running) and linear strength training (machines). Neither of these modalities is applicable to the multiplanar challenges of a firefighter competition course—or, for that matter, to the actual job demands of a firefighter.” Lon Kilgore, Ph.D.

Option 1

  • Come to CrossFit Hardbodies in Port St. Lucie and train with other professional Firefighters, Special Forces, elite athletes and Coaches who know what they’re doing.
  • Be amazed and wonder why everyone else isn’t doing this too.
  • Learn functional movements that directly mirror job related tasks, develop a work capacity that can’t be matched by the average commercial gym member, and do it all in a motivating team setting.
Option 2

  • Train on your own, using commercial gyms that are ill-equipped for functional movements.
  • Wonder what other Firefighters are doing to prepare themselves.
  • Learn new types of bicep curls from a magazine, wonder if it matters outside the gym.