Pysical Training

[JKitchen]

Being new, I may have already missed a discusion on this....

I was wondering what kind of physical training program people follow and if fire-medics train diferently than 'pure' medics.

More specifically, I am curious to what types of resistance training is done, (exercises, rep schemes etc.) and what kind of cardio work is done.

Thanks for any input.

[paramedicmike]

Lately I've been doing a lot of cardio/aerobic workouts in prep for a 10 miler I'm running in Oct.

Usually, though, I'll do a good mix of cardio/weights. Run/eliptical/biking are all good for cardio. Weights usually consists of a mix of isometric and weights. Nothing too heavy. I don't want to look like some muscle bound knucklehead. I'll go in spurts of lower weights with high reps and higher weights with lower reps to build some strenght and tone.

I'm probably going to be switching gyms here shortly to one with a pool. I'd like to try a couple triathlons and need to work on my swimming.

With all the lifting and moving in this job how can we not do some sort of exercise routine?

For the record, while I have worked for a fire based service in the past, my current employer is a municipal EMS only 911 service.

-be safe.

[Nate]

If your trying to build up to a ten mile run, then all you need to do is run. I was a cross country runner in high school and part of college. I had a 4:50 mile my senior year in high school.

Start by running a mile, then start adding on miles. You want to build up to twice what ever your race is going to be as far as distance. (Unless you run a marathon.) Once you are able to make it 12-20 miles with out stopping, (I wouldn't go more than 15 miles at once in your case.) you can start working on building speed.

Change up your distance though, maybe run four miles on Monday, five on Tuesday, six on Wednesday, eight on Thursday, then two on Friday, ten to tweleve on Saturday, and one to two on Sunday for recovery. The trick is to make sure you run at least a mile a day. That is about thirtyfive to fourty miles a week right there.

To build speed you want to do intervals. Warm up with a mile run, then do 200mm hard, 400mm easy, 200 hard, 400 easy. You can do this till your running 1 mile hard and 800mm easy, then 1 mile hard, etc. This will help build speed.

You need to make sure you know what time your run is going to be. If you train in the morning but race at 1500, then you need to make sure you do your interval training in the afternoon when it is hot. I use to run in place in a sona (spelling?) at 120+ to build up my tolerance.

Be sure to stretch, do cold tubs for your legs, warm tubs for your body, drink lots of water even if you aren't thirsty, eat carbs, and I bet you'll find yourself feeling happy, less prone to getting sick, and having more energy if you keep up the running.

[paramedicmike]

Ok...maybe I should've specified that part of my cardio/aerobic traning included a running program. Also, studies have shown that weight training, as part of a comprehensive work out program (whether training for a run, bike or whatever kind of race), can help reduce the incidence of injuries suffered by the participant. I don't like injuries. They hurt and keep me from doing all the things I like to do.

And while you had no way of knowing this, I've been running competitively for more than 20 years. I'm ok with working out a training program. I just didn't go into gross detail as I didn't want to turn this into a thread on training for a distance race.

Thank you, however, for posting your training ideas as I'm sure it could help others.

Peace.

-be safe.