If you have been following Loose Topics for sometime now you probably know we are on all the social networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkdIn etc. We started doing video blogs and pod casts not too long ago as well. Many people ask me why I do all of these things. They tell me that I am just wasting my time. Maybe they are right, BUT just maybe they are wrong.
You see for this to be successful I, in my eyes, I don't need 1 million viewers a month. I don't need 100,000 followers. I don't need to make millions of dollars. For Loose Topics to be successful we just need one person to have taken something away from one of our articles, video blogs, or pod casts that they can use. Maybe it is something they didn't know. Maybe it is something they just needed to be reminded of. To us here, reaching just one person is worth all the hard work we put into this.
Just last shift I had two people (local firemen) come up to me and say "great article". I did not realize that these two guys even knew about Loose Topics. It is for those moments we do what we do here.
For the last 3 weeks I have been helping lead a workout group 3 days a week. This group got together at the first of the year and decided that they were going to make a change in their lives. I was very honored that they asked me to join them. This group consists of men and women, from all ages (anywhere from teens, 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's). The fitness levels of the individuals in this group varies just as their ages do.
These people understand that obesity in this country is killing people more and more everyday. And it's getting worse. Obesity is one of those things that sneaks up on you. One day you are in good health and before you know you are in the hospital with clogged arteries and 80 pounds overweight. These men and women, that I am helping lead through a fitness program, understand that they are the only people that can keep obesity from killing them. I admire and respect these men and women more then they know.
The reason I bring this up is because the rates of overweight individuals in the Fire Service are actually higher then those found in the general public according to a new study conducted by the NVFC (National Volunteer Fire Council) which partnered with the HOPE Health Research Institute and supported by the U.S Fire Administration.
The research looked at the body composition of both career and volunteer firefighters across the nation. The rate of overweight firefighters across the nation ranged from 73% to 88% - On the national level about 2/3 of Americans are overweight.
The question then becomes why has obesity (overweight) become such a problem with in the Fire Service? What are we doing about it?
Now there are occupational factors that place firefighters at higher risk for weight gain then the average citizen. They are:
* Shift Work
* Sleep Disruption
* Unhealthy eating pattern at fire stations
* The absence of fitness standards
With that being said...LET'S BE HONEST we are doing it to ourselves. We are actually contributing to our own demise. We sit around stations shoveling down pizza and pasta, drinking sodas, and grazing all day on chips and salsa without putting in any fitness work at all. We tend to forget about the added stress this puts on our arteries, heart, and lungs. Take a look at yourself, I did. How are you now compared to when you came into the department? It opened my eyes and I am doing something about it.
In our line of work we lose close to 100 firemen a year in the Line of Duty. Over 3/4 of those deaths are cardiac related. Here is some more honesty, a 300 to 325 pound fireman that dies of a heart attack after years of shoveling pizza and ice cream down his throat was a loss about 80 to 100 pounds ago. I know that comment will make some people mad and it should. To say that the years of abuse and neglect to ones body had nothing to do with the heart attack is illogical.
Is every heart related death a result of poor fitness? Absolutely not. Is every death we have in the Line of Duty preventable? Absolutely not. We give our respects and honor those we lose no matter how it happens. Rightfully so. When flames and smoke are showing our "BROTHERHOOD" makes sure we are geared up properly and have taken all safety precautions. But for some reason when the flames and smoke are gone, we are no longer our brothers keeper.
Our commitment to this service and our brothers and sisters is not just from 8am to 8am, it is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. We must take care of ourselves. We must stay in ready condition. We make sure that our trucks, engines, pumps, hoselines, and nozzles are ready every single day.
We need to be in the same condition as our equipment, if not better.
Make sure your guys (friends, crew members) are eating better. Let's make sure we are putting in the work. Maybe its getting in a little cardio by taking a walk around the station. Maybe it's implementing a voluntary fitness program on your off days to make sure we get our work in.
I am hoping to bring this fitness program that I am involved with into my department. We must do something. As of right now we have nothing. Yes some stations have some workout equipment and some do not. Some stations have plenty of time to get their work in, while others have absolutely no time due their call volume. By bringing this voluntary fitness program to our off days, where very little equipment is needed, we all can get our work in with no excuses. I hope I receive support for this, but if I don't that is fine too I will find a way to make it work.
WE MUST BE FIT TO SURVIVE....
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