FUNCTIONALLY FIT & COMBAT READY..

I must admit that this article is being written because of a new found appreciation I have for muscle soreness.

My question to all of you is this - Are you fit? This is the same question we all ask ourselves time and time again. When answering this question most people will consider how much weight they can lift or what is the number on the scale to determine their fitness.

I will tell you that being FUNCTIONALLY FIT AND COMBAT READY is way more then that. Ok, so you might be able to lift heavy amounts of weights in the gym, that doesn't mean you are strong. When I discuss being FUNCTIONALLY FIT AND COMBAT READY , I say that you are only as strong as your weakest part. You must understand that true strength comes in the form of being FUNCTIONALLY FIT - this is fitness that can be APPLIED and USED in fire ground situations, not just a gym. This is being COMBAT READY...

When you carry a saw from the truck to the fire scene or you are lifting a patient into a ambulance, you use many different muscle groups at the same time. All of these muscle have to work together in order to accomplish such tasks. The FUNCTIONALLY FIT AND COMBAT READY athlete's body will work as one unit, integrating all the muscles together, not using them in isolation.

Conventional weight training isolates muscle groups and does not teach the muscle it isolates to work in unison with other muscles. This is why you see so many "Arnolds" fail a CPAT - they have no idea on how to be FUNCTIONALLY FIT AND COMBAT READY...

Functional training focuses on building a body capable of performing real life/real job movements in real life/job positions. Conventional weight training teaches the body to perform only in certain positions that is 100% ideal for that exercise. This is not functional and does not mimic real situations.

Conventional weight training is not the same as Functional training and there is (debatable) evidence to prove it. This is seen in the fire service all the time, when someone reaches for something or bends slightly off center and "WHAM-O" their goes a back or shoulder. Now I am not ignorant, I know there are situations where we lift extremely heavy things in awkward positions and these situations have a higher risk of injury. But that risk can be significantly lowered if we train our bodies and muscles to perform more often in these difficult and awkward situations.

The "WHAM-O" situations I was talking about are the situations where someone reaches for something or lifts something that is light in weight and still happens to mess their back or shoulder up. 9 times out of 10 that "messed up" shoulder or back can be attributed to poor core strength and the lack of mobility. When we train for everyday movements like carrying equipment or reaching over a patient, our body calls on many more muscles then are used when training strictly in a gym setting with conventional weights.

When we lean, reach, turn, and lift patients or equipment we must use stabilizing muscles, which include the core muscles of the abdomen and lower back as well as many secondary muscles, just to keep our balance.

It's no secret, we all know that firefighting is a extremely physical job, we expend metabolic energy at the same rate as a US Navy Seal or a profession boxer, when in active firefighting. WE must be strong, have good muscle endurance, great core strength, solid grip strength, and must be able to recover extremely fast. There are so many components of the body that must work efficiently and in unison in order to do the everyday tasks of a FUNCTIONALLY FIT AND COMBAT READY firefighter...

So I ask again, Are you fit? Or are you FUNCTIONALLY FIT AND COMBAT READY?