I debate this because on scene I’ve seen personnel struggle to remove doors/people or move hose/tools due to a lack of strength. On the flip side I’ve seen personnel breathe through a scba bottle way to fast, usually those who carry more weight. These are all very risky occurrences on scene so I’m trying to continue to train specific to the job.
So far I’ve errored on the side of strength first then cardio and has worked well for me, but I don’t want to train to be a muscle bound hulk and have no flexibility and/or range of motion. I know a well rounded regiment is ideal just curious if any fellow FF have had the same debate and what you did or currently do.
Not currently an FF, but took the civil service test for my state, placed in the top 3% on the physical exam out of 12,000 applicants, and eventually got a job offer. Also a bit of a semi-serious biathlete, exercise science junky, and high altitude climber. I spend a good portion of my year training for something or another.
Strength
If "training to be a muscle bound hulk" was easy, no one would be impressed by body builders. You're overthinking it. Train strength to be strong enough to fulfill the requirements of the job. You can get strong without becoming huge if you're like 98% of the rest of humanity. Most people (other than genetic unicorns) don't become massive hulks even through a dedicated heavy lifting regimen without heavy supplement use, unnatural protein intake, bulk/cut cycles, etc. Long story short, you're not gonna come out looking like Arnold. And you're absolutely right, the more body mass you have (especially muscle), the more air you'll need. Firefighting is an endurance sport, and when your body is your engine, you really don't want to be dragging around any extra weight.
Focus on compound lifts, lots of core work to keep your back healthy (tons of FFs have their careers ruined by back problems), and absolutely never neglect flexibility and mobility. Don't overfocus on your glamour muscles (chest and biceps). Never skip leg day. Going to a yoga class 3x per week is (in many ways) more important than hitting the gym and lifting heavy things up and putting them back down again.
Cardio
From a cardio perspective, you'll need 2 things. A strong cardiac base, and the ability to sustain extreme output for short periods. A strong base means being able to sustain a moderate physical output while keeping your heart rate down below your anaerobic threshold. The anaerobic threshold is the level of effort where your body can no longer burn fat for energy and needs to start burning blood glycogen instead. The firefighters who die after working an MVA neglected their cardiac base for their entire career (assuming they didn't have a comorbidity like obstructed coronary arteries).
Almost all athletes who have never specifically trained their cardiac base tend to have very poor cardiac fitness. I was a textbook example - in my early 30's I was running a 6:15 mile so I thought I was "fit" but my HR was pegged at the 175-180 redline the entire time. I had no idea that it was bad. I spent 2 years training to develop my cardiac base and now do the same thing with an HR at 160, which is a massive improvement.
To build your cardiac base, you need to understand "Zone training." Essentially, you break your heart rate down into 5 zones, from Zone 1 (basically at rest) up to Zone 5, which is your maximum red line. And Zone 2 is where you need to spend the bulk of your training time. This is calculated as 55-75% of your maximum heart rate. You should go out and physically test your maxHR, but otherwise for the purposes of this discussion, use the formula maxHR =
220-your age. For me, at 35 years old, the formula tells me my maxHR should be 185 and through running wind sprints wearing a heart monitor, I've discovered it's 188, so it's pretty close.
Once you figure out your max HR, you then need to log
serious time in Zone 2. For me, that was jogging at a 12:00/mile pace to keep my pulse around 135-140 for 2 hours, twice or three times per week, for many months. It's boringly slow, but it's the only way to actually deepen your base. You are training your body to do easy work without having to burn sugar, only fat. Making these kinds of changes to your body at a cellular level takes multiple seasons, if not years. It's not a quick process. Lots of info on this is available online and in books, so I'm not going to write a novel here. The best book I can recommend for this is
Training for the Uphill Athlete by Scott Johnston. Literally anyone and everyone can benefit from this type of training. Even if you don't adhere to the full training plan, you can still benefit from some amount of Zone 2 training. Hopefully you'll work it into your training plan.
Regarding your max output cardio, I'm of the opinion that intervals are the optimal way to train this. I like 30 seconds of 95% output, followed by 30 seconds of "recovery" (lol) at 85% output. This cycle is HARD because 85% doesn't feel like recovery. It can take several weeks of dedicated training to even be able to sustain this for more than a couple cycles. If this is something you want to pursue I can send you some articles by Olympic coaches on the exact methodology. This is really only applicable to people already in excellent shape. Otherwise you risk injury. The other thing you can do to train the unique requirements of being a firefighter is wrestling. Air management is a huge factor in wrestling because of the contortions you get twisted into and the resulting inability to actually expand your diaphragm.
Prioritization
Finally, to answer your most complex question - what do you focus on and when? The answer is "periodization" - training a single aspect for a fixed period. By specifically focusing on one area at a time, you actually are giving your body the opportunity and time to respond to stimulus and make improvements. Specificity and rest (taking the time off between cycles) is how you make gains. For your goals, I think 4-5 week periods is probably about right. Spend 5 weeks focused on each of your three areas. This means performing 4-5 workouts per week on the key focus, and 1 workout each on the other 2. You don't ever want to neglect anything, but you absolutely need to spend concerted time working on each aspect. After 6 months (i.e. running through your full cycle twice) you will start to see real gains, and after 12 months you'll be astonished at how far you've come.
Good luck on your journey and stay safe!
