Exercise Regimen

You dont need a gym to get into shape. My shift is 6a-6p. I wake up at 4 am everyday. I start with a run followed by various body weight exercises, pushups, pullups, dips, body squats ect.

I think more and more people believe that a gym and or a video based workout will whip them into shape. You DO NOT need to spend all that money to get into shape.
 
For the OP, Don't just go to the gym with the hope of lifting weights. Find a hobby that requires physical fitness. Crossfitting is a hobby. Find one for yourself. Weight lifting is a possible hobby too :glare: . I personally do Judo, surf, and rock climbing. I have going to the gym, but it might work for you.
On a different note, if you use the proper technique you will probably be able to lift a 200 lb pt. Give it a try. Stay optimistic ^_^
 
I second startgin strength by Mark rippetoe. All the basic, full body lifts. No bs. Who knows you may like it and go into that field as well ( as I did!)
Steve CPT-NSCA
 
martor said:
For the OP, Don't just go to the gym with the hope of lifting weights. Find a hobby that requires physical fitness. Crossfitting is a hobby. Find one for yourself. Weight lifting is a possible hobby too :glare: . I personally do Judo, surf, and rock climbing. I have going to the gym, but it might work for you.
On a different note, if you use the proper technique you will probably be able to lift a 200 lb pt. Give it a try. Stay optimistic ^_^
Click to expand...

Many people have different motivations and descriptions of "physical fitness". I work with a few rock climbers who had no interest in lifting weights/the gym, until i talked with them about it. you dont need to be a powerlifter to still use the weight room. Opposite is true for my athletes. They may be in great hockey shape, but getting them up a 60 ft wall is another story!
 
I plus 1 the heart rate monitor, and you should check out the thread I started on Great exercise program. Its a program to take you from 1-5-10 what ever pushups to 100 in one set. My first test was 20 PUs and I got to my 100 today. Let me tell you, other than walking, I think the push up has to be one of the most perfect exercises, if you are going them correctly you are working SO many muscles.
 
bill williams said:
You dont need a gym to get into shape. My shift is 6a-6p. I wake up at 4 am everyday. I start with a run followed by various body weight exercises, pushups, pullups, dips, body squats ect.

I think more and more people believe that a gym and or a video based workout will whip them into shape. You DO NOT need to spend all that money to get into shape.
Click to expand...

You can get into great shape with running/body weight exercises but it all depends on the actual shape you want to be in.

Personally I enjoy looking like I workout a lot instead of just not being obese. A bodybuilding physique is difficult to achieve without the help of a real gym or atleast a barbell.
 
Biggest thing, Core strength.... and I'm not talking about crunches. Work your core in all planes of movement! Frontal, Sagital and Transverse. work with stabilization, dynamic stabilization and rotation. I like to use cable machines, stability / medicine balls, bands, slide boards, etc..

If your looking to stay healthy in the field, i would recommend doing some Pre-hab (preventative) exercises that focus on strengthening the inner glutes, hip internal/external rotators, shoulders and core. So many programs miss these areas, you get strong, but injured. (Crossfit:rofl:)

If you are short on time, just stretch. A good dynamic stretching routine before and a static stretch afterwards can prevent soooooo many injuries!

Gyms are great if you know how to use the equipment in different ways.


http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8857330C1A9F2A87


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phu00itkn58&list=PL8857330C1A9F2A87&index=21

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsENiejMxU4

These are some examples of warm up / corrective exercises that should be put into any programs.

NSCA-CSCS
 
CrossFit Open WOD - 13.1 - 164 reps, 13.2 - 255 reps, 13.3 - 245 reps.

I had the opportunity to work out at a CrossFit facility owned by a member of service while on duty for some time. These are my observations:

The competitive athletes at the box all did a ton of extra strength work in addition to the daily WOD's. The 5-20 min. WODs with maybe a little extra credit work will benefit most lay people, but to do really well, you need to do extra strength and skills work. CrossFit is a business model similar to a martal arts dojo - get the class in and out in 30-45 mins plus warm-up out of the way of the current class. There's simply not enough time to do the proper strength work. They may prescribe cleans 3-3-3-3-3 for example. A real strength session might be snatch @ 85% every min on the min, then cleans 3-3-3-3-3, then push presses to finish.

Great hybrids for strength and explosive power are complexes, including regression complexes:

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/olympic_lift_variations_to_get_big

My Klokov Complex is up to 215# currently (deadlift/clean/front squat with pause at bottom/push press/split jerk)

The namesake:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwYbiZwbkuY

Olympic lifts should never be done for more than a triple, and certainly not for high reps, unless you like being injured. Nothing technical should be done in a severely fatigued state. Snatches, deadlifts, full cleans, and muscle-ups should not be done when tired, unless maybe we're talking about very light loads.

Be very careful when doing box jumps immediately after heavy deadlifts or front squats - you'll have dead-legs on the first jump, but you won't realize it until you actually jump. You'll fall short, bang your shin on the box, and maybe do a face plant as well. Even when doing Open WOD 13.2 I had a little dead-leg when going from deads to box jumps.

Really, just look at all of the crossfit fail compilations.
 
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The most functional exercises for the fire service (and by proxy, EMS), in order of importance:

Olympic Front Squat

Deadlift

Push Press

Pull-up

Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat

Renegade Rows or Pendlay Rows

Dips, preferably on gymnastics rings

You'll get plenty of core work from doing the above.
 
Mostly lifting, but...

I try to work out 5x a week, and my workouts generally involve most of the same lifts, just different rep ranges and weight to avoid plateauing. I warm up with a 3 mile run, then I try to focus on the "Big 3": Squats, Bench Press, Deadlifts. I throw some core and isolation exercises in the mix as well, depending on the day. I always finish up with a good stretching session, to get some extra blood flowing to the muscle tissues and to stay limber.

My experience with crossfit is that, if you don't know what you're doing, there is a high risk of injury. Now you can probably say that about any form of strenuous exercise, but I personally know two career firemen, young guys, who have injured themselves (MCL/ACL) with crossfit at the station within the last year alone.

Of course proper form and nutrition are crucial to any successful exercise regimen.
 
"crossfit at the station"

That right there is your problem. Crossfit with knowledgeable, educated coaches is awesome. Trying to wing it is stupid. Unfortunately too many FDs/PDs think they can get away with implementing crossfit programs by having one guy get his level 1 cert and leave it at that.

No exercise program will be injury free, but having good coaches will help a lot.
 
E]
I was pretty small myself when I decided this was the job for me. I've been lifting weights, free running(works more muscles and improves agility more than running a track/treadmill), doing yoga, and just taking advantage of any opportunity to be active. Yoga helps with muscle stamina and core strength by holding poses for as long as possible and core strength is important for avoiding injury. For lifting, you want to strengthen your legs. I did squats and lunges at first with no weights, then gradually added weights as the squats got easier. Now I squat with about 50lbs, but don't start out with weights. The first weight I would recommend adding is only about 10. Put on some good music that gets you pumped, get a workout buddy, workout during activities that are normally sedentary like watching TV. Enjoy it, or else you'll just quit.
 
Cross fit was developed to get ready you for lifestyle regardless of what happens, I have seen awesome outcomes and am dependent to it, If you like to misuse yourself then cross fit is the response....
 
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