While not useful for the upper body stuff a FF has to do, PowerCranks are useful for the lower extremity, especially for strengthing the HF's which will help you climb stairs in heavy constrictive bunker gear., so I have been told by FF's.

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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks

KYRocket,

I am a firefighter and have been on a full-time department for 10 years. It sounds to me like you need to hit the gym. But I wouldn't worry too much about your size. Strength is definitely the key.

I know there are a couple of coaches who post here often who could probably give you better specifics as far as exercises to do. I would consider keeping up with the cardio stuff, but reduce your longer distance workouts and concentrate on speed stuff (I'm thinking 5k-10k distances for running). You should definitely concentrate on strength-training and make this your focus. Personally, I stopped lifting weights about 8 years ago. I found that it made my muscles big but it didn't necessarily make me stronger. What I mean is that I have found that since I have switched to practicing yoga, my usable strength is much greater. I credit this to increased core strength. So I guess that would be my suggestion to you. Work from the core out. I had the opportunity to watch my son go through his conditioning month for football. Those kinds of drills (bear walks, wind sprints, high knee raise, etc.) will make you very strong, and will go a long way to helping you have the kind of strength you will need on the job.

Another thing that would help you ALOT is to get a job in the interim that is manual labor. Landscaping or construction would be good. Besides the pure physical nature of those kinds of jobs, you could learn skills that will definitely help you in the future (especially the construction).

Other things you could do is to spend time everyday "wearing" weight. This gets used to the extra weight that you wear with your equipment on. Also learn how to use tools. And I mean all kinds of tools: shovels, hammers, axes, pry-bars, chain saws, hand saws whatever. Learn how to use them on ladders, on roofs, or any other place you can think of.

I guess some of these ideas are sort of outside-the-box, but I really believe that they will give you the kind of strength you will need to be a good firefighter. What department are you hoping to get hired by? Is it a big city or a suburban department?

Good luck. Let me know how it works out.

Bernie

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"Slowbern has always made astute observations."-Casey 03/10/2009
2013-2014 Detroit Lions---13-3 until proved otherwise.

Keep up th aerobic work and build upper body and core strength. Weight training is great. Especially overhead exercises like military press, lat. pull down, pull ups. Try realistic work outs like climbing stairs with weight, chopping wood, swinging a sledge hammer, etc. Good luck with the new career.

Wow, thanks guys for the encouragement, plus all of the great ideas for workouts. I think I am going to do some extra cardio on the stairmaster and we have a machine that is actually stairs that revolve where I work and workout, I might even get a 25lb vest to wear sometimes to get use to the weight being on my body.



KYrocket