Firefighter Academy

Hello All, I’m hopefully looking at getting into the Fire Academy later this year. I want some help with a training plan to lean out and retain as much muscle and strength as possible. In CT’s forum I was advised to run the Athlete Lean, Athlete Strong program. I’m most likely going to run that but wanted to hear from some Firefighters what you do or recommend I do. I’ve got about 20 pounds of fat I want to lose. Thanks

Firefighter for four years here, I checked out Athlete Strong Athlete Lean as I have never heard of it. I honestly think it looks like a great program, to be a firefighter you need to be very well rounded…that program will do the trick. Explosiveness, strength, and conditioning are all really important. We have all types of people at the firehouse; the powerlifting but no conditioning guy, the bodybuilders, the crossfitters, and so on so forth. Some of the strongest guys at our house I wouldn’t want to follow me in, they get gassed damn near before we even make entry. The crossfitters struggle with some of the heavier job tasks but make the bottles last much longer than most. Athlete Strong Athlete Lean looks like it will give you a great mix of everything. Out of everything I’m saying here…make sure you are well conditioned, you really dont want to be the guy that has to make his crew back out of the fire after a few minutes from being so out of shape.

Great advice. Thanks for your response. I definitely won’t let myself be the slow guy you described.

Sled and prowler work if you have access. Heavy sled drags will work wonders for when you go do the physical agility tests for jobs.

I use to be an EMT now I am in law enforcement. I use to lift 2x per week, focusing on heavy compound exercises and with low reps. The for cardio, I would do farmer walks, sled pulls, sledge hammer swings, and heavybag drills. I wantes tk be able to lift or drag someone, but for the long haul not for a short period. If I was training to be a FF I would do stair or hill sprints, because it is more applicable.

Yeah i weighed 260 when i had to be carried by paramedics in achair down a narrow stair well, these two guys were under 200lbs, didn’t come close to gassing, you are entering honorable profession my hats off to you. Plus chicks dig you , as close to being a superhero as possible . On a lighter note, i was on way to gym and saw my freind and his colleagues police , pushing an extremely obese woman on a moterized wheelchair up a hill.
Then 10 minutes later my freind came to use bathroom. I asked my freind what happened, apperently after the woman went to get a family sized chicken dinner , the battery on her wheel chair got drained and they had to push her home, all while she was eating her chicken.

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I suggest rucking. It can be fun if you join a goruck type group and nothing better prepares you for wearing heavy turn out gear with a SCBA for long periods of time.