The Fire-Fitness Triangle, Pt 4.

"Consistency"

More than 30% of our country gets no exercise at all. None. And data shows that, as a group, firefighters exercise even less than the general population - a trend that starts as soon as we leave the academy and gets worse with age.

Several fitness professionals in firefighting are working to reverse that trend, and many of them are promoting intense tactical-style training plans. This has its pros and cons. On the one hand, tactical programming with lots of "functional" exercise is a great ideal and makes fantastic training for well-conditioned personnel.

On the other hand, much of the fire service is, unfortunately, deconditioned. Data shows more than one out of every three career personnel fall short of the recommended minimum cardiovascular fitness level, and more than 75% of all firefighters carry a serious spare tire.

In my experience as a personal trainer and as someone who WAS sedentary and overweight, high-intensity, high-impact workouts – even if they’re “functional” or job-specific – usually turn non-exercisers away, as do complicated programs. For example, one fitness pro (whom I really respect) recently posted a "quick & easy" guide instructing users to come up with 13 different exercises for an effective workout. Thirteen!

When I first became a firefighter, I frequently posted intense workouts on social media thinking it would inspire other firefighters to get more active. Unfortunately, this had the opposite effect: people figured they couldn't work out "like Roy," so they wouldn't work out at all.

In addition, the risk of serious injury (or worse) these intense workouts pose to deconditioned personnel can carry a high human and organizational cost. Search the NIOSH LODD reports if you need to be convinced - the number of deaths attributed to physical fitness training is surprisingly high.

That's why I like the fire triangle. As it simplifies the concepts of fire suppression (heat + fuel + oxygen makes fires burn), it can help simplify the concepts of fitness and wellness (strength training + cardio exercise + good nutrition maximizes your health).

If you think back to your entry-level fire classes, though, you'll recall that there are more than three sides to the fire triangle. Some time ago, we were introduced to the fire tetrahedron, a pyramid shape that adds a fourth side - chemical chain reaction.

We've already connected three sides of this tetrahedron to our fitness equation (go back and check out the first three articles of this series if you'd like to review). Let's call this fourth side "consistency."

I often remind my fitness clients that regardless of whether your goal is a finish line or a waistline, one workout or meal will not make or break your training. Your overall consistency matters more than any one thing.

So, for those of us who, despite our best intentions, have gotten more takeout than workouts and done more phone scrolling than cardio-ing, exactly how "consistent "do we have to be?

The good news is that the "minimum effective dose" of exercise is surprisingly low.

Now let’s be clear: we're not talking here about "maximum results "or training for a specific goal, which would look different. This is simply about getting enough regular exercise to reduce our risk of dying from the top killers of firefighters - heart attack and cancer.

The official recommendation of the ACSM is 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity cardio. That's a little under an hour of breaking a sweat three days per week. However, recent research into the benefits of "micro-workouts" – exercise done in shorter bouts of a few minutes – has been flipping the script on longer workout sessions.

According to the evidence, these shorter, more frequent sessions – often called "exercise snacks" – Are more beneficial than we used to think. One study showed that nine 15-minute workouts spread out over five days had similar or better results compared to three 45-minute exercise sessions. In a separate study, eight 15-minute workouts spread over the week were as effective as two 60-minute workouts.

These "exercise snacks" can be much easier to fit into a busy week for career firefighters whose shifts are unpredictable, as well as volunteer or paid-on-call personnel who often don't see how to fit an hour or more of exercise into days already filled with full-time work, family obligations, and commitments to a fire department.

The convenience of these shorter workouts can boost what we fitness pros call "adherence," also known as “consistency” – the key to experiencing results. Shorter sessions also reduce post-exercise soreness, a leading reason why new exercisers quit.

Perhaps most importantly, these micro-workouts done once or twice every day are better at forming habits than lengthier sessions squeezed in once every blue moon. Building exercise consistency with “little bits done a lot” has big benefits for your health. Daily micro-workouts reduce your cancer risk, increase cardiovascular endurance, develop strength and muscle, and slash your chances of a heart attack (especially when compared to doing nothing).

So if micro-workouts sound like the missing fourth side of your tetrahedron, what should you be doing with them (especially if you’ve been doing nothing until now)?

Strength training and cardiovascular exercise make up equally important sides of the fire triangle/tetrahedron. Split your micro-workouts up more or less evenly between them.

3 or 4 exercises working major muscle groups will fill up a 15- or 20-minute strength workout. At minimum, include a few sets each of one pushing exercise (like push-ups, bench press, dumbbell military press), one pulling exercise (like dumbbell rows, pull-ups, lat machine pull-downs), and one lower body exercise (like tailboard step-ups or dumbbell squats). A core exercise like planks can round out a quick full-body workout.

For cardio, any activity that raises your heart rate and gets you sweating works – speed walking, jogging, rowing machine, repeats up and down the staircase, etc.

Strength and cardio built on top of poor nutrition won’t translate well into longevity. Make sure you’re fueling your body most of the time with plenty of water, protein, and veggies.

And remember – if you or your crew have questions on micro-workouts or boosting your fitness and wellness, feel free to reach out!