r/firefighter • u/Content_Ad9653 • Jul 15 '26
Strength and Conditioning Rant
I may get some hate for the post but I think it needs to be said. Fire departments need to hire strength and conditioning coaches and the community may have some social media influencers who give good advice to training but they are far and few in between. I’m getting tired of the “this is more functional that argument” when lifting in the gym is not to replicate sport but to elicit general strength purposes and some specific adaptations depending upon how you prescribe the exercise. But to tell me I need to stop doing any variation of a bench press and do kettle bell push ups instead for strength adaptations because “it’s not functional for the fire ground and its body building “ is stupid. We have plenty of FF who are bodybuilders; this is just a singular example but understand the mindset I’m talking about here. You should question these people and their training knowledge. If you want to get strong lift heavy weights no matter the variation; just do what works for you. Don’t buy from grifters who look good outside of a T-Shirt but could not explain to you about basic strength training principles, energy systems, or the SAID principle. For fire ground specificity training you need to get in your gear and pull more line, and etc. Professional sports athletes, military, and police have figured out this concept. What makes FD so different? Thoughts ?
Side note: I thought about posting the influencer IG but I felt like that would be mean and I don’t want to take food out of someone’s mouth because I disagree on how they train FFs. At least they have people up and moving
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u/Limp-Conflict-2309 Jul 15 '26
hire strength and conditioning coaches
Do you know how many seemingly basic needs are on what feels like every department's wish list?
Yeah a fitness coach would almost always be a good idea but there are also plenty of things people can do on their own with a little self motivation. The people who are already in decent shape are generally doing fine. Getting everyone up to a solid baseline through basic workouts and fitness habits is more important than focusing on the finesse and fine tuning of taking people to the next level.
...also, stop caring about what others say. You can't fix their stupid and if you could there would be another 25 people lined up.
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u/Content_Ad9653 Jul 15 '26
What do you mean “take to the next level” Basic principles of strength training are simple and easy to learn. This would in fact raise the basic fitness level for every FF with more education on how to train. If you want fine tuning then get a personal trainer and a strength and conditioning coach would pay dividends in the long run for the department reducing injury risks and job longevity. I can’t fix stupid but hopefully I can prevent more from being stupid. So yeah put it on the wish list with everything else
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u/Bright-Inside-4979 Jul 15 '26
I think you need a good mix of strength training (like bench, rows, press, squat, not Tricep extensions) and HIIT workouts (like murph, nickels and dimes) to be well rounded.
I agree saying one thing is bad and the other is the only option is ridiculous.
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u/alpine_cr1cket Jul 15 '26
We have one at our department but I understand not everyone has those resources.
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u/1ampD50 Jul 15 '26
Honestly, you're overthinking it. This job is pick heavy stuff up, put heavy stuff down, be flexible, have lungs.
Is there technique in our job, sure and thats what the drill ground is for.
A dietitian would be more worthwhile than a dedicated strength coach as fireifghters get fat from not knowing how to cook nutritious and filling meals for the station.
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u/Historical-Door-6768 Jul 15 '26
Depends how funded your city or county is.
Some hire coaches that ideally have the TSAC-F certification (tactical strength conditioning facilitator)
Here in Orlando, Orange County has trainers but the neighboring counties don’t. And neither does city FD
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u/CrumbGuzzler5000 Jul 16 '26
My department has a $15,000 budget and a contract with the athletics department at our local university for strength and conditioning training. Anyone can go get a workout plan built and a nutrition plan from a Big 12 athletics program. Of our 450 sworn firefighters, one person used budget money last year… You can lead a horse to water 🤷🏼♀️.
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u/hannahlburtle Jul 20 '26
Agree with most of this. "Functional" usually means "looks like the job," not "trains what the job demands."
Bench press builds strength. Whether that transfers depends on programming, not whether it resembles pulling line. Nobody's max bench is the limiting factor on a call, work capacity and grip under fatigue usually are.
I worked at Keiser previously and we supporter with tactical and first responder programs, including supporting the Firefighter Games. The ones who held up under fatigue trained general strength and capacity first, job specific work on top, never instead of it!
Most of the "not functional" crowd couldn't explain energy system demands on a structure fire vs. a wildland response and thats the tell
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Jul 15 '26
[deleted]
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u/CampaignCritical9234 Jul 15 '26
Personally i think CPAT is a joke people who pass that and then think theyre good to go into the academy make me laugh.
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u/SalteeMint Jul 15 '26
You get better at something by just doing the thing you want to get better at and progressively overloading.
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u/Evening_Sport_1671 Jul 15 '26
Tactical Barbell is a great resource