Rest Day

Rest up today. Maybe you will need that energy for that big fire tonight. Take a look at this picture. This picture is a perfect example of the need for functional fitness in the fire service. We constantly are required to lift heavy objects, in this case a saw, at strange heights and angles in full turnout gear. How can anyone have "good form" while performing this job? Functional fitness will allow us to have "good form" and reduce the risk of injuries no matter what our task is.

Cardio Workout

It is time for another pure cardio workout. Its been a long week and your body is probably pretty sore so you can take this as an easy workout or you can anticipate a rest day tomorrow and take this as a hard workout. The choice is yours. The workout should last about an hour. Run, bike, swim, aerobics, jump rope, or whatever your cardio work of choice is. Enjoy.

TRFA #118 participating in the first lap of the Tire Drag Race

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Turkish Get Ups

This is a great full body workout to follow a core workout day. Your core workout should have been a rest day but your abs and back might be sore. This workout is a true test of your core and truly test your functional fitness.

Here are some key points:

• Keep your arm straight the entire time
• Try not to put the weight down
• For this workout, switch arms every rep

Start with a 25lb dumbbell for most people. Go up or down in weight as needed.

Perform 20 Turkish Get ups for each side. Total of 40.



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To the Core

Its been a hard week and its time to give most of our body a break. This should be an easy workout when it comes to heart rate. For all of these exercises, keep your back straight and belly tight.

Warm up with a 10-15 minute run or fast walk prior to starting this workout.

Lay on your back with your hands to your side and legs straight out in front of you. Raise your feet six inches off the ground. (Six Inches is what we will call this)

Next perform the plank (prone) as pictured below.



Next you will perform the bridge as pictured below.



Next perform the bird dog as pictured below. For this workout raise your arm and opposite leg at the same time while maintaining a tight core. Hold this position for 5 seconds, return to the starting position and perform it using the other leg and arm. That is one rep.



Next perform the hydrant. For this workout your leg will rotate out from the hip while keeping your core tight. Hold the up position for 5 seconds before returning to the start. Perform all reps on one side before doing the other leg.



The whole workout:

Six inches and Plank: Alternate positions for 30 secs, 45 secs, 60 secs, 90 secs.
Bridge: 3 sets of 10 reps
Bird Dog: 3 sets of 10 reps
Hydrant: 3 sets of 10 reps per side
Crunches: 100 reps

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Flashover

For this workout your exercise bouts will last for 20 seconds and you will have 10 seconds rest. Each Exercise will last for 4 minutes (8 bouts). No additional rest between the different exercises:

Pull-ups
Jump rope
Push-ups
Sit-ups
Burpees
Squats (body weight)

Repeat.

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Virginia Beach Fire Training Center Flashover Simulator

Cardio Performance Test

Rock n Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach, VA

Run 5k for time. Make sure you get a good warm up first then start your 5k. Cool down with an easy run afterwards.

Warm up at least 20 minutes of light to moderate running

5k race pace

Cool down at least 20 minutes of light running.

Push Pull

Special thanks to retired VBFD Master Firefighter Chuck Liebold for submitting this photo. Photo taken from the back yard of home by neighbor "Big John".

It does not matter if you do the push up first or the pull ups. Here's how it works:

Start your clock. During the first minute do one pull up. During the second minute do two pull ups, during the third minute do 3 pull ups. Keep doing this until you can no longer do the correct amount of pull ups in the one minute time frame.

Start your clock. During the first 30 seconds do one push up. During the second 30 second period do two push ups. You get the point.

Post level of push ups and pull ups to comments. You will be surprised by the total number of reps done.