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Calorie and Activity Tracker Each year during the annual firefighter fitness tests that I do here in Oregon, the firefighters I work with are required to complete a nutritional analysis on themselves using an online calorie tracker. While this always drums up a lot of moaning and...

What are two words firefighters don’t want to hear? Portion control! That’s right. This goes against the usual dinner philosophies we usually see and hear. When I started cooking for the guys at work, they liked the food, but didn’t like my portion control plating....

Have you ever thought of doing Yoga? YOGA?! What is Yoga you ask? In short it is “creating balance in the body.” Yoga first started over 5,000 years ago and was for men as well as women. Over time it has evolved in many ways, but the basic concepts of health and wellness of the...

Working as a firefighter is a physically demanding job, taking our bodies to the limit. Personal protective equipment shields us from many hazards but it also limits our ability to move at times, reducing our range of motion and adds weight to our back, neck and knees.  Because...

I used to think only women worried about their skin, especially when it came to dry hands.  Then over the last few years I have worked with some men who have told me they worry about it too. They even ask if there is any lotion they could use. They often complained that they have...

The Promise There are very few arguments to be made that exercising is not good for your health. Throw together some cardio, weight training, healthy eating and some consistency over a long period of time and you have a recipe for a long, healthy life. But as firefighters, there...

As it turns out, the top 5 exercises that I am recommending firefighters do NOT do are all because they are potentially damaging to the spine. This is important because, by far and away, the most common area of injury to firefighters is the back. Furthermore, these tend to be the...

Over the past few weeks we’ve been discussing exercises that place a lot of stress on the joints and can even cause damage. Obviously that’s counterproductive – if we’re spending time and energy to exercise we want it to be beneficial, not detrimental! Especially for...

As I’ve discussed in the prior articles in this series, there are many exercises that we do in the gym that, although they may work the intended muscle group, they place too much stress on the spine. Firefighters should avoid these exercises like the plague because, due to...

The Situp This exercise has been around for a long time. You’ve likely done them a gazillion times throughout your adolescence in your physical education classes and in sports practices. So it’s hard for people to accept that they’re not really a very good exercise. Change...