How do you keep yourself fit for being a first responder when you work such long hours?

Question

Thomas O'Connor · Answer

Keeping fit while being in the law enforcement community can be very difficult. Long hours, working midnights, sometimes and most often the food that you have on a midnight shift is not always the best. So doing things like bringing your meals to work with you, preparing before you get there. If your department doesn't allow for time to work out, then make time for it before you go to work. I've been retired for three years now and still working and busy, but finding time to get that workout in is important. And whether that is going for a hike, going for a run, getting on an elliptical, just doing some basic stretching to keep yourself fit, this is all really important stuff. And if you don't find time for that, then you're not going to have time to do your job well. And so it is of utmost importance that people in law enforcement, firefighters, first responder community overall stay fit so they can do their jobs and they can live longer and be healthier. So get out there, find your fit and get a sweat on and make sure that you take care of yourselves first so you can take care of others. It's like being on an airplane, when that mask drops, you put your mask on first before you can help others.

Dave Robertson · Answer

How do you keep yourself fit as a first responder in my case a firefighter when you work such long hours? Well, you make sure that you carve out the time to get a workout in and sometimes that workout is broken up by by calls in between Doesn't matter if your workout takes two three four sessions throughout your day in little 10-15 minute snippets then so be it That's what you have But being fit of course is also about being mentally fit So all the great stuff that we do there finding quiet time reading training yourself Well in your fire discipline so that you feel empowered Lots of good stuff that you can do on the mental side of things Sleep is a great thing tough one with the long hours and especially in urban departments with high call volume But you sleep when you can how you can Definitely take advantage of when you have days off to do some sleep catch-up process all the stuff that you've seen and how physically hard those long hours are on you and Last but not least is is nutrition. You know we eat in the firehouse Typically a 24-hour shift. So you're doing three meals sometimes for there and snacks switch it up all the good stuff that we already know about nutrition eat the rainbow Lots of grains take it easy on the coffee lots of water. That's how you keep fit

Dena Ali · Answer

This is a good question. Fitness is definitely a challenge. I think it's because our brains default to lazy and making up excuses. I don't think it's a challenge because of the long hours for firefighters, because we have time incorporated in our shifts where we can work out. For me, what has worked is habit. Every day at four o'clock, no matter what, I get out there and do something. Even on the days where I feel like crap or I'm exhausted and I don't want to do anything, I just get out there. What I found is if I just get out there within five minutes, I feel good. I actually have energy to do something that I didn't even think I could do. I currently follow an app called Chalk, C-H-A-L-K. It's a really good app that has a lot of different types of workouts, minimal equipment, strength and conditioning, power building. You could do anything from short, minimal time, minimal equipment to longer workouts. For me, that works. Currently, I get to work and the first thing I do is a quick 30-minute weight. Then at four o'clock, I do my high-intensity Metcon. When I was a police officer, it was harder to get a workout in on shift. On night shift, I'd get up right after my morning nap and I'd work out. Then on day shift, as soon as I got off, I would just try to do something quick. No matter how bad I felt, as soon as I started moving, I felt good. I realized that that habit kept me going.

Donald Soranno · Answer

How do you keep yourself fit for being a first responder when you work such long hours? Well, the thing I like to do is work out first thing in the morning, because I never know what the day was going to bring. When I went into the office, each day was different. I could think it was going to be a normal day, end up doing surveillance until midnight, or having a search warrant, or having to get in a car and drive to another state. It just all varied. So, the best way I did it was try to get my workout in first thing in the morning, and then if I'm able to do something later after work, great. Also, set a schedule for the weekends. Make sure I got something done on the weekends as well. That way, I'm able to get in a couple, three or four workouts a week, depending on if I'm going to run, or cycle, or bike. Or workout. It just depends on what it was. So, the biggest thing is try to set a schedule based on what your schedule is. If you work for the midnight shift, maybe you're going to work out as soon as you get home from work, or you're going to work out as soon as you get up. Try to set a schedule and stick to that. Don't wait, oh, I'll wait until I get home from work, because you never know what it's going to bring.

Robert Verhelst · Answer

This is definitely not an easy skill to remain fit and a lot of us will yo-yo and I think the hard thing is that when you have a rough night where you are going on 10 calls and you don't get any sleep and then you go home and you're trying to get sleep or you're trying to work out, it's finding that fine balance of what is functionally fit. You know, it's not being the fittest firefighter in the world. It's being functionally fit so that you can stay healthy and at the same time stay mentally cognitive to what you're going to be doing. So I think for myself, I try to at least get 30 minutes of cardio a day. I mean that's at least and sometimes I can't get it at the firehouse but sometimes I can. The other thing is strength training is so good because it really drives your mind, drives your ability to feel that strength and I think it's so powerful to be able to do that. Whether you're doing five rounds of five sets of weights, that's perfect. It doesn't have to be long hours of working out. It just has to be a consistent basis.

Eric McCants · Answer

How do you keep yourself fit for being a first responder when you work such long hours? You just have to make a commitment to your physical fitness and mental fitness. Basically, like I said, I have a schedule. Like I said, I know if I'm going to be at work at 8.30, I make sure I hit the gym at 5 a.m. Go ahead and get my hour, maybe hour and a half in and get it on out the way. I learned that going to the gym at the 4 o'clock p.m. is pretty bad, but most times, that's where a lot of people go. So I try to go ahead and get in early in the morning. Also, I like to say when I'm working out, I like to go ahead and get my mind right. Like I said, I put on my motivational tapes or videos or podcasts or whatever and get my mind right and my body right before the day comes. Sometimes, you're not going to make it every day, but you need to make an effort towards going to the gym and getting your mind right daily if possible. If not, four to five times a week. Because as a first responder, you need to be physically fit. Like I said, you're just going to have those situations where you're going to need to use a lot of strength, cardio, whatever it is, whichever field you're in, to handle the situation that's in front of you. So being physically fit is very important. You've got to make sure you take time out to make sure you keep your body in shape.

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"How do you keep yourself fit for being a first responder when you work such long hours?"