Every firefighter, regardless of age, experience, fitness or job status, needs the capacity to meet the demands of their life. The Demands-Capacity framework can help to establish exercise recommendations, minimize injury, and maximize quality of life. This workshop highlighted the latest developments of the IAFF’s PFT program and several “small steps” that can be taken to build and effective PFT program that can be sustained in the long-term.  Common questions regarding movement screening, CrossFit and stretching are also discussed following the presentation.

Our biggest successes all begin with a first small step. The IAFF’s Peer Fitness Trainer curriculum was developed to help firefighters live healthier, happier and more productive lives. It is structured to provide leadership and education on firefighter fitness, while highlighting the importance of inspiring change, shifting perceptions and engraining new movement behaviors to truly make exercise matter. But…it does so while emphasizing the power of small steps. This presentations highlights how the way you move can change YOUR life today, tomorrow and long into retirement. Whether your goals are health, safety, or performance driven, becoming aware of how, why and what movement patterns matter could be the small step that sparks long-term meaningful change.

Exercise can and should be used to accomplish many things – prevent injury and disease, rehabilitation, enhance health and performance, increase energy levels, improve sleep, mood and attitude, etc. But ultimately, to make exercise matter – to ensure its impact extends beyond the training environment we must consider the reasons why we exercise in the first place.  This module provides an overview of the Demands and Capacity Framework, highlights the importance of how we move, and discusses fundamental principles that should guide a Peer Fitness Trainer’s practice.

This module introduces the “7 Key Features”, provides a visual demonstration of each, and illustrates how a Peer Fitness Trainer could assess whether they (or their clients) are adopting a desirable movement pattern.

The 7 Key Features

1. Knees IN LINE
2. Weight over  MID-FOOT
3. No arching or rounding of the low back (STRAIGHT)
4. No lateral bending of the low back (STRAIGHT)
5. No twisting of the low back (ALIGNED)
6. Shoulders DOWN
7. Shoulders BACK (shoulder and elbow moving together)

The best exercise program in the world will prove ineffective if the professional who implements lacks the skills to communicate with a client. Developing a teaching or coaching style that integrates both verbal and non-verbal communication is essential to providing effective instruction and feedback, and therefore the successful implementation of any exercise program. Effective professionals have the communication skills to provide suitable instructions and feedback to clients who prefer any learning style. Although most coaches use a combination of visual (demonstration), verbal (description) and tactile (hands on guidance) cuing simultaneously, practicing each in isolation can be an effective learning strategy. This module illustrates a model that can be used to observe, assess and communicate with any client.

The F.I.T.T. principle is used to make exercise-specific recommendations. While there are no explicit rules that must be followed to achieve a particular goal, the F.I.T.T. principle does offers general guidelines that can help to inform the decisions of any exercise professional. This module discusses the interaction between each F.I.T.T. variable and considerations that should be made when designing exercise sessions for any client.

The F.I.T.T. Principle

1. FREQUENCY: How often is the exercise exposure? Periodic stress or repeated exposures are needed to elicit physiological adaptations and ingrain new movement/fitness behaviors. Frequency is commonly described by repetitions and sets, or exposures per week.
2. INTENSITY: How challenging is the exercise exposure? The body must be sufficiently stressed or overloaded to adapt. Must find a balance between too little and too much for training objective. Intensity is commonly described by load, tempo (speed), heart rate, and rate of perceived exertion (RPE).
3. TIME: How long is the exercise exposure? Certain physiological adaptations require the body to be stressed for specific durations or periods of rest and recovery. Must find a balance between too little and too much for training objective. Time is commonly described by duration and rest.
4. TYPE: What type of exercise exposure? While there are many forms of exercise and physical activity, the body will adapt to the type of stress imposed. The type of exercise(s) should be considered when outlining a training objective. Type is commonly described the modality, contraction type or movement pattern.

Because of the possible interactions between an activity’s frequency, intensity and time, the process of choosing training variables and designing an exercise ssession (and program) can be very overwhelming, even for the most experienced coaches. This modules introduces a 4-step process that can be used by any exercise professional to create a training stimulus that is suitable for their client.

The 4-step Process

1. Identify the primary objective. What is the one variable that is most important to achieving the intended adaptation (i.e. tempo, reps or work)?
2. Choose the two variables from above not selected as the primary training objective (i.e. tempo, reps or work).
3. Choose the number of sets and identify the rest period.
4. Identify the relative load that will allow each of the aforementioned recommendations to be achieved.

A firefighter’s demands are not just physical. As such, when given an opportunity to first meet with a new client or discuss a peer’s wellness- and fitness-related goals, Peer Fitness Trainers should seek to better understand their physical activity and lifestyle habits. Does the client have any preferences regarding the type, time or location of exercise? Do they perceive any barriers to success, and if so, are they modifiable? Above all, demonstrating a genuine interest in the client as a person will go a long way to building rapport a positive working relationship. Clients must be comfortable speaking with their PFT about their goals and challenges, hence the reason why it is so important to make a great first impression.  This module discusses the importance of communication, introduces the notion of motivational interviewing and establishes a framework to set short- and long-term goals.

There are many factors that can influence a firefighter’s movement patterns (e.g. strength, endurance, aerobic capacity, awareness, perceived risk, experience, coaching, motivation, work/sleep schedule, etc.).  The role of a Peer Fitness Trainer (PFT) is not to diagnose the underlying reason why a client has performed in a
particular manner, but instead to simply recognize whether or not select key motions have been used. The most experienced coaches cannot see what muscles are working nor can they make any specific judgments based entirely on observations made during one activity. The purpose of evaluating clients’ capacity is to identify an appropriate starting point for training.  This module will discuss the factors that can influence a client’s capacity, and review the advantages and disadvantages of formal and informal assessment protocols.

Although we often differentiate between cardiovascular and resistance training, every physical activities impose musculoskeletal and physiological demands on the body. The body cannot differentiate between traditional “weight training” and “cardiovascular training” workouts. It only senses demands (frequency, intensity, time, type).  In general, designing a training session to improve someone’s cardiorespiratory efficiency can be viewed on a similar continuum to that of speed/power, strength and endurance.  This module will illustrate this training continuum and discuss the F.I.T.T. parameters that correspond to specific training objectives.