Saturday, May 24, 2008

Just Walk It!



Q:I know I should start doing interval training as a firefighter but all I do right now is walk on the treadmill for cardio. How do I start.

A:If you have been walking for a while that’s great . First step, buy a heartrate monitor. You can get them at www.performbetter.com. Buy a cheap one. All you need to do is know your heart rate. Next time you walk use your monitor and see what your heartrate is during your walk. This is your Comfortable Working Heartrate (steady state). Most people would need to break 110 beats per minute to get a cardiovascular effect. Either way, don't worry about it. Just figure out what heartrate you normally walk at.

Next time you walk warmup for 5 minutes at your normal pace and then raise the incline to 5%. Walk for one minute. This should move you about 10%-20% ( this will be 10-20 beats in most cases) out of that steady state comfort zone. If it's more than 20% higher, reduce the incline to 3%. If it's less, raise it to 7%.

Step off the belt and wait for your heartrate to return to 100 beats per minute.

That’s it.

Be Safe
JC

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

The Poll

I had a recent poll that asked the question ," WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT COMPONENT IN A FIREFIGHTERS WORKOUT PROGRAM?".

The categories were Cardio, Functional Strength, Dynamic Flexibility, and Muscular Endurance.

Here's how you guys voted. Cardio 56%, Functional Strength 48%, Dynamic Flexibility 19%, and Muscular Endurance 31%.

So based on the voting, Cardio seems to be the most important component in a firefighters workout program.

If you voted for cardio, let me know why you think it's the most important component, and if you didn't vote for cardio, what in your opinion is the most important component in a firefighters workout program and why,

Best argument for or against gets a SuuntoT3 Heart Rate Monitor.

Send your arguments to primaltraining@hotmail.com


Be Safe
JC