Suitable Training for Firefighters?

Nowadays, there is a countless amount of jobs that require one must have an outstanding physical strength as well as a knowledgeable understanding of the career intrinsic risks. Normally, most people would think of police officers, but firefighting is also one of the dangerous occupations. In fact, there is always an unforeseeable life-threatening situation that forces firemen to weigh other lives above him. Even so, fire departments have not offered appropriate preparations in terms of health and physical training so that employees can avoid these circumstances.

‘An estimate of 80% of current fire departments neglect to maintain basic health and fitness programs’, found in a report of The Economic Consequences of Firefighter Injuries and Their Prevention (NIST, 2004). This leads to the analysis of ‘Undulation Training for Development of Hierarchical Fitness and Improved Firefighter Job Performance’ which was conducted by a group of health and fitness experts.

The research was to discover a suitable training model for future firefighters. According to the researchers of the article, ‘the purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of two resistance training interventions on fitness adaptations among firefighters and to assess the degree of transfer to job-specific tasks’ (Peterson, Dodd, Alvar, Rhea, & Favre, 2008).

It was recorded that yearly accidents had taken many lives of firemen, which obligated researchers to carry out this experiment. Many health risks such as cardiovascular disease and musculoskeletal injuries are common medical problems for firefighters. To go further in this discussion, researchers have concentrated on two distinct training methods which are Undulation Training (UT) and Standard Training Control (STCo).

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Based on the effects of each training, experts would be able to know the most applicable practice for fire departments in the future.

As described, ‘The 9-week UT experimental treatment prescription was characterized by daily ‘‘nonlinear” fluctuations in training to preferentially elicit specific and distinct muscular fitness components, whereas the STCo treatment conformed to a traditional model, in which each fitness component was systematically targeted during a specified mesocycle’ (Peterson, Dodd, Alvar, Rhea, & Favre, 2008). Though, the hypothesis was that the UT group would yield better transference responses to firefighter job-specific tasks in accordance with the researchers. In regard to the experiment, the course lasted for twelve weeks in which there were nine days of training and three days were results testing. For the assessment, investigators recruited fourteen well-trained participants from the Fire Academy. In particular, these subjects were divided into two groups of seven for each model. Also, they had to have a good academic standing prior to this research. Certainly, no one should have a pending medical history as well as injuries involved.

As one of the agreements, the outcomes would be used by researchers hereafter. The study was then designed to test participants first for their Anthropometry and Fitness Testing, and followed that was the Job-Specific Testing Battery ‘The Grinders’. Accordingly, ‘before and after the 9-week training interventions, specific fitness tests were administered to assess each of the following: (1) absolute and relative muscular strength, (2) lower-body PP and rate of force development (RFD), (3) jumping and sprinting ability, and (4) body anthropometry’ (Peterson, Dodd, Alvar, Rhea, & Favre, 2008). One critical thing to the study design was each person’s body mass adjusted muscular strength capacity ‘because differences in relative lower-body muscular strength capacity have been proposed to be very influential in the performance of powerful, speed-related activities’ according to investigators (Peterson, Alvar, & Rhea, 2006). In addition to that, training dosage had to be identical ‘because differences in training modalities and overall dosages have been proposed to influence performance and muscular adaptation’ Peterson, Alvar, & Rhea, 2005).

In contrast, ‘The Grinder’ test was quite different from the fitness test because it was built on the actual fire scene. Given that, ‘The Grinder tasks included an equipment hoist, a hose pull, a Keiser sled, and sledgehammer test, a stair climb while carrying a high-rise hose pack, an attic crawl, and a simulated civilian carry/drag’ (Peterson, Dodd, Alvar, Rhea, & Favre, 2008). After nine weeks of training, although both groups increased in performance measures, results pointed out that the UT group made greater improvements than the STCo group especially in ‘the Grinders’ test. The UT group also demonstrated better in some areas of the fitness test which are the upper-body muscular strength, lower-body muscular strength, peak power output, and vertical jumping ability. These findings suggest that UT training model offers ‘greater potential training effect for simultaneous multidimensional muscular fitness development of firefighter trainees with UT over a periodized STCo’ (Peterson, Dodd, Alvar, Rhea, & Favre, 2008). Aside from this, UT training variables help participants to have a more sufficient and better recovery between weeks compared to the STCo.

Conclusively, followed by the results, the UT training model seems to be an appropriate match for firefighters in the future. However, there were both limitations and strengths in this study. On the strength of this experiment, researchers had successfully integrated five important components of health-related fitness which are cardiovascular respiratory (jumping, sprinting), muscular strength (hose pull, Keiser sled), muscular endurance (civilian carry/drag, barbell back squat and bench press), muscular flexibility (attic crawl), and body composition (records for height, body mass). In the respects of population size, since the large population was not able to accommodate, it was both the weakness and strength. Constricted sample size wouldn’t represent the large firefighting employees in the future. Yet, it would be easier for investigators to collect data because each performance test demanded specific supervision from specialists. Not to mention that each attendee might have had different tendencies towards this experiment which could have shifted their responses at the end. To explain this, there could be a scenario where one participant could have thought this experiment was a competition with others, thus, forgetting the priority.

It was undeniable when it comes to health and fitness, people usually compare themselves to others. Lastly, for the reason that this study was established by a group of health and fitness experts, it might be favorable to choose the undulation training model over the standard training. Even though this experiment had its restrictions, it revealed more about multidimensional muscular strength, which is critically significant for emergency-related occupations. Therefore, a combination of diverse training and suitable dosage will improve the performance of firemen, which will prepare them both physically and mentally in an emergency situation. Lastly, in a real-life application, the American Council on Exercise joined with the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) to set standards for prospective fire service personal trainers. It was to ultimately improve the wellness of firefighters as well as the fire departments’ image in the community. In conclusion, this experiment has made an influential mark on the firefighter preparation guide, and also shown different aspects that many people would have thought about this full of risk job.