Fat Loss Tips for Firefighters....

Would you agree that a leaner athlete is a better athlete?  I know this is a "loaded" question.  A lot of the answer has to deal with the sport in which the athlete is participating.  One thing that research shows is that a leaner athlete is a "more efficient" athlete.  When it comes to firefighters, this is a valid finding.  

Efficiency in general terms, describes the extent to which time, effort or cost is well used for the intended task or purpose. So, a more efficient Fire Rescue Athlete will be able to do more work with less physical effort.  This is especially important since most of our "more intense" work as Fire Rescue Athletes comes when breathing air via an SCBA.  Are you Fit for Duty?  This is a common question you should ask yourself everyday as a fire rescue athlete.  Are you a leaner, more efficient athlete, better yet, do you make strides everyday to be a better fire rescue athlete...?

Today's blog lists ten (ok, maybe 11) tips that will help you  become a leaner, more efficient, Fire Rescue Athlete (or any athlete). Try to incorporate then into your daily routine.

1.           Consume whole foods that are high in fiber and low in sugar, such as lean protein sources (lean beef, chicken, fish, and whey protein), fruits & vegetables (oranges, apples, strawberries, blueberries, broccoli, peppers, asparagus, carrots, nuts (almonds, cashews, & walnuts), and whole grains.

 
2.           Follow a consistent and effective EXERCISE program! Yes, you can lose weight and fat just by changing your eating habits. Fire Rescue Athletes need to be ready for any situation, a well planned fitness program is essential. But, very few fitness programs prepare Fire Rescue Athletes to be "fit for duty" and help decimate fat.....until now.  Click here to get your 28-day Fire Rescue Fitness QuickstartProgram for FREE.  Also, check out these programs (Click HERE) that will get you in the shape of your life.   
 
3.           Eat low-glycemic carbohydrates such as vegetables, whole-wheat

products and oatmeal instead of refined processed carbohydrates which usually come in a box or a bag.
 

4.           Eat some type of lean protein at each meal. Protein helps to satisfy hunger and provide the necessary building blocks to maintain lean body mass while losing body fat.
 
5.           Eat 4-6 small meals day a day instead of the usual 2-3 large meals. Eating frequently will help regulate and boost your metabolism to burn more calories.
 
6.           Remember fat is not bad.  Consume adequate amounts of healthy fat foods such as olive oil, walnuts, almonds, Omega-3 fortified eggs, or other Omega-3 products.  Healthy fats are great antioxidants as well as help with brain function and many other essential processes that take place in the body on a daily basis. Essential Fatty Acids, according to clinical studies, could also help prevent certain diseases. To guarantee you’re consuming enough Omega-3 supplement your diet with EFA Icon.
 
7.           Consume Green Tea or Water instead of calorie-filled drinks such as soft drinks.  Green Tea has many health benefits and you should be drinking at least 1ml of non-caffeinated fluid for every calorie that you consume. This works out between (8-12) 8oz glasses of Green Tea or Water a day.
 
8.           Consistent fat loss requires good habits. If you want to create good habits, then you need plan. Therefore, map out your meals every day and follow them. If you follow your plan everyday for 2-3 weeks, you will form habits that become part of your daily routine and part of your life.  Click HERE to get your FREE guide, The Standard Operating Procedures to Eating Healthy. 
 
9.           Incorporate “superfoods” into your meal plan on a daily basis. Some examples are salmon, low-fat plain yogurt, tomatoes, spinach, mixed berries, whole oats, mixed nuts, olive oil, flax seeds(or flax meal), green tea, and various beans.
 
10.        Keep total fat intake under 30% for the day.  This can easily be accomplished by avoiding “extra” fats (and common items found around the firehouse) such as butter, sour cream, mayonnaise… This doesn't mean you have to completely eliminate these items, just use them sparingly and avoid adding them to foods whenever possible.
 

Bonus:  Follow the 85% rule. If you can follow your plan 85% of the time, you will soon see unwanted fat melt off your body. However, if you find yourself breaking these rules more than 85% of the time, your chances of failing increase significantly. 

Stay Safe and Make each day a "healthier" one.

A. Zamzow

www.FireRescueFitness.com

Looking for a GREAT Workout..click HERE

Nutritional Myths at the Firehouse (or any house)

Today I wanted to post about nutrition, more importantly on some of the biggest nutritional myths floating around firehouses (and other houses).  Eat this, don't eat that...there is so much misinformation on nutrition that it can get to be overwhelming and frustrating.  Take a look at 4 of the biggest nutritional myths, hopefully they can clarify some things for you.

Myth #1

“Eat fewer calories and you will lose weight.”

The Truth:
Low calorie diets completely damage your metabolism and never result in long term weight or fat loss.. As a trainer I routinely heard clients say “But I barely eat all day and I still can’t lose weight!”.  Starving yourself results in a loss of muscle mass, which results in a slower metabolism, which results in weight and fat gain.

The truth is that it’s more important where your calories come from. Just simply reducing your calories may result in no weight loss and leave you tired and hungry all day.  I recommend logging your food every once in a while to make sure you are eating the right amounts of the right foods.

Myth #2

“Eat Low-Fat to Lose Fat”

The Truth:
Low Fat foods have made Americans even more overweight and unhealthy than they were before the low fat craze. The truth is the only way to lose fat is by eating fat. Yes, you heard me right. If you are not eating the right kind of fat, your fat loss is literally impossible. The right fat intake will turn your body into a fat-burning furnace (and that is not an exaggeration).  

Low fat foods also have a ton of chemicals and sweeteners that are not only toxic but cause you to crave more food.

Myth #3

“Low Carb diets are the fastest way to lose weight”

The Truth:
Low Carb diets never work long term and they make you feel miserable in the process. Most people on low carb diets suffer from headaches, muscle aches and a lack of energy.  Carbohydrates bind with water in your body, when you cut them out of your diet, your body flushes the water out of your system.  This results in a rapid weight loss but not one that is sustainable.  Worst of all, as soon as you put anything that even resembles a carb back into your body, you blow up like a balloon.

Myth #4

“Supplements are the only way to lose weight”

The Truth:
You don’t need anything but the right foods and the right plan to achieve your perfect weight. This is the biggest money making scam in the world today: companies selling you worthless supplements with false promises. The truth is, without the right nutrition principles and without the right foods, no supplement will have any positive effect on your body.  If you don't have a solid nutritional foundation supplements will be a complete waste of money!
In order to finally lose weight and completely change the course of your health, you must forget all of the worthless information that is in the media today. If any of these above statements were true, our country (and our industry, click here for obesity statistics in firefighters)  be so overweight and unhealthy?

So, should you eat?  I think the best thing to do is follow this one simple rule when it comes to nutrition:

"Only Eat whole foods with ONE ingredient."

That's it.  The reason why one ingredient whole foods are the best for you is that they contain zero processing and zero artificial ingredients that have been linked to increasing inflammation and body fat accumulation.  

Get the Standard Operating Procedures to Eating Healthy for FREE, (Click HERE!)

Eating healthy in the firehouse isn't the easiest thing to do.  It takes discipline and an avoidance of the kitchen (or whatever place in the firehouse where all the goodies are).  Obviously, it is impossible to avoid the kitchen entirely but it is possible to lean out the firehouse.   Cooking for a group of hungry firefighters is not easy-- if you don’t cook something tasty you will hear about it from your crew...for a long time.  The goal of this e-book is to provide some guidelines (and some recipes) on how to cook and eat healthy in the firehouse (and at your own house) to keep you lean and “fit for duty.” 

--Six easy to follow guidelines

--Fire house shopping list

--Example meal plans

--Healthy snack ideas that are easy and quick to prepare

--Healthy Recipes

Get the Standard Operating Procedures to Eating Healthy for FREE, (Click HERE!)

Firefighter Fitness Motivation

Are You Ready For Duty?

My ultimate goal is to help firefighters, EMTs and paramedics prepare for the physical demands of the job.  I often perform research especially about firefighter fatalities and injuries.  Recently I was reviewing the fatality statistics for 2011 which motivated me to create this post.

In 2011, firefighter fatalities included 27 career firefighters, 51 volunteer firefighters, and 5 part-time or full-time members of wildland or wildland contract fire agencies.

Younger firefighters were more likely to have died as a result of traumatic injuries, such as injuries from an apparatus accident or becoming caught or trapped during firefighting operations. Stress-related deaths are rare below the 31 to 35 years of age category and, when they occur, often include underlying medical conditions (which is why it is so important to get yearly physicals).

Obviously, you understand that firefighting is extremely strenuous physical work and is likely one of the most physically demanding activities that the human body performs. Stress or overexertion is a general category that includes all firefighter deaths that are cardiac or cerebrovascular in nature such as heart attacks, strokes, and includes other events such as extreme climatic thermal exposure. Classification of a firefighter fatality in this cause of fatal injury category does exclusively indicate that a firefighter was in poor physical condition but it does raise the question to their level of fitness.

Fifty firefighters died in 2011 as a result of stress or overexertion:
• forty-eight firefighters died due to heart attacks;
• one firefighter died due to a cerebrovascular accident (CVA); and
• one firefighter died from heat exhaustion

The ultimate objective of the U.S. Fire Administrations efforts is to reduce the number of firefighter deaths through an increased awareness and understanding of their causes and how they can be prevented. Firefighting, rescue, and other types of emergency operations are essential activities in an inherently dangerous profession, and unfortunate tragedies do occur. These are the risks all firefighters accept every time they respond to an emergency incident. However, the risks can be greatly reduced through efforts to improve training, emergency scene operations, and firefighter health and safety initiatives.   Ultimately, you as a firefighter have the greatest control over your own health. 

My question to You is: "What do you do on a daily basis to improve your health and improve your skills to ultimately prolong your career as a Fire Rescue Athlete?"

 

• Do you workout on a regular basis?
• Do you fuel your body like an athlete?
• Do you get regular check ups and yearly physicals?
• Do you work on your skills often (raise ladders, carry equipment, swing tools, etc.)?

In general the obesity rates of firefighters is higher than the general public.  In this economy we (as an industry) need to do all we can to promote our value to our communities.  Does an overweight firefighter or officer promote our value?

Lets start reducing fatalities by reducing obesity rates...we owe it to each other and to the communities we serve.

Stay Safe and Healthy,
A. Zamzow
www.FireRescueFitness.com

I'd love to know how you stay motivated or motivate others on your department so please leave a comment or email me.


Source:  http://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/ff_fat11.pdf

Firefighter Fitness- Hill Training to Increase VO2 Max

VO2max is a measure of the maximum rate at which an athlete's body is able to consume oxygen when performing a specific activity, adjusted for body weight.   This is a very important for the fire rescue athlete, a higher VO2 max means that the firefighter can do more work with less oxygen.  This comes in extremely helpful when doing fire operations (on air) of course.  VO2 max can be calculated many ways, the easiest is to use a treadmill or track (read more about calculating VO2 max by clicking here.)

From a fire rescue fitness program perspective, the program should not only focus on sstrength and flexibility but also on increasing VO2 max.  This brings me to today's topic.  Last year I personally focused on training for the Ironman, which is a very endurance based event, even though I completed the event (you can read about my journey here) I still felt that I was lacking recovery on the fire ground. This year I have focused on increasing my VO2 max by performing more intervals and by hill training.
There are two major factors that contribute to a high VO2max. One is a strong oxygen transport system, which includes a powerful heart, hemoglobin-packed blood, high blood volume, high capillary density in the muscles, and high mitochondrial density within the muscle cells. The other is speed, or the capacity to contract a large number of muscle fibers simultaneously, as the more muscle tissue is active at any given moment, the more oxygen the muscles demand.  Running up hills helps to improve both of these factors.
Close to the firehouse we have a pretty big and steep hill, along with my regular interval training, I've been trying to run the hill for at least one session each week.  

Hill Intervals



Try to find a hill that takes anywhere from 20 to 90 seconds to get to the top.  Because running hills can be very stressful on the body and joints you want to make sure to warm-up properly. 
Before I run the hills I perform this warm-up:
Walk for 5 minutes around the park (including one walk to the top of the hill and zig-zag down). 
Perform 10 air squats (slowly)
10 overhead to ground chops
10 walking quad stretches

Head for the hill
If your new to running hills, start slowly, try to jog up slowly and gradually increase your speeds. 

My workout today was to run up the hill (about 40 seconds) then zig-zag back down to catch my breath 5 x for a total workout of  20 minutes.  My goal is to increase one hill each week.
Give it a try and let me know what you think.  I can tell you from experience it will be a love/ hate relationship.
Stay safe and healthy,
A. Zamzow