In order to be a firefighter, you need to have sharp mental and physical abilities. In such a high-stress job, it requires strength, good decision making skills and functional training to keep yourself safe while saving others. By undergoing a firefighter training course, you will get better job training to prepare you for your career as a firefighter. You will train by doing exercises that condition your body and mind to become a better emergency response worker.
Cardiovascular Training
A main component of firefighter training exercises involves building up the cardiovascular system. While in a smoky building, your oxygen supply will be cut drastically, meaning that you need to have a strong heart and cardiovascular system in order to keep moving. Your cardio system can be strengthened by doing a variety of exercises that raise heart rate, like using an elliptical, running, jogging up stairs, and swimming. You can easily try these at home to condition your cardio system before training begins. This ensures that when you are in a firefighting situation, you're able to conserve your oxygen while helping those that need you, notes Military.com.
Strength Training
Firefighters need a great deal of strength, since much of the job involves hauling equipment and sometimes carrying victims away from dangerous situations. Because of this, weight and strength training that involves dead lifts, shoulder presses, leg machines and using free weights to add resistance can help build muscle for a more functional firefighter. While spending time in the gym can help you get stronger before firefighter training begins, the firefighter training course will involve more functional exercises, like carrying a hose or running stairs with resistance to simulate carrying a victim.
Functional Training
The exercises firefighters complete during the course aren't only for building stronger muscles and a more effective cardiovascular system. Some exercises will involve simulated fire to help new or hopeful firefighters learn to make better snap decisions. Training facilities may create learning fires to train firefighters to make the best decisions for any situation. These training exercises are not perfectly safe, warns the Department of Homeland Security. In 2001, two firefighters were killed during a training exercise involving a live-burn evaluation. Only the firefighters with honed skills, quick reflexes and developed muscles train with live burn exercises to turn them into the best firefighters possible.
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