Shoulder Pain: Is it impinging on your life?

It is well documented that firefighting is a physically demanding job and throughout their career a firefighter will deal with some type of injury (ie. low back, knee, shoulder). Low back injuries are ranked as the highest among musculoskeletal injuries followed by knees and shoulders. Shoulder problems are starting to become more apparent with firefighters due to a number of factors such as a reduction...

How much does Obesity Cost Your Department? John Hofman, MS, CSCS

Sick time, modified duty, and on-line injuries are consistent staple in the fire service. Let’s face it firefighting is a very physically demanding job so injuries will occur. So it would only make sense to have a health & wellness program to help reduce the chances of these things from occurring. Yet many fire departments may not have the resource to incorporate one, or worse...

Last posting we discussed the idea of shift schedules and exercise programs. This posting we will show you how to put it together. We will apply it to 3 different schedules: 48/96, Modified Kelly, and the Kelly. Click here for the full article.

Many firefighters often feel overwhelmed or confused when it comes to exercise prescription. Let’s face it there so much information out there it can be somewhat confusing. When should exercise? What type of exercise should I perform? How long? How hard? Etc….. We all can agree that it firefighting is a physically demanding job and that multi-plane & multi-joint exercise would be the best selection of exercises.  Read More >>

It’s the New Year and most people have started their new years resolutions. But how many actually succeed at them? Most people believe that if they simply write down their goals for 2012 it will become a reality. I wish it were that simple, but it is not. Most people will have a difficult time trying to achieve their goals because making a wish list is not enough. So what goes wrong?

1. TOO MANY, TOO MUCH

Studies have shown that if you want to make one change in your life, you have an 85% chance of success. However if you try to change two thing at once, your chances of success drop to around 35%. Three things at once? Almost zero. Many people actually develop certain poor habits over 10, 20, 30, or even for 40 years. So trying to establish a new habit while breaking an old one can be challenging in itself. Now include a number of other goals and you will not achieve any of them.

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Coach Hofman's Healthy Recipe this week is Turkey Hash!

Coach Hofman's healthy recipe this week is Chicken Masala!

Last time we talked about how asymmetries or muscular imbalances can affect your low back pain or other problem areas. This week we will discuss screening methods to help identify them.

Selecting a method to help identify these muscular imbalances may seem challenging, yet it is quite simple. The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) is an excellent tool to incorporate into any health and wellness program. It consists of seven different movement...

Finding the Weak Link: A Proactive Approach to Injury Prevention

Firefighter is ranked one of the most hazardous occupations each year, an average career is about 25 years so injuries are going to happen. Many health and wellness programs are created to do just that promote health and wellness, yet many do not go any further than this. Exercise is important, but what exercises would benefit our firefighters more accurately? What if we can establish a better system that will help us identify the muscular imbalances associated with each individual firefighter? This would allow us to select specific exercises that would target those areas that lengthen or strengthen specific muscles, which in essence provide us with a better injury prevention program.

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Coach Hofman's healthy recipe this week is Avocado Pita Pocket!

Ageing refers to a multi-dimensional process of physical, psychological, and social change. Let’s face it we all get older, that’s a GUARANTEE, and as we age our bodies breakdown. The years of our past when we were a young firefighter started to create “wear and tear” on our joints as we get older, and exercise becomes more of a task rather than fun. Yet, the latest research reveals that exercise can help delay and even reverse aging debilitating effects on your muscles, heart, and brain.

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Over the years I get a lot of questions from firefighters on the best way to exercise. Should we train like a bodybuilder? Maybe like a cross country runner?  How about like a mixed martial artist? The answer is YES, YES, and YES!

Why do we say yes to all the above? Well a firefighter must be as strong as a bodybuilder but also well conditioned as a cross country runner. If they choose to just focus on the strength training aspect, then they...

According to a study performed at the Illinois Fire Service Institute, 3 hours of prolonged firefighting stiffens arteries and impairs heart function in young healthy male firefighters. So what does that mean to you? Keep reading…..

Ok, let’s not all panic just yet, but rather break this information down to see how we help our firefighters better protect themselves. The same things occur in athletes who perform maximal aerobic or heavy resistance...

Coach Hofman's healthy recipe this week is Low-fat Bacon Jack and Jalapeno Quesadillas!

As a coach for firefighters, I spend countless hours helping them resolve some of the injuries. Many of these injuries are due to muscular imbalance. Whether those occur from the job or rather poor training, either way they happen over time.

When I am working with a firefighter the one thing that I am constantly doing is assessing their movement patterns. Some coach’s may perform a more thorough screening such as the Functional Movement Screen...

Our last part in regards to Old School methods is about body building. Bodybuilding splits are old school. In fact bodybuilding splits are probably close to 20 years old. This is what people did in the 80's and 90's. We all went to the gym on Monday to work our chest for an hour. Then the next day was arms. Good ole biceps and triceps for the entire workout. We would leave the gym with a massive pump in our arms. Then the next day we worked back and...

In the last article we spoke of some old school concepts. In this article I want to try and explain some old school concepts and methods that you should not be doing anymore. If you are, stop. Remember, you need an open mind when it comes to fitness. An athlete would change his training program if he knew it would help them improve and win. So why not firefighter? They are very similar to athletes in terms of physical exertion, but the major difference...

Why do people still perform crunches and not stabilization exercises? Why do people still get on the leg press machine instead of body weight squats? Why do people still believe in long, slow distance training to “burn fat” instead of high intensity intervals? Well, this is what we did 20 years ago. Things change and so must people. Just like fighting fire, fitness has transformed over the past 20 years. There are many concepts we thought we were doing exercises that would get us fit in the most efficient manner. But we no longer live in a bodybuilding world where we design body part splits for our workouts. You know the workouts: Chest/triceps, back/biceps, and legs/shoulders. If you are still doing this you are “old school”. Instead we train for functionality and job specific tasks....

Coach Hofman's healthy recipe this week is Stuffed Chicken Divan with Sherry Dijon Sauce!

Coach Hofman's healthy recipe of the week is Grilled Spicy Filet Mignon Salad with Ginger-Lime Dressing!

Helping the back Pt 3: Sciatic Relief

The term "sciatica" describes the symptoms of leg pain and possibly tingling, numbness or weakness that originates in the low back and travels through the buttock and down the large sciatic nerve in the back of the leg.

The vast majority of firefighters who experience sciatica get better with time (usually a few weeks or months) and find pain relief with non-surgical sciatica treatment. For others,...

Helping the back pt 2: Cross Pelvic Syndrome (CPS)

Cross pelvic syndrome was developed by Czech neurologist and physiatrist Dr. Vladimir Janda. The concept is based on a more functional approach to musculoskeletal medicine, which is a preferred method when addressing chronic musculoskeletal injuries or pain. The functional approach relates to assessing all the systems in body and how they affect one another versus focusing on one single site.

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Whether you are an elite athlete, a weekend warrior, or a firefighter, you can be almost certain of three things regarding back pain:

1. Sooner or later, you will have it. 2. Most of the time, the pain will be in the lower back. 3. With or without treatment, it may get better.

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How do you move? Well, stop chasing the pain! This is something that I have been teaching our firefighters and recruits for the past year. You see pain is good and bad. Good when you’re with fitness professional who understands movement patterns and can provide corrective exercises. Bad when you move to avoid the pain and therefore create more imbalances which usually lead to other problems. Overall, pain affects motor control in unpredictable and inconsistent ways....

As a strength and conditioning coach for firefighters I spend countless hours researching and developing methods to help our firefighters reduce their back injuries. Over the years, I have admired and learned a lot from individuals such as Gray...

Ok, so I came across a research article that was recently performed on Firefighters Aerobic Capacity. As many of you know, heart attacks are the number one killer of firefighters. The best way to combat this awful disease is through good nutritional habits and exercise. It does not matter if you...

Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Lemon, Basil, and Salmon (Low Fat)

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 10 min

Level: Easy

Serving size: 4

 

 

 

 

 

I want to talk briefly about a topic that many people neglect: GOAL SETTING......In terms of health, wellness and life, goal setting is very important. Let’s be honest, how do you know where you want to go if you do not have a goal? Most people end up going in circles and never achieve...

As a strength and conditioning coach for firefighters I am often asked about fitness equipment. Let’s be honest, there is so much on the market that it can be overwhelming. So how do you know what is effective and what is not? Well first let’s look at our criteria for selecting resistance training equipment – I like to use the acronym SAVE. Is it:

1. SPECIFIC? 2. AFFORDABLE? 3. VERSATILE? 4. EFFECTIVE?

So here is my “BIG FIVE"...