First Person: Firefighter Fitness

I’ve never been a morning person — a fact well-known among my friends and family, who know better than to call me before 10 a.m. on a Saturday.

So when I told them I had joined a four-week-long fitness boot camp that began at 5:30 in the morning and required me to set my alarm for (gasp!) 4:30 a.m., they thought I was joking.

Really. The last time I’d seen the sun rise, it was because I’d never gone to sleep in the first place.

And once I am cozy under the covers, good luck trying to wake me up. (I once slept through a fire alarm in my college dorm, to my roommate’s astonishment.)

Who in their right mind would willingly wake up before the crack of dawn to run laps and do crunches in 40-degree weather?

Well, my own crazy self, apparently, but only with the encouragement of a group of dedicated Green Valley firefighters.

911 Fitness Challenge

What prompted all of this, you ask?

The Green Valley Fire District is participating in the 911 Fitness Challenge, a national competition with the goal of motivating the law-enforcement community to sprint, lift and lunge their way into peak physical condition.

This year is the 10th anniversary of the 12-week challenge for police officers, firefighters, paramedics, EMS workers, military personnel, corrections workers, nurses and physicians to lose weight and gain muscle.

911 Fitness is an organization promoting education and exercise to maintain and enhance physical performance, fitness, health, and quality of life, according to the organization’s Web site.

In January, the thousands of 3-to-5-member teams competing across the country were required to “weigh in,” calculate their body fat percentage and take a before-picture — to compare to the hunky after-pictures they’ll be showing off in April, when the teams weigh-out.

One team in each of the four regions that shows the greatest improvement, by losing the most collective weight and body fat,

will be awarded $5,000 and a free trip to Las Vegas.

When Ron and Jana Holland, owners of SWAT Fitness in Tucson, heard that the district was entering two teams in the Fitness Challenge (the formidable “Gila Monsters” and aptly-named “Burning Calories”), they decided to help the firefighters reach their goal by sponsoring the GVFD’s participation in one of SWAT’s popular outdoor fitness boot camps. Along with fitness instruction, the year-round boot camps offer motivational training and nutritional counseling.

SWAT (which stands for “Strength Wellness Athletic Training”) has two locations in Northwest and East Tucson and offers one of its boot camps in Sahuarita Park, off Sahuarita Park Road.

The Hollands have been sponsoring Tucson-area Fitness Challenge teams since 1995, and say they are happy to offer their support to the law-enforcement community.

“I was a police officer for over 20 years, so this cause is very dear to my heart,” Ron said. “Public servants need to be physically fit to do their job, and I’m behind them 100 percent.”

Boot Camp experience

When Capt. Melissa Smith of the Green Valley Fire District first asked me if I’d like to join them in their pre-dawn workout program, I almost said no, but decided that I couldn’t let the firefighters think I was a wimp.

With the frost on the grass crunching beneath my Nikes and the thought of my friends — asleep and warm in their beds — taunting me, I admit that the first few days of boot camp weren’t a total joy.

By Day 3, I had done so many squats and lunges that I could barely walk, and hobbled around Green Valley like I’d been hit by a bus.

My breathing was so stilted when I ran that I almost wished I had asthma — at least I’d have an excuse for sounding like I was about to hyperventilate.

But as the days and weeks went by, I recognized a marked improvement in my both my physical capability and my attitude. For instance, I more than doubled the amount of push-ups I could do in one minute, and I actually began to look forward to running, something I never thought I’d hear myself say.

My fellow boot-campers experienced the same transformation.

“We developed a kind of love/hate relationship with (drill instructor and personal fitness trainer) Morgan Arnold, who was both happy and militant every morning,” Captain Smith joked.

(Even the Green Valley firefighters needed some tough-love motivation to get them going on those cold mornings.)

But the results were worth it. “Each of us that participated in the boot camp lost weight, gained muscle, increased our endurance and increased our speed,” Smith said.

Brandon Christenson, a GVFD firefighter and emergency medical technician, says that despite his initial wariness,

he ended up enjoying the experience. The workouts were often tough, but the atmosphere was also fun and relaxed, he said.

“What I liked about fitness boot camp is that though it challenges you personally, you work as a team, and it helps to have that constant support and encouragement.”

Included in that team were several “civilian” members, like myself, many of whom credited the firefighters’ camaraderie and good-natured team spirit with getting them through some difficult days.

Arnold agreed. “These guys really brought a great energy to the group,” she said. “They gave it their all out there.”

Healthy results

But despite all the fun had in the process, the goal of both the 911 Fitness Challenge and the SWAT Fitness boot camp is a serious one : to get healthy.

For those with physically strenuous jobs such as firefighting, where the leading cause of death in the line of duty is cardiac-related, being physically fit is critical.

But health should be a priority for everyone, and many of us, whatever our career or stage in life, need that extra push to get started down the right path.

Maybe you should try a boot camp or similar workout program...

After all, how often does a person get to do sit-ups under the stars?

Or watch the sun rise over the mountains while finishing that last lap around the track?

And if I can get up at 4:30 a.m., trust me — anyone can.

jrichardson@gvnews.com | 547-9726