Before you go on a call, you plan. You have trainings. En route to the call, scenarios run through your head. In EMS, it's all the different possibilities. Shortness of breath could be allergic reaction, asthma, cardiac related, musculoskeletal. . .anything. You run through the different treatments you may have to administer. In Firefighting, you're... Continue Reading →
How Come I’m Not Sore???
Am I doing something wrong? These two questions were asked of me tonight after I finished a small-group training. They were followed up with "we feel great! We can move and feel stronger lifting," but my ladies were concerned that they could move and weren't sore to the point of not wanting to move after... Continue Reading →
Quality vs Quantity
Sitting at the station, I was updating the roster for the year with the Assistant Chief, talking about the applicants we've had over the last few years. Who has stuck around? Who has become an asset to the department? Who needs a little more one-on-one training? I made the comment that it would be awesome... Continue Reading →
Spiral Stairs and Bear Crawls
I was going into my second year as an EMT and working full-time at a private transport company. One night, first call of the night, we got a discharge run for a 150# patient - a light one to start the night. We picked the patient and their belongs up from the hospital and transported... Continue Reading →
What Functional Fitness Means to Me: Motivation
In "What Functional Fitness Means to Me: Background," I explained how functional fitness benefited me personally, mostly at work. I talked about how I was switched from Pre-physical Therapy to Exercise Science with a complementary minor. Let me tell you a little more about that. My partner and I were called to drive a flight... Continue Reading →
Freedom to Choose Your Trainer
I live in the country. For the majority of my life, the nearest gym was 20 minutes away. . .depending on who was driving. About 5 years ago, a gym opened up near me. I didn't hear about it til about 2 years ago when I was advised to contact them for a job, which... Continue Reading →