Sponsored content from Paul Conway Fire
Functionality is critical to firefighting. Everything we use has an intended purpose.Take for example the positive pressure fan and its ability to vent a structure of smoke and heat. It’s great when it performs properly (and when you operate it correctly), but what do you do if things aren’t in sync? Do you disregard the fan and throw it back in the cabinet, hoping it magically works when you need it? No! You find out why it isn’t functioning properly, correct it, and prepare it for emergencies.
There’s no question that you take great care of your firefighting equipment. You take pride in checking it out every morning to ensure that it is fully functional, but now the question remains: ARE YOU FUNCTIONAL? Are your truly ready and prepared for unique and specific demands of an emergency when you are called? Or are you operating with stiffness, limited range of motion, inflexibility, or just general pain when you move? If you are experiencing these things, then you are not at your most optimal. You are not functional!
Tragically, most people are walking around with these kinds of discomforts and simply accept it as part of their daily lives, hoping that nothing happens. Even more people are operating with movement patterns that don’t produce pain or discomfort, but will still lead to injury. Instead of correcting the problem, we just grit our teeth, “toughen up” and make it work. This is not the right mentality. This is one of the major contributing factors to why firefighter injuries remain unchanged over the last 35 years. What we need to do is find out what the issues are and then find the right ways to correct them with proper training.
So what’s the answer to this? Developing proper movement patterns and correcting deficiencies. This is at the core of training health and improving safety for fire departments and firefighters with workshops like Firefighter Dynamic Performance Training! It is my privilege to be able to utilize my 13 years of experience in firefighter fitness to help you recognize your movement and performance dysfunctions. Have you checked your movement and performance patterns to see how you can increase performance and improve safety?
I’m Offering FREE Help! Click here to view a firefighter specific superset and then email me at jponder@fd-pt.com or post it to the FD-PT Facebook Page where I will then give you feedback on what you are doing great and what you can do even better. Let’s get you more functional today! I can also help your department as a whole with a workshop or even custom made class. E-mail me via the address above, or visit FD-PT.com to see how I AM FUNCTIONAL and can be of assistance to you.
Jordan Ponder is a Captain of the Milwaukee Fire Department assigned to Engine 30. Additionally, he is the Lead Peer Fitness Trainer for the MFD where he has been training firefighter health for over 12 years. Holding NASM-CPT, ACE, PFT and multiple of modality certifications, he is also a professional bodybuilder with the WNBF. Jordan is also the Director of Firefighter Dynamic Performance Training which supplies free safety training equipment for fire departments for conducting workshops for their members. To contact Jordan Ponder, email jponder@fd-pt.com.
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