By Michael Krueger
In Volume 26/Number 9/September 2012 issue of The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, a paper titled “Metabolic Syndrome is Inversely Related to Cardio-respiratory Fitness in Male Career Firefighters” lays out in black and white the fact that firefighters absolutely need to improve their cardio-respiratory fitness to reduce the alarming prevalence of cardiovascular disease among this population.
Here’s what they found and my take on what needs to be done.
Metabolic Syndrome
Metabolic syndrome is a group of risk factors associated with increased cardiovascular disease. In this study, they tested for HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, blood glucose, blood pressure, and BMI and then cardio-respiratory fitness was determined using a symptom limited maximal treadmill test including electrocardiogram and estimation of oxygen consumption in metabolic equivalents (METS).
I will summarize the results by saying they expected to find these career emergency responders to be fitter than the general population, and they weren’t. They also found that the less fit they were, the more prevalent metabolic syndrome was regardless of age.
Not surprisingly, they determined that firefighters should be given strong incentives to improve their cardio-respiratory fitness to reduce cardiovascular disease.
Cardio-Respiratory Fitness
I have talked about cardio more than once, but it bears repeating. You literally cannot live without a strong heart and lungs. It doesn’t matter if you don’t like to run, bike, swim, or row—you need to find something that will get your heart rate up and get you breathing hard on a regular basis.
To give you a sense of how poorly the test subjects performed in this study, more than 50% of the firefighters failed to reach the >12 METS threshold in the cardio-respiratory fitness treadmill test. For perspective, this is considered the minimum required level to safely perform firefighting duties as determined by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).
Cardio-respiratory fitness has been shown in various studies with the general population to have a greater effect on metabolic syndrome than diet or age. That is a big finding, particularly when you consider that age is a nonmodifiable factor while cardio-respiratory exercise is obviously within your control. Diet is also modifiable, but many people find that to be less doable than exercise. Ideally, you would put improving both your diet and exercise high on your priority list, but in the case of addressing metabolic syndrome, if you’re only going to do one, then exercise is the way to go.
More and more people are becoming obese, and firefighters are not immune to this trend. Recently, it was found that the number of Americans over 20 years of age who were either overweight or obese has topped 70%. A lack of cardio-respiratory fitness is a specific risk factor, and it appears that it is number one on the list of cardiovascular disease risk factors. This is one thing that is completely within your ability to change. You have a responsibility to yourself, your family, your department, and your community to take this bull by the horns and improve your cardiovascular conditioning.
I’m a Nag and I Know It
Over and over I talk, cajole, coax, nag, and teach about the importance of cardiovascular training. It doesn’t matter if you are a firefighter, a police officer (they tend to test even worse than firefighters), an office worker, or any other profession; you must improve your cardio-respiratory fitness.
Metabolic syndrome takes you on a direct path to heart disease, diabetes, stroke, disability, and death. Poor cardio-respiratory fitness is like taking the interstate to the graveyard. Just take a look around you; look at your friends and family. If they are average Americans, then they are getting fatter and in poorer condition all the time. Americans just accept it now; everyone is fat and out of breath.
Cardiovascular training is hard; I’m not going to tell you differently. How you train will depend on what you are trying to accomplish. The rule of thumb is you can work intensely for a short period or less intensely for a longer period. If you want to run a marathon, then you have little choice except to train long. For basic cardio-respiratory health, short and intense seems to be the winning combination.
Study after study has come out extolling the virtues of interval training. The legendary “Tabata Protocol” still strikes fear in the hearts of athletes around the world. It was the first and hardest science-based interval training program ever devised. On paper, it is the most effective way to train for cardio-respiratory fitness; the problem is that very few are willing to do it as it was initially created and tested.
Fortunately, we have learned that you can get as much benefit from a modified version. In fact, the modified versions are better, because more people are willing to do them on a regular basis. I’m not going to go over what constitutes cardiovascular training, since I wrote about it last May. You might want to reread it at: http://emberly.fireengineering.com/articles/fire_life/articles/2017/05/cardiovascular-training.html.
You have no excuse not to bring your cardio-respiratory fitness at least up to the bare minimum as recommended by the NFPA. I would think you would expect at least that level of fitness from the firefighter working next to you, and don’t forget that someone’s working next to you too.
As mentioned, I’m nag on this subject. I bring it up with clients all the time. Honestly, most of them don’t do enough cardio training and some who do don’t train hard enough. When friends and family ask me about fitness, the first thing I ask about is their cardiovascular training. The universal response is, “Well, I walk some.” That just doesn’t cut it.
Most people think of cardio training in terms of burning calories to lose weight. Interval training uses a lot of energy so, relatively speaking, it uses a lot of calories. The downside is that you can’t do it for very long, so you don’t burn all that many calories in a session, because you do it for such a short period. On the upside, the “after-burn” is quite large. You continue using calories at a high rate for a considerable number of hours after you’ve finished your workout.
All cardio training uses a lot of calories, but that is a side effect of cardio rather than the primary function. In actuality, cardio training is an inefficient mode of weight reduction when compared to not overeating to begin with. The number one job of cardio-respiratory training is to build a healthy and strong heart, lungs, and circulatory system.
In the End
I can’t help that you may not like to do cardio training. You can’t avoid the need for cardiovascular fitness, and pretending it doesn’t matter can get you killed. You must be able to efficiently take in oxygen, ventilate carbon dioxide, and pump blood throughout your body. If you can’t do this for an extended period, you will be at best a less than optimal firefighter and at worst you’ll be a dead one.
So, find a way you are willing to train for cardio fitness. It doesn’t have to take much time, just a commitment to doing it and doing it right. You’ll need to accept that it’s going to be uncomfortable for a while, but the reward for that acceptance will benefit you today, tomorrow, and for the rest of your long, healthy, and happy life.
So, get everyone in your personal and professional life together and get a commitment from all of them to make the next year the year of improved cardio-respiratory fitness …
…once you get fit, you and everyone else can breathe easy.
Michael Krueger is an NSCA-certified personal trainer. He got his start in fitness training while serving in the United States Coast Guard. He works with firefighters and others in and around Madison, Wisconsin. He is available to fire departments, civic organizations, and athletic teams for training, consulting, and speaking engagements. He has published numerous articles on fitness, health, and the mind-body connection and was a featured speaker at the IAFC’s FRI 2009 Health Day in Dallas, Texas. E-mail him at MKPTLLC@gmail.
