 |
| Photo by Todd Toussaint. |
Staying motivated during training can be very difficult, to say the least. Hitting the gym or even working on skills is the last thing you want to do when your head just isn’t in the game.
This is when you need to have a plan in place, something you can fall back on when you don’t feel like doing that which needs to be done. More often than not, it is a little mental trick that will get you up and moving even though you would rather not. What works for you may be totally different from what works for me–or anyone else, for that matter. Some call on a sense of duty; others rely on sheer discipline or latent obsessive compulsiveness; and others rely on positive self-talk and visualizations, creating scenarios in their head that work to keep them focused and on task.
Successful people have a strategy for getting themselves pumped up on those rare occasions when it doesn’t come naturally. Unsuccessful people don’t; they just slog through whatever the task is, without any enthusiasm whatsoever, exuding negativity and getting nothing from the exercise. In life and, more specifically, as a firefighter, which is your approach?
A Case Study
Easily the most interesting method of motivating during a workout that I ever had the pleasure to observe was a female firefighter whom I also had the privilege of training. When I arrived at the department workout room, I was scheduled to train a different firefighter, one who was not the most motivated individual with whom I had ever worked. The thought of spending the next 45 minutes trying to get this guy to perform with any intensity or enthusiasm was weighing heavy on my mind. I had tried everything I could think of to get him going, all to no avail.
As I put my bag down, I saw Mary (names have been changed) sweating buckets in turnout pants and boots working on the treadmill. I waved, and she nodded back but stayed focused on her workout. I was working on a little paperwork when I heard the door open and my next client came trundling in; Bob was late again, as usual. After listening to his litany of problems, both real and imagined, we began our normal routine of me encouraging and him whining. Meanwhile, Mary kept pushing hard on her workout.
Suddenly she hopped off the treadmill and dashed across the room and into the stairwell. There she grabbed a prepositioned rescue dummy and began dragging it up the stairs. When she got to the top, she laid the dummy down and disappeared around the corner. Soon she came bounding down the stairs on the opposite side of the room, having run around and through the floor above. She dashed across the room and got back on the stepper, picking up where she had left off.
Bob looked at her and then at me and rolled his eyes. My inclination was to slap him upside his head, but I resisted. After a few minutes of stepping she repeated her performance, this time bounding up the stairs she had just come down, running through and around the floor above in the opposite direction, picking up the dummy, and carrying it back down. Then she returned to the stepper and resumed her previous pace. Bob rolled his eyes again and, once again, with increasing difficulty, I refrained from slapping him.
She repeated this performance like clockwork, alternating stepping with dragging and carrying the dummy. Then, after a few repetitions, she came dashing back to the treadmill, but this time she let fly with a string of curses that would have made a longshoreman blush. She was obviously not a happy firefighter. At first I thought she had injured herself and I began moving toward the stepper, but she smiled weakly and waved me off, indicating that she was alright. I went back to Bob and she resumed her routine. Soon the 45 minutes were up, and Bob departed.
When she finished on the stepper, Mary switched to a cool-down walk on the treadmill. I walked over and complimented her on the effort and intensity of her workout. She thanked me and then I asked her about the interval where something had obviously gone wrong, causing her to curse like a sailor.
She laughed and explained what she was up to. She said that to keep her focused during this type of workout, she visualizes a particular rescue scenario. She decided that she would climb a certain number of flights on the stepper at a specific pace, then “pause” the stepper and accomplish the dummy drag or carry. If she returned to the stepper before it had cycled through its pause program and shut off, all was well. If, on the other hand, the stepper had shut down before she returned, then the victim had “died.”
I was amazed at how she had managed to turn a simple aerobic and skill training exercise into a life-or-death experience. She was visibly upset when she didn’t make it back in time, but then she put that failure behind her, refocused, and redoubled her efforts to make it a different outcome on the next evolution. I was so impressed at her focus, intensity, creativity, and dedication that I would have hugged her had she not been drenched in sweat.
This is how professional firefighters should train. Every movement is planned, and every thought is focused on the mission. Their training is done with full knowledge and understanding of what they are doing and why.
How About You?
When you are working in the gym or on the training ground, do you stay focused on the task at hand? Do you know why you are doing what you are doing, understanding the consequences of your actions? Or are you one of those who shows up late, has to be told repeatedly what to do, and then simply goes through the motions, and then only because the training officer is watching?
I have to say that I have met only one “Mary” in all the years that I have been working with firefighters. In fact, I have met only a handful like her in my entire life, including my years in the U.S. Coast Guard. It was during my USCG service that I was introduced to this type of focused, deliberate training, and I have used it ever since.
If you aren’t at least on the road to that level of internal motivation, then I suggest you start. Your life and the lives of others depend on it.
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.com.
