What Does "Functional" Training Mean for First Responders?

What makes an exercise "functional" for firefighters, EMTs, and medics?  In order to answer this question, we must first define what functional training means.   The definitions can be varied and broad and often the term functional training is abused and over-used.  The best definition that I found and one that I think really pertains to the fire service comes from the Mayo clinic.  They define functional training as: “Training the body for the activities performed in daily life”.

In the context of first responders, our daily life or shift requires us to lift heavy patients, drag heavy firehose, climb stairs with heavy gear, carry equipment, lift and hoist ladders overhead, all of which require good core strength and mobility.   Therefore, for an exercise to be "functional' for a first responder, it must help us perform one if not all of those activities.  Listen to this episode of the Fire Rescue Athlete Podcast as Aaron Zamzow digs into the definition and gives some great examples to follow.

You can get some more information on the FRF blog:  https://firerescuefitness.com/2021/10/frf-functional-exercise-for-firefighters-standing-db-press/

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