Out of shape and out of touch

[u/Double_Blacksmith662]

Last night on a drill with the crew I was completely gassed. I know I am out of shape, but last night it hit really hard. Not really sure of the point of this post yet, more of a self rant/vent I guess. There are two parts to this situation I realized, as I lay awake last night stressing balls. I'm out of shape and out of touch with the crew. I am a Captain with a small rural VFD.

The out of shape part.

My day job is a work from home desk job (part of the problem), sedintary job, sitting job thats bad for backs. Stay up to late either working or TV, as I have noticed that is some form of control I have over my day with a chaotic life with kids. Don't drink, but eating is a crutch that fills a void. I get back into powerlifting and firehall style workouts, but then hurt my back again, which makes a full stop. I am realizing it took me a long time to get to this point physically, so its going to be a long road to change, so baby steps are needed. My baby steps are; go to bed early, cut out processed foods/eat low carb/no food after dinner, do something physical daily be it walking to splitting wood for now, work on getting my back strong.

The out of touch part.

I've lost some connection with the crew and with the skills. I get mired in planning, paperwork, implimenting training, admin/safety planning, or being in command of a training scenario. My plan to help with this is two fold, be more mindful with my time, and start actively turning down every ask to be in command of training, and structuring the training calendar so either the Chief officers are in command of scenarios, or senior non officers are. Second, its a new budget year soon so I will be pushing to up my monthly pay to be comparable to a days pay a week at my day job. The hope here is I can go to 4 days at work, and 1 day at fire, to actaully have a chunk of dedicated time, thats not practice nights, to get everything else done.

What I do know is; I love my crew and my department, the fact that we get to do this awesome thing in the community, I don't want to fall short for my crew or the public, and I don't want to put my home family or fire family through what becoming a statistic would mean. I have a milestone birthday coming, and could be part of the sucession planning future of the department, so long story short, its time to get my shit together.

In the end, the purpose for this was self therapy, to talk it out further with myself, so if you read it, thank you for your time, and have a great day today, and enjoy the last week of summer.

[u/thenewyorker1]

Thanks for your honesty in this. I too had a bad time last night at drill. I got dehydrated and had to sit out the last half of it with a low blood pressure and dizziness.

I have to dedicate myself to some offsite workouts and daily hydration if I want to maintain Readiness, don’t forget hydration. And treat yourself right, be kind to yourself and give yourself the grace to make mistakes and bounce back.

[u/Goddess_of_Carnage]

Most PT offices allow folks to work out (somewhat observed) for a low monthly fee ($50 month around here).

While you aren’t a proper patient, the PT staff can and are happy to provide guidance.

I think it’s a great option when you need a safe one to prevent injury.

[u/JohnnyBravo011]

For the health - stop powerlifting. Work on mobility, flexibility, core strength. Core will fix your back indirectly more than working on your back will

[u/AerieHistorical1275 → u/JohnnyBravo011]

Yeah man, my mom has a rough time with her back and planks really help her out with building those support muscles for both core and back.

[u/JohnnyBravo011 → u/AerieHistorical1275]

The McGill Big 3 are great for support

[u/SuperglotticMan]

The best operational training plan is this one. You can replace some exercises that might strain your back with more safe alternatives like replacing a squat with a leg press or lunge. It’ll get your cardio and strength right. It’s not pretty, flashy, and you won’t look like Arnie from it but it works.

r/TacticalBarbell

[u/BasicGunNut]

We all need a good vent every now and then. Just take it one day at a time and start with the simple stuff and build yourself back up. I’m working on my self too. Having a probie on the crew and doing swift-water training were some big wake ups for me. I’m trying not to be a stereotypical driver lol. I do love my ice cream though lol.

[u/aumedalsnowboarder]

Its a hard bullet to bite, but youre at the point of realizing it. What matter now is how you move forward. You can "new years resolution" it amd be strong for a few months amd then fall off, or long term commit. Seems like the biggest factors are sedentary job and eating. Eat as healthy as you can, and get an adjustable desk with under desi tread mill. The weight will fall off if you are.cookimg your own generally healthy meals amd burning an extra 300-500 calories a day while working (doesn't have to be all at one time to start)

[u/powpow2x2]

Kettlebell swings, these hit legs, lungs and grip, calisthenics (pushups sit-ups etc) and air consumption courses in your gear at whatever pace you can tolerate. It’s just discipline. Don’t look for gains, focus on being consistent. That’s how you maintain functional longevity.