Are you ready to Increase Strength & Power, Improve Your Metabolic Conditioning, and Enhance Your Recovery?

Do you want to move better, alleviate pain, and improve cardiac health?

TACFIT Fire Fighter: First Alarm is a comprehensive and specific fitness program designed for firefighters, by firefighters.

Fire Captains Christian Carson and Ryan Provencher developed First Alarm to fill the void that exists in the fire service for a specific and comprehensive firefighter fitness program. Christian and Ryan are both TACFIT Division Chiefs and have been training firefighters in TACFIT since 2005.

To design First Alarm, we began by analyzing common fire ground tasks and then selected exercises that mimic these tasks. In other words, the skills that we perform are the basis for the exercise selection. Not the other way around.

All too often we find ourselves training for another sport or skill set by adopting and adapting whatever workouts we can find. Well, your search is over…

TACFIT Fire Fighter: First Alarm is the Firefighter’s Workout!

First Alarm Movie Trailer

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What others are saying:

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Just jumped in…looks great, professional, and high quality! Can’t wait to really work this program!
I thought I was in fairly decent shape, that is until I tried TACFIT Fire Fighter! I’m on it! My new fitness program has begun.
Congratulations and Thank You for a Great TACFIT program.

Greetings Tacfitters, Christian here:

I would like to speak candidly for a moment. I want you to hear about the inspiration behind First Alarm from someone who knows, not someone writing a sales pitch.

I am a founding partner of TACFIT Fire Fighter, co-creator of First Alarm and I have been a firefighter for ten years. Ryan and I set out to deliver a specific and comprehensive firefighter fitness program because you deserve it! We spend so much time and energy training, preparing, and perfecting our craft, but we need to focus more on the health and wellness of the most valuable asset in the fire service, YOU!

Our goal is to raise awareness and address the single most important question in the fire service today:

What is killing over 50% of our firefighters who die in the line of duty each year?

Statistics show that the majority of firefighters dying in the line of duty are not being killed by flashover, backdraft, explosion, entrapment, building collapse or any other fire ground event.

We train hard to hone our skills as firefighters
We respond to fewer fires
Safety standards are higher and technology is better than ever.

And yet, nearly 100 firefighters die in the line of duty each year!

What are we missing?

Sudden Cardiac Death is the Number One Killer of Firefighters!

Over 50% of firefighter line of duty deaths are being attributed to a sudden cardiac event. The number of line of duty deaths in the fire service have been on the decline over the past few years, but the percentage of firefighters dying from sudden cardiac death is fairly consistent year in and year out. (NFPA, 2010).

Smith, Liebig, Steward, and Fehling (2010) found that the acute physiological effects of firefighting such as adrenaline surge, increased core temperature and dehydration coupled with underlying cardiovascular disease may contribute to a sudden cardiac event. (Smith, Liebig, Steward, & Fehling, 2010).

The majority of firefighters dying in the line of duty are succumbing to a sudden cardiac event. The USFA reports that in 2009 heart attacks and strokes account for nearly 60% of all firefighter deaths. (USFA, 2009).

Tens of Thousands of Firefighters are Injured on the Fire Ground Each Year

There were 78,150 injuries in the line of duty for 2009. The leading type of injury received during fire ground operations was strain, sprain, or muscular pain (48.2%). The leading type of injury received during non-fire ground operations was strain, sprain, or muscular pain (59%). (NFPA, 2010).

28.5% of line-of-duty injuries are contributed to lack of wellness and fitness. (Moore-Merrell, Zhou, McDonald-Valentine, Goldstein & Slocum, 2008)

It costs 2.7-7.8 billion dollars per year to address and prevent firefighter injuries. (NIST, 2004).

Our physical fitness training must prepare us specifically for the occupational demands of firefighting to reduce the physiological strain experienced by the body during firefighting operations. Reducing the physiological strain experienced by the body will reduce the likelihood of suffering a sudden cardiac event.

We must utilize comprehensive physical training in combination with proper firefighter nutrition to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Each of us has control of how we move and what we eat. Let’s start making better choices today.

What does this mean for you?

We reduce our risk by making healthy lifestyle choices:

Participate in a comprehensive firefighter specific fitness program.

Make healthy, nutritious food choices each day.

Avoid smoking and alcohol in excess.

What does this mean for your fire department?

Implement a Fire Department Health and Wellness Program that includes:

Annual Medical Exams

Annual Physical Fitness Assessment

A Comprehensive and Specific Firefighter Fitness Program

Peer Fitness Trainers

Access to a Firefighter Combat Course

Incident Safety and Rehab

Why don’t conventional fitness programs

meet our needs as

firefighters?

Most fitness programs do not meet the needs of firefighters because they were not designed to develop the wide array of physical attributes that firefighters must possess.

A comprehensive firefighter fitness program will develop strength, power, metabolic conditioning, dynamic body movement, and mobility while placing a high priority on recovery and injury prevention. Most conventional fitness programs fall short of these demands.

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Conventional Fitness Programs

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Body Building: Body Building training protocols are designed to increase the size and strength of individual muscle groups. This training approach focuses on single plane movements and often places undue stress on individual joint complexes. Physical strength and power are critical attributes for firefighters, but they must be expressed through multiple planes of movement through a full range of motion.

Firefighter Workouts | Firefighter Fitness

Endurance Training: Endurance training protocols are typically designed to improve performance at low to moderate intensity for longer periods of time. This training protocol is appropriate for tri-athletes, endurance cyclists or marathon runners. Most firefighters will not operate for longer than 20 minutes while utilizing their Self Contained Breathing Apparatus. Conditioning of energy systems for firefighters should be more specific to this time period.

Cross Training: Many firefighters are utilizing random high intensity training protocols to develop a broad range of exercise skills to improve general fitness and athletic performance. In many cases there is little emphasis placed on comprehensive training through varied intensity and adequate recovery. Firefighters must be “response ready” at all times and we cannot afford to be broken down all of the time. Furthermore, the movement patterns and physical attributes required of firefighters to perform at the highest level are very specific. Specific training adaptations require specific training protocols.

Home Exercise Programs: There are several home workout programs that are gaining popularity. Many of these are good programs for the general population, but are not ideal for firefighters. In most cases the exercises selected and the energy system development provided are meant for the widest demographic possible. Firefighters have very specific needs. Some of these programs require over an hour to complete. Most firefighters would benefit from a more efficient and more effective training protocol.

Firefighter Workouts | Firefighter Fitness

Comprehensive and Specific Firefighter Fitness

Adopting a comprehensive firefighter fitness program is important for individual firefighters and each fire department as an organization.

A comprehensive program will develop all of the attributes that we require to perform at a high level, prevent injuries, and return home safely.

These attributes include, but are not limited to:

Increased strength and power
Improved metabolic conditioning
Dynamic body movement
Greater joint range of motion and mobility
Improved coordination, agility, and body control
Enhanced recovery

Improvements in these physical attributes will provide you with:

Freedom from pain
Increased resistance to injury
Improved occupational and recreational performance
Increased cardiac health

A specific firefighter fitness program is one that is designed specifically to augment the occupational training of firefighters.

Let’s look at a few common tasks:

Dragging charged hose lines
Pulling Ceilings
Swinging axes
Climbing stairs and ladders
Carrying people

Now consider that we often perform these tasks near maximum heart rate with the added weight of our gear, heat stress, and the inherent pressure of an emergency incident. How can we expect to do something occasionally that we are not training to do often?

Firefighters need a fitness program designed to mimic the movements of our job while applying the type of stress we encounter in our occupation. We must develop the ability to maintain access to our skills while retaining broad cognitive function when placed under extreme stress.

When training at high intensity to prepare for these situations, we must make sure that we recover properly and prevent injuries.

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Hey Everyone, Ryan here:

Christian and I have spent the past 7 years developing a tactical fitness program to meet our unique needs as firefighters. We have conducted studies with firefighters around the region, we have beta tested the program on a large scale, and we are finally ready to share First Alarm with you.

First Alarm is a comprehensive and specific firefighter fitness program developed for firefighters, by firefighters. We have scrutinized common fire ground tasks and selected exercises that mimic these tasks. In other words, the skills that we perform are the basis for the exercise selection. Not the other way around.

This program is designed to develop strength, power, metabolic conditioning, dynamic body movement, and mobility. We also focus specifically on joint health, active recovery, and injury prevention. We do so by utilizing the following tools:

VARIED INTENSITY: Work harder, Work Smarter and Recover Better

Strength Training: The emphasis for this moderate intensity day is development of core strength, and increasing expressible strength through dynamic body weight movement.

Metabolic Conditioning: The exercises have been reverse-engineered from movements fire fighters commonly perform in the line of duty. Six different protocols are used to mimic the variety of work to rest ratios fire fighters encounter while battling a working structure fire. Each workout is 20 minutes in duration, similar to the working time for the average person wearing an air pack.

Joint Mobility: Active recovery from moderate and high intensity training. These movements flush and lubricate the joints, shaving away restrictions and improving joint health.

Compensatory Movement: Further aids in recovery, and prepares the body for the next cycle of moderate and high intensity training. Decompresses the joints and maximizes muscle recovery through low intensity compensatory movements.

Cycling your training through varied intensity will maximize recovery from high intensity training so you are able to perform at a high level when duty calls and return home safely.

7 TRAINING PROTOCOLS: Moderate and High Intensity Training

Time under tension
20 seconds work/10 seconds rest
4 minute rounds
Each minute on the minute
As many rounds as possible
90 seconds work/30 seconds rest
For time

The training protocols mimic the variety of “burst-recover” intervals that we may encounter in a firefight. Each training session includes warm-up and cool down sequences specific to the exercises that you will be performing.

TEAM-BUILDING: Exercise options for all fitness levels

First Alarm was designed as a group fitness program. Each protocol has a variety of exercise options to meet the needs for all fitness levels. Firefighters rely on teamwork in all that we do, we work together, we eat together, and we train together. First Alarm allows us to exercise together in a way that builds camaraderie and encourages us to do our best, regardless of our differences in fitness levels.

Recruit: Brand new to First Alarm. Building a foundation for tactical fitness.
Proby: Participating in the program for several weeks. Ready to move beyond basic movements.
Firefighter: Participating in the program for several months. Making great gains in mobility, strength, and conditioning.
Smoke Eater: Participating in the program for a year or more. Reaching an elite level of tactical fitness.

EFFICIENCY: Minimize Training Time

Each workout is 20 – 40 minutes in duration depending on the training scheduled for the day.
Includes specific priming and compensatory exercises on the moderate and high intensity days.

OPTIMIZE RESULTS: Simple guidelines to enhance your success

First Alarm includes some simple guidelines to optimize your progress through the program.. Points are awarded for following the training calendar as it is designed and for eating healthy, well balanced meals most of the time. Adhering to the training guidelines more that 70% of the time has been proven to provide:

Significant gains in expressible strength.
The ability to work near max HR, recover quickly and continue working.
Improved joint health and range of motion.
The ability to move the body through a more complete range of motion, achieving “flow state”.
Increased lean body mass.
Decreased body fat.

FIRE STATION DESIGN: Each workout can be with limited equipment and space

Many of the movements in First Alarm are body weight only. There are many that use exercise tools such as Clubbells, kettlebells and medicine balls. For those movements requiring special equipment, alternative movements have been provided using more basic equipment. Each movement can be modified depending on the equipment and space available to you.

Take Your First

Step Towards Improved Health and Performance!

It is our mission to help you reach your firefighter fitness goals. Great care has been taken to provide you with the resources you will need to maximize your progress.

In this program you will find:

Instant, on-line access:

The entire program is available instantly, via premium membership to our website. You will have full access to all of our training manuals, exercise program charts, performance scoring sheets, nutrition guides, instructional videos, and follow along videos for each day of the program. The web interface has been designed to provide instant access and easy navigation. Just click play and start training!

DVD set:

You will also receive an 8 DVD set with over 15 hours of HD Video. The entire First Alarm video library is included; including follow along videos for the warm-up sessions, training sessions, cool-downs, as well as an instructional video for every exercise in the program. Just print your daily exercise program chart on-line, set up your dvd player, and start training!

Training Calendar:

The First Alarm Training Calendar provides the training schedule for the entire program. First Alarm is comprised of 23 training cycles with 4 days of varied intensity within each cycle. That’s 92 days of training which have been charted and provide you with quick access to the daily workout and allows you to easily track your progress.

Daily Exercise Program Charts:

The daily exercise program charts for each day include the prescribed training protocol, specific warm-up and cool down sequences, and the training exercises that you will perform. The program chart for each workout can be quickly accessed for printing and used as a reference and a score sheet for your training day.

Instructional Videos:

First Alarm consists of 114 different exercises with an instructional video provided for each one. Each instructional video will demonstrate the proper technique, provide coaching cues, and help you to master the exercise quickly. The videos are organized each day in the order they are found on your daily exercise program chart. No need to search, we have done the work for you!

Follow Along Videos:

First Alarm contains 59 follow along videos! You will be provided a follow along video for each warm-up, cool down, and training session in the program. For each training session, we have provided a follow along video for each of the four levels of sophistication as well as an additional video playing all levels at once.

Nutrition:

Proper nutrition is crucial to improving health, performance and body composition. We provide you with some basic guidelines to improve your firefighter nutrition. There are different levels of sophistication for nutrition, just as there are for the exercise program. Maximize your success by following the simple rules we have outlined for you.

Compliance Scoring System:

We have developed some simple guidelines to help you optimize your progress through the program. Points are awarded for following the Training Calendar as it is designed and for eating healthy, well balanced meals.

Compliance Scoring Calendar:

The Compliance Scoring Calendar will be used along with your Training Calendar to track your progress through the program. You will record your exercise and nutrition each day using simple guidelines developed to help you be successful in reaching your firefighter fitness goals.

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Please Note: You are purchasing a premium membership to TACFIT FireFighter.com. We offer the entire program in streaming format through the protected membership of our site. You will have instant access immediately after purchase. You may also choose the premium package which not only includes membership access but an 8 disc dvd set which includes the entire video library. This program is NOT available in stores, you can only access it through this site. Clicking the order button will take you to a secure page for the transaction by Clickbank, the most popular online payment processor of digital products in the world. Upon confirmation of your order, you will immediately be redirected to the registration page where you will choose user credentials for your premium membership. The written material is in PDF format and the video files are streamed in .mp4 and .m4v formats. Both Adobe Reader and Quicktime are available for free downloads.

Guaranteed

We have absolute confidence in First Alarm, because we’ve seen it work so many times, and for so many people.

If you decide this program is not for you, let us know and we will refund your money- AND you keep the entire package.

Firefighter Workouts | Firefighter Fitness Don’t forget your 60 days RISK FREE guarantee. If it’s not for you, simply let us know and we’ll refund your money — AND you can keep the entire package.