Episode 186: More Whiskey, Wine and Whining with Jay Dawes, Ph.D., CSCS

In today’s episode, Dawes and I kicked back with some crispy beverages and reflected on fire academy training. It’s a hot topic among instructors, and in my opinion, too often, random acts of fitness dominate the physical training sessions. But here’s the thing...during the 24-1 OSU-OKC academy, I implemented a structured and ability-based program that helped recruits lose body fat, gain skeletal muscle, and improve their 1.5-mile run times (all statistically significantly). And we did all that without running more than twice a week, skipping the usual “death by burpees, air squats, and pushups,” and avoiding a single "smoke session". While the group didn’t get measurably stronger (tough to do with only 40-pound sandbags), they maintained their countermovement jump height—a key indicator of fatigue, as well as their pushups, and pullups performance. So… what now? Random workouts (I call these Random Acts of Fitness) can support general health and fitness, but they probably aren’t driving meaningful performance gains for firefighters. Ask yourself this: When was the last time an NFL team played better during a game due to doing a deck-of-cards workout during the week? ***** Register for 7-Minute Science here Purchase FRW Swag here Get on the Waitlist for Building Your Career in Fire Follow Fire Rescue Wellness on the socials... IG | LinkedIn | Twitter Discount Code: FRW20 at Fluid Nutrition Affiliate Links Check out my Fringe Affiliate Link Check out my TryCreate Affiliate Link (20% off your order)! Check out my ChiliSleep Affiliate Link (15% off your order)! Please rate, share, and subscribe to the podcast!