Established in 1866, the San Francisco Fire Department is rich in history and tradition. From the Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906 to the Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989, the Department has grown to meet the many challenges along the way. Today, the San Francisco Fire Department serves over 1.5 million people, providing fire suppression and emergency medical services to the residents, visitors and workers within San Francisco's 49 square miles.
The mission of the Fire Department is to protect the lives and property of the people of San Francisco from fires, natural disasters, and hazardous materials incidents; to save lives by providing emergency medical services; to prevent fires through prevention and education programs; and to provide a work environment that values health, wellness and cultural diversity and is free of harassment and discrimination.
The ABCs of GPP
A general physical preparedness program (GPP) for prospective firefighters should have 3 main objectives:
1) Injury Prevention
2) Improve Quality of Movement
3) Increase work capacity across broad time and modal domains
In order to understand these objectives, let’s define some terms in order to create a common verbiage and understanding.
WORK - measure of energy transfer
CAPACITY -potential amt that can be produced
BROAD TIME - variance of time frames that tap into 3 metabolic pathways
MODAL DOMAINS - cardiovascular and respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, coordination, agility, balance, accuracy
In summary, our goal is to create a “civil service decathlete”, unspecialized in any one domain, and extraordinary in all.
Movement standards are necessary in order to create repeatable workouts and reliable results (empirical and measurable evidence is the core of scientific method) and is the only way to measure a change in work capacity over time.
Create benchmark workouts that include a range of functional movements performed at high intensity. Workout programming should include a wide variety of weightlifting (moving external objects), gymnastic movements (bodyweight movements) and monostructural conditioning in different combinations.
What to expect during the SFFD Academy
- 20 weeks of PT
- PT every day during the academy (5 days per week)
- PT will include running 4-5 days/week, 2-5 miles/day
- Min run 8 minute mile, 3 miles in 25 minutes
- Metcon circuits up to 60-90 minutes long, often wearing heavy gear
- Baseline tests including Max sit-ups, pushups, pullups in 60 seconds
- Lift ladders that weigh up to 350lbs, requiring minimum deadlift of 200lbs and minimum ground-to-overhead of 135lbs.
- Hold plank up to 5 minutes
- Min 30 pushups unbroken, up to 200+ daily
- Common movements during PT include running, pushups, sit-ups, burpees, air squats, lunges, pullups, ring rows, planks, kettlebell swings, farmers carry, sprints, ball slams, wallballs.
Workout Template
