{"id":717,"date":"2014-05-23T03:55:00","date_gmt":"2014-05-23T03:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/firerescuefitness.com\/firefighter-workout-tip-proper-firefighter-hydration\/"},"modified":"2019-05-24T03:17:12","modified_gmt":"2019-05-24T03:17:12","slug":"firefighter-workout-tip-proper-firefighter-hydration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firerescuefitness.com\/2014\/05\/firefighter-workout-tip-proper-firefighter-hydration\/","title":{"rendered":"Firefighter Workout Tip- Proper Firefighter Hydration"},"content":{"rendered":"

Its that time of the year where temperatures climb and so does the chances for dehydration. \u00a0This is an insert from an article I wrote from FirefighterNation.com (you can read the entire article by clicking here<\/a>). \u00a0Please take note at how quickly a dehydrated fire rescue athletes’ performance can diminish.<\/b><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

In most stations, your shift starts with checking your gear, SCBA, med supplies and looking over the apparatus (usually with a cup of coffee in hand), but do you ask yourself, Am I physically ready to do my job? I imagine 100% of you nodded your head in affirmation to that seemingly rhetorical question.<\/span>

Hydration & the Human Body<\/span><\/strong>
The human body is 66\u201370% water. Under normal circumstances, the human body loses about 35\u201390 oz. of water a day through body waste, sweat and breathing (Maughan, 2003). During normal athletic activity, the body can lose 8\u201316 oz. of water per hour. The extreme conditions of firefighting demand more than this. On average, working firefighters should anticipate losing 50\u201370 oz. of sweat in 30\u201345 minutes of fireground activity (Levine et al., 1990). For a 200-lb. firefighter, a 2% sweat-induced loss of body weight would require a post-exercise fluid intake of about 96 oz. or more, considering the individual was well hydrated before the call.<\/span>

A Matter of Life & Death<\/span><\/strong>
Hydration is critical for optimal performance. Progressive dehydration from exercise (or fireground operations) impairs performance, mental capacity and perception of effort, and it can be life-threatening. With as little as a 2% shortage of body water, the ability to perform a high-intensity activity can be greatly impaired (Kleiner, 1999). The combination of the hot environment and the protective gear insulating the firefighter can produce dangerous conditions of hyperthermia and dehydration.<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>Properly hydrated, well-conditioned firefighters are therefore much better able to contend with heat stress than their unconditioned and\/or dehydrated counterparts. Put that into the context of your crew, which is only as strong as its weakest member. If you don\u2019t hydrate yourself properly before arriving on the fireground, you\u2019re not only putting your own life in danger, but the lives of your crewmembers as well, because your performance level could be greatly reduced (IAFF, 2006). For these reasons, dehydration must be addressed before the firefight begins.<\/span>
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\n<\/span>How to Hydrate<\/span><\/strong>
To stop dehydration before it starts prior to the alarm for a service call, you must limit the use of stimulants, such as caffeine, avoid carbonated beverages, maintain physical fitness and stay adequately hydrated throughout a shift. Drink plenty of water at regular intervals, and aim to replace fluids at the same rate that they\u2019re lost. At minimum, consume 64 oz. of water a day (Casa et al., 2000). Increase that amount when exercising on duty and after\u00a0you’ve\u00a0completed your workout to avoid being\u00a0dehydrated at the scene.<\/span><\/span><\/span>
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\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>Follow these recommendations, feel free to print these out and post around the firehouse. (Click here to download a printable version)<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Its that time of the year where temperatures climb and so does the chances for dehydration. \u00a0This is an insert from an article I wrote from FirefighterNation.com (you can read the entire article by clicking here). \u00a0Please take note at how quickly a dehydrated fire rescue athletes’ performance can diminish. In most stations, your shift…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[204,6,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air-consumption-drill","category-firefighter-fitness","category-firefighter-workout"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paAEPz-bz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/firerescuefitness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Fluid-Replacement-for-Fire-Rescue-Athlete.jpg?fit=612%2C792&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firerescuefitness.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firerescuefitness.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firerescuefitness.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firerescuefitness.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firerescuefitness.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=717"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/firerescuefitness.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11195,"href":"https:\/\/firerescuefitness.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717\/revisions\/11195"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firerescuefitness.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firerescuefitness.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firerescuefitness.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firerescuefitness.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}