How do we as firefighters define and measure our cardiovascular health and fitness? How do we determine if we are fit and healthy enough to perform the demands of our profession and survive?
Traditional fire service, military, and other public safety entities emphasize performance-based protocols (i.e., timed running events) to evaluate cardiovascular health and fitness. This may be a commonsense and an economical approach for evaluating cardiovascular fitness early in our careers, but risk profiles change with aging. Relying on activity-based cardiovascular assessments becomes problematic at best and dangerous (even deadly) at worst.
Age, injury accumulation, heredity, and lifestyle take their toll, particularly in our profession as we face unpredictable and extraordinary physical demands under very stressful conditions. As our careers progress, however, our effectiveness shifts from relying on peak physical capabilities to more refined skills and efficient operations. It’s called experience, a natural evolution that allows us to survive our profession for two to three decades.
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