Whether or not the idea of climbing into burning buildings interests you, fireman workouts and fitness training tests are a great way to both get fit and gauge your fitness.

The best part about firefighter fitness training in terms of both function and getting into top shape is that it is so dynamic. These routines are comprehensive; they don’t have you doing sets of lat pull downs, basic dumbbell curls or jogs on the treadmill at zero incline. Instead, the best firefighter workouts have you hefting your bodyweight up a rope, lugging bags filled with sand up flights of stairs, and turning a heavy tractor tire end over end.

Even if you don’t have access to a gym, vacant buildings with flights of stairways to climb, giant tractor tires to flip, or ropes to ascend, you can still train like a fireman to boost your overall fitness or chances of passing their fitness tests.


So how do you get fit like a firefighter? It takes a lot of work, and it requires you to be fully engaged in your training and give 110% of your effort.

Firefighters jobs take place in an environment where physical capacity and the ability to push oneself through fatigue can really be the difference between life and death. To workout like a firefighter you will have to focus on building functional strength, cardiovascular endurance, balance, and control.



Here are some different workouts & training strategies that will help improve all aspects of performance on a firefighter PFT.


Bodyweight circuit training workouts
Bodyweight exercises done in a circuit eradicate the need for a gym and can be used to increase crucial elements of fitness, including overall strength and endurance. Doing exercises that build muscle in a physically demanding, no-time-for-rest circuit makes for an ideal firefighter workout because it emulates the nature of the job; there’s no time to rest when you are in a burning building! This week long Fitness Blender Home Workout Plan is very challenging and an excellent example of the kinds of workouts that develop stamina and muscle.


High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
HIIT training workouts can be an effective way to boost endurance and cardiovascular capacity in minimal time and often with no workout equipment at all. This 40 Minute Bodyweight HIIT Workout Video is a great way to get your heart rate up and increase your pulmonary condition, without taking a whole lot of time out of your schedule.

Another good example of a low-maintenance way to give your lung capacity a serious boost is jumping rope. This 10 Minute Jumping Rope Workout blasts fat and enhances your cardio fitness in a way that boosts your endurance without making you spend hours and hours in the treadmill. Doing either one (or both) of the above routines several times sporadically throughout the day will be good for people who are either prepping for a the test, or who are looking to get in shape and/or lose weight.


Incorporating balance as part of your physical fitness training
Having adequate balance contributes to overall dexterity and strength, and can help avoid injury in both athletes and individuals with physically intense jobs like the ones that firefighters hold. The Fitness Blender Home Balance Workout uses bodyweight moves to build coordination, agility, and speed; things that are mutually practical and critical in the demanding and dangerous work environments of firemen.


Making the above three paramount factors of firefighter physical fitness training key cornerstones of your own workouts will help you attain a true and well rounded level of strength. If you are trying to get conditioned enough to pass firefighter fitness tests, you will need between 1-3 months of concentrated training prior to the test in order to do well, depending of course, on your baseline fitness level.