This may come as a shock to you, but I’m an out of shape paramedic.
Sure, I’m only in an XL uniform shirt and my size 36 EMS pants I got when I was 20 still fit (Really! Pro-Tuff is/was an amazing brand. Are they still around?) but they’re um… tight enough that they could replace the compression band on that Zoll CPR squeezer thing.
I’m not huge, but I’m not where I want to be. I’m certainly no Greg Friese who runs marathons every other day or so, but I’m no Jabba the Medic either. Last shift I carried a not-too-heavy patient down only two flights of stairs and down a driveway to the cot and I was huffing and puffing. I didn’t like it and decided I was going to do something about it.
So today on shift I made use of the city’s workout room that we share with the fire guys and the cops. I am happy to announce that I can still run a decent mile and I survived an hour of cardio followed by some situps, back exercises, and pushups.
And now I am stiff as heck and am announcing it on my blog so that y’all can laugh at my old-ness. Well that, and I have a few questions for the masses:
How do you stay in shape for EMS? Do you do anything?
Do you work out on duty? Is it allowed?
We work a rotating 24hr shift, the “California” shift I believe it’s called. It’s 24 on/24 off/24 on/24 off/24 on/4 days off. I can work out in my station in a rather nice gym area with anything I think I might want to use to get myself back in shape for Grim-Reaper ball-kicking and so forth.
Does anyone out there have any suggestions for me? Working out at home is not as easy as I’d like it to be, but probably not as hard as I might think it is. Still, I’d like to see if anyone else has an on-duty workout plan that I might be able to copy. I need to get myself back in reasonably better shape. I’m not going to be running any marathons anytime soon, but I sure would like to be able to kneel down to tube a patient and not get a cramp in my hammy.
I'd love your suggestions. Feel free to chime in.