It's great to get a good strength training session in while off duty or with the crew during shift if you have access to weight training equipment at your station. Slinging around some iron with the crew is also a fun way to build a stronger bond, collaborate and have some friendly competitions going set for set. Yet with all this strength training, we still need time to work on some mobility training because after all, we're functional athletes and without being mobile how could we hit our peak performance on the fire ground?

I mentioned in past articles and in my book, "The 5-Tool Firefighter" that yoga is a great for active recovery but in this article I want to list out a few reasons as to why yoga is great for firefighters with respect to strength training.

Benefit 1 - Decompression

From the PPE and SCBA on your back to the various tasks of raising ladders, pulling hose and carrying heavy tools, your joints and tissue are under a tremendous amount of pressure. Let us not forget the amount of mental stress our bodies experience as well due to how we interpret and experience traumas on the job. The soft tissues in your body serve as a buffer so the hard tissues such as your bones could stay rigid and support without grinding against each other (think of having no meniscus in your knee).

After the soft tissue in your body has been put under pressure, unlike a stress ball, this tissue will not return to its natural neutral state without an equally decompressive movement is done to pull the tension out. By working on decompressive movements, you are enabling these connective and supportive tissues to remain a healthy essential party of your body. By not doing so, the tension that has built up in the soft tissue will restrict blood flow that is crucial for healing and nutrient delivery.

Benefit 2 - Alignment

In yoga there is no barbells, no kettlebells, nothing. It is simply your body. Granted many of us love moving heavy weight around because in this job, we need to be able to move heavy things. However, in yoga many of the forms being done all work around the fundamental alignment and engagement that is essential to strength training and operating on the fire ground especially since they require you to engage your core.

By engaging in the fundamental movements of yoga will help lead to a higher sense of awareness of your body structure and efficiency which could be directly translated to operating on the fire ground and the functional movements required to work on the job.

Benefit 3 - Sweat Equity

We all walk away from an incident a little beat up at times. Heck, even after a live fire or high intensity training sessions on heavy recue training or extrication training (to many a few) will leave you a little sore. All training contains some residual damage to our muscular system especially when we add extra weight to our bodies. But after a few days, this damage hopefully repairs itself. To speed this process up a little bit and help the damaged tissue heal, we need to add fluids into our bodies.

Think about it like this, the more water we drink , the more we pee it out or sweat it out, the faster the fluid flows through the tissues of our body.

If you've ever been to a yoga studio you've probably noticed it is relatively hotter during a yoga sessions and for a very good reason. Yoga classes encourage sweating. Why?

The heated environment in the studio helps the soft tissues mobilize therefore allowing your body to go deeper into the poses. Remember, an equal opposing force to the tension will begin to release the tension on the tissue.

If you're feeling sore, tight or as though there's been a lot of tension on your joints and muscles, take 30 minutes to an hour and work on some yoga poses to help the body lose and primed. You want to stay ready to you don't have to get ready.

Until next time, work hard, stay safe & live inspired.