I’m not in the US. Eastern Canada.
I wouldn’t try to immediately pick up people-sized and -shaped objects, especially if you’re not used to moving heavy things. To build strength you want something that is easily adjustable in weight and ergonomic–a barbell. A proper strength training routine will address nearly all the concerns given in this tread. Muscles get stronger with weight training, as do the connective tissues. Bones become denser in response to the weight. Furthermore, time spent training the basic barbell exercises (like squat, deadlift and overhead press) will teach you to work with the levers in your body, and teach you to lift the weight in the most efficient way possible.
A treadmill really isn’t much different from running on a track. X amount of time doing either is more or less the same workout. Treadmills can come in handy if you’re going to a gym- you lift weights for awhile, then hop on the treadmill and get a cross-training workout in one session. Same with the stationary bike or the elliptical machines.
I’d avoid running in boots if you can help it. Seems like it would be hard to get proper footing and keep good posture that way. You want to be able to maintain a consistent ‘athletic pose’ when you’re running to avoid stressing out your body, especially when you’re starting out.
The kind of thing I had in mind were the amino acid and protein supplements. If you are trying to put on a lot of muscle, your body needs the full spectrum of amino acids to get the best results. And then bombing your body with protein on top of that gives it the raw material to build muscle (I hope you aren’t afraid of gaining a few pounds). It doesn’t cost all that much, but if you are really poor I have been told that tuna + cauliflower contains all the amino acids. A little ranch dressing on top to make it taste good and there’s a good post-workout snack.
Ultimately it isn’t terribly complicated. Eat right (here are 10 foods for runners. They omit black beans, but whatever) and it is effort in –> results out.
Awesome.
It just snowed again here today (ugh), which is why the last time I ran it was in boots. I’d suspected it was a bad idea but didn’t want to be able to say I hadn’t tried it. Definitely never doing that again.
Definitely not afraid of gaining a few pounds- I essentially don’t care about numbers or appearances as long as I can get the job done.
You may want to contact the people at CrossFit for Firefighters as this sounds right up their alley.
Personally I’d start out with sandbag carry intervals, including up and down stairs, moving towards adding a weighted backpack and/or weight vest. Start lighter going for speed (and building strength and form first to avoid injury) and build up.
Nothing magic about the amino acid supplements other than the ability to make your wallet disappear, but some good quality protein, at least 15 to 25 grams, within an hour of work out. Chocolate milk, yogurt, a soy or whey supplement smoothie, chicken … all good.
FWIW here’s Manitoba’s paramedic fitness requirements:
A 180 lb carry up and down a flight of stairs seems a bit out of the norm, even though I know you in Eastern Canada are much tougher than those in Manitoba!
Hahaha… No, the stairs are only for the wheelchair section, which is done with a partner.
I know it has been a few days since this thread has been active, but I finally remembered to ask my 5’0" 17 YO daughter. She is very athletic and takes advanced physical training classes, and has hit all of the top goals in various lifts, presses, etc… She will be graduating early to play on an athletic scholarship at a D1 University.
Her first response was… It would be tough. She said maybe if she could get it on her back she my be able to carry it, but a grab from the front would be really tough. Anyway, I was ready to give some somewhat discouraging news.
But then I told her why I was asking. Immediately she perked up and said “tell her to look into rescue helicopter duty.” She also volunteers at a hospital complex and has spent some time with this group. She said everyone there was her size, and they are actually recruited because smaller people fit much better into the cramped area of a helicopter (they picked her out of the group to encourage her to look into it). They even get paid more than the regular EMT’s and she thinks the qualifications are different (not as much physical as ability).
So, even though I know this thread is winding down… my answer to your question is…
The bad news… it would be very difficult to meet the lifting/carrying requirement for someone of your size, but not impossible.
The good news… there may be other options where you can use your size to your advantage.
Based on the various physical requirement tests for EMTs and even fire personnel posted on the web I’m pretty doubtful the OP actually has to lift and carry a 180 lb dummy on her back for the current tests. Drag maybe, but lift and carry, no. I think she was going to post again once she clarified the current requirements.
A late comment. The effort, skill and strength needed in a fireman’s lift are all in the lift, and not in the carry. Once on your shoulders, walking with the weight requires much less effort. The actual lift is very similar to the judo throw of kata garuma. Indeed when we teach the throw we usually ensure that the judoka can manage the lift properly - even if the throw itself is more about directing movement than the lift. The lift is a whole body strength issue. Aspects that are not usually appreciated are the importance of the arms is drawing and controlling the liftee so that they don’t just flop, but that you are able to insert yourself under them in a safe and strong position. After that it is mostly the strength and skill obtained from simple squats that get you upright with them carried. All the time the arms control the liftee. Getting the lift right is a 50/50 mix of strength and skill. Brute strength can overcome some lack of skill, but learning the skills are critical to avoid injury and will enable much larger weights to be managed with the same base strength. Lower back and abdominal strength are crucial to being able to control your posture. Letting our posture fail is the start of most injuries. In judo training warmup sessions we get to run up and down the mat carrying a partner like this. With a partner of equal weight it isn’t too hard. 50% heavier and it gets pretty grim.
Sigh, being motivated by your drive, I tried to post a valuable response with more detailed advice, but the server crapped out and it’s lost now.
The short of it is you need to start a serious strength training program such as Starting Strength (there are other rather similar ones that are also effective, but I suggest sticking with this). Pick up the book - it details all the (5) compound barbell lifts and how to program them. The program is specifically designed to get someone new to strength training to be as strong as possible in as short a time as possible. Yoga, running, light intensity lifting, etc won’t cut it. I like the motivation people are giving you, but I don’t want to see you led astray from reaching the goal. You need low rep, high intensity lifting. Follow the program, except in your case, it might possibly be productive to decrease the frequency of the two arm focused lifts eventually.
Please don’t just start doing general exercise blindly. It’s not nearly as effective as specific strength training such as what I suggested. I’ve done my research on the topic. Lifting the 180lb dummy from the ground to your shoulder sounds to me like it would be very difficult for a 5’0" woman to do without the proper preparation. While I could be wrong on that (it’s hard to compare to my own context), it’s best to be prepared and hopefully come out and succeed at the end.
Sigh, being motivated by your drive, I tried to post a valuable response with more detailed advice, but the server crapped out and it’s lost now.
The short of it is you need to start a serious strength training program such as Starting Strength (there are other rather similar ones that are also effective, but I suggest sticking with this). Pick up the book - it details all the (5) compound barbell lifts and how to program them. The program is specifically designed to get someone new to strength training to be as strong as possible in as short a time as possible. Yoga, running, light intensity lifting, etc won’t cut it. I like the motivation people are giving you, but I don’t want to see you led astray from reaching the goal. You need low rep, high intensity lifting. Follow the program, except in your case, it might possibly be productive to decrease the frequency of the two arm focused lifts eventually.
Please don’t just start doing general exercise blindly. It’s not nearly as effective as specific strength training such as what I suggested. I’ve done my research on the topic. Lifting the 180lb dummy from the ground to your shoulder sounds to me like it would be very difficult for a 5’0" woman to do without the proper preparation. While I could be wrong on that (it’s hard to compare to my own context), it’s best to be prepared and hopefully come out and succeed at the end.
Sigh, being motivated by your drive, I tried to post a response with more detailed advice, but the server crapped out and it’s lost now.
The short of it is you need to start a serious strength training program such as Starting Strength (there are other rather similar ones that are also effective, but I suggest sticking with this). Pick up the book - it details all the (5) compound barbell lifts and how to program them. The program is specifically designed to get someone new to strength training to be as strong as possible in as short a time as possible. Yoga, running, light intensity lifting, etc won’t cut it. I like the motivation people are giving you, but I don’t want to see you led astray from reaching the goal. You need low rep, high intensity lifting. Follow the program, except in your case, it might possibly be productive to decrease the frequency of the two arm focused lifts eventually.
Please don’t just start doing general exercise blindly. It’s not nearly as effective as specific strength training such as what I suggested. I’ve done my research on the topic. Lifting the 180lb dummy from the ground to your shoulder sounds to me like it would be very difficult for a 5’0" woman to do without the proper preparation. While I could be wrong on that (it’s hard to compare to my own context), it’s best to be prepared and hopefully come out and succeed at the end.
Just as a data point, I am a female who passed the Candidate Physical Abilities Test, or CPAT. You need to pass the test to demonstrate that you are physically capable of meeting the requirements necessary to be a firefighter. I’m 5’3". There were two other women in the class who were around the same height as me.
One of the girls had recently come out of the Navy. One of them was a competitive athlete who had just come out of school. I have been lifting weights most days of the week for six years.
Your height will not hold you back, but you cannot expect to go in there and pass the test without doing some hardcore training. In the months before I took the CPAT, I was working out six days a week for 2-3 hours a day.
In the CPAT, we were required to drag a mannequin about 100 feet. I believe the mannequin was 165 lbs., and we were wearing a 45 lb. weight vest. (This was also the second-to-last activity on the test, so we were pretty damn exhausted by the time we got to this point.) If we were allowed to drag the dummy as a firefighter, I suspect paramedics would be granted the same allowance.
Please don’t let your perceived limitations hold you back from what you can do!
This is good advice. Include squats, do 3 sets of 5-8 of a variety of barbell lifts. Keep track of how much you can lift, increment it up by 5 lbs at a time when you can. If you have time to go through all the exercises twice or three times a session, do it.
But don’t let them knock yoga. Yoga can do a lot for you and will clue you in to things you would never think of on your own, and which are not always addressed by ordinary weightlifting. You feel like you are punching above your height; yoga will make you feel like you are getting the most out of your entire body.
And don’t let them knock running either. You need endurance to keep going through the end of the test. Working on endurance can turn 3 sets of 5 into 20 sets of 5.
But low rep, high intensity lifting will directly address basic strength.
Bumping a zombie to see how much progress Imago has made in nearly three months.
Well?
Okay, well, to start off, I have not been crushed under a barbell. Good news, right?
In all seriousness in 3 months I’ve gone from weighing about 110is pounds and having trouble with lifting a jug of water to 120ish pounds and being able to carry about 30-40lbs a decent distance. Which is a lot faster than I expected. Obviously not all the new weight is muscle- I must have gained bone density or something too, right? And maybe flesh? I definitely don’t look bigger, but I look… less breakable.
I also did find out that I was mistaken about the dummy. It’s only used in the wheelchair. They switched to a 120lb barbell for the carry portion apparently a while back and just never updated the thing. So, still going to be a lot of work, but more within reach.
Of course, what I would expect is that the beginning is fast, and becoming capable of hefting that last 50lbs or so is slow. But that’s just my WAG because I don’t know anyone else trying to do anything similar. In any case I’m pretty confident that even if it turns out I can’t do it within the next 9 months, I can do it if given the time to work up to it- and well before the upper age limit for applying to school.
How do you have to carry the 120lb barbell?
She wasn’t pinned to the ground. Olympic barbells are ~8 inches off the ground at the bottom, which is more than enough room to slide under.