Creating a DIY Firefighter Training Course
If you are preparing for the Firefighter Combat Challenge (FCC), FireFit or doing your best to become firefighter fit, you are likely no stranger to grueling training hours at the gym. Creating a dedicated FCC or FireFit training course is a key component to training success. Whether in your own backyard or at your department, creating your own DIY Firefighter Combat Challenge course may just be the piece that’s missing from your training routine.
Here are some resources to help you build your own DIY FireFit training course and help prepare your mind and muscle memory to succeed in competition.
DIY Stairs Training:
The key to being successful on the stairs is perfecting your climbing technique and timing — when you grab the rail, how you grab the rail and how to ascend and descend the stairs in rhythm. The first part of your training course should to find a way to simulate climbing six flights of stairs carrying a high-rise pack.
Team Lakeland Suggestion:
- Step-up on two rolled sections of 4″ hose for 2 minutes while wearing full gear and shouldering a high-rise pack.
DIY Hoist:
In the competition, once you have ascended the stairs, you are required to hoist a hose weighing 42-pounds to the top of the 5-story stair-tower. The key to success on the hose hoist is to get the timing and rhythm down on the hand over hand pulling technique.
Team Lakeland Suggestion:
- Use kettle bells lifts to simulate hand over hand motion.
DIY Forcible Entry Keiser:
Once you’ve descended the stairs, your next challenge is to hammer a 160-pound beam a distance of 5-feet on a Keiser.
Team Lakeland Suggestion:
- Place three railroad ties side-by-side. Stand on the two outer ties and hammer the middle tie to simulate the Keiser.
DIY Hydrant Agility Run and Hose Advance:
Upon completion of the Keiser, you’ll be required to run through a slalom agility course measuring 140 feet and then pick up a 1.75 inch pressurized hose. You will then drag the hose 75-feet through a set of swinging doors, open the nozzle to spray a small target, close the nozzle, and drop the hose.
Team Lakeland Suggestion:
- Simulate the hose advance with a drag sled.
DIY Dummy Drag:
The last section of the FCC course requires participants to lift and drag a dummy, weighting 175-pounds, backwards a distance of 106 feet.
Team Lakeland Suggestion:
- Use old tires attached to a rope and pull backwards to simulate course conditions.
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