PurposeThe purpose of this study was to examine the time course of health, fitness, and occupational performance changes in firefighter recruits across a fire academy.MethodsNineteen recruits (24.9 ± 4.3 yr; 26.7 ± 3.1 kg·m−2) had their body composition, balance, vertical jump (VJ) performance, cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), upper and lower body strength, hamstrings-to-quadriceps (H/Q) ratio, lower back endurance, and weighted stair climb (SC) performance assessed at the beginning (week 1 [W1]), midpoint (week 15 [W15]), and end (week 30 [W30]) of a fire academy.ResultsThe fire academy improved body composition, balance, CRF, leg extension strength, and SC performance from W1 to W15 (P ≤ 0.042) which then plateaued at W30 (P ≥ 0.314). Leg flexion strength and the H/Q ratio decreased from W1 to W15 (P ≤ 0.035) and plateaued at W30 (P ≥ 0.947). Upper body strength was similar at W1 and W15 (P ≥ 0.999), but decreased at W30 (P ≤ 0.033). However, no significant changes occurred across the academy for VJ performance or lower back endurance (P ≥ 0.090).ConclusionsThese findings highlight the positive effect of the academy on body composition, CRF, balance, SC performance, and leg extension strength. However, the decreases in upper body and leg flexion strength, the H/Q ratio, and lack of changes in VJ performance and low back endurance may highlight key areas of need to maximize injury prevention and performance enhancement efforts in the academy. Further, the varied time course of changes may help fire departments identify opportunities to modify exercise programming across their academies.

Introduction The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of age on the affective responses (attitude, feelings, self-efficacy, intention, enjoyment, and fondness) following a worksite circuit-style resistance exercise routine in career firefighters. Methods Nineteen young (25.5 ± 3.3 years) and 19 middle-aged male career firefighters (50.3 ± 3.5 years) completed two days of physical testing at local fire stations. Participants were familiarized with the resistance training exercises (deadlift, shoulder press, lunge, and upright row) at visit one and performed a multi-repetition maximum (RM) assessment to prescribe the appropriate loads for the resistance exercise bout on visit two. The resistance training session included three sets of 8–10 repetitions per exercise at 80% 1-RM. Participants completed a post-exercise questionnaire examining affective responses and a rating of perceived exertion (RPE). Mann–Whitney U tests and an independent t-test were used to determine differences between the young and middle-aged firefighters’ affective responses and RPE, respectively. Results There were no significant differences between groups for any of the six affective responses (P = 0.062-0.819) or RPE (P = 0.142). Conclusions Age did not influence the perceived effort or affective responses following an acute bout of worksite resistance exercise. Firefighters reported overall positive attitudes, feelings, and fondness paired with high self-efficacy and intention at a training frequency of twice per week. However, confidence, intention, and enjoyment decreased at higher training frequencies (i.e., 3-4x per week). Circuit-style resistance training performed twice per week may be a feasible and practical worksite exercise routine across ages in the fire service.