Huntsville and Lake of Bays firefighters get some Monster-like training

Kyle Nelson, one of the Canada’s most prominent lightweight MMA fighters, knows what it’s like to be in the heat of battle.

So when the opportunity arose for him to help train the Huntsville and Lake of Bays Volunteer Fire Department, it’s no surprise that “The Monster” jumped at the chance.

“I like helping out in the community, and obviously our firefighters are a big part of that,” says Nelson. “Anything I can do to help them I’m more than happy to do.”

The opportunity first surfaced several years ago through one of Nelson’s main local sponsors, The SportLab, who provides nutrition consulting, fitness plans and injury rehabilitation for the MMA fighter. The SportLab founder, Dr. Lowell Greib, had been working on a training program specifically for firefighters to increase their overall level of fitness and better prepare them for the demanding challenges they face on the job. Due to the rigorous nature of the training, Dr. Greib felt Nelson would make a strong addition as a facilitator for some of the sessions.

“It was great,” says Nelson. “Some of the guys were already in great shape, and the others were quickly getting there. They understood that doing what I do means having to work out a couple times a day, every day. So when I gave them a workout or explained how to do things, they knew I had the experience to know what I was talking about.”

“Coming from an athlete to an athlete is helpful,” agrees Dr. Greib. “There is a healthy respect with everyone knowing who Kyle is and the level of intensity that he has when he’s fighting. When he is able to bring that game over to helping challenge the firefighters themselves, it’s a huge bonus in that they are going to get a little more out of the workout.”

Exercises in the training program included squats, burpees and the battle rope (pictured above, right) while wearing heavy gear

The program itself is built around the understanding that firefighters typically work in hot environments, in protective clothing that restricts their movement, while wearing heavy packs. Specific exercises mimic these real-life situations with the class often suiting up in bunker gear before engaging in activities requiring them to move, lift and pull in awkward positions. Participants are evaluated by their aerobic capacity, physical strength, and muscular endurance both before and after the training program.

“A certain amount of athleticism is something that firefighters need to have, and they need to have it when they least expect it,” says Dr. Greib. “They can’t forecast a call, they never know when that pager is going to go off or what situation they might face. It could be a structure fire, an alarm, an extrication from a vehicle, a water rescue, a forest fire or brush fire, there are lots of different things that they are exposed to and they never know what they are going into.”

By having conditioning and athleticism ingrained into the culture of being a firefighter, everybody wins. Not only does the training enhance the safety of the individual firefighters, it also increases public safety with the force as a whole being more effective and better able to perform their emergency duties.

It is Dr. Greib’s hope that the program will continue to grow and evolve into a more wholesome perspective of firefighter conditioning, not just in Huntsville and Lake of Bays, but in fire services across the country.

“Our fire department is very much at the forefront of incorporating some of these thoughts and processes into operation,” he says. “It’s exciting to be involved at this level with this tiny little volunteer service from Huntsville. There are a lot of career services that are not functioning in the capacity that the our department is from this perspective.”