We’ve all heard that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, but what does that have to do with firefighting? Plenty. That’s why we invest so much in safety equipment, staffing, education, equipment maintenance and fire prevention. It comes naturally and makes sense to work with our city council members, mayors or commissioners to ensure continued funding for these things. Without them, we’re left vulnerable and liable for potential disaster.
It boils down to preparedness–being ready for any situation–but in that same vein, there’s also accountability. To whom? Everybody and anybody, from the highest-ranking official in our local government to our citizens to the most distant relative of our personnel. To send inadequate equipment into combat is irresponsible at best.
The burden of accountability doesn’t lie solely with our administrators, however. We as firefighters also must take responsibility for preparedness. We can spend countless hours taking apart a chainsaw or grinding a perfect edge on an axe, but we’re often quick to overlook the most important tool on the rig–ourselves. Your “ounce of prevention” is ensuring you’re physically prepared for the rigors that await you on the emergency scene. When you consider that the “pound of cure” is likely rehab, light duty or worse, the ounce of prevention starts looking pretty good. There’s little doubt that preventing an injury is far more pleasant than recovering from one.
Being fit for duty with all our working parts in order should be the goal of any firefighter. Doing what you can to strengthen typically problematic areas may keep you from long months of rehab and day work.
Two common problem areas for firefighters: shoulders and lower back. There’s a lot of vulnerability in both of those areas. With the types of situations we can find ourselves in–lifting and straining in peculiar positions–our shoulders and lower back in particular can be subject to unusual strains and forces. The best preemptive action: strengthening. This month, we’ll talk about strength development in the shoulders; we’ll address the back in our next column.
Shoulder Strengthening
When we talk about strengthening the shoulders, what likely comes to mind is grunting out the lat pulls, military press, bench press and so on. There’s nothing wrong with those types of lifts (although the bench press can seem like a convenient reason to lie down in the weight room), but for true shoulder strengthening, some fine-tuning is in order.
For instance, focusing all your efforts on strengthening deltoid, latissimus and trapezius muscles can actually leave your rotator cuff vulnerable to injury. Shoulder rotation strength comes with working the actual rotation movement patterns. We’ll show you a couple easy exercises you can do with a cable machine, resistance bands or even free weights, if you’re really careful.
The shoulder is an awesome joint. Because of its ball-and-socket design, it allows for full rotation of the arm, and it’s considerably more versatile than our hinge-type joints, like an elbow. With all this mobility, however, comes vulnerability. Because of the shoulder’s tremendous range of motion, it’s prudent to strengthen specific movement patterns that may not be addressed with typical shoulder strengthening lifts.
Internal & External Rotation
Internal and external rotation exercises are a good place to start. Because we often spend time on pressing-type exercises, rotation is often overlooked. Strengthening these smaller muscles can make the difference between gearing up for shoulder surgery or just going home at the end of your shift.
When strengthening internal and external rotation movement patterns in the shoulder, you can use free weights, but we recommend cable machines or resistance bands. Tip: If you’re using free weights, always start with very light weights. The muscles you’ll be working are not large. If you try to move too much weight too early, you’ll likely wind up with an injury. It’s definitely safer to work these smaller muscle groups on a cable machine or with resistance bands.
For either internal or external rotation development, set the cable machine or bands so the handle is at waist level. Bend your arm at the elbow to a 90-degree angle. It’s critical to keep your elbow tucked in next to your torso. Internal rotation begins with your forearm straight out to your side, pointing toward the cable or band. Working against the resistance of the machine or band, rotate your forearm across the front of your body at the waist.
As you may guess, external rotation is just the opposite. Begin with the opposite shoulder toward the source of resistance. With your elbow at your side and your forearm coming across your abdomen, rotate your arm out to your side. Remember: During both of these exercises, your elbow stays in tight against your side throughout the entire range of motion, and your forearm remains parallel to the floor.
Posterior Muscles
The next two exercises help strengthen the posterior muscles in your shoulder. Again, these muscles are often neglected due to the single-minded concentration on shoulder-press-style exercises. Begin the straight-armed shoulder extension by facing the source of resistance with a straight arm at about a 45-degree angle to your body. Simply pull your arm back in a swinging motion to just slightly behind your body, keeping the elbow straight.
The last exercise, scapular retraction or a seated row, is a bit more common but should be included in any shoulder-strengthening regiment. The focus should be in drawing your shoulder blades together. Starting in the seated position, with a flat back and your arms extended, draw your arms back, leading with your elbows. Try to isolate the movement to the shoulder blades and shoulders by not moving your upper body.
All About Balance
All of these exercises are great ways to strengthen the often-neglected muscles of the shoulder’s rotator cuff. The muscles of the anterior shoulder are rarely an issue, as they are strengthened through bicep curls, incline-, bench- and military-press exercises and push-ups, to name a few.
The weakness and imbalance created by focusing on just the anterior muscles of the shoulder leave you open to potential injury. It’s great fun to build muscle mass and get the beach-ready look, but sometimes taking an extra minute or two to build strength in a more subtle fashion will keep you out of the orthopedic surgeon’s office and on the rig where you belong.
