Walmart gifts fire department with wellness money
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POLSON — There’s new equipment in the Polson fire hall, and it’s not a shiny new fire engine. Thanks to a $5,000 check from Wal-Mart for wellness, the firemen have refurbished their workout area. New equipment includes a stairstepper, bars and weight machines.
The firemen follow a fitness plan called CrossFit, a strength and conditioning program many police academies and tactical operations utilize. Workouts are listed on the website, and they train for three days and then have one day off.
On Friday, Feb. 18, they were following the Kelly workout. The workout consisted of five rounds of a 400-meter run, 30 box jumps on a 24” box and 30 wall ball shots with a 20-pound medicine ball.
“The rotation doesn’t stop on Christmas day,” trainer Kevin Straub said, explaining that the men and women work out all year round.
The goal is to increase fitness to decrease the number of firefighter fatalities according to Straub. In 2010, 58 volunteer firemen across the nation died and 61.1 percent of those deaths were from stress/overexertion, mostly heart attack. The statistics are from the www.usfa.dhs.gov website.
To answer any questions and help with form, Straub is a CrossFit trainer. Firemen can also call on a yoga trainer and regular fitness trainer. One of the fireman’s wives is a physical therapist, and she adds her expertise when needed.
Work out records are kept, as firemen and women are committed to improving fitness and stamina.
