HARD, FAST, & DIRTY: Comparing Firefighting culture to Classic Punk rock

Misfits Fiend Logo

It starts off hard... Kicks in like a bare knuckle punch to the mouth. You feel the hair on your back stand up at attention. Your blood pumping like a well greased engine. You feel it in your gut.

Its visceral, painful, and delightful all in one. Then, in no less than two minutes, it's done. finished. End of song. Now all that's left is the desire to do it all over again. Only this time HARDER, FASTER, DIRTIER.

Sound about right?

What's that you say? How does this have anything to do with Firefighting OR Punk rock?!

Here's your answer: Attitude... Energy... Grit... Passion.

Punk Rock questions the staus quo- and so should you.

Punk Rock bands made use of the tools they had available to them at the time- You should do the same.

Punk Rock is unapologetic for being rough around the edges- Because professionalism doesn't mean never getting your hands dirty.

Punk Rock Uses energy and substance in place of aesthetics and glamour. So discard your hero complex.


I don't just listen to music, I experience it. When I was teenager, Rock music was central to me. As a kid growing up in the 90's, where grunge was a new thing, and Metal and Punk made huge revivals, I had my fair share of influences.

As a Firefighter, I like to think that this music embodies a youthful exuberance that serves me well in staying motivated to do this job. I'll often throw on Some Misfits and Ramones to get me started before training.

The Misfits

 Attitude is not insubordination. It's a mindset, a confidence in your beliefs. Nobody respects a two-face. Better to be wrong than phoney, seriously...

Energy is the force that propels us.We need it to be there for us to do this job. Its our own internal fire.

Grit is the intangible trait to be able to endure and succeed under bad circumstances. This, I believe, is the most important of all.

 

The Ramones

 But above all, There is one thing that both Punk rock and  Firefighting need to have to succeed... Passion. Without it, you  will falter at every difficult moment. With it, everything else like  technique, knowledge, discipline, will fall into place.

Without Passion most of the original Punk bands would have been  just shitty musicians. So they persevered through tough times  because they gave a shit about what they had to say.

So the next time you are looking for some inspiration to get up and force some doors or hump some hose, please by all means do it with conviction and a little grit. And if you have the impulse to give yourself a spiky Mohawk, please make sure it fits underneath your hood and helmet.




Yours in brotherhood,

R.B.

P.S. Here are a couple of great hits by the best to ever do it:

The Misfits- Astro Zombies

The Ramones- Blitzkrieg Bop

"Pulling" Your Own Dead Weight: Deadlifting for Firefighting

The dead lift has long been the staple of any strength building program. As one of the big 3 in power lifting (Bench and squat as well), Dead lifting has been proven to activate over 260 muscles in your body and boost testosterone in the process. This is nothing new to strength coaches and people who lift. And it shouldn't be for firefighters either.

The Dead lift is a ridiculously easy movement to learn, and with proper instruction on neutral spine position, can yield great strength gains. As Mark Bell (powerlifter and strength coach) would say: "Strength is never a weakness" and he's right. Lower back injuries happen every year to the fire service members. Most of those injuries occur because of improper form when lifting and lack of Posterior Chain development.

Your Posterior Chain consists of: The biceps femoris, gluteus maximus, erector spinae muscle group, trapezius, and posterior deltoids. Basically, The Posterior Chain is all of the muscles that assist with a "Pulling" motion. Now, think for a minute on how that effects Fire-ground functions... Pulling hose, lifting victims, carrying ladders and tools, Everything.

Now I'm not going to get into the other added benefits of Dead Lifting as it pertains to muscle recruitment. You can find that here.

I am neither a personal trainer or kinesiologist. However, over the past few months, I have seen significant improvement of my Fire-ground performance correlate Directly with increases I've made on my lifts. 

Let's be honest, the stronger you are, the better you will perform, so long as you condition yourself as well.  Compound, long kinetic chain movements like this will go a long way to making you a stronger, better equipped Firefighter. So the next time you hit the gym, find a barbell and a shit-ton of weights. Start light (seriously), work on proper form, and increase until you hit that sweet-spot that is your current Max. 

For more information on the Dead lift and other Basic barbell exercises that can get you into "Fighting" shape, look into "Starting Strength" by Mark Rippetoe. I can't stress enough how simple and thorough his book is.

 Check out this great video by Mark himself:

As always, Remember that Firefighting, at its heart, is just hard dirty work, and our training should reflect that.

Yours in Brotherhood,

R.B.