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Hello Everyone,

Hope you are all doing great and training hard. Just wanted to start a discussion on how firefighters are going about doing their Operator sessions while on a 24/48 schedule. I'm trying to find a way to fit in my STR, HIC, and E while managing fatigue from busy shifts.

The red blocks are the days I'm at the station in my rotation. I part time a bit as well but have been cutting back because of how tired I have been. Any tips are welcome.

Are you training on red days or white? You might want to look into Operator I/A and read the newer articles on the site; Operator Options and Fobbit Intervals in particular.

Red days i'm at the station and the most I can do is Mobility, Core, and light spinning. We are fairly busy so I try to train around my shifts.

RescueStrong4205 wrote:Hello Everyone,

Hope you are all doing great and training hard. Just wanted to start a discussion on how firefighters are going about doing their Operator sessions while on a 24/48 schedule. I'm trying to find a way to fit in my STR, HIC, and E while managing fatigue from busy shifts.

The red blocks are the days I'm at the station in my rotation. I part time a bit as well but have been cutting back because of how tired I have been. Any tips are welcome.

Have you seen the version of OP I/A in TB 3rd Ed.? I think you're the poster person for that template!

Hey J-Madd thanks for replying (Side note* I'm looking forward to your book. I'm 26 but appreciate your knowledge and I am sure ill learn something from the book!)

I have read all the TB's and have come up with this based on the OP IA but I'm not entirely sure where to place the HIC or E or if the placement of my strength days are correct. In the example below I try to place my Strength days the day before a shift and not the day after so that I am fresh for them. But when I try to place my E's or HIC i'm not sure if they will cut into my strength. Another question I wonder about is if STR is tougher on the body or if HIC is. If that is the case then maybe having STR after a Shift is the better option. A couple of guys on my shift are interested in running OP as well but we are all trying to figure out the best way to do so.

RescueStrong4205 wrote:Red days i'm at the station and the most I can do is Mobility, Core, and light spinning. We are fairly busy so I try to train around my shifts.

I'm not sure if I understand when you can and when you can't train. If I have it right you aren't planning on running operator/training on red days. If so my suggestion still stands to run Op I/A, it's a perfect fit.

Edit: disregard, just saw you posted a more detailed schedule

Aelian. Exactly. On my shifts(red days) I dont train. I just do light active recovery work if anything. Thanks for the reply!

Fire fighters whinging about not being able to train on shift.... some of us don't get to sleep if there are no jobs on and actually have it hard

On a serious note OP I/A is the way to go with this sort of shift work. I just had a very successful couple of months doing I/A to get around all the crazy shifts I have been having. Another tip is to set up a certain amount of sessions you want to hit until your next retest/progression and just tick them off as you go.
e.g
Max strength x9
HIC x9
Endurance x5

I just did the above and had great results. I moved away from the weekly schedule and just trained when I knew I could achieve the session and it allowed me to take days off when work interfered. Some weeks I only trained twice a week and others as much as 5 days a week. You miss out on the frequency aspect, but my body absolutely loved the extra recovery when nit was needed.