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Howitzer
06-23-10, 2:26 am
July 12 '10 will mark 5 years in the fire service. coming up on two years ago, I was made 2nd Lt. in my fire company. It is an elected position because the company is volunteer. This, in addition to paramedic school and a diet composed of cup noodles and shit, at age 21, my blood pressure was 140 (high stress shit going on) and starting to have a gut that was scarily similar to what a lot of the other firefighters had... But unlike them, I at no point in my life had been exceptionally strong. I was strong enough to wear the gear and do the tasks at the level of minimum competency... But that wasn't enough now. I was an officer. My guys and gals on my crew would look to me when shit got real. I was responsible for their lives in a very scary way; that is to say, completely responsible.
So between high blood pressure, a gut (which was ten pounds of beer, noodles, and shit), and the responsibility for other people's lives, I had to act. Also, nothing disgusts me quite like seeing a fat doctor tell a patient to lose weight. It's the healthcare provider paradox, and I'm determined never to be part of THAT equation.

Some simple, scary math. The lightest member of my crew probably weighed 160 lbs naked. With full protective garb, they weigh 230 lbs. Add in tools and they weigh maybe 245-255 lbs. I weighed 180 lbs naked, 250lbs in gear, plus 25 lbs of tools. That meant that if a member of my crew went down, I would have to drag 530 lbs of meat and metal through a potentially lethal environment in order to save myself and my crewmate (and the fire service REALLY looks down on leaving a crewmate behind... and by that I mean we don't do it). Could I have done that? NO! And what's more, THAT WAS THE LIGHTEST MEMBER OF MY CREW! And so at the start of my adventure into bodybuilding, every set where I had to dig deep, fight through the pain, and grit my teeth, I imagined the shame of leaving a crewmate in a building. Of failing them. Of being responsible for their death. You want motivation? Not dying because you're too scrawny is a good one.

I dropped 10 lbs in 3 weeks. Since then, it's been experimentation in diet and lifting. I gained 10 lbs in my first year, back to 180 eating clean and lifting high reps. I'm up to 185lbs now, halfway through my second year of lifting. When I get off an ambulance and my crew goes to lift a fat patient now, they come back to the station and say "Yo H, we could have really used you on that last call." Cause without me, they end up calling the fire dept for help lifting fat people.

Probably one of the highest compliments ever paid to me was a former marine who asked if we needed help lifting a 300 lb lady right as me and my partner lifted her and the cot. We turned and said "no problem brother." He laughed and said "these guys don't need help. They PT!" Damn straight!

Looking forward to getting back to my routine from the crunch that was studying for the paramedic exam. As stated in the what do you do thread, I became a certified NREMT-P (Nationally Registered Paramedic) after 3 years... yesterday!
Now I'm going to reward myself by eating every clean food item I can lay my hands on and lifting heavy shit all the time.

Your brother in iron.

C.Coronato
06-23-10, 11:36 am
Thats awesome brotha. Welcome to the FORVM. I would look into my man Kuclos thread. He is a firefighter in Dallas, TX. He is a 250+ lb freak bodybuilder stepping on to multiple National stages. Plus he is 24, and a good all around guy. Im sure you can shoot the shit and maybe get some pointers.

http://forum.animalpak.com/showthread.php?t=31831

Howitzer
06-23-10, 12:10 pm
Thanks for the heads up! I'll definitely look into that thread. 250+ and showing at age 24, and he's got to be doing something right. Thanks for the welcome!