Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Upon completion of the course students should be able to:

• Design and apply a lifelong personal fitness and nutrition program to improve personal physical condition and wellness, to meet the physical requirements of basic firefighting tasks, and to perform optimally on fire department physical agility assessments.
• Apply skills related to physical and mental aspects of performance required in physical agility testing and fire fighting.
• Apply decision making skills related to health and fitness to improve performance, productivity, and quality of life in the workplace.
• Adjust and adapt physically and mentally to environmental factors present (e.g., protective clothing, equipment) and tasks involved (e.g., ventilation, search and rescue) in firefighting.

At the beginning of the class, the instructor will inform students of the grading structure and methods.
The methods of assessment may include one or more of the following:

• Various individual and/or group skill building activities such as roleplaying, scenario based problem solving activities, case studies, or other
  exercises geared toward critical analysis of course concepts.
• Written assignments or oral reports designed to integrate course material into personal experience or experiences of others.
• Quizzes and exam composed of objective questions and concepts.
• Individual and/or team project/s which requires integration, application, and critical examination of course concepts, issues, and themes.

I. Physical Requirements of Fire Fighting
     A. Physical fitness
        1. Flexibility
        2. Aerobic conditioning
        3. Muscular strength
        4. Muscular endurance
     B. Nutrition
        1. Basic balanced diet
        2. Specialized diets
     C. Fire Fighting environment
        1. Micro effects of inside protective clothing
        2. Macro environment of outside protective clothing
II. Physical Aspects of Well-Being and Conditioning
     A. Exercise principles
        1. General adaptation
        2. Specificity of training
        3. Overload principle
     B. Exercise physiology
        1. Aerobic and anaerobic energy sources
        2. Muscle physiology
        3. Recovery from under training/overtraining
        4. Myotatic stretch reflex
        5. Physical effects of environment
        6. Injury prevention
     C. Proper exercise techniques
        1. Flexibility
        2. Weight training
        3. Specialized programs
        4. Implementation of organizational programs
III. Mental Aspects of Performance
     A. Stress model
     B. Relaxation techniques
     C. Focus training
     D. Visualization
     E. Performance keys
     F. Mastering skills
IV. Fire Fighting
     A. Equipment
        1. Hydrant
        2. Ladders
        3. Hose evolutions
        4. Others
     B. Tasks
        1. Ventilation
        2. Search and rescue
        3. Others
V. Physical Agility Preparation
     A. Physical and mental fitness
     B. Mastering motor skills
     C. Pre-employment evaluation
VI. Lifelong Fitness and Conditioning
     A. Physiologic change and the aging process
     B. Changes in job requirements