A few weeks ago, I ordered a 50lb weight vest. I need it to start preparing for the CPAT, the firefighter physical fitness exam, which I am taking this fall. The CPAT looks like a bear, particularly for me. It consists of 10 activities on a timed obstacle course, while you wear a 50lb vest. There is also a 3-minute stair climb, where you have to wear a 75lb vest. The activities are mostly things like carrying heavy objects (in addition to the vest) and maneuvering other unwieldy things like hoses, dummies, and chainsaws. You can watch a (tediously long) video of everything you need to do during the test here. In addition to my first of all needing to get strong enough to wear the freaking vest, I’m thinking leg strength, arm strength, core strength and grip strength are all things I need to ramp up.

Now, it may come as no surprise to you but over the past few months I have been *much* more focused on EMT, school, and work than worrying about fitness. And, I have to admit, I’ve kind of enjoyed it, but known the whole time in the back of my head that sooner or later I’d have to ditch the junkfood and lazy lifestyle recommit myself to fitness. Sure, I’ve jogged with the dog and even gone on a few bike rides, but that’s about it. When I received this box on my doorstep yesterday:

Heaviest Package Ever

Heaviest Package Ever


It was a 50lb wake up call. Oof! I could barely carry it upstairs to our apartment. And, I’m supposed to run an obstacle course with this thing on?! Aye. I have a LOT of work to do. And a lot of strength to gain.
I’ve noticed that even at work, it could help me to gain some strength. Things like lifting the gurney and heavy patients- I think you’re almost safer if you are stronger, because then you aren’t straining to hurt yourself. Also, getting in and out and in and out of the rig- that is like doing repeated deep lunges! (Something I discovered on the day my FTO assigned me to restock a rig completely from scratch).
Sooo… it’s time to get back at it. I’m working with a few athletically-minded friends to put together a program and then BOOM- starting this Saturday, consider the hammer dropped.

My current goals:
1.) Overall fitness
2.) GAIN STRENGTH (needed for work as EMT and also for upcoming firefighter exam)
3.) Pass the CPAT
4.) Lose weight
5.) Signed up for this half-marathon at the end of October
6.) Be able to do 100 pushups, per this plan

Sooo…. The schedule I am fleshing out involves lifting three times a week, speedwork at the track 1x a week, a long run, a long bike, and a few other runs and bikes smattered in. Also, I’m going to start wearing the weight vest a few mornings when I walk/jog Linus and I’ll walk him up a bunch of hills and maybe do some stairs runs with it on. Maybe I can convince Linus and Earl to come cheerlead me again to the Vulcan Stairway every other week (or the stadium) for some stair repeats!

The weight vest is pretty neat. It’s a bunch of these weighted bags:

weight-vest bags

weight-vest bags


which you stuff into the pre-sewn pockets on the vest like so:
filling the weight vest

filling the weight vest


and then the final product looks like this:
Weight Vest

Weight Vest


You know what’s crazy? I am so weak right now, I don’t even think I can pick up the weight vest and put it safely on my head! I can barely pick it up, period! I wanted to try it on and take some modeling pictures of you (because I am sure it looks completely ridiculous on! :D ), however because I don’t feel strong enough lifting it over my head at this point… going to have to wait for assistance to get home tonight (Earl) and then I will.
You know what else I am doing tonight? I’m going to don just shorts and a sports bra and dun, dun, DUN have Earl take a “Before” pic, to document my fitness journey over the next few months as I embark on my strength training program.
I’m sure I’ll feel a tad self-conscious wearing this bad boy out on the streets of San Francisco to train, but hey… it’s something I’ll have to get over. And anyways, I’m the type of person who feels self-conscious a lot of the time just working out in public, period. So wearing a strange-looking thick black vest won’t really effect the “Hello, I am a huge doofus” factor much anyways! I’m thinking maybe I should take out half or 3/4 of the weights to start, and kind of work my way up over the next few weeks.
Totally exciting stuff! I’ve never *really* set out training specifically for sheer strength & fitness before, so I am eager to get started and see some results. Are you ready for a much more Bad Assery Courtney?! :)