Starting Strength, Firefighting, and Conditioning.

[hatmanii]

Hey Coach,
My name is Hat and I'm a firefighter down here in St. Augustine, FL.
I am 6'2" 275lbs, Shortly here in the future I expect to be 70's Big.

My stats are thus:
Squat 275x5
Bench 225x5
Press 170x5
Deadlift 305x5

I've been on your linear training cycle (onus wunsler, as displayed in SS) and I'm seeing great strength gains. However, my schedule and job requirements have been giving me fits recently. I work a 24 hours on, 48 hours off rotating schedule, and thus I am not able to do the typical MWF workout regimen. Also, my job requires me to be in very good physical conditioning which my weight has been interfering with. I do not want to be one of those fat, lazy SOB's that many people see in uniform.

My questions in regard to all of this are two-fold.

1) Is having 2 days off between every workout reasonable considering, or should I attempt the Train/Off/Train/Off/Train/OFF/OFF cycle, working it around my schedule?

2) What if anything, would you recommend for conditioning and weight loss in my line of work? Sled drags, sledgehammer GPP, barbell complexes, running stairs, running?

Thank you very much for your time and response,

Hat

[Mark Rippetoe]

You're already kinda big, but I get the impression that you're kinda fat too. This situation always points to the need for a dietary modification: it's almost impossible for anybody over the age of 23 to lose much bodyfat without tightening up the diet. Your schedule will have to be worked around the work schedule, so I'd plan on doing your weight training every third day, with a couple of metcon days/week thrown in to keep you ready for the job. Your ideas for this are all good. But be aware that this will produce a slower strength response than the unmodified version of the program.

[hatmanii]

Thanks for the responses, Coach. You've stated almost what I expected. I do carry too much weight for my liking currently. I'm not out of shape per se, I test top 20% in my departments CPAP, but I haven't done any conditioning the last 2 months because none was prescribed in SS, but if I could drop 20-30 lbs of fat while increasing my aerobic capacity I would be glad to do so.

I'm currently training every third day as it is, and things are working great... However, I was solely wondering if there were any way to improve things under my circumstances. I guess if it isn't broken... So thanks for confirming this.

I think I might mix things up on my second off day as far as conditioning goes, how does a rotation of barbell complexes, stair running/climbing, and sledgehammer GPP sound? These are all things that would carry over very well along with the strength gains, to my job.

Again, thanks so much for the response and the book(s). Have a great weekend, coach.

Regards,
Hat

[Mark Rippetoe]

Sounds like it would suit you well.

[KSC]

SS can be effectively run on other schedules other than the strict MWF routine, although this is the preferred approach. I have trained plenty of firefighters, cops, pilots, salesman, etc who have weird work schedules and you just work around it as best you can. dont sweat that.

for the fat loss, do some research on cyclical ketogenic dieting. that is all i will say on that since this isnt a dietary board.

Since April I have gone from 246 lbs to 208 lbs and haven't done an ounce of cardio. Barbell training only. All diet. Lost a little strength, but for me this was an acceptable result as part of a longer term plan.

By the way, I will also say that I believe squatting 3 x week is just as effective at stimulating fat loss as cardio is.

Go dig up some of my old posts and look at my mid distance sprint program. It will work fine with SS and is not complicated. Perhaps cut the volume of the sprint program in half when you start.

[hatmanii]

My diet is something that I have slowly begun to remedy. Going from the "eat anything you want when you want" to a more structured approach has been quite a chore.

I'm hesitant to cut my calories too significantly, however I wouldn't mind staying at 275 if that means I could trade some fat % for muscle %. Would keeping my calorie intake the same yet splitting it into more frequent meals be a viable option in this regard?

I will look look at your sprint program to see if it's anything that peaks my interest, thank you for the reply and advice.

Thanks again, KSC and Coach.

Hat

[Mark Rippetoe]

You're the guy who wanted you to be smaller, not me. If 275 works, then just keep training and clean up your diet and your body composition will do what it's supposed to.

[hatmanii]

Haha, I know I know! It's tough to get out of the mindset that smaller means healthier when it comes to bodyweight, body composition, fat %, and the like.

I think I've already won half the battle.

Hat

[firemanChris]

hatmanii,

I'm a fireman in the burbs outside Chicago. I went from doing CrossFit programing to 12 solid weeks of SS to bring my lifts up and work on my form. My strength progressed nicely, but I did see a bit of a backslide in my METCON. Right now I'm giving the CrossFit Football Programing model a crack. I think the idea of still lifting really heavy stuff coupled with the metabolic conditioning is balanced pretty well in their system. Just made the change so I'm not sure how it's going to work out schedule wise. Good luck and be safe, Brother.