The Hotshot Workout

It’s not glamorous, or very exciting, but it gets results.

All Interagency Hotshot Crews (IHC’s) base their strength training programs around four core exercises: Push-Ups, Pull-Ups, Sit-Ups and Dips. Be forwarned: Muscle and Fitness Magazine won’t be knocking on your door for a cover shoot, because these workouts won’t rip you up overnight. They’re designed to increase your endurance, and build-up your aerobic capacity. If you do however want to go for the more ripped look in a shorter period of time, you can check out the Arm Blaster as this increases the blood flow to your muscles when performing exercises for your biceps, for example, so you last longer during a work out session and in return increases your muscles growth. And because there are a tremendous number of variations for each exercise – dips excepted – you can keep your workouts fresh by adding new tweaks and wrinkles. You should be doing the strength training workout 3x per week. It’s your choice if you choose to do it after your running or hiking days, or seperately in the morning / evening.

Stick to it, and you’ll show up at your duty station in the best shape of your life. Guaranteed.

Your goal is to continue adding sets and reps. The Navy SEALS use a similar training program, and their week 16 goals are absolutely stud. 20 sets of 15 dips. 20 sets of 25 push-ups. 5 sets of 12 pull-ups and 20 sets of 25 situps. Numbers which are absolutely mind-blowing – and probably unattainable for those of us not blessed with freakish genetics. But if you’re hammering out a workout anywhere near those goals…you’re heading into fire season in solid shape.

Now before you start counting off pull-ups, it’s crucial to do some baseline testing first.
Record your maximum number of reps for push-ups, pull-ups, dips, situps, a 1.5 mile run, and your training hike. Then do it again during week 8, and then finally again on week 16. Doing this will allow you to gauge your progress throughout the duration of the program, and give you a good idea as to how you stack up against the IHC’s recommended minimum’s physical fitness requirements.

If after a few weeks, you find yourself growing bored with standard pull-ups, pick up a hangboard. Rock climbers have counted on them for years to train on during the winter. The different style holds allow you to build up your grip strength as well as provide a fresh new way to bust out pull-ups. Added bonus: they make for great conversation starters when hung in the kitchen. If you’re curious, you can check out some hangboard workouts here.

Pyramid Workouts

These are great to toss into the mix once a week, or every other week or so. As we’ve mentioned before – shocking your system is crucial to developing endurance and stamina. The pyramid workout accomplishes that. So instead of doing 3 sets of 10 reps for your pull-up workout, you would start with 1 pull-up, rest, then 2 pull-ups, rest, etc. Way more sets, but lower reps per set.
Here’s an example of a pyramid set up to 7: 1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5 x 6 x 7 x 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 49 pull-ups
It seems like cake in the beginning, but the peak is killer! Rotating a pyramid set into your workout can also help you break through plateaus. You can add pyramid sets to pushups, situps, dips, shoulder presses – anything!

Deck of Cards

A longtime favorite of hotshot crews stuck on lightning-standby, or on an endless staging assignment somewhere off-forest. Grab a deck of cards. Pick one. The rules are simple:
Diamonds = Pull-ups
Clubs = Pushups
Spades = Situps
Hearts = Dips (or lunges or mountain climbers if a dip bar isn’t available)
All face cards = 10. If you pulled a King of Diamonds – you’d be on the bar for 10 pull-ups. If you pulled a seven of clubs, you’d be down for 7 pushups. Simple.

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