Chestermere Fire Service’s (CFS) C-Shift took a break from their regular routine to join F45 Chestermere to work out and connect with the community Dec. 18.
“It’s great to be out with community,” said Capt. Craig Passmore.
The firefighters were invited by gym owner Niki Still to participate in the regular Monday morning workout.
Still said that she invited the firefighters to join them for the workout to have some fun with the other gym members and to help get the crew ready for firefit in the spring.
Passmore, who is a member of the gym, took Still up on her offer.
He said that it was a good opportunity to both show the community the fitness and readiness level of members of CFS but also a good way to promote general health and fitness within the community.
“Its great as firefighters to see people in the community not only to show them our fitness level but also to give back,” he said.
During each duty shift, firefighters have about a one hour time slot to work out and stay physically fit if they aren’t otherwise engaged on an emergency call.
Despite this, Passmore said that the workout at F45 was a challenge
“Overall, we’re in pretty good shape but we came here today and got shown that this is a really tough workout,” he said.
The morning workout was a full body functional workout.
“They did 45 minutes of going from 20 second intervals to 40 second intervals to 60 second intervals,” said Still, “so they worked through all elements of a cardio workout and working all the major muscle groups.”
“I think it was very successful during the workout the firefighters were all sweating and smiling, slightly dying but now they’re all recovered and back,” she laughed.
Because of that extra challenge the workout offered, Passmore said that it was really good for him and his crew to take part in the functional workout.
In addition to being fit enough to perform their job, Passmore and the rest of his crew also compete in the annual Firefit competition.
“We like to compete and we do that every year,” he said.
Passmore said that Firefit is about doing their job properly and staying functionally fit within their job.
After the workout as a way to involve the community as a whole, the firefighters stayed at the gym to talk and show off the trucks and equipment to both the general public and kids from the daycare next door to F45.
“Who doesn’t love the firefighters,” said Still.
