VALFIS Research Group, Institute of Biomedicine (IBIOMED), University of León, 24071 León, Spain.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jan 23;20(3):2073. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20032073.
Wildland firefighting implies high physical and psychological demands for the personnel involved. Therefore, good physical fitness can help increase the work efficiency of wildland firefighters (WFFs) and safeguard their health. High-intensity circuit training (HICT) could be a good alternative to improve the physical condition of WFFs since it stands out for its functionality and economy. Therefore, the objective of this study was to analyze the effects of HICT on the WFFs' physical fitness. The study involved 9 WFFs (8 males and 1 female; 29.8 ± 2.8 years; 175.6 ± 6.7 cm) who completed a training program and 9 WFF candidates (8 males and 1 female; 24.7 ± 6.6 yr, 176.5 ± 7.0 cm) as a control group. WFFs performed an 8-week HICT program (two weekly training sessions). The training sessions lasted approximately 45 min and were performed at an intensity >80% of maximal heart rate and RPE values >7.5. At the beginning and the end of the intervention, subjects' physical fitness (i.e., aerobic capacity, cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular resistance and explosive strength) was assessed through different tests. After completing the training program, WFFs had significantly increased ( < 0.05) the speed at which the ventilatory thresholds were determined (12.4 ± 13.9 and 5.7 ± 7.3% for the ventilatory and respiratory compensation thresholds, respectively) and also their abdominal (31.2 ± 17.2%), lumbar (34.1 ± 13.5%) and upper limb (13.3 ± 16.0%) strength. Moreover, improvements ( < 0.05) in the explosive strength of legs (7.1 ± 5.8%) and performance in a specific physical employment test (12.2 ± 6.1%) were observed. In conclusion, the results of this study show that an 8-week high-intensity circuit training program could be an effective and safe method to improve WFFs' physical fitness and performance.
野外消防意味着对相关人员有很高的身体和心理要求。因此，良好的身体素质可以帮助提高野外消防员的工作效率并保障他们的健康。高强度间歇训练（HICT）可以作为提高野外消防员身体素质的一种很好的替代方法，因为它具有功能性和经济性。因此，本研究的目的是分析 HICT 对野外消防员身体素质的影响。研究涉及 9 名野外消防员（8 男 1 女；29.8±2.8 岁；175.6±6.7cm），他们完成了一项训练计划，还有 9 名野外消防员候选人（8 男 1 女；24.7±6.6 岁，176.5±7.0cm）作为对照组。野外消防员进行了 8 周的 HICT 训练（每周 2 次训练）。训练课程持续约 45 分钟，强度大于最大心率的 80%，RPE 值大于 7.5。在干预开始和结束时，通过不同的测试评估受试者的身体素质（即有氧能力、心肺耐力、肌肉力量和爆发力）。完成训练计划后，野外消防员的呼吸阈速度（通气阈和呼吸补偿阈分别提高 12.4±13.9%和 5.7±7.3%）以及腹部（31.2±17.2%）、腰部（34.1±13.5%）和上肢（13.3±16.0%）力量显著提高（<0.05）。此外，腿部爆发力（7.1±5.8%）和特定体能作业测试的表现（12.2±6.1%）也有所提高（<0.05）。总之，本研究结果表明，8 周的高强度间歇训练方案可能是提高野外消防员身体素质和表现的有效且安全的方法。
