In Their Own Words...

I’m in the process of writing a fitness training manual for Palm Beach County’s Fire-Rescue Department. It occurred to me that what might make this book different is punctuating the sometime boring content with inspirational stories of people such as you who became motivated to the point where they changed their entire life by taking personal responsibility for their own health and fitness.

Compare and contrast that attitude with what I witnessed last week in another public safety organization that I’m consulting with. In this case, a number of police officers said that they would not workout because, “What if I get hurt?” Astounding. So, let me see if I get this...you don’t feel its safe to workout, so it’s better that you do nothing as a protection against what? Being sedentary? We have a very serious educational “cliff” here. And the problem is not limited to public safety.

Check out this recent story in the Washington Post. The numbers of unfit soldiers is staggering. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/rising-number-of-soldiers-being-dismissed-for-failing-fitness-tests/2012/12/08/13d2e444-40b8-11e2-ae43-cf491b837f7b_story.html?hpid=z1

Hanging around the athletes in the Challenge can warp your perception of reality. You start to think that all firefighters look like you guys. And course, this is why the Challenge is so important for the public perception value. You are the tide that lifts all boats. Perception becomes reality when millions of civilians are exposed to the Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge.

So, I’m calling for motivational stories, first person or narratives about someone in your department who saw light and decided that they were going to change because they did not want to be on that long, slow slide to diseases of lifestyle. Don’t worry about grammar and syntax. We can fix it. And we can obscure your identity with a pseudonym. But we can’t fake inspiration and that’s what I’m looking for- something to motivate the guy who wants to change. Send me an email- sooner than later.