Charlotte Coca-Cola 600

In what will likely be the largest audience in our 22-year history, the Memorial Day weekend event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway- is an event that you won’t want to miss. We’ve got access to the parking lot that costs over $1M to rent.

However, with crowds numbering around a quarter million, you can’t just show up at the last minute.

We’re working on a daily schedule of activities such as garage passes for our athletes. So, be sure to keep checking the hot news for updates on what’s being scheduled each of the days’ we’ll be there.

I couldn’t help but insert this link where Jeff Gordon takes a Chevy salesman and a Camaro for a ride; it think you’ll get a real kick out of it.

http://kdvr.com/2013/03/12/undercover-jeff-gordon-takes-car-salesman-on-wild-test-drive/

If We’re Reducing Calories, Why are we Still Not Losing Weight

This article written by Alexandra Sifferlin from the Time Magazine website asks, and answers an interesting question. 

The good news: we’re eating fewer calories. The bad news: that’s not translating into lower obesity rates.

Two federal studies on the amount of calories Americans eat show that we are eating less than we did about a decade ago, and that we’re also limiting the amount of fast food we consume.

Between 2007 to 2010, about 11.3% of daily calories came from from fast food, down from 12.8% reported between 2003 to 2006, according to data collected by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Fast food consumption decreased with age, with adults aged 60 and older eating the least of this type of food. For younger adults, non-Hispanic black adults reporting eating the most fast food, with more than one-fifth of their daily calories coming from fast food chains.

Not surprisingly, those who took in the most calories from fast food favorites also weighed the most. “The good news from this study is that as we get older, perhaps we do get wiser and eat less fast food,” Samantha Heller, a clinical nutritionist at the NYU Center for Musculoskeletal Care in New York City told HealthDay. ”However, a take-home message is that the study suggests that the more fast food you eat, the fatter you get.”

The second study, also conducted by the CDC, looked at American kids aged 2 to 19 and found that boys were eating fewer calories, dropping from an average of 2,258 calories a day in 1999-2000 to approximately 2,100 calories in 2009-2010. The trend also applied to girls, who ate 76 fewer calories on average in the same time period. Most of this decline came in the form of carbohydrates; children continued to eat about the same amount of fats while increasing the protein they consumed.

“The children had a decrease in carbohydrates, and one of the carbohydrates is added sugars,” says CDC researcher Cynthia L. Ogden, who oversaw the research. ”There is evidence showing that added sugars have decreased in general,  and that these things are related to obesity. I think it will be interesting to continue to watch these trends and see what happens nationally.” Ogden says a major source of added sugar in diets comes from sugar-sweetened beverages, and as research shows limiting this sweet drinks can curb weight gain, parents may be curbing the amount of sweetened sodas children drink.

But if Americans are eating less fast food overall, why are obesity rates still so high? As encouraging as the calorie data are, the decreases aren’t significant enough to make a dent in upward trend of obesity. “To reverse the current prevalence of obesity, these numbers have to be a lot bigger,” Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University told the New York Times. “But they are trending in the right direction, and that’s good news.”

It may depend on how you look at the data. According to Ogden, while obesity rates may be high, the latest statistics show they may be stable, and not continuing to climb upward. “The rate of obesity has been flat recently in both children and in adults and some studies have come out recently that have found a decrease in obesity or childhood obesity in some cities. Still, a third of U.S. adults are obese and 17% of children are obese, but given this relatively stability, I think that these two studies show very interesting results,” says Ogden.

“I think [these findings] are a great start. I am happy to see there is a slight decrease. It still shows that for as much effort that has been put into messaging and positive nutrition promotion, we still have a lot of work to do. There are a lot of people who still need to be touched,” says Laura Jeffers, a registered dietitian at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

Refining that message may require delving deeper in what Americans are eating, and addressing the balance between the amount of calories that we eat and the amount we burn off daily through physical activity. Jeffers speculates that even though fast food consumption is down, Americans may be eating unhealthy calories elsewhere. “I think that overall, people are not consuming the majority of their meals at fast food. Even-though maybe fast food has decreased, the majority of calorie consumption is not from the fast food restaurants. Looking at portion sizes and what people are getting in the home and the nutrition and health from those foods, should be another focus as to why the obesity rate is continuing to climb,” she says.

And while eating less is a good way to start addressing the obesity epidemic, it may be that slimming the national waistline means we also have to boost the amount of exercise we get every day.

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/22/americans-are-eating-fewer-calories-so-why-are-we-still-obese/#ixzz2MPffPWnI

Fatter FDNY Recruits Failing

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/the_fat_has_hit_the_fire_1KPvaJzLXAT1Ymvu
9S6mGM

Fatter FDNY recruits failing
By BRAD HAMILTON
Last Updated: 10:15 AM, March 3, 2013

They're New York's Fattest.

The Fire Department's new class of recruits - all current city EMTs or
paramedics who want to become firefighters - are flaming out fast, failing
the Fire Academy in record numbers, according to FDNY sources.

As many as 30 of the 318 probationary trainees - who are older, weaker and
fatter than those in previous years - have already quit, and more are
expected to drop out before their 18-week course on Randalls Island
concludes in May, the sources said.

During the first week of the academy, 166 of the probies flunked the
physical-fitness test - which requires four pull-ups, 30 push-ups in one
minute, 30 sit-ups in one minute and a 1.5-mile run in 12 minutes.

Recruits are required to pass the physical-fitness test in order to
graduate.

"There are a lot of people saying this is the worst FDNY class in the
department's history," said a source.

The oversized and under-performing candidates will be given remedial
physical training. They'll also catch a break on the running requirements,
according to one high-ranking FDNY insider.

"They're allowing them to do it in 13 or 14 minutes," he said.

The Academy class, the first in the FDNY since 2008, was formed after a
federal judge forced the department to become more racially diverse, finding
that its recruitment practices discriminated against minorities.

So FDNY Commissioner Salvatore Cassano excluded applicants from the general
population for this Academy class, limiting the pool to medics, whose ranks
include a higher percentage of minorities than is found in firehouses.

This year's class is the most diverse ever - 42 percent are black, Hispanic
or Asian, and six are women.

But they were rated only on a written exam. In years past, applicants had to
score high on both a written and a physical test.

About 870 medics took the written test and were ranked by score. But 300
were dropped after failing a cardiovascular stress test on a stair-climbing
machine, sources said.

More flunked out when they failed to complete an obstacle course in time,
failing at such tasks as dragging a hose and a weighted dummy, carrying
equipment, and raising a ladder. Insiders note this Candidate Physical
Ability Test is less challenging than the one required for graduation.

So instead of plucking the cream of the EMT crop, the department "had to
keep going farther down the list," a source said.

"On the open exam for the general public, only candidates who score a 97 are
likely to be called," said the source. "But because so many of this class
flunked their Stair Master, [scores] went as low as 72."

Veteran firefighters are fuming over the quality of the new recruits.

"Seems to me that the EMS Promotional Candidates came to work unprepared and
half of them out of shape," posted "Duke" on firefighter-complaint Web site
FDNY Rant.

"Fatbodies!" wrote "queenstl." A retired city medic wasn't surprised by the
flabby failures.

"EMS people are fat - we're like the AV squad at school," he told The Post.
"You sit in an ambulance for 8 to 16 hours a day. When are you supposed to
exercise?"

A quartermaster was overheard saying about the new class, "I've never given
out so many size-38 pants before."

The department's own EMS Academy head, Lt. David Russell, admitted in a 2011
report that even when FDNY recruits from EMS got extra help, "the overall
fitness of these recruits is still poor."

Cassano seemed to acknowledge this when he told the class, "The next 18
weeks will be the most difficult of your life and will push you like never
before."

The 318 entered the academy on Jan. 15 - and quickly began dropping out.
Four left on Jan. 30, including a 29-year-old from Brooklyn who notched the
highest written-exam score, a 100.

At least one man left because he didn't realize he'd be taking a pay cut.

A first-year firefighter makes $39,370, more than $4,000 a year less than
the paramedic's starting salary of $43,690. EMTs start at $31,981.

FDNY spokesman Frank Gribbon acknowledged the losses. "We've got people
dropping out - every day it changes, almost. I don't have exact numbers."

He claimed the rate was "about the same as it usually is," then conceded it
might be "slightly higher" this year. Yet he defended the fitness of the
class.

"They all had to pass to get in," he said. "Every day there is physical
training, and it is rigorous.

Time Magazine: The Bitter Pill

This week’s Time magazine has been completely devoted to the subject of why our health care system is screwed up beyond all recognition. I’ve been a subscriber of Time since 1965 and arguably, this is the best article of all times.

The author lays out a very balanced analysis of where things are completely out of control. It’s a expansive article and will take some time to read, but as a frontline health care provider, you’ll find the whole story mesmerizing.

You don’t have to be a subscriber as you can read it on line. After you do, I’d like to hear your thoughts on the subject. One thing that I came away with is a healthy appreciation for how well Medicare is managed. Basically, everyone should be on Medicare!

Check it out here:

http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/20/bitter-pill-why-medical-bills-are-killing-us/?xid=newsletter-weekly

Know Your Smoke

I just finished watching the link below; it’s only 10 minutes long. But you’ll think a lot more seriously about being in proximity to any fire, including food on the stove without your Air-Pak!

I can recall doing salvage and overhaul, checking for extension with a pike pole and seeing a glow in the dark; it was a guy smoking a cigarette! I hope those days have been extinguished.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMjUgdS7SQM

Listen to the Music

In addition to the hundreds of hours that are spent overhauling the Challenge caravan and associated equipment, we’ve been working on the whole sound thing, adding new to us (slightly used) wireless microphones made by Lectrosonics, arguably, the best such products, made in New Mexico by fanatics - their words, not mine. I now know more about UHF bands than I wanted. Hopefully, interference will be a thing of the past.

The playlist is getting a scrubbing. We’ve been dependent upon cell phone coverage for Pandora. Not always the most reliable way to go. Our objective is to create a 5-600 song playlist of G-rated tunes with a 4/4 beat consistent with what you’d hear at any public sports venue. Our original consultant, the voice of the Washington Nationals, before he was taken out by cancer, provided some guidelines that were very helpful. There is a science behind playlist creations for public events.

Now, we turn our attention to you, our listening audience for your input. On rare occasions you’ve provided friendly criticisms of the songs that are aired. But, even more rarely are there solutions or suggestions. Keep in mind, that this is not a concert; the music adds to the ambiance, but Mike Word does better than any by providing play-by-play about the athletes.

For heavy metal aficionados, there’s always the reliable iPod, the place that you can go to get a dose of pre-competition adrenaline.

If you’ve got some songs that you’d like to hear, send us the title and artist. We’ll do our best to track down the music for inclusion in the playlist. And thanks for listening. Send them to: contact@FFCC.TV

Where did we lose our motivation?

I am a Lieutenant with the City of Leander Fire Department. We are a small municipality just north of Austin Texas. I read your blog and knew I needed to share my views associated with fitness in the fire service. I've been relatively fit for my entire life, not only for myself, and my family, but for the people that I surround myself with. I've always belonged to a team of some sort and have received continued education in the fitness industry.

I have a strong belief that we need to take ownership for one another. We owe it to our families and each other's as they expect us to return home after each shift. The fire service is just an example of another team. Our failures don't come with a fumble or a missed shot, but carry with them a greater weight. One that I hope to never endure.

We can’t perform the task of an incident alone. Rather, we must rely on one another to see that the task is executed with minimal risk. If I'm willing to run into a burning structure for a complete stranger, then why in the world can't we stay physically and mentally ready for the coworkers that we would literally give our life for?

How can I look their family member in the face and know, without a doubt, I can’t perform in a way that is expected of me? I'm not saying that you have to become an elite athlete, run marathons, or compete in the Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge, but I do believe that you should be the best you and that is what they deserve.

I've always felt a certain obligation to remain "ready" for my co-workers, but what about the citizens that rely on us. They are under the belief, that when in the event of a tragedy, their problem will be met with a more than capable emergency service provider. That's what they deserve, and what they should receive, every time they need it. We chose this job, they didn't choose us.

There are plenty of professions available for the average unmotivated person in the World, but this isn't one of them. In my opinion, One of the biggest issues with fitness in the fire service seems to be the complacency. The "I got my job, now I can relax." Where did we lose our motivation? What sense of entitlement did we receive when we were given the badge? 

The fact of the matter is, we all, at one time held ourselves to a higher standard. We must find that inner passion that drove us to this job. I simply ask, whatever your motivation was for joining the fire service, that you find it, because threre are hundreds of thousands who would give anything to have your career.

I found the Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge approximately 4 years ago and in doing so found hundreds of competitors just like me. My Department has taken an increased interest over the last few years and we've assembled a group of motivated firefighters who love to compete and camaraderie that goes with the challenge. We may never become world champions, or Lions Den member's... but maybe we will. The only thing that I know for sure is, we are working on it. That's what my challenge is to anyone reading this...get to work! Do something, anything, just get started and realize your full potential. We only have one go at this life and what a blessing it is. God keeps filling your lungs with air, quite wasting it.

Respectfully, Joe Mayberry

Leander Fire Rescue