Differences In Fitness Between Cadet And General Population Firefighter Academy Recruits

Firefighter recruit academies often include applicants from the general population (GR) and/or graduates from a fire cadet program (CR), which use an apprenticeship-based program to prepare 18 to 21-year-olds for the recruit academy. Though research has described traditional GR firefighter fitness, comparisons between CR and GR populations upon fire academy entry have not been examined. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore initial fitness differences between CR and GR firefighter academy recruits. METHODS: Fitness data was collected from five separate firefighter academy recruit cohorts (2018-2019, 2021-2023) resulting in 243 total recruits (CR: n = 106, 20.4 ± 0.7 yrs; GR: n = 137, 32.6 ± 6.4 yrs). In the first week of the academy, recruits completed a battery of assessments including: body weight (BW, kg); skinfold measures to estimate percent body fat (PBF, %) and calculate fat-free mass (FFM, kg); muscular strength from the sum of right and left handgrip (SHG, kg); muscular endurance estimated by the total number of push-ups completed during a paced, 2-minute test (PU); and aerobic capacity (VO2peak, mL/kg/min) estimated from the 5-minute Forestry Step Test. SHG and PU were normalized to BW. Separate independent t-tests were conducted to determine differences between CR and GR for each measure. An alpha of .05 determined statistical significance. RESULTS: The CRs had lower BW (81.4 ± 15.0 vs. 93.5 ± 18.1 kg, t = -5.54, P < .001), PBF (16.5 ± 6.9 vs. 20.9 ± 6.5 %, t = -4.85, P < .001), and FFM (147.1 ± 24.7 vs. 161.9 ± 26.7 kg, t = -4.21, P < .001), but higher SHG (normalized: 1.18 ± 0.27 vs. 1.11 ± 0.23; t = 2.26, P = .025; absolute: 94.8 vs. 102.2 kg), PU (normalized: 0.42 ± 0.18 vs. 0.32 ± 0.16, t = 4.71, P < .001; absolute: 32.6 vs. 34.8 reps), and VO2peak (45.5 ± 7.7 vs. 37.2 ± 5.4 mL/kg/min, t = 9.59, P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Despite lower BW and FFM than GRs, the higher relative muscular strength (SHG), endurance (PU), and aerobic capacity (VO2peak) in the CRs may translate to improved efficiency to perform occupation-specific tasks. As such, programming that targets optimizing body weight, while concurrently building strength and aerobic capacity, may maximize the development of GRs during a fire academy. Future research should explore the translation of fitness improvements to technical skill development among fire recruits.