Introduction

The purpose of this assignment is to develop a personal fitness program that will complement the profession of Paramedics. The program is divided into three major parts. First, the hypertrophy section that focuses on distinct muscle groups and body parts such as the chest & back, legs, shoulders & trapezius, and arms. The second major part is the rest day. It is a day where I work on flexibility and cardiovascular components of fitness as well as core, glutes, and lower back strength. The third major part is the strength training that focuses on compound movements of the upper and lower body and lifting heavier weights.

Workout Progression

The progression of the workout is on a bi-weekly basis. There is a mandatory increase of at least one to five percent increase of weight in each exercise every two weeks. The purpose of this is to prevent plateau by increasing the degree of difficulty of each exercise using the weight factor. For example, on week one, if my barbell squat is 200 lbs per set, then on week three, I will need to be squatting 202-210 lbs per set. Each week, one can use the 1 RM calculator from any reputable online source to determine the weight factor of each exercise. One can also do a 1 RM test for each exercise to determine the weight factor. In order to progress, one must maintain proper form and technique, gradual increase of load, adequate rest, increased mobility, and proper stretching at the start and end of each workout session.

On the next page, you will see a typical monthly schedule of my personal fitness program. The first four days of the week is geared towards hypertrophy training. The hypertrophy training focuses on specific muscle groups and is mostly executed through supersets of exercises. Following hypertrophy training is an active rest day where I have several options of activities to do such as running, cycling, and yoga. I also added core, lower back, and glute exercises on this day. My version of rest day is not about doing nothing but keeping the body moving in order to improve and maintain blood flow on muscle groups that were targeted in the previous workouts.

Additionally, I dedicated two days of strength training after the rest day. I divided this into upper body strength training and lower body strength training. Each section integrates different compound movements that utilizes many muscle groups on a single exercise. You will notice that on strength training days that my weight factor is higher when compared to hypertrophy. The hypertrophy and strength training microcycles are some of the ways to progress a workout that caters to the profession of a paramedic.

Lastly, one has to remember that strength training is only one factor that helps paramedics do their job; some of the other essential components are proper nutrition and adequate sleep. All three components are helpful to maintain a well functioning paramedic.