ASCA Podcast #89 - Dr. Mark Abel

Dr. Mark Abel, is a Professor and Director of the First Responder Research Laboratory in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Promotion at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Abel conducts research to improve the safety, health, occupational readiness of firefighters and law enforcement officers. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals, authored book chapters, and presented internationally. He also teaches undergraduate courses in Strength and Conditioning and Sports Nutrition and graduate courses in High Performance Coaching and Tactical Strength and Conditioning. He has served as a firefighter. also owns Tactical Fitness Institute, LLC which assists fire departments and law enforcement agencies in developing legally defensible physical ability tests and offers other educational and exercise programming services to meet their health and performance goals. QUOTES “The number one reason why firefighters are getting injured when they are not on the ground is from physical training..." "Firefighters that exercise are at a higher risk of injury but at a lower risk of occupational injuries than non-exercising firefighters” “We need to understand the typical time course of recovery to recommend the appropriate training prescription for a firefighter on duty” “The biomotor abilities that have the longest training residuals are maximal strength and aerobic endurance” “One reason I like block periodization is you can make changes so much more frequently than linear and I think that is a huge advantage for firefighters” “Lower HRV in the morning was significantly related with decreased performance in an occupational test in firefighters” SHOWNOTES 1) Mark’s career progression from personal training to the tactical and first responder space 2) Problems with research in tactical populations and increasing compliance with the athletes you work with 3) The issue with training while on call and differences between how different tactical occupations should adapt their physical preparation 4) Why concurrent training, understanding training residual lengths and block periodization suits first responders 5) Dealing with shift work in first responders and how to adjust training 6) The details of how block periodization can be implemented with firefighters 7) Different options for monitoring readiness in tactical populations and why work efficiency is the next step in evaluating tactical performance PEOPLE MENTIONED Travis Tripplet Paul Davis David Joyce