Done A Fireman's Carry
November 22, 2011 Filed in: CrossFit
"Firemen can do almost everything. You already trust them in life-threatening situations; why not let them help you with your everyday problems, too?"
--David Hunt
A fireman's carry is a way of moving a person's body without assistance by placing them over the shoulders. It was used by firefighters to carry people from fires, but because rising smoke and heat could be fatal to a person being moved, this method is no longer used. However, soldiers still use it to carry wounded comrades.
A few weeks ago, I decided I wanted to try this. With his permission, I asked Jeremiah if it would be okay for me to carry him. I figured I could move fastest carrying the lightest of the guys I work out with (~120 pounds).
As a warmup to today's workout, we went out to Crissy Field, and we took turns carrying each other. I started with Jeremiah. I picked him up and positioned him over my shoulders.
After I was happy with the position, I started to move into a steady run.
My goal was to get to that yellow fire hydrant in the distance. On the way back, I let Jeremiah down because when I was running, every step I took, my shoulders kept hitting him. For him, it was like getting punched in the chest a bunch of times in a row.
My friend Siyu ended up carrying me a good distance, which was really awesome because I'm the heaviest one out of all of us.
Here's the video of me carrying Jeremiah and then Siyu carrying me:
In hindsight, I kind of wished we'd started on the ground, so we could pick each other up. Although this might have been cool, it was definitely difficult enough as it was. This is a very good training tool. Carrying a weight this heavy over a distance is a very gratifying feeling, but also it's reassuring to know that I'm equipped to handle a situation in which there is a reason to move a person. I liked that we did something as a group and that we were all able to do it. I'm definitely going to do this again. It was both difficult and fun, and I'd totally recommend other people try it. If you aren't comfortable with the weight of an adult, try getting comfortable with a 50 pound sandbag first and work your way up.
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