Long time Arena member Scott Harris discusses his journey with our strength & conditioning program and how it has helped him with his career as a firefighter and as an outrigger athlete. Our well rounded strength and conditioning program will not only help you improve in combat sports but every day life!
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
Scott Harris:
I’m a member of the San Diego Outrigger Canoe Club. I got into it in my first Fire Academy. I had one of my academy members talk about a team sport that was all about going out, training hard, doing something fun on the ocean. I thought I’d really like it. So I went to the first practice and was instantly hooked.
Races include a six man and a nine man, and there’re various miles. Also, we have a one person canoe. That’s basically you and the sea and the paddle, just as hard as you can, as fast as you can the whole time. Just got to give it your all.
So I started here back in November of 2012. They said that they had a strength and conditioning class. Basically, became hooked on the class. It transitions very well into my job. I am a firefighter here in the county of San Diego.
I started off as a paramedic, went through a 12 week academy. Monday through Friday, 5:00 AM till 5:00 PM. PT in the morning, manipulative drills all day, just being mentally tough, physically tough as well, getting through those shifts. Firefighters are very prone to back, knee, shoulder injuries. A lot of the stuff we do with the kettlebells and the conditioning we do here prevents that from happening by strengthening those little muscles we don’t use every day.
Also translates to outrigging because when you’re out in the outrigger, you are using all your core, all those little muscles. And it’s endurance, you’re keeping it cadence the whole time. People come in here from anywhere off the street, to ex-Navy Seals, professional fighters, anywhere in between. I like to try to keep up with everybody. It’s a new challenge every day.
