Officer's Playbook

Firehouse Crew Workouts: A Captain's Playbook for Leading Squad PT

A 45-minute firehouse crew workout template you can run on shift with the equipment you already have — and the accountability system that keeps the whole squad showing up.

Individual firefighter workouts are easy to find. The hard part is running one for a crew of 3-6 with a shared bay, mixed fitness levels, one set of dumbbells, and a radio that can go off at any second. This guide is written for the captain, lieutenant, or senior firefighter who has to make squad PT actually happen.

The three problems officers actually face

Mixed capacity. The 22-year-old probie and the 52-year-old captain need the same session to work for both.
Interruptions. A call can wipe out any block. The workout has to survive being cut in half.
Attendance drift. Without accountability, crew workouts turn into "whoever felt like it today."

The template below solves all three. Every block has scaling in the movement itself, the whole session is modular so any block stands alone, and the scoring is team-based so the crew polices itself.

Equipment: what you actually need

1-2 kettlebells or dumbbells — 35-70 lb covers most crews
A sledge + old tire — Free from any tire shop
A box, bench, or bumper — For step-ups — 20-24 inches
A sandbag, hose bundle, or backpack — 50-80 lb for carries
One resistance band — Rows, pull-aparts, warm-up

If your house has more, great — swap in a sled, rower, or ski erg wherever a carry or engine movement appears. If it has less, the at-home column of the 7-day firefighter workout plan covers the same movements with a backpack and a box.

The 45-minute crew workout

Block 1 — Warm-Up & Buy-In (8 min)

0:00 – 0:08

• 2 min easy jog or jumping jacks in the bay
• 1 round: 10 air squats, 10 push-ups, 10 band pull-aparts
• Officer briefs the workout, scales, and the 'no-tap-out' rule
• Everyone calls out their scale (Rx / moderate / recovery)

Officer's note: The warm-up is where crew buy-in happens. If the officer skips it, the crew skips the workout. Call the scales out loud so nobody hides in the back.

Block 2 — Strength Superset (15 min)

0:08 – 0:23

• Partner up — one works, one holds pace
• A1: Goblet squat with dumbbell or kettlebell — 5 x 8
• A2: Push-up (feet elevated to scale up) — 5 x 8-15
• Rest 60-90s between rounds
• If crew is 3+, run it as a rotation: squat / push-up / band row

Officer's note: Match partners by capacity, not rank. A rookie holding a probie accountable is fine; a captain grinding alone in the corner is not.

Block 3 — Squad Engine Circuit (15 min)

0:23 – 0:38

• AMRAP 15 min, in teams of 2-4, split reps however:
• 40 kettlebell swings (or sandbag good-mornings)
• 30 step-ups (24" box, apparatus bumper, or bench)
• 20 sledge strikes on tire (or slam-ball equivalent)
• 200m carry (sandbag, hose bundle, or heavy backpack)
• Score = total rounds completed by the crew

Officer's note: Team scoring is the accountability trick — nobody sandbags when the score is shared. Post the score on the whiteboard and beat it next shift.

Block 4 — Recovery & Debrief (7 min)

0:38 – 0:45

• 5 min walk in the bay or slow spin on the bike
• Hip flexor + t-spine mobility flow (2 min)
• Officer logs the score + who trained in the crew notebook
• Rehydrate — 16-24 oz water + electrolytes before returning to duty

Officer's note: The debrief is where accountability lives. If a member missed today, the officer notes why and pulls them in next shift. That's how a crew trains at 90% attendance instead of 40%.

Running it on shift: three rules

Same time every shift. "After breakfast" or "before dinner" — pick one and hold it. Crews train on schedule, not on vibe.
Officer trains too. Rank does not exempt anyone from PT. If the captain scales, the probie is allowed to scale — that's the whole point.
Score it and log it. Whiteboard the team score, the date, and who trained. Next shift's crew tries to beat it.

How DutyReady 365 handles crew accountability

This template works on paper — but a whiteboard only survives until it gets erased. Inside DutyReady 365, the Squad and Friends features let a captain build the crew as a private group, share the day's workout, and see who checked in. Missed sessions show up on the officer's dashboard instead of disappearing.

Combined with the Firefighter Fit track — a full 365-day program of firefighter workouts, meal plans, hydration, and recovery — a crew can run squad PT with real programming instead of reinventing it every shift.

See the Firefighter Fit program →

Built by first responders. Train the crew, protect the crew.