Wearing about 55 pounds of gear, the Franklin firefighters prepared for a grueling series of exercises to test their endurance.
They climbed steps and crawled through claustrophobia-inducing tunnels. To show off their agility, they needed to weave through cones and bend down to pick up items while they ran.
Putting out blazes while carrying all of their gear requires firefighters to be in top physical condition. But about five months ago, one group of Franklin firefighters felt they weren’t as fit as they could be.
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“Sheer strength is a great thing in this job. But if you don’t have cardio, that muscle means nothing,” said Ryan Piecefield, a member of Franklin Fire Department’s Engine B shift at Station 21. “In this line of work, it’s how long you can last, endurance.”
The group of five Franklin fire personnel, under the name Lochry Life Savers, decided to take part in a health challenge offered through the Partnership for a Healthier Johnson County, a collaborate community health initiative. Twelve weeks later, they had lost the most significant amount of any in the challenge, losing 10.5 percent of their starting body weight.
For the dedication to the HealthyWage competition, the Lochry Life Savers won $585 to split between them. Most importantly, they established lifestyle habits that will not only improve their health but make them better at their jobs.
“Physical fitness is an important part of our job,” said Randy Cox, a firefighter and member of Lochry Life Savers. “We wanted to improve our fitness so we could do our job.”
Partnership for a Healthier Johnson County has offered fitness challenges to people for many years. Through its wellness team, the competitions provide motivation to get people eating better, exercising more and focused on making healthy lifestyle changes, said Ryan Skora, co-chairman of the wellness action team.
For the first time this year, the wellness team partnered with HealthyWage. The company uses cash incentives to help people lose weight.
Participants paid an initial fee to sign up for the challenge. By meeting certain goals, they could win money. The teams with the top results won larger cash prizes. Anyone who maintained their weight loss got their entry fees back, said Eileen Williams, a member of the wellness action team.
The team that dropped the highest percentage of body weight among all HealthyWage participants during any one competition could get $10,000.
Working with the company allowed Partnership for a Healthier Johnson County to focus more on marketing the competition and signing people up, while HealthyWage took care of tracking the weight loss among participants.
“They take care of all of the administrative aspects, and all we have to do is promote it,” Williams said. “What I like about it is, it’s not just something you did for a short period of time, then it’s done and over. If you maintain your weight loss, you get your money back.”
The Slim to Win team challenge started in January with 45 total participants in Johnson County. Fifteen teams formed among co-workers at the City of Franklin, including the fire and police departments as well as Franklin Community Schools Corp.
Five members of Franklin Station 21’s Engine B shift collectively felt that it was time to get healthier. So Piercefield, Cox, Tory Routier, Travis Ramey and Cole McKnight all signed up together.
Some of them wanted to lose a significant amount of weight, while others just wanted to recapture some of the fitness they had once had.
The unique lifestyle and scheduling of firefighters made a collective fitness goal much more feasible, but also forced the group to be committed for the times they were away from work.
“You’re here for 24 hours, and you can police each other really well,” Piercefield said. “But then when you broke away and went home, you really had be on your own. It was more of a lifestyle change in terms of the eating and self-discipline.”
They named themselves the Lochry Life Savers, since the fire station is in the Lochry neighborhood in Franklin.
To help them prepare, they brought in Dr. Dallas Peak, an emergency room doctor with Indiana University Health, to provide information on wellness and diet. His recommendations on what to eat to stay energized but still lose weight convinced the group to adapt a Paleo-centered diet focused on grass-fed meat, seafood, fresh fruits and veggies, eggs, healthy oils and nuts.
“The nice thing about the Paleo is that it’s not really a diet so much as it’s a lifestyle change. So we’ve continued to stick with that, even after the challenge has ended,” Cox said.
The group would go for miles-long runs and do 30 minutes or more on the stair-climber. Station 21 has a gymnasium, so the firefighters did strength training — bench press, curls, shoulder press and squats, among other exercises — to supplement the cardio.
At the station, the participants leaned on each other for accountability to their weight-loss goals. Good-natured teasing and ribbing helped keep the entire team on track.
“It doesn’t happen overnight. You don’t gain 50 pounds overnight, and you don’t lose 50 pounds overnight,” Piercefield said. “It’s easy to say, ‘It didn’t work, I didn’t lose the weight.’ But persistence is the key.”
The Slim to Win challenge lasted until April 20. Participants in Johnson County lost a total of 611.5 pounds, which was a collective loss of 7 percent. Out of 14 different entities and companies that took part in the HealthyWage competition throughout the country, the Partnership for a Healthier Johnson County teams lost the second-most weight.
Two of the Lochry Life Saver’s members, Ramey and McKnight, lost the most weight of anyone taking part in the competition through Partnership for a Healthier Johnson County. Ramey lost 14 percent of his previous body weight, while McKnight lost 15.3 percent of his previous weight.
The team also was presented a check from HealthWage for $585 on May 7.
“It’s outstanding to see that these guys can work together as a team and stay dedicated to meet their goal to lose weight,” said Mike Griggs, division chief of operations for the Franklin Fire Department. “Hopefully, it’s something they carry on over the course of their career, and share it with the firefighters on their shift and the other two shifts, promoting eating healthy and losing weight.”
Excitement was high among the firefighters and the other participants following this initial competition, Skora said. Partnership for a Healthier Johnson County is already planning its next challenge.
“It’s sunny out, time to get outside, and now’s a good time to be active,” Skora said.
This one will be a step competition. People will track the steps they take each day, with a goal of increasing the average number of steps they take by 25 percent over two months.
As with the Slim to Win challenge, this one will also have cash prizes for the top finishers, Williams said.
“It’s just getting out there and moving. Not everyone needs to lose weight, but everyone could be more active,” she said. “This challenge is more get out there, move and be active.”
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HealthWage Step Challenge
What is it?
A 60-day activity challenge where participants aim to increase their average step to win a share of a collected pot of money.
How does it work?
- Gather your coworkers, friends, and family together and join the step challenge. This is an individual challenge; teams are just for fun, with two to six participants per team.
- Connect your step tracker when you register or enter your steps manually using a non-supported device.
- Get active on HealthyWage’s dashboard and mobile app to chat with your fellow walkers and track your personal stats.
- Participants earn a share of the pot if you increase your average individual steps by 25 percent or more
How long does it last?
The challenge starts on June 29 and ends Aug. 27.
For more information or to sign up: http://www.healthywage.com/steps/phjc
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