How movement became a lifeline for one firefighter – and a wake-up call for us all

Early in my career, I was asked to help a firefighter who was struggling – deeply. He had just lost his eight-year-old son and was suffering through the kind of pain most of us hope we never have to imagine. This wasn’t someone new to trauma. He was a 20-year combat medic who had seen and survived a lifetime’s worth of tragedy. But when we met, he was unraveling. As he told me, “You know, coach, you sit in the hot zones and think about losing your loved ones and try and prepare for it, but there is nothing you can do.”

My heart broke. I didn’t have the right words, the credentials, or the experience to say I understood. But I did want to help. I told him, honestly, “I have no idea what you’re going through, but maybe exercise could help.”

That was the beginning.

Stress, Cortisol and the Grip Test

I approached his training the way I would treat medicine: carefully, intentionally, and grounded in what his body – and mind – could handle. I knew he was under enormous emotional strain, so I needed a way to measure his nervous system and recovery before prescribing anything. The tool? A simple hand dynamometer. Grip strength is a surprisingly effective marker of sleep quality and nervous system recovery. If the body is stressed and sleep is poor, grip strength tends to be weak. When recovery improves, grip strength rises, too.

Each morning, he’d squeeze the hand dyno and that would tell us how far we could go. If the grip was light, we’d keep it simple – some biceps and triceps work, and a lot of conversation. If the grip was strong, I’d ask, “What do you feel like doing?” More often than not, we’d head out for a light run and talk. That was the goal all along: reduce cortisol, move the body, and create a small sense of forward momentum. A rhythm. A reason….