Hey guys,

I"m actually quite small for a person trying to enter the firefighting career. I"m 5'9 at a consistent 145lbs. I've been working out pretty regularly now that it's summer and I just need you to help me on what I should be traning on. I could bench press 210lbs and squat 380 lbs my max and lately i've been running 4 miles atleast 2 times a week to build endurance..lung capacity and etc. It's actually quite slow..it takes me about 40 mins..so about a 10 minute pace on each mile.

I've read on the other threads that I should work on my 2 mile times..so you think I should cut down the 4 miles to 2? Or should i go on with what i'm doing? I'm going start doing the 20,30, and 40 yard sprints soon..and i'm going to move to SFSU in about a month so hopefully they have a stadium of stairs that I could practice on.

The other issue i'm concerned about is that I know i'm pretty small for a person who is trying to enter the firefighting career. People have been telling me that I should take protein supplements if I want to gain some more strength. But i've done without it for 2 years and I have gained a lot of strength without any supplements. What do you guys think? I'm willing to start using supplements but I just wanted your opinion on it first.

Thanks guys.