Greg Wood

Background

Greg is a member of Fairfax County Professional Fire Fighters & Paramedics IAFF Local 2068, and currently serves as a Lieutenant with Fairfax Country Fire and Rescue. He has been with his department since 2008. In addition to his regular operational duties he is also the discipline lead for the Heavy Equipment and Rigging section for his departments USAR team. Greg has deployed numerous times with his departments USAR team both internationally (Turkey, Haiti, Nepal, Bahamas) and state-side (Louisiana, Florida, New York/New Jersey, South Carolina) in response to natural disasters and humanitarian crises.

Greg became a PFT in 2015 and joined the IAFF instructor cadre in the same year. However, he has been informally working as a PFT in his department since coming on the job; in fact, starting in recruit school where he would run movement preparation sessions to prepare himself and his fellow students for daily training activities. In Greg’s official capacity as a PFT he has travelled to numerous departments across the United States and Canada instructing courses. The thing he finds most rewarding about being an instructor is the network of friends he has created among fire fighters he has taught and his fellow instructors. Being an instructor has also afforded Greg opportunities for continuing education because he is continually being exposed to different environments, people, ideas and challenges. As a result, he has become a more skilled instructor and experienced significant personal growth.

Activity Habits

Outside of work life for Greg is very busy. He and his wife have 2 teenage daughters who are both actively involved in athletic and academic pursuits. Although every member of Greg’s family is very physical active in their own right, they love being active together; especially in the outdoors. The Woods’ especially love mountain biking, hiking, and camping. To date they have visited 28/32 state parks in the state of Virginia. Personally, Greg has been powerlifting since he was a teenager and still maintains a relatively high intensity in his resistance training. Over time his training has evolved slightly in response to changing work and life demands to include more aerobic-based activities and high intensity interval type training with different movement modalities.

Greg’s motivation to be active comes from his family, who is the spark to his life. Being at his best physically and mentally allows him to honor and support them through his work on and off the job. As a life-long athlete (Greg played Football in college), exercise has always been a part of his life and remains to this day something that he feels is integral to his identity.

Perspectives on F2T and fire fighter wellness and fitness

In Greg’s opinion, the F2T program is unique because it considers how a fire fighter’s physical activity and exercise behaviors can impact all aspects of their life; not just their physical fitness. The program is designed to be applied at the individual level. As a result, the individual fire fighter is permitted to define what aspects of work, life, and play are most important to them and then engage in the program resources that support those goals. He believes that the program can have a significant impact in improving the lives of fire fighters during their careers and into retirement.

The word Greg would use to describe the value of the F2T program for fire fighters is life-changing. He wants all fire fighters to know that the program is designed to accommodate all members, independent of their current health status, exercise experience and/or fitness level. He would advise fire fighters thinking about investing in their wellness and fitness to reach out to a PFT in their department, or if their department doesn’t have any PFTs, to the large F2T community for help in getting started. Program ambassadors are always willing to help.