Josh Leutzinger

Background

Josh is a member of the Anchorage Fire Fighters Union, IAFF Local 1264, and currently serves as a Fire Fighter/EMT with the Anchorage Fire Department. He began his fire service career in 2002 on a hand crew fighting wildland fires in Alaska and transitioned to the Anchorage Fire Department in 2017. In addition to his front-line role, he wears many other hats in the department including being a Peer Fitness Trainer (PFT), a Wildland Firefighting Instructor, a member of the New Hire Cadre, State of Alaska CISM team member and the Chair of the Fitness Committee. He first became involved with the IAFF in 2020 when he became a certified PFT. Josh’s motivation to apply to become a member of the F2T instructor cadre is in part due to his own experiences while taking F2T 101: Fitness Principles and Practice to earn his PFT certificate. The instructors teaching his course were knowledgeable, patient and willing to spend time to educate him about the F2T Program. He walked away from the course wishing that he had taken it upon first entering the fire service close to two decades ago. As a new member of the instructor cadre Josh is looking forward to the opportunity to encourage fire fighters across North America to be active both physically and mentally to support the larger mission of creating a resilient workforce.

Activity Habits

Life outside the fire service for Josh is mostly focused on spending time with his family and being interested in way too many things; such as woodworking, reading, spending time outside, pursuing athletic and physical challenges, exploring and more! To stay active, he is involved in a variety of sports including Basketball, Skiing, Hiking, Running, Ultimate Frisbee and, from time to time, Rugby. Josh also enjoys strength training, mostly using a circuit style approach, and going for walks with his family. Being in close proximity to the mountains also gives him the ability to explore to seek out and breathe that fresh air! What motivates Josh to remain active is simply the phrase “movement is medicine”. He has accumulated a lot of hard miles on his body with very minimal complaints. He grew up with a very active lifestyle and as he ages his hope and desire is to maintain this way of life. If he stops his concern is he will be made aware very quickly of all those hard miles he has accumulated on his body over the years. What makes it challenging for Josh to be as active as he would like is simply identifying he needs balance in his life. If he had it his way he would be perpetually be in motion but this leaves out other key components of mental and physical health.

Perspectives on F2T and fire fighter wellness and fitness

In Josh’s opinion, the F2T Program is unique because of its specificity to the fire service. The delivery of the education of the program are tailor-made for a fire fighter’s schedule, and the demands of fire fighting have been extensively researched and integrated into the educational content. Further, another aspect of the program that is critically important from his perspective is that it addresses the whole person; not just their physical fitness. Lastly, although the program is built for fire fighters, the principles it teaches has the potential to teach a fire fighter’s family’s next generation, habits which can lead to a rock solid foundation for life.

For Josh, the value F2T provides for a fire fighter and/or department is the opportunity to have built in coaches (at all ranks of a department) to assist in establishing wellness and fitness related programs that can assist the membership in their pursuit of better overall health. Further, the organizational support provided by the F2T Program, can help departments grow and evolve their existing wellness-fitness program, to reduce barriers, and to make people aware that wellness-fitness, and the betterment of a fire fighters life, is a priority in the fire service. Josh would like every fire fighter and department to know that the people who are building this program not only believe in it, but they live it. It’s not just a hobby or a pay check but an earnest desire to spread this knowledge.