Anchorage, Alaska - The goal of the 911 Fitness Challenge is to help public responders lose weight. It’s not only for the health of the individual, but also for the health of the community.
Police officers and fire fighters weigh in on a bet to lose the most weight.
At a local fitness club, there was no fire, no emergency and no one was in trouble. But there was a bet going on involving the Anchorage Police Department vs. the Anchorage Fire Department.
“When Goodrich made the bet with me, I thought, you know, he’s a pussycat compared to (Megan Baldino),” said APD Chief Rob Heun.
So that bet began as soon as Heun stepped foot on a scale. But first there’s a matter of getting the scale just right. His weight show up as approximately 238 pounds.
“We want to send the message not only to our employees but to the city: get in shape,” Heun said.
Both the police and fire department are taking part in a program called the 911 Fitness Challenge, a 12-week program designed to help public responders lose weight.
The program is different from others because it measures both pounds of body fat and pounds of lean mass. The goal of the challenge is to lose the fat and gain the muscle.
“If any one member of the team loses any muscle mass at all the whole team is disqualified,” says 911 Fitness Challenge Alaska director Karen Patten.
The groups chose names to help make exercise more fun and at the same time build teamwork.
When the police department, dubbed the “Manly Muktuk Men,” finished weighing in, the fire department, called the “Cheetos Conquistadors,” stepped on the scale.
Chief Craig Goodrich weighs in at 211 pounds. In addition to the chief’s team, there are at least 55 teams taking part in the challenge around the state, with about 250 total competitors. A maximum of five people are allowed to compete on a team.
“Chief Heun and I got together and just had a brief discussion about what the value of this is, and how important it is to our crews and to our teams and the delivery of service we make to the community,” Goodrich said.
At the end of the weigh-ins, the Cheetos Conquistadors have an average body weight of 205 pounds for the five-man team, with 52 pounds of body fat and 153 pounds of lean mass.
As for the Manly Muktuk Men, the five men have an average of 275 pounds of body weight, with 91 pounds of body fat and 184 pounds of lean mass.
In the next 90 days, these two teams will change the way they exercise and the way they eat, knowing the weight they lose will also help the community gain. Both teams hope what they’re doing will inspire others to do the same. Registration proceeds benefit the Shriners Hospitals for Children.
The two teams will now begin a regimen of training in proper diet and exercise.