Many wildland firefighters work 72-hour shifts, which include hiking over rugged terrain with a pack that can weigh up to 90 pounds, explains former wildland firefighter Katy Luetke, a certified strength and conditioning coach for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. And these firefighters need to be in shape nearly all year: Luetke says that while fire season in California used to last from June to October, it now runs from April through the end of December, thanks to drought conditions exacerbated by climate change.��“Your ability to endure a season is very much dependent on both your endurance��and your strength,” she explains. “The combination of those two factors is work capacity.”

The Workout

Luetke keeps her team fit for duty with moves like the ones below. She suggests starting with a ten-minute warm-up (she likes Turkish get-ups), followed by stretching. Cycle through the entire sequence three times, resting only as needed. You’ll need a moderate weight, a heavy weight, a pull-up bar, a rope, and a sandbag—feel free to improvise, though, using whatever household items you have. Luetke recommends completing the workout two to four times a week.

The Moves

Reverse Goblet Lunges

What it does: Targets the lower body and core

How to do it: Using both hands, hold a medium-weight kettlebell (or dumbbell, cinder block, or whatever you have) to your chest. Stand with your feet hip-width apart, parallel to one another.

Engaging your core, take a big step back with your right foot, bending your right knee. At the same time, bend your left knee to about 90 degrees, making sure it doesn’t go past your left toes. At the bottom of the movement your right knee should graze the floor. Engage your left glute to stand, stepping your right foot forward to return to your starting stance. Alternate sides for a total of 16 reps.

Make it easier by using bodyweight, or increase the intensity by adding more weight.

Push-Ups

What it does: Develops the chest, shoulders, triceps, core, and shoulder stabilizers

How to do it: Start by getting on all fours on the floor. Keep your wrists directly under your shoulders to make the move more challenging, or take a wider stance to make it easier. Extend your legs so that your knees are straight and your weight is distributed through your palms and your toes.

Retract your shoulders, engage your core, and bend your elbows to bring your chest down to the point where it grazes the floor. Straighten your elbows to return to the starting position. Maintain a neutral neck position throughout. Perform ten to 25 reps.

Need to dial down the intensity? Rest your weight on your knees instead of your toes. To make it harder, set a weight plate on your back or wear a weighted vest or backpack with something substantial inside. To avoid injury, progress gradually. Start with five pounds; once you can complete the higher end of the rep range with good form, increase the weight by another five or so pounds.

Pull-Ups

What it does: Strengthens the back, arms, and shoulders

How to do it: Start under the pull-up bar with your arms fully extended overhead. Grip the bar with your hands about shoulder-width apart using an overhand grip (palms facing away from you). If you’re still mastering the move, Luetke suggests starting with a mixed grip; use an overhand grip in one hand and an underhand grip (palms facing you) in the other. If you need to modify it further, use an underhand grip and do chin-ups instead—a chin-up involves the same exact movements as a pull-up; the only difference is your grip, which makes it easier.

For both chin-ups and pull-ups, retract your shoulders, engage your core, and bend your elbows to about 90 degrees, bringing your chin above the bar. To come down, extend your elbows slowly and with control back to the starting position. Complete as many reps as possible with good form.

To make it easier, use a super band (a thick looped band with a rectangular profile) for assistance, start with a jump, or do reverse rows (aka bodyweight rows) if you have access to a squat rack and a barbell or a TRX suspension trainer.

Sandbag Rope Pull

What it does: Works the back, shoulders, traps, and biceps

How to do it: Tie one end of a rope to a sandbag—this could be a duffel bag filled with sand, heavy books, rocks, bricks, or whatever you have. With the other end in your hands, unfurl the rope to its full length and sit on the floor with the bag in front of you. Bend your knees and plant your feet on the floor slightly wider than hip-width apart. Engage your core and lean back slightly.

With your palms facing one another, grasp the rope in each hand. With your right arm fully extended, reach down between your knees. Meanwhile, bend your left elbow so your left hand is holding the rope by your right armpit. As you bend your right arm to pull the sandbag toward you, release your left hand, straighten your left arm, grasp the rope between your legs, and pull. Continue until the sandbag is at your feet. Perform two rope pulls.

Uneven Loaded Farmer Carry

What it does: Targets the core, lower body, back, biceps, triceps, forearms, and hand muscles

How to do it: To start, deadlift a moderate to heavy weight into each hand from the floor, so that you’re holding them at your sides with your elbows fully extended. A dumbbell, kettlebell, or even a loaded duffel bag or suitcase will work.

To do a deadlift, stand with your feet about hip-width apart. Keeping your back flat and your chest up, slightly bend your knees and hinge forward from your hips while reaching down to grasp your weights, keeping your elbows extended. Thrust your hips forward to come back to a standing position with arms by your sides, keeping your core engaged throughout.

Luetke suggests using weights that are within 30 percent to 50 percent of each other’s weight, such as a 25-pounder and a 40-pounder.

At the top of the deadlift, hold your arms fully extended by your sides and walk at a comfortable pace with a weight in each hand for 30 seconds. Then set your weights down on the floor, switch hands, and deadlift them back up from the floor and walk for 30 more seconds, for a total of one minute. (Don’t worry about how far you can walk during that minute.)

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Lightweight, affordable, and compact, resistance bands make it easy for almost anyone to get a full-body workout at home. That’s why they’re a staple for Seth Keena-Levin, an alpinist and coach with the training platform . You can work in any plane of motion and make precise tension adjustments, so they’re great for mimicking the demands of outdoor activities. To boost performance and prevent injury, Keena-Levin suggests running through this beginner-friendly workout two or three times a week. Cycle through the entire sequence three to five times, with a one- to two-minute rest between each circuit. You will need a mini band (small, with a flat profile) and a heavy-duty band (longer and thicker).

Lateral Leg Extension

Why: Works the glutes, which promotes knee stability and prevents common overuse injuries.

How: Loop a mini band around your legs just below the knees. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, with light tension on the band. Kick one leg back diagonally as high as you can in a slow and controlled motion, keeping your knee extended and your ankle and toes flexed. To add intensity, move the band to your ankles. Perform 10 to 15 reps with each leg.

Alternating Y’s

Why: Develops scapular (shoulder bone) stability, which helps prevent shoulder and elbow injuries.

How: With your feet shoulder width apart, gently engage your glutes and core, and pull your shoulders back and down. Grasp one end of a heavy-duty band in your right hand and bend at the elbow to bring it to your right hip. Hold the other end in your left hand and raise your arm up and out to the side, until your biceps is by your ear. Complete 10 to 15 reps, then repeat with the right arm.

Door Openers

Why: Develops grip strength and wrist and shoulder stability.

How: With your arms by your sides and your elbows at 90 degrees, hold one end of a mini or heavy-duty band in each hand, palms down. With light tension in the band, turn your palms up, then down. After 8 to 12 reps, flip your grip and perform the same motion in the opposite direction. This will work your muscles both eccentrically and concentrically.

Forward Lunge with Knee Drive

Why: Targets your posterior chain and hip flexors, and mimics sustained uphill movement.

How: Secure a heavy-duty band to the leg of a couch and loop it around your hips. Maintain a forward lean through your upper body and step your right leg forward into a lunge, knee bent 90 degrees. While straightening your right leg to a standing position, kick your left knee up toward your chest. Step your left leg back to return to a lunge before returning to the starting stance. Do 15 to 20 reps per leg.

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Last��Thursday, Altra Running����its sponsorship of two pregnant runners, Alysia Montaño��and . Montaño��is a U.S. national champion and an Olympian in the 800 meters, and Muir is a 2:36 British��marathoner and host of the podcast . In an industry that has historically penalized women��for having children, this new move by Altra��is setting a new standard.��

“Altra signing two pregnant women is a huge step for recognizing the strength, perseverance, and determination of women,” says Tricia Vieth,��manager of Runners Roost in Boulder, Colorado,��and a mother herself.��The package Altra is offering Montaño, 33, and Muir, 31, includes financial compensation and shoes in exchange for press appearances. It is, unlike other contracts, noncontingent on��how��often they compete or reach the podium.��

Even before she had her first child��in 2014, Montaño was thinking about her future as both a mother and an athlete. After learning��that her then sponsor, Nike, would pause her contract if she became pregnant and stop paying her until she returned to competition, she left��the brand. Montaño soon earned a reputation as “” when��she ran the��800 meters��at the 2014 USA Outdoor��Track and Field Championships��while . Her sponsor at the time,��Asics, reduced her pay that same year based on her performance during her pregnancy before completely ��financial support. Although she sustained��—a common condition in which abdominal muscles become��separated by the growing uterus—during that��first pregnancy, Montaño��soon returned to the track after giving birth to her daughter, ��national championships at six and ten months postpartum. Two weeks after her daughter’s first birthday, she the 800 meters��in the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing, breast milk��and shipping it��home during her downtime. In June 2017, pregnant for the second time, Montaño��toed the line at the national championships unattached.��

Last May,��Montaño��and fellow Olympian Kara Goucher��became the public faces of the difficulties pregnant runners often experience with their sponsors. In an����for The��New York Times, they��violated their Nike nondisclosure agreements��to write about the company’s lack of maternity protection. Shortly thereafter, former Nike track athlete and Olympic medalist wrote her own��op-ed, also for the Times, about the crushing pressure she experienced��from Nike to train through a��high-risk pregnancy and immediately following an emergency C-section. Soon after, Montaño launched ,��a social-media and campaign��supporting working mothers. She hopes to eventually turn��the effort��into a nonprofit foundation that can��advise both athletes and nonathletes with compensation concerns during their pregnancies.

Muir is probably most well-known for her podcast and her decision in 2017 to walk away from an��elite marathon-running career��due to her struggle with medical malnutrition. Soon after, she wrote a about her eating disorder and the loss of her period��for nine years. In her podcast,��she interviews members of the running community about their training routines, race strategies, and more. To date, it��has��been downloaded over two million times.

According to Montaño, the idea of signing a shoe contract while 37 weeks pregnant with her third child would have been inconceivable��a year ago. Even��with a long list of previous accomplishments, she says the Altra sponsorship is the highlight of her career. Muir, who is 22 weeks pregnant with her second child, says she was��just as surprised��as Montaño to be approached by��a shoe company with a sponsorship. She feels that the outcome��is a direct result of Montaño, Goucher, and Felix risking their reputations to talk about the way Nike and other companies treated their pregnancies like injuries. “This is showing their fights are worthwhile,” Muir says.��

While Altra’s move is surprising, it fits into a larger recent��shift��of companies signing athletes for their stories, not just their performance.��Shanna Burnette, an Altra brand-communications manager,��told ���ϳԹ�����that Altra wants to help Montaño and Muir any way it��can,��whether that means supporting them as runners or as advocates.��This new category of sponsorship��has been greatly��helped along by social media—more and more, fans aren’t necessarily following elite runners on Instagram or Twitter for their times. When I started following Montaño’s Instagram feed in 2014, for example, I didn’t know whether she raced in ultras or on the track. All I knew was,��like me, she’d just had a baby, was dealing with a diastasis recti, and was trying to figure out how to manage motherhood and running. Muir explains that when elite runners share their pregnancy struggles,��“it makes people feel like, Oh, I’m not the only one. That puts the elite runners��back on the level with everyone else, which I personally think is more inspiring than seeing someone run fast.”��

Montaño agrees. “The more human we can be, the more relatable we can be,” she says, adding that��she’s��much more than her personal record. “I love running fast, of course,” she explains with a laugh. “But��my purpose is greater than how fast I can run.”��

Montaño hopes that being open about the issues mothers face, both within and outside the world of sports, will help��companies understand these problems and work toward��solutions like robust maternity policies. Montaño says that many have reacted to the Dream Maternity campaign with surprise, having had no idea what kind of challenges women athletes face��when it comes to pregnancy and motherhood. It’s one reason she intends to keep spreading the word: “Why wouldn’t we champion a human for their whole humanness, even if it entails pregnancy and motherhood and beyond?”

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