Fire Rescue Fitness (FRF) was created 18 years ago on Facebook to help firefighters along their physical fitness journey for a career that does more damage to your body than most occupations.
In 2025, FRF is a social media brand that helps anybody, still with a strong focus on firefighters, who wants to make themselves better. FRF reaches more than 200,000 people across all platforms.
The mind behind the social media page is Lt. Aaron Zamzow of the Madison, WI, Fire Department. Prior to joining the Golden Valley, MN, Fire Department (GVFD) in 2005, Zamzow was a personal trainer at Northwest Athletic Club, now known as Lifetime.
Zamzow went out on his own to start his own personal training company and built a good reputation by working with several professional athletes. The fire service didn’t cross his mind until he walked by a flier saying GVFD was hiring firefighters.
FRF didn’t exist until he was in the academy, and his peers were beating him out on a physical level. With his background, he was confused as to why it wasn’t transferring to the fireground. What ensued was him diving into more workouts that applied directly to the demands of being a firefighter.
"When I started to cater parts to first responders, it was really easy. I was just talking about my life, because at that time, I was struggling through the academy. So, this is a program that got me through the academy. Now I have a career, and trying to improve my skills, so here's a program that kind of does both. Then I went through weight gain, so I created a fat loss program," said Zamzow.
From there, Zamzow began to create workout programs for firefighters to help himself, and Zamzow notes that he has used every single program that he has created. It gained traction when people were asking about other programs for firefighters. For the first two years, Zamzow was giving away the program for free.
"I did all these videos with it, and I was giving it away. I didn't feel like I was making the impact that I wanted to. I went to Vegas for a weekend for a business conference and convention, and they spotlighted my business. They said I need to charge for it," said Zamzow. "I said it's for firefighters. We don't do that. They said it's not about money. It's about the value perception. I started charging $19 for my programs, and then I took that money and reinvested it back in advertising on Facebook."
At the time, there weren’t a lot of actual programs to help firefighters, so Zamzow dove headfirst into the niche market. It went from word of mouth between firefighters to virtual programs with videos.
It went from a single Facebook account to having a presence on YouTube, Instagram, and even Pinterest. The account has also shifted from a strictly physical program page to a more multi-faceted engine to help people better every part of themselves.
“I apologize to a lot of people, because at first, I just said all you got to do is work out. You must take a big step back, which is why I created the 40-day resilience challenge. You look at how gratitude really helps keep your mind right. It's not only physically working out but mentally working out. I think people need to know fitness is just one aspect of it, and all these other things combined can really help combat all the different health issues that we're facing," said Zamzow.
The 40-day resilience challenge comes with the FRF app upon purchase. According to Zamzow, over 7,000 people use the app and over 90,000 tons of weight has been lifted over the last four years from the people that have tracked their progress.
"The only obligation that I ask of people is to commit and let me know what they think. If they complete 40 days, I'll send them a special coin for free," said Zamzow.
Even when Zamzow isn’t doing work for FRF or his department, he still has the same mindset of getting better every day and spreading that information. He is currently on track to receive his MBA in Entrepreneurship in April. Zamzow also is on the Better Every Shift Podcast, through FireRescue1, which he just received an IAFF Media award for.
With the gained traction from FRF, Zamzow can spread his message on a national level being the Head of the Fitness and Nutrition Board for the First Responder Center for Excellence (FRCE). Zamzow wants to help contribute and be a part of what Chief Frank Leeb is building.
Juggling all these responsibilities, Zamzow has received help from someone at the backend of FRF for the last six years but also lives what he preaches by keeping systems in place, staying consistent, and improving every day.
Zamzow gazes into the future and sees himself ending up with a group of first responders and supporting a team to help develop their programs. Instead of recreating and building from the ground up, they join forces and build from there. He wants to build a big community that crosses the lines of the fitness world and the fire service world.
"There's some of the most creative and clever people in the fire service. I'd like to tap into some other people to help build the network and the mission through video,” said Zamzow.
Looking back on his tenure on social media, that is something that Zamzow wishes he produced a bit more. Giving your audience a physical example of what you are trying do can lead to more engagement.
"If I were to do it over, I would have done a little bit more video earlier on. Ideally, we'd have a team of 15-20 people that are all under the realm of FRF and have their own unique way of promoting the same mindset,” said Zamzow.
Ryan Baker
Ryan Baker is a writer and associate editor with prior experiences in online and print production. Ryan is an associate editor for T&D World and Firehouse, while he is going to graduate school in pursuit of a master's degree in sciences of communication at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He recently completed a year of teaching Intro to Public Speaking at UW-Whitewater, as part of his graduate program. Ryan acquired his bachelor's degree in journalism in 2023 from UW-Whitewater, and operates currently out of Minneapolis, MN. Baker, also writes freelances for the Ultimate Frisbee Association (UFA) in his free time, while also umpiring baseball for various ages across the Twin Cities Metro Area.
