Hammer Strength Standard: Tammey Morris Doesn't Back Down From a Challenge

There are notable athletes, some professional and some not, who excel in the face of adversity. They simply do things differently and aren’t satisfied with just being good enough. These standouts raise the bar and live their lives to a higher standard. Similarly, Hammer Strength isn’t content being ordinary. Our equipment is constructed to be better than the rest, and just like these athletes we’re highlighting, Hammer Strength is built to a higher standard. See all of the athletes we've featured who live life to a higher standard. 

For Tammey Morris, fitness is a life or death choice.

At age 14, Morris ended up in an induced coma – caused by asthma – for two weeks. When she came out she had to learn to eat, walk and talk all over again.

“I was on a lot of medications, had a lot of physical obstacles, and when I was 18 I joined a gym,” Morris said. “I would go two, three times a day [and] I was able to wean myself off [of the] medications and I just became stronger and stronger.”

From there Morris went on to college and became a paramedic, which led her to the fire academy where she fell in love with her future career – firefighting.

“[It’s] actually kind of comical that I’m a fireman” Morris explained. “My doctors weren’t too crazy about me becoming a fireman. So, it came down to my parents actually being like, we rather you go do what you want to do and live life, and enjoy it, than to be contained in a bubble and not be happy.”

Morris has spent her entire career as a firefighter, working tirelessly to not only hit the expected standard, but to keep going above and beyond it.

“I've always wanted to be the girl that tried,” she explained. “If I just sit back and never do anything or try anything, I think that makes you a failure.”

Morris’ desire to push beyond the standard truly showed when her police department was looking for new SWAT team members roughly five years ago.

“I really just wanted to see if I could pass their physical agility test, and I did, along with the interview, and the psychological evaluation they had to go through. So, for the last five years I’ve been on a police department SWAT team as their tactical medic,” Morris said.

Having the mindset that she can always do whatever she needs to do in order to get a job done is something Morris attributes to fitness, and something she relies on in order to maintain a successful career.

“I have to be able to perform in all kinds of environments, and that means pushing your body farther than the norm. You have to know what it's like to never quit. I can't go into a fire and it hurt, or it suck, or I can't breathe, or I'm sweating, or my heart rate's up, or I feel like I'm going to pass out, and then just say okay, I'm going to walk out now. I can't,” Morris stated. “I have a job to do and I have to perform that job. You have to be strong enough to be able to perform, because people's lives are at stake”