Boosting Pilot Well-Being with Personal B.A.S.E. and Firstbeat Life

In the high-stakes world of air rescue, maintaining peak physical and mental performance is critical. Gerhard Moser has developed a unique approach to helping his clients achieve optimal health and performance using his B.A.S.E method.

By utilizing Firstbeat Life as one of his coaching tools, Gerhard has been able to make data-driven decisions to advise his clients on how to make positive lifestyle changes and sustainable high performance.

Gerhard Moser’s Coaching Journey

Gerhard’s journey into health and performance coaching is rooted in his early experiences with endurance sports and his scientific background. “I started in my early 20s looking at endurance sports for myself to stay healthy,” he recalls. During his quest to improve his own health and performance, Gerhard turned to nutrition, breathing techniques, and other health strategies to improve his well-being. This holistic and science-based approach eventually led him to develop the B.A.S.E coaching method, focusing on exercise, mindfulness, sleep, and nutrition.

Gerhard’s clientele ranges from endurance athletes to high-performance professionals, and more recently, he has been working with air rescue pilots in Austria. Gerhard’s unique coaching proposition lies in his ability to “link the dots together in the big picture,” integrating various health aspects to enhance overall performance.

He says, “Everything is linked together. If you look at your stress response in your body and how it’s linked to your immune system, you have to look at going for a walk and how to use nature to activate your immune system – it’s all linked together. Gut health is linked to your brain, and what you eat is directly linked to your emotional health.”

Why Gerhard Chose Firstbeat Life

Gerhard was looking for a reliable, non-invasive way to monitor and improve his clients’ health, and taking a fact-driven approach was crucial. This eventually led him to Firstbeat Life, a tool for professional coaches that provides comprehensive Heart Rate Variability (HRV) data. The data provides coaches with near lab-accurate insights into their clients’ stress, recovery, sleep, fitness, and physical activity.

Gerhard explains, “I was searching for a global health analysis that would work remotely, regardless of physical location.” I started observing the market and was looking for something longer than a 24-hour analysis. 48 or 72 hours is much better because of the biorhythm and all those shifts. I want to be able to look at your analytics and know which scores are related to which data.

HRV-based Firstbeat Life fell into place because it supports a fact-driven approach and there is no black box. If I change something in someone’s life, I have to know the impact and whether we are on the right track.”

Firstbeat Life data helps Gerhard demonstrate to his clients the immediate impact that small lifestyle changes can have, such as improved nutrition or stress management techniques.

Working with Air Rescue Pilots

When it comes to working with clients, Gerhard doesn’t believe in a standardized program, but rather an individualized approach, ideally on a long-term basis. He explains:

“I love working with my clients on a long-term basis because then you have long-term results. You have to work together over a longer period to gain this sustained change in a single person and in their organization because you have to change the business culture most of the time too.

I have no standard program, every time it’s an individualized solution, and every time you do it the solution is different.

The air rescue pilots are very special. They are not like other organizations because you cannot bring these people together in one place, ten times a year. They sit at each heliport, which is nearly 30, all over Austria. You cannot say one day that there are no emergency rescues needed, so bringing them together is very complicated.”

Air rescue pilots operate under extreme conditions and face rigorous medical examinations. Any medical issue can ground them, jeopardizing their careers. “The staff have to go to the doctor once a year, and rescue pilots have to go twice a year. If anything shows up in the medical, you sit on the ground and can lose your license,” Gerhard explains. This high-stakes environment makes it essential to adopt a proactive approach to health and performance.

Implementing Firstbeat Life with Air Rescue Pilots

To date, Gerhard has worked with approximately 60 out of 80 Austrian air rescue pilots. His program includes regular Firstbeat Life measurements, usually four times a year, personalized physical training plans, and continuous support through video content and newsletters. Pilots undergo four measurements over six months, complemented by one-on-one consultations to interpret the data and plan the next steps.

“Firstbeat Life, based on HRV analysis, is that perfect tool for lifestyle monitoring,” Gerhard states. The data-driven insights allow him to tailor interventions to each pilot’s unique needs, ensuring that even minor adjustments, like taking a walk or practicing breathing techniques, can have a measurable impact.

“We focus on the basics, like finding moments of recovery when on the ground and develop stress management techniques to ensure the pilots can perform at their best when on a mission.

For instance, I often check if there’s recovery during the day as these moments also influence the night time recovery. We are improving resilience and stress management in extraordinary situations, reducing risk.”

Overcoming Challenges

One of the biggest challenges Gerhard had to face when working with the air rescue pilots was assuring them of the privacy of the data. Pilots are concerned that any adverse findings could affect their careers. To build trust, Gerhard emphasizes the confidentiality of the data and ensures that it is communicated solely with the individual.

Broader Implications for High-Performance Coaching

While Gerhard has tailored his coaching specifically to air rescue pilots, his methods have broader applications for other high-performance professionals and organizations. “If it’s a fit for rescue pilots, it can work for you as a leader or Senior Executive. It will work for you too,” he notes.

Gerhard believes that using Firsbeat Life can be helpful for other emergency services and rescue organizations too.

“You can use it to find out where are the sweet spots because they are not where you think they are most of the time. If you have time for recovery when there is no rescue mission – how do you use that time in between for self-management to ensure you really recover? The data reveals where you actually recover – because it’s often not when you think it is.

To change your lifestyle, it takes a lot of energy, and if you change something, you might not feel any different at first. So, you think ‘Why should I do that further?’ But the data can help to reveal that there is already something changing before you feel it.

In the long term, you see if you are on the right track or do you have to recalibrate and focus in life on different areas like sports and activity, mental health, etc because everything is linked together.

But you need a professional to help interpret the data in the right way, it takes experience that you can’t learn from a book. I think using a tool like Firstbeat with professionals is the best way.”

Gerhard Moser’s innovative coaching methods and use of Firstbeat Life exemplify how data-driven health coaching can lead to positive lifestyle changes and enhanced performance. His work with Austrian air rescue pilots demonstrates the tool’s potential to help transform health monitoring in high-stakes environments. By adopting a holistic, personalized approach, Gerhard helps his clients achieve their best, proving that even in the most demanding professions, optimal health and performance are attainable.

Want to find out more about how you can use Firstbeat Life to enhance your coaching work? Download our free guide on how to utilize physiological data in wellness coaching.