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Physical Conditioning
In my opinion, one of the most important things you can do to further your survival potential is to acquire and maintain a decent level of physical fitness.
You've heard the excuses and rationalizing- "Adrenaline will get me through." "I have a nice bug out truck, so I'll NEVER have to walk." "When I was in the Army four thousand years ago, I had no problem carrying a 50 lb. ruck for two days." Ohhhh boy, here we go!
Now mind you, I'm no petite Patrick. I'm carrying some extra "food storage" around the mid section also. But the difference is that I push myself physically on a regular basis to maintain a decent level of physical fitness.
Let me get down to br*** tacks- their is simply no reason why a Survivalist who plans on buggin out (scratch that, ANY Survivalist, but more importantly one who plans to bug out) should not be able to jog at least 1 mile, do 20 pushups and walk 10 miles in a day with a 40 lb. rucksack. If you plan to make some great cross country bug out and cannot physically do that, let me ask you how you plan to bug out?
Car? Truck? Plane? ATV? Bus? Ever heard of EMP? Horse? Bike? Alpaca? Donkey? Now we are getting closer. Long and short of it, be ABLE to walk it if you need to.
More so important than physically being able to bug out on foot if necessary, is being able to deal with the stress of a bug out/survival situation. Not only stress but physical hardships, the least of which will be actually CARRYING that "bug out bag" that you grossly overloaded. I know how it works, I did it years ago also- you got the biggest backpack you could find- a Large ALICE pack, a CFP90, etc. Then you packed that ****** till you were worried that the stitching wouldn't hold. You picked it up with a "uummph", then carried it right over to the closet it's probably sitting in right now.
Have you carried it anywhere other than the closet? Know what? Cutting down what you have in it is only HALF the problem. Shorting yourself on necessary gear and/or proper amounts of food, water and ammunition because you are too lazy to exercise is just plain stupid. No two ways about it.
The body is more able to deal with rapid change as well as stress when one is in good physical condition. I'm convinced that your mental abilities are enhanced by regular exercise also. "Pushing yourself" while your mind plays those little "it's o.k. to give up" or "a couple of blocks is far enough" songs makes you tougher mentally also. You'll find your stress levels lowered when you are regularly exercising. You don't find too many runners suffering from depression!
So where do we start? I won't go into the "check with your doctor" crap, you should know that. As a general rule, if you are more than 30 lbs. overweight, have a sedentary lifestyle or have various physical ailments (back bad, weak knees, etc.) I believe you should start out walking.
By walking I do NOT mean the zombie like near feet dragging slow repetition nonsense like 99% of people you see at the grocery stores use (most of which could use to move a little faster, IMO). I mean a good, fast paced walk with a stride corresponding to your stature. Remember to PUSH YOURSELF. Do NOT give up before you get your "second wind" and do NOT give up while your mind is playing the "it's easier on the couch" song to you!
Later, you'll progress to running. I don't care much about the speed, I'm more concerned about the distance.
If you need to lose a few lbs. here's some tips that helped me. There is some general health stuff here also, so even the Skinny Minny's should stay tuned-
* Drink more water. Not the polluted sewage that comes out of the tap in most municipal water supply's. Buy DISTILLED water (pure water) and drink no less than 1 gallon per day. No, 1 gallon per day will not hurt you. You may even need more.
* Use a good Intestinal cleanse product. Southern Botanicals has a great formula that works wonders. Cleaning out the "pipes" and keeping them clean help your body to function better and I'm convinced you crave food less. Walmart carries "Cascara Sagrada" which is an effective product for colon cleansing as well. Don't be embarr***ed just do it.
* Take a good multivitamin every day and at least 2,000mg of Vitamin C. I also like Garlic and Cayenne.
* Do not drink soda/pop, stop buying it. I stopped buying this for home in 1998 and dropped twenty lbs. within 2 months. Even "diet" soda isn't good for you and helps keep the weight on. I know it's hard, especially when you travel. I drink it when I travel because in most areas I travel, I trust it more than the water system! Just keeping it out of your home will help you greatly.
* Cut down on sugars and sweets. DUH! That's a no brainer.
* Eat LESS food. When you eat dinner, put your food on SMALLER plates. Before eating, drinking 1 or 2 BIG gl***es of your distilled water, then eat.
* Eat slowly. It takes a few minutes for your brain to get the "stop eating" signal from your belly.
In a college Biology cl*** I asked the question, "does your stomach shrink when you eat less?" The prof replied that yes, if your stomach was normally used to holding 1 quart of food and you consistently put in say 3/4 of a quart of food, that your stomach would shrink and hence, you would get that "stop eating" signal quicker.
One day, your Survival may very well come down to you being physically able to complete a given task. Let's start training now to make sure we can complete that task.
In my opinion, one of the most important things you can do to further your survival potential is to acquire and maintain a decent level of physical fitness.
You've heard the excuses and rationalizing- "Adrenaline will get me through." "I have a nice bug out truck, so I'll NEVER have to walk." "When I was in the Army four thousand years ago, I had no problem carrying a 50 lb. ruck for two days." Ohhhh boy, here we go!
Now mind you, I'm no petite Patrick. I'm carrying some extra "food storage" around the mid section also. But the difference is that I push myself physically on a regular basis to maintain a decent level of physical fitness.
Let me get down to br*** tacks- their is simply no reason why a Survivalist who plans on buggin out (scratch that, ANY Survivalist, but more importantly one who plans to bug out) should not be able to jog at least 1 mile, do 20 pushups and walk 10 miles in a day with a 40 lb. rucksack. If you plan to make some great cross country bug out and cannot physically do that, let me ask you how you plan to bug out?
Car? Truck? Plane? ATV? Bus? Ever heard of EMP? Horse? Bike? Alpaca? Donkey? Now we are getting closer. Long and short of it, be ABLE to walk it if you need to.
More so important than physically being able to bug out on foot if necessary, is being able to deal with the stress of a bug out/survival situation. Not only stress but physical hardships, the least of which will be actually CARRYING that "bug out bag" that you grossly overloaded. I know how it works, I did it years ago also- you got the biggest backpack you could find- a Large ALICE pack, a CFP90, etc. Then you packed that ****** till you were worried that the stitching wouldn't hold. You picked it up with a "uummph", then carried it right over to the closet it's probably sitting in right now.
Have you carried it anywhere other than the closet? Know what? Cutting down what you have in it is only HALF the problem. Shorting yourself on necessary gear and/or proper amounts of food, water and ammunition because you are too lazy to exercise is just plain stupid. No two ways about it.
The body is more able to deal with rapid change as well as stress when one is in good physical condition. I'm convinced that your mental abilities are enhanced by regular exercise also. "Pushing yourself" while your mind plays those little "it's o.k. to give up" or "a couple of blocks is far enough" songs makes you tougher mentally also. You'll find your stress levels lowered when you are regularly exercising. You don't find too many runners suffering from depression!
So where do we start? I won't go into the "check with your doctor" crap, you should know that. As a general rule, if you are more than 30 lbs. overweight, have a sedentary lifestyle or have various physical ailments (back bad, weak knees, etc.) I believe you should start out walking.
By walking I do NOT mean the zombie like near feet dragging slow repetition nonsense like 99% of people you see at the grocery stores use (most of which could use to move a little faster, IMO). I mean a good, fast paced walk with a stride corresponding to your stature. Remember to PUSH YOURSELF. Do NOT give up before you get your "second wind" and do NOT give up while your mind is playing the "it's easier on the couch" song to you!
Later, you'll progress to running. I don't care much about the speed, I'm more concerned about the distance.
If you need to lose a few lbs. here's some tips that helped me. There is some general health stuff here also, so even the Skinny Minny's should stay tuned-
* Drink more water. Not the polluted sewage that comes out of the tap in most municipal water supply's. Buy DISTILLED water (pure water) and drink no less than 1 gallon per day. No, 1 gallon per day will not hurt you. You may even need more.
* Use a good Intestinal cleanse product. Southern Botanicals has a great formula that works wonders. Cleaning out the "pipes" and keeping them clean help your body to function better and I'm convinced you crave food less. Walmart carries "Cascara Sagrada" which is an effective product for colon cleansing as well. Don't be embarr***ed just do it.
* Take a good multivitamin every day and at least 2,000mg of Vitamin C. I also like Garlic and Cayenne.
* Do not drink soda/pop, stop buying it. I stopped buying this for home in 1998 and dropped twenty lbs. within 2 months. Even "diet" soda isn't good for you and helps keep the weight on. I know it's hard, especially when you travel. I drink it when I travel because in most areas I travel, I trust it more than the water system! Just keeping it out of your home will help you greatly.
* Cut down on sugars and sweets. DUH! That's a no brainer.
* Eat LESS food. When you eat dinner, put your food on SMALLER plates. Before eating, drinking 1 or 2 BIG gl***es of your distilled water, then eat.
* Eat slowly. It takes a few minutes for your brain to get the "stop eating" signal from your belly.
In a college Biology cl*** I asked the question, "does your stomach shrink when you eat less?" The prof replied that yes, if your stomach was normally used to holding 1 quart of food and you consistently put in say 3/4 of a quart of food, that your stomach would shrink and hence, you would get that "stop eating" signal quicker.
One day, your Survival may very well come down to you being physically able to complete a given task. Let's start training now to make sure we can complete that task.
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