Fitness

aaakev

We had a thread about this a year and a half ago but i said i wouldnt revive it afyer reading it again and start a freah one to see what everyone is doing now.

Getting into or staying in shape SHOULD be part of everyones life but for anyone prepping or who has a bug out plan if your not in shape or getting into shape your not doing yourself any favours!

What do you do to stay in shape? Do you consider it part of prepping? If not, why not?!

Danpad

Walk the dogs for half an hour every morning at 6.45am (love seeing in the dawn!) and walk everywhere when it's practical, also, do lots of playing football cycling etc with my two sons. I know it's not a fitness regime but it keeps my engine ticking over! Also I have a pull up bar and press ups/dips yoke (both from Tescos) that, every second day, I do 5 pull ups and press ups on every time I go upstairs, usually amounts to approx 25 - 30 reps every second day. Again, it's not a strict fitness/strength regime but it certainly keeps me feeling better about myself.

Cork24

aaakev wrote: »

We had a thread about this a year and a half ago but i said i wouldnt revive it afyer reading it again and start a freah one to see what everyone is doing now.

Getting into or staying in shape SHOULD be part of everyones life but for anyone prepping or who has a bug out plan if your not in shape or getting into shape your not doing yourself any favours!

What do you do to stay in shape? Do you consider it part of prepping? If not, why not?!

If you talking prepping, then Fitness is your last thing on the list..

before fitness i would have

First AID,
Survive skills -> This should Include how read a map, read a compass. how to hunt for food know how to set traps, catch fish, what bugs you can eat and what plants you can Eat. Also how to make a knife out of Stone, how make a bow Arrow out of Wood, and a String
Fitness. would be next on the List.


But back to Topic, I keep fit by going to the Gym @ 6am for either a Swim or a Run, At 6pm i either heads out on the bike or else spinning class. i enjoy keeping fit.

I enjoy reading up on different plant's the Ms is studying Herbal Sci in College so knowing what different plants can treat such a such a thing is something im after finding that i really enjoy. knowing that i could take a plant subtract its oils and use it as a wound cleaner or stop you from having the runs which is a good thing if your out in the wild on your own.

aaakev

Cork24 wrote: »

If you talking prepping, then Fitness is your last thing on the list..

before fitness i would have

First AID,
Survive skills -> This should Include how read a map, read a compass. how to hunt for food know how to set traps, catch fish, what bugs you can eat and what plants you can Eat. Also how to make a knife out of Stone, how make a bow Arrow out of Wood, and a String
Fitness. would be next on the List.

Can do all that and regularly do alot of it iv used stones in the passed to gut rabbits in the field when i lost a knife! Its years since iv made a bow and arrow though... Not since i was a kid! Id also like to learn more about plants like you said..

Alot of what you said above ties in and complements fitness. map reading, no better practice than gettin out hiking and doing it! Same with hunting you could be trecking accross fields or mountains for hours!

Myself im in the gym 4 times a week lifting weights and swiming and i cycle a bit too. I hike every chance i get in wicklow too and when i go hunting i cover some pretty rough ground and will be out for a few hrs at a time which is a good workout in itself! I spar every sat afternoon for about an hour too, id like to train on an evening during the week too but i dont have enough hours.... Kids and family

touts

Fitness is essential. And not iron man type fitness. Just the sort of fitness our grandparents had through their daily car-less desk-less lifes. No point having a get home bag in your car if you cant walk 2 miles without resting. No point having a bike as back up transportation if you will get saddle sores the first time you have to use it in anger. No point having a wood stove if you get a heart attack chopping wood for it. No point reading books about self defence only to find you are not fit enough to either defend yourself or escape.

Personally I try to go cycling 2-3 times a week (around 50k each time). That helps my stamina for long cycles, walks etc. Plus I do a weekly fitness class for running, strength and conditioning and try to do exercises from that several times a week. That helps my physical strength and my ability to do short bursts of intense activity. It's not easy to do all that and to be honest most weeks I dont get it all done. But I try to do what I can and my fitness has imroved significantly since I started late last year.

aaakev

touts wrote: »

Fitness is essential. And not iron man type fitness. Just the sort of fitness our grandparents had through their daily car-less desk-less lifes. No point having a get home bag in your car if you cant walk 2 miles without resting. No point having a bike as back up transportation if you will get saddle sores the first time you have to use it in anger. No point having a wood stove if you get a heart attack chopping wood for it. No point reading books about self defence only to find you are not fit enough to either defend yourself or escape.

thats exactly my thinking on it, fitness should be a big part of your prepairdness and should be tied in to what you do. Cutting down trees and turning them into firewood for a few days would be fun to me but i know other people who would die at the thought of a few hrs manual labour!

After a few years of letting myself go (I last went to the gym regularly in 2007), I started to eat properly last September (on doc's orders!). By Christmas I went from 14 stone to 12. In the new year, I started to do circuit training, it got me fairly fit quickly, and I haven't looked back. Will continue doing it indefinitely.

However, there's truth in the idea that we need to be at the level our grandparents were at as a standard. Despite being fit now (the aforementioned training, jogging, etc.), I've spent the last week digging out my vegetable garden. It was a hard slog, and I came home every day aching - so there's obviously different levels of fitness - or endurance, as the case may be.

Druss.