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The difference in fitness level caused by real work is truly noticeable whenever I go into the city for supplies. I've found that I can lift and carry much more than other folks (even some guys!); and I think nothing of parking at the edge of the shopping center lot (or somewhere near the hardware store, where the really heavy stuff will be loaded) and doing all my shopping without moving my truck from store to store. I'm always surprised when I get shocked looks for swinging a 5 gallon gas can or hauling up a full 40# propane bottle into the back of the truck by myself. You just get used to lugging around heavy stuff, doing more chores with minimal power equipment, and it doesn't seem so hard anymore... but someone from the burbs thinks you've got super powers or something.
I'm no spring chicken anymore, but I'm sure that doing hard work while I'm younger will keep me physically able to do hard work a lot longer into my elder years. Our octogenarian sourdough neighbors do more in a day than most 30-somethings in the city do... and they complain how much they can't do anymore because they're getting old and feeble!! LOL If digging ditches and clearing forest by hand every year lets me haul my own wood and work my garden when I'm 80... dude, sign me up for that plan!
Ak Cathy, have I ever been there, diggin up busted sewer lines in NH in Feburary, breaking 3 chinese cast steel pick axes in the doing, and the chinese make pretty good cast steel 1800's style tools too.
Where I am I busted up the garden which was hard pack sand a little ways then bigger sand around 35 pounds a grain The garden was right on a horse race track that went out in 1930, not a grain of soil to be founds, so I made it all.
The first garden was a miserable 20 by 28 feet had dug, all salvaged sopils I could beg buy and steal. That was 07. Now making all the soil I can getting dead beer grains from the brewery and grass clipping any place i can, autum leaves food waste, last year for the first time I could cover 60 x 100 with a little soil to spare and am composting apx 24 cubic yards now that I hope will come ready as soon as the snow and ice go.
I sure would like to know how cozy that red squirrel living down in that warm pile is?
Sometimes I wonder if a leaf hut in shtf might be the ticket. Self heating, water tight, and dam quiet. 'serious'
Pretty soon I will be hauling out sap buckets to a sled.. I hope so anyway. That has to be done on snow shoes till the swamp ices out. Then knee high rubber farm boots.
I don't dig snow though, except to shovel a roof and I got out of that this year breaking my pinky finger on Dec 31st. I tried and found it wasn't worth the pain, and quick swelling.
I tried running my saw but for wood for next year not this one, and the idea seemed to me that I would kill myself first trying to run the saw wounded.
I have broken many bones before, but never thought a finger would screw up my way of life this much, most of all bloomin pinky finger.
O.K., I admit it; ten minutes per mile (6 mph) is not a "moderate" pace - it is damned slow. But it's faster than you could walk.
So is my six-minutes-per-mile (10mph) pace on my bicycle, but if need be I can keep it up for about 3 hours. I can probably walk about 10 miles with a light to moderate load, as long as it isn't TOO steep and I can watch where I'm placing my feet.
I don't think I could run for more than 100 yards -- my knees would probably explode and the discs in my back would be ricocheting off trees and buildings and cars..
Many of us read survival blogs on a weekly basis and have started a plan to set aside food and water for the day when there may be a shortage. Do you have an exercise program you follow? What about simple walking, how far do you walk each day? Are you one of those 'crazies' that actually runs each day?
I'm a longtime exercise fanatic, so my idea of what constitutes "fit" might be a little on the 'odd' side for the average person. Though I'll have to say that as the years click on, I'm really starting to get worn down and its just getting tougher (perhaps more so mentally than physically.... just been doing it so long.... kind of had my fill of it all).
Lately, I've been really slacking... I no longer do hard training like I used to when I was just a few years younger, but I always try to maintain a lower baseline of fitness.
Running: . The worst-case baseline I try to maintain, is to never let myself run slower than a 6 minute mile (which for me, is pretty awful since I usually run in the mid to high 4 minute range... but it strikes me as a reasonable enough figure should I ever have to "bug out"). I try never to let myself get worse than that threshold, because especially getting older as of late, having to "start from scratch" after a really exercise long lay-off, is pretty brutal.
Hiking: I also try to keep a baseline of being able to somewhat comfortably walk 12 - 15 miles with a 30 pound pack such that I could repeat that same amount for a few days in a row. I'd really like to increase that 20 miles, but that's not going to happen right now because I don't have access to a good enough trail system which would let me put in that kind of training.
How I arrive at those figures (being able to walk between 12 - 20 miles consistently), is that I look towards "thru-hikers" as a very good example of what a person who is in shape insofar as walking/hiking can do. The guys who do the Appalachian Trail (or Continental Divide or Pacific Crest trail) can oftentimes do 12 - 20 miles a day after they get their "trail legs" which supposedly takes 6 - 8 weeks on the trail, every single day, to really make that happen. If I can do about 80 percent of what they can do, I think that's a reasonable figure to try to shoot for.
Biking: I try to keep in good condition with my biking (never letting myself get slower than a 18 - 20 mph pace [normally I do about 24 - 27 mph pace), because I may want (or need) to avail myself of riding a mountain bike during exigent circumstances where I no longer have access to my car, or gas stations are not open due to natural disaster, or what have you. Need to keep in shape so I can go fetch supplies, etc...
Then I do the usual miscellaneous, weightlifting two times a week, etc...
Once in a while, I'll stuff my backpack with about 40-45 pounds of weight (which is about all my pack can hold without ripping), and run with that on for a mile or two. I really can't conceive how people can hump 50 - 80 pound packs. That just doesn't make sense to me, and always makes me wonder whenever I hear that on television programs, if its just an exaggerated lie. Forty pounds is damn heavy, nevermind fifty to eighty.
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In my opinion, none of this is necessarily a substitute for real "hands on' work that you may encounter if you lived a backwoods lifestyle. It's not going to help me much chop a cord of wood. But some exercise is better than none, I figure.
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Two things I really want to get into are snowshoeing, and nordic (cross country) skiing. If I ever live the bush rat lifestyle in a state that has lots of snow, I want to be able to use snowshoeing as a way to get around, absent snowmachine (to run my trapline, fetch water down at the river which may be a mile away, etc...)
A few of you have mentioned running and/or jogging. Keep in mind that if you get into this, there are several different types of training, depending on what you are shooting for. Some folks are sprinters or short distance fast runners (let's say 3 to 5 miles per run). These people are generally interested in speed. Others (I'm in this category) are into slower paced long distance. I haven't had as much free time lately, but were talking a daily base of 7 or 8 miles, 12 to 20 a couple of times a week, and marathon distances (or more) every couple of months. I did this for a few years. I've always been more interested in endurance. I never really paid much attention to speed or time (last official marathon I finished in around 3 h 38 m).
Point is, they are very different "types" of fitness. I don't run all that fast (whatever is sustainable for the distance I know I'm going). I'm just interested in maintaining the pace for the entire distance. People fly past me quite often, but few in my area go those long distances regularly. Very few people are going to do 5 minute miles for 40 miles. But those who run those 40 mile distances aren't going to win a 5K, either. Different types of training.
We have considered almost all aspects of survival, what about our personal fitness?
Quote:
Originally Posted by DuckCommander
This is a great topic!
Yes I keep myself fit not only in case of survival but just for my over all health.
Just for your overall health is the answer I hoped I would get from more people. I've seen many people retire and start setting on their butts day after day, and pretty soon their obituary is printed in the newspaper. Keeping fit can be more important than any of us would believe. Even if you don't run and don't lift weights, you can stay fit by just being active and getting some exercise, and eating right. If you do it, you will live longer...
I run marathons and lift weights. I'd love to have a lifestyle something like Mac_Munz, tapping trees sounds like intensive but fantastic work. Been living in very urban environment for several years, looking forward to moving back to the US and seeing what kind of interesting manual activity I can get into.
My grampa built houses... I build software. Go figure. I think houses are better things to build!
Please remember that experience and treachery will overcome youthful enthusiasm every time. [In other words, just 'cause I'm old don't mean I can't kill ya if'n ya make it necessary... ] Like Mac_Muz I can disappear in plain sight, and I can still "reach out and touch someone" at ranges of better than 700 yards. You can't see me, but I can see you...
-- Nighteyes, the decrepit and still-dangerous old f*rt
Darn, I was considering ballooning up to like 300 lbs, and living off my stored fat like a grizzly bear. Ya mean that won't work?
I also wanted to store up water in my hump...
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The garden was right on a horse race track that went out in 1930, not a grain of soil to be founds, so I made it all.
We have considered almost all aspects of survival, what about our personal fitness?
