# Fitness as a prep



## Mase92 (Feb 4, 2013)

A series of events got me thinking about this. I'm in my mid 40's and in pretty decent shape. I have two issues (on medically and I eat to much) I'm working on those but I'm by no means a couch potato nor am I someone that can't touch my toes. Oops, sorry, on to the question/story...

-Last week my friend called and needed help roofing his garage. I spent the day in the hot sun lugging roofing bundles, removing the old roof and in general running up and down a ladder. The next day, was I sore! I mean, it was awful.

-A few weeks back, I took a shooting class. I rained HARD all day. This was a group of preppers I hang out with, good guys. Lots of them out of shape but not awful. By the end of the class, most of them were complaining about spending the day in the rain and how chapped/chaffed they were from being wet. 

-Yesterday, I listened to an old podcast about fitness as a prep. It struck me that both of these things I should work on and improve. 
But it got me wondering, how many other practice fitness beyond treadmill and normal weights? Do you do things in bad weather? 

So I guess I'm looking for examples and ideas on what I can improve on to use myself as a prep in case things go south. I do not want to be laid up two days into an SHTF incident. 

So, do you work on fitness as a prep? How so?


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## tsrwivey (Dec 31, 2010)

Real work. It doesn't matter how much or often one lifts weights, it's not the same as real work. Take that gym rat & put him on the business end of a shovel in the hot sun, he'll be tapped out in under an hour, & nursing his wounds for days. Plus, all those huge muscles require a lot of calories to maintain. 

Walking is better, assuming you get the heart rate up. At least the heart, lungs, & some muscles are being challenged. Does it prepare you to hike all day in the woods hunting food? No.

If you want to be physically capable of doing a particular task, actually do that task. There's no true substitute. 

Proper gear prevents getting wet.


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## VoorTrekker (Oct 7, 2012)

First off, wet clothes and tactical training and avoiding chaffing and etc. means having the correct type of clothing.

Physical Fitness as a "prepp" was supposed to be mandatory, as far as the Executive Order on prepping stated back in 1983.  (Maybe that EO was for Survivalists) 

Have a PT plan, Sun. Tues. Thurs. upper body, core training and moderate aerobics
Mon. Wed. Fri. lower body and more intense aerobics. 

Have a PT formula as well, and forget about body building when lifting weights.
Use the 30% 40% 50% of one's maximum authorized body weight for weight training. 

Have a formula and go back to the late 70's early 80's for real workout routines and plans.


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## Mase92 (Feb 4, 2013)

tsrwivey said:


> Real work. It doesn't matter how much or often one lifts weights, it's not the same as real work. Take that gym rat & put him on the business end of a shovel in the hot sun, he'll be tapped out in under an hour, & nursing his wounds for days. Plus, all those huge muscles require a lot of calories to maintain.
> 
> Walking is better, assuming you get the heart rate up. At least the heart, lungs, & some muscles are being challenged. Does it prepare you to hike all day in the woods hunting food? No.
> 
> ...


Indeed. Well said and simple. I just can not believe how far my mind would say you can do it and how bad my body rebelled the next day for tasks a few short years ago would have been no big deal. Ah....old age. LOL


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## CrackbottomLouis (May 20, 2012)

Push ups, sit ups, pull ups, dips, squat thrusts or burpees, and put weight on your back and walk up steep grades over rough terrain. If you do each of those regularly you will be several steps ahead of most. And they don't require a gym membership.


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## VoorTrekker (Oct 7, 2012)

These tasks only require time and commitment.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

Mase92 said:


> I'm in my mid 40's and in pretty decent shape............... The next day, was I sore! I mean, it was awful.


Welcome to "middle-age" - where diet & exercise are now vital, compared to when we were teenagers and "invincible".

I can still do much of the same work and exercise, but "recovery times" are far longer, and that slows me down a lot.


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

I have recently let go of my desire to not age and accepted that it happens regardless of what I want. I already eat very cleanly but I tend to lift heavy and hard and ignore aerobics. This summer I started swimming with the Mrs. and discovered there are various degrees and types of "in shape". I have spent the last 25 years almost sole focused on getting bigger & stronger and not been as concerned about endurance. Now I am swimming more and have gone from olympic plates and steel dumbbells to a Bowflex Xtreme 2 SE and calisthenics. I still do resistance training but am now focused more on muscle maintenance and joint health while trying to increase my endurance.


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## VoorTrekker (Oct 7, 2012)

Like, you should have been doing that when you reached 40...oh, you haven't yet?

As far as various degrees of in shape, well, round *is *a shape!

I have six separate aerobic routines of about 16 minutes each. I do each movement for one minute instead of "four to the left, four to the right, pulse check..."
I pulse check after I finish aerobic routines or running.

I do core training three days a week of 1. sit-ups, twisting sit-ups and twisting half sit-ups; 2. leg ups, leg ups variation routines including the 360 degree rotations, flutter kicks; 3. crunches, twisting crunches and bicycle crunches.

I do wide, close, parallel pull ups, lumbar rack and twisting lumbars, Luigi lateral reaches, torso twists, lateral bends, lat pull, on every upper body day.

I do bare bar 1. bench presses of 50+ reps for 4+ sets, 2. bare bar military presses of 25+ reps for 4 sets; 3. triceps routines for whatever, 55lbs 25 reps, 45lbs bench triceps curls 25 reps,45lbs skull crushers 25 reps, Chinese chair push ups 25 reps, diamond nose push ups 25 reps. No Bicep curls because of inflamed planar tendons.

Lower body day is 30 minutes on treadmill, or 30 minutes of roadwork, or 20 minutes of skipping rope and full body weight squats 10+ reps, 80% body weight 15 reps, 60% body weight 20 reps, 50% body weight 25 reps. Or I will use the squat rack at 110% body weight doing 4 sets of 25 reps feet apart and together in four positions on the standing plate.

I do the sit down kicky thing for the quadriceps and the inner thigh hip/butt machine.

I don't do dead lifts because I don't know why I should. What benefit do they have for a warrior maneuvering in a firefight, or vanquishing zombie hordes with a battle axe/sword/bolo/whatever?

I always finish with yoga stretches and joint rotations. I can get up in the morning.


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## VoorTrekker (Oct 7, 2012)

I do add weight for some exercises, up to 50% to 60% of my "authorized" body weight and I no longer body build since I joined the infantry back in 1990 aught seven. That and overtraining injured and inflamed my planar tendons.

I have my PT strategy on these three phases:

Recovery: after an absence of activity where I become weakened or out of shape. Moderate exercises to improve and increase strength and stamina. 

Maintenance: My average everyday I-am-in-shape-exercises. 

Improvement: Using an increase of either duration or intensity.
Running faster for the same distance/time. Intensity.

Running the same speed but for a longer distance= duration training.

Same with core, push ups, pull ups, strength training, aerobics, agility, etc. 

I do Improvements periodically to bring my Maintenance PT to a higher standard.


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## VoorTrekker (Oct 7, 2012)

Bumping threads is fun! Okay, seriously now...

My Recovery PT would be like this: treadmill 6.5 mph for 15 minutes OR
treadmill 6.5 mph for 3 minutes, walk 1 minute
run 6.5 mph 3 mins. walk 1 minute to cover
20 minutes total. Do this for a few weeks

Maintenance PT Treadmill: 2 mile run in 70%+ for official PT score eg.
minimum score maximum time 19:53
unsatisfactory performance. 16:00 for maximum
score. I do this 16:00 run five days a week. It is
about 8.8 miles per hour. 

Improvement PT: Treadmill: 8.5 mph for 3 minutes, walk 1 minute, 9.0 mph
for 3 minutes, walk 1 minute, 9.5 mph for 3 
minutes, walk 1 minute, 10.0 mph for 2-3 minutes
walk 1 minute, walk it off 4 minutes.

Improvement PT: Treadmill 2: 8.5 mph 1 minute, 9.0 mph 1 minute, 9.5 mph
1 minute, 10.0 mph 1 minute, 8.5 mph 1 minute, 
9.0 mph 1 minute, 9.5 mph 1 minute, 10.0 mph 1 
minute, rinse and repeat to cover 16 minutes. 
Last set is 10.0 mph even if it goes over 16 minutes.
Walk it off for 4 minutes. 

For duration: Treadmill: 6.5 mph for 20 minutes, or use your casual cruising speed. Some will run 7.5 mph, some will run 8.5 mph. 

I use the same principle for weight training and core training. 

Vary your workouts, avoid "plateauing" and add new techniques or routines. I keep a plan for about two years and then gradually change a few things. 

I used to body build, now I do endurance weight training, I have added more core routines and rotations. My next change will be to add more "Luigi" Jazz techniques and do aerobic calisthenics one or two times a week.


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