Joke: My girlfriend and I were getting ready to go out the other night, and she said what I was wearing made me look fat. I was taking a shower at the time……..
I ran across an article on Military.com (Clicking on the link will take you to the article) outlining the new SpecOps fitness test. I didn’t pick up which flavor of Spec Ops is requiring this but none the less it got me to thinking about the subject of fitness.
I hope you took a look at the requirements. Crazy huh? I mean when I was 18 yrs old, I was only 150lbs wet (no kidding) I would have never made it past the pushup portion. Our Spec Ops guys are truly Olympic caliber athletes and not just specializing to compete in one event.
Here is my routine that takes anywhere from an hour or more depending if I feel like doing more. I have to be straight up and say that it is very hard some days getting up and doing a work out first thing when all I really want to do is lay in bed and sleep longer. I’m 47 and I think what motivates me is getting out there in the field with those young guys and showing them that an old guy can still hang. Maybe not in everything but at least I am there. I know we all work, have families and other commitments. What about your commitment to prepare?
I run most days to the gym, about .6 miles with a short steep hill on the way. Some days I extend my run a bit before I hit the gym, sometimes I extend my run after the gym.
Once at the gym:
I do pullups (until muscle failure)
3 sets of situps (until muscle failure each set). Side planks until muscle failure.
Dumbbell curls 3 sets.
Dumbbell presses 3 sets.
Run home up the steep hill again.
Some days I will just run 2-3 miles with no weight workouts.
I try to do at least one ruck (road) march with 50 lbs (dry weight) once a week.
The key for me is I try to mix things up and to keep my workout different each day without getting into a rut.. I burnout to quick doing the same things over and over. Sometimes I listen to music, sometimes not. Winter is real bad for me. I hate dreadmills (some people call them treadmills) and I hate being inside all the time.
All I am trying to convey is that if an old fat fart like me can get up and do some physical activity everyday so can you. I won’t dive into the health benefits or the proper nutrition debates. You know what you need to do at the end of the day.
If you will not try to change your physical fitness level at least a little bit, how can you ever expect to be able to bug out in a SHTF event? Will you be able to walk “X” number of miles with that cool new looking bug out bag on your back? While carrying a weapon? or family members in tow?
During an episode of NatGeo Doomsday Preppers one of the participants profiled, Megan Hurwitt, was going to walk out of Houston to a bug out vehicle as part of her plan. Megan only made it halfway to her exfil point and it took her twice as long to walk that distance than she anticipated. She was exhausted to say the least. Another thing that she commented on was her shoes tore her feet up badly. One big eye opener for her and myself watching. From my last read Megan has since joined the Marines after realizing that she was woefully unprepared physically and needed to make a lifestyle change in order to get in shape. There were some pretty good lessons to be learned from that episode of Doomsday Preppers.
So for those of us that have delusions of walking out and not being physically prepared, you are putting yourself in a situation that isn’t very attainable. You may even be putting yourself in a worse situation than just staying in your present location.
Questions:
Can you walk 12 miles with your bug out bag?
Could you fight a zombie biker gang after walking 12 miles?
Would you be at the point of exhaustion that you could hardly move your legs?
Would you have blisters so bad on your feet that you could stuck for days waiting to heal?
Would your blisters get infected causing an even longer delay?
Would you compromise others in your group, or they you for being not in shape?
Ok your saying, I’m driving out, biking out, using a unicycle or magic carpet. Whatever the mode you plan on using, I can guarantee at some point you are going to be walking.
Just something to think about. Not beating anyone up.
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