"Overlooked Preps"

[BaseOne]

Was thinking about this whilst writing my intro, thought I would turn it into a thread.

I think most serious preppers are at the point where the've squirreled away cans of food, water filters, rolls of toilet paper, spare torches, candles, BOBs and GHBs. But what about the preps that have been overlooked. I'll kick off with a couple:

Physical fitness - I think it's easy to underestimate how difficult life would be physically, in the middle of a severe fuel shortage. Moving yourself about to keep in contact with friends, moving your food about to where it is needed, even moving yourself and loved ones quickly out of a danger area, etc. "Prepping yourself" into better shape now could tip the scales in your favour, should the worst ever happen.

Face masks/filters - A gap in my own preps. These things are useful for a whole raft of reasons. Depending on filter size, they can keep out nasty bugs, smoke, volcanic ash, dust storms, etc. Also, in a post-shtf world, you're going to be making a lot of stuff with your own hands. If for no other reason than comfort, a dust mask is a nice-to-have whilst building/making/doing jobs.

[preppingsu]

Fitness is something that has been discussed a lot as it is an important prep. I just did a quick search and found this thread, amongst many others

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=9160&hilit=Physical+fitness

Even just living a more sustainable lifestyle (growing your own food,n keeping livestock, using a wood burner so chopping wood etc) requires a good level of fitness and strength. In fact it needs to be an all rnd fitness. No point being able to run a marathon if you have no strength in your arms to dig the soil or chop logs.

We have had lots of discussions about face masks as well, especially when Ebola was a concern. There is lots of advice about the correct/best ones to get.

[BaseOne]

And earlier I also found an interesting thread about "Forgotten Preps", but unfortunately after I had started this thread..

[Bad Wombat]

Re fitness: yesterday I walked 8.3 miles with about 3500 feet of elevation change - up and down again. Today my legs hurt!

[BaseOne]

Re fitness: yesterday I walked 8.3 miles with about 3500 feet of elevation change - up and down again. Today my legs hurt!

Nice going I always find it's worst 2 days after the hike. Something to look forward to tomorrow

[Deeps]

Fitness is a funny one, yes, for a number of reasons its better to be fit but not everyone can manage it for one reason or another. If you aren't or can't get fit it's not a deal breaker prepping wise I would have thought. You just have to 'box clever' a bit. You could be as fit as a fiddle but accidents can happen and if violence is involved then even the 'Rocky' types can be outnumbered. There's also the 'mental strength' side of it, that could be just as important as the physical side. It's a definite advantage being in reasonable condition though but that's probably the same non-prepper too.

[BaseOne]

If you aren't or can't get fit it's not a deal breaker prepping wise

Absolutely agree, there are no deal breakers to getting involved

A totally different subject, but it shouldn't be a deal breaker that limited finances would stop anyone prepping - we would all love that fully-kitted out 4WD bug out vehicle, but not everyone can afford one

Hopefully we can still talk about both physical fitness and 4WD bug-out vehicles without managing to offend or alienate those whose personal circumstances make either of these preps impossible

[nickdutch]

Becoming free of your main addictions, being fitter, learning how your body reacts without food for an extended period and having confidence in fasting.

[CynicalSurvival]

Becoming free of your main addictions, being fitter, learning how your body reacts without food for an extended period and having confidence in fasting.

good points... I should kill my caffeine habit. As for trying out fasting, it probably combines well with the previously mentioned points about getting into shape, lol!

[i11matic1795]

Fitness is a funny one, yes, for a number of reasons its better to be fit but not everyone can manage it for one reason or another. If you aren't or can't get fit it's not a deal breaker prepping wise I would have thought. You just have to 'box clever' a bit. You could be as fit as a fiddle but accidents can happen and if violence is involved then even the 'Rocky' types can be outnumbered. There's also the 'mental strength' side of it, that could be just as important as the physical side. It's a definite advantage being in reasonable condition though but that's probably the same non-prepper too.

Being fit is ideal, personally I'm not very fit at all, quite strong but couldn't run 500 metres so I'm working on that.

The only problem I see with being fit is that a lot of people get so confident with it, they'll push themselves too far, in normal day to day life that's okay, if you pull a muscle you can usually rest it for a week and get back on with it. In a SHTF situation that could be the difference between life/death, food or water etc etc.

I do think that generally everybody could do something to make themselves fitter though, there are very few situations in which a person can't improve their fitness at all, although some people may need to focus more on one part of their body than others if there is something stopping them, e.g. a disability.