Maintaining your fitness pre and post SHTF

[general_panic]

Hi guys, i'm a bit of a fitness fanatic and noticed a lack of fresh excercise oriented material in this section. Was thinking of writing up some fitness tips and ideas for two main scenarios 1-Preparing your body for TEOTWAWKI and 2-Maintaining your fitness once SHTF. Will try to cover as many situations and levels of fitness as possible (bug in/bug out, fit/knackered, no equipment/home gym) but just wanted to check if there was any interest in such a thing before I spend an hour or 2 writing it up?

[Arzosah]

Its interesting, no doubt of that!

Depending on what sort of event causes tshtf, it might be that you get all the exercise you can cope with from the work you do to feed, clothe and shelter yourself. Though flexibility might still be an issue.

As for *before*, depends what level you're currently at, what you want to achieve, age, sex, disability - if you're averaging out your programme by aiming at a 30 year old bloke who wants to bug out carrying a 80 litre bergen, then no, not really interested, sorry! If you're thinking of graduated exercises based on priority muscle groups that spread out to cover the whole body, something like that, then yes, I'm interested ...

What's your own fave exercise routine?

[nickdutch]

I am a serial relapser into inactivity, usually for good reasons,but I have recently explored the "outdoor gym" and have found it to be good fun. Easy enough for me as well as taxing enough to help me get a bit more toned. Only been using it for a short while (month and a half - ish). IF I can keep up the routine then maybe I can get myself some strength and endurance by the summer (I Know starting a outdoor gym habit in the Autumn is pretty dense of me!)
But lets see how it goes.
And yes, experience does dictate that the whole protein thing is really important so don't neglect the diet as otherwise you cant get nowhere.

[ForgeCorvus]

I'd be interested.
In an ideal world I would be fitter but like a few of us I have time constraints, no specialist gear, am middle aged and a couple have of minor health issues.

So, if your suggestions bear those caveats in mind I'll (hopefully) be able to take advantage

[bunkai]

I've been thinking about this recently as well. I used to be very fit but lately... you know how it is, I just walk the dog! I keep having visions of hitting the floor and doing press-up's but the feeling soon passes. I have a couple of sons who are growing up quickly and looking quite strong so maybe i'll just concentrate on the preps and leave the hard stuff to them!?

[general_panic]

Good replies all, The focus will be on flexibility and trying to cover the most levels of ability possible. I'll try and keep it adaptable to each persons individual needs, capabilities and brush more on techniques, motivation and diet than specific excercises- I hit the weights 3/4 times a week, cavemen didn't do bench presses or curls and i'm pretty confident one of them could wipe the floor with me! Natural strength and stamina will be far more invaluable post-apocalypse than how much you can bench press or how many times your own bodyweight you can deadlift... Anywho, thanks for getting back to me guys, now there's a confirmed interest I'll get to work! Give me a day or two to get it written up (been doing loads of overtime with the dreaded xmas coming up so got very little time free at the moment).

[general_panic]

Sorry it took me so long (xmas has got me a little sidetracked) but here, at last, is my first recommendation for a suitable and enjoyable workout for both pre and post SHTF scenarios. Watch this space as there's more to come!

I call it 'running the deck' but I'm sure it has other names elsewhere. All you need is a deck of cards. The beauty is it's flexibility and randomness. Flexibility is important as it allows you to use this routine absolutely anywhere as well as using whatever equipment you have handy (none if necessary) and randomness keeps it fun and unpredictable so if you don't want to get drawn in to doing the same routine over and over this is a great way of breaking the monotony of planned workouts.

You don't have a deck of cards in your BOB? Shame on you! Cards are a great way of keeping morale up and everyone entertained, as well as adding a sense of structure and order in uncertain times. Get a deck of cards. Put it in your bag. Well done. Good boy/girl

Right, so now for the meat: Pick an exercise of your choice and assign it to each suit. Try and keep the exercises balanced and ideally cover your whole body. An example routine would be;
Hearts: Push-ups, Diamonds: Sit-ups, Clubs: Squats, Spades: Dips

If you have weights (or a big rock) handy you could try;
Hearts: Bench press, Diamonds: Floor wipers, Clubs: Squats, Spades: Bicep curls/Shoulder press

The rest is simple. Draw a card from the top of the deck. The suit tells you the exercise, the number tells you the number of reps (In the example above, a 6 of Clubs would be 6 squats). Continue drawing cards, without resting between each set (though feel free to take a breather if need be- no need to kill yourself!). The value of face cards depends entirely on your fitness level. If you struggle to do more than say, 8 sit-ups, remove all 9s, 10s and face cards from the deck for that exercise. If you are in okay shape count all suit cards as being 10 reps. If you are in really good shape count them as extra reps (jack=11, queen=12, king=15, ace=15/20). Try and beat the deck!

[Arzosah]

That sounds brilliant! And very adaptable!

Congratulations

[tanstaafl]

Hi kudo's for bringing up a subject dear to my heart, and getting people to become fitter is always a good thing............


My take ............

I guess I am prepping (in my mind lol) for a teotwawki situation, so my Post scenario would involve no fitness whatsoever as food would be in short supply and having a body that uses the least possible calories would be needed , so no excess muscle , and am thinking that the activities you would be doing would keep you as fit as you needed...............but a lot does depend on the situation you are in......


Pre SHTF .......I quite like the card thing to get people into training especially if you have no equipment.......But if you do have access to kit I feel its a bit random, I would rather follow a good tried and tested progressive resistance workout, lots to choose from from pure strength training all the way to circuits PHA etc....

Completely not my cup of tea , but I would think something like Crossfit would be best as it gives you a good all round balanced level ........


But from my own experience (35 years lifting) , I found I had my best all round ready for anything level of fitness when I was strength training 3/4 times a week , plus doing few cardio sessions and judo as well........

[general_panic]

I guess I am prepping (in my mind lol) for a teotwawki situation, so my Post scenario would involve no fitness whatsoever as food would be in short supply and having a body that uses the least possible calories would be needed , so no excess muscle , and am thinking that the activities you would be doing would keep you as fit as you needed...............but a lot does depend on the situation you are in......

Thanks for your comments! I was intending it as something for people to consider day-to-day as well as when they're hunkering down during a crisis to prepare themselves for the darker days ahead (after the panic dies down). As you pointed out, excess muscle burns calories, but on the other hand, atrophy means you'd be ill equipped to deal with problems and sheer amount of work that could arise further down the line. It's a fine balance