Physical Fitness

[mitunnelrat]

Sorry to hear injuries have slowed you down. I'm there myself and can relate. Kudos on not using it as an excuse to quit altogether.

Anybody else?

I'm gonna try reworking my exercise schedule today so my cardio workouts don't interfere as much with muscle recovery from the prior day's workout. (i.e. no running the day after I work my legs)

I did learn aerobic kickboxing works with a heavy bag, but I wonder what other disciplines might give the same benefit. I really want to try penjak silat.

[Stormfeather]

Ok guys, seems to me there is alot of whining bitching, moaning about losing weight, and guess what. Time for a reality check.

If you cant survive because you are overweight and unhealthy, then what the hell are you doing prepping?
The most important prep item you can have, is YOU.
If you have all the preps in the world, and are set up for anything and everything, but cant survive because you are too fat, or too lazy, guess what, in the end, you will become a victim, and all this prepping has been nothing but a waste of time, money, and effort.

Got a $3000 AR system? All duracoated, piston-driven, magpul'ed and ACOG'ed to the max. Its a lean mean death-dealing weapon of the Apocalypse. Great. . . but in a defensive posture, if you cant shoot move, and communicate, then you are going to die. That lean mean death dealing harbinger of the apocalypse just became a prize for someone who was able to shoot, move and communicate. Guess who I am going to shoot first when the time comes to defend myself, the biggest fattest, slowest moving target I can see.
So you dropped 4-5 grand on that sweet ass Barrett 50 cal?. . . too bad you cant lug it a thousand yards to get into a hide position to use it huh? How about stalking with it? Whens the last time anyone here crawled 500 yards WITH gear. What happens if you have to bug out with that sweet sniper system in a hurry? How long and how far can you go before you have to make the decision, drop the rifle because it weighs too much, or get overtaken because your fat ass forgot that that extra 30, 40, 50, 150 pounds of fat rolling around your midsection and fat ass isnt conducive to your survivability?

Having a set style of eating?. . .its really damn hard to change it, I know, from personal experience. I like this much food, this many times a day. Guess what happens to rationing when your body is screaming its wanting food, and theres buckets and buckets of it around? You start eating to where you feel comfortable again. All of a sudden you find out that 180 days of food is now 120 days. Dont get me wrong, I love my steak and eggs for breakfast on weekends. I love Mountain Dew. I love Beer. I love fried chicken. Do I cut this out of my diet? No, but I sure as hell cut down on it. I went from 4-5 20oz Mt Dews a day, to 1 every other day. I know I had to do this if Im going to survive, and in turn help my family survive. My attitude towards taking care of myself is now a force multipler, and I plan on using that to my advantage. I did what it takes, and at some point, you are going to have to come to a conclusion, do what it takes it takes to ensure your survivability, or shut the fuck up and lay down and die.

Married folks. . .Have a family to defend or take care of? Lets look at it bluntly shall we? What happens to them if you fall by the wayside? Will they be able to defend themselves if the occasion calls for it. What if you get injured? Can any given member in your family pull you to safety or can they carry you? If they cant, will they risk their safety for yours? And if they attempt it, and die trying, all because your fat lazy ass refused to prep the most important step beforehand, how do you think you will feel? Lets say you turned a ankle or broke your foot while in contact with a gang of hoodrats, who in your family can carry you? if they cant carry you, or transport you, what do they do? Leave you behind? What do you do? Stay in a dangerous situation and have them move ahead without you, possibly endangering themselves, or staying put with your fat ass and endangering themselves more. At some point, you are going to have to make that call. And while the glorious hollywood ending has you holding off the mongrel horde while your family slips away unnoticed and you go out guns blazing. . . guess what. It doesnt work that way. Usually what happens, is you get overtaken, overran, outgunned, your family gets captured, your daughters and wives get raped then killed in front of you while you're screaming to high heaven you are going to kill the bastards who are doing it, while they laugh at you and your misery. Then they put a bullet into your head and ratfuck your gear and move on to the next set of victims. Sounds harsh? Guess what, it is. This is personal experience in Bosnia and South Africa. Two different continents, same mindset. So im pretty sure you can make a solid bet we will see the same thing happen here if/when the time comes.

So right about now, you are saying one of two things, . . .1) That Stormfeather guy is an asshole and doesnt know his ass from a hole in the ground, or . . .2) Geeze, holy shit, hes right and what the hell am I going to do?

Option 1-. . .keep your head buried up that fat ass of yours and hope that you will miraculously grown thin and fit when SHTF or. . .

Option 2- . . .Do something about it.
If you choose Option 1. . . please stop reading now and continue to go about your oblivious way. Option 2 folks, read on.

So, hopefully, right about now you are saying "Ok Stormfeather. . . you made your point, so how do I lose weight?"
3 words. . . you know them even before I say them, and you all HATE them...

Diet and Exercise

DIET

Thermogenics. . . the more calories you expend versus the calories you intake, results in weight loss. eating 5-6 meals a day versus 2-3 is more beneficial. How this works, your body is used to getting fed every so many hours. When you eat 2-3 meals a day, your body recognizes that its going to need to hold onto everything you fed it for at least so many hours til it gets fed again. And it will. As we get older, it holds onto everything, and it shows! Now, when you eat every 2-3 hours, your body recognizes it needs to consume these calories because it will have more calories being sent its way in a matter of a few hours. Portion control is important. I usually fix 2 chicken breasts at once, cut them in half, and thats 4 of my main meals a day. Add broccoli or cauliflower or some type of veggie with that chicken, small portion of rice, (half cup) fruit, and you have a meal! This works with turkey, tuna. . .pork. . . ect. You can even use red meat as long as you maintain portion control. How do I know this? I did it. Im currently doing it. and I will continue to do it until I reach my target weight of 200 pounds. One thing I recommend, preparing all of your days meals at one time, and packing them all in separate containers. I substituted Mt Dew for flavored water. Go to your local WalMart. . . and look in the section. Find "Mio" they are a small container of flavor enhancer, now, look right beside them, and there is a generic version called "great value" its the generic wal mart brand for about a dollar less. Use this as a substitute for your Soda/Pop/Cola. Drink lots and lots of water. I have a 3 quart water bottle that im continuously filling up and drinking off of all day. Carry it with you everywhere you go. This plus more meals of much smaller portions, and you are on your way to shocking your system in wanting to lose weight and speed up its metabolism.

EXERCISE

Time to wake up and smell the coffee. Get off your fat ass, and get it outside. It doesnt have to be heart pounding hard and crazy. All it takes is walking out the front door. Try doing this. Get your ipod/smartphone, download your favorite JAM songs from high school. ( Can anyone remember "Eye Of The Tiger" by survivor? It starts every single workout for me. ) Plug in a headset, walk out the door. . . and take your ass for a walk. Practice your mental war-gaming. look at your environment. Look at the ebb & flow of it. How things move within it. Look at what people are doing in their day to day routines. How can you use it? How will it work against you? Working out doesnt have to be painful folks. it can be a mental exercise as well as a physical one. Make it a practice of walking 30 minutes out in one direction, then 30 minutes back. Im NOT talking power walking, jogging, or running, Im talking a nice leisurely pace. Walk 30 out, then 30 back. This whole time, look at your environment. enjoy it. If its not enjoyable, you wont do it again. Make it fun. (We preppers pride ourselves in our ability to look ahead, yet it seems we forgot the most important prep. Taking care of ourselves.) Now that youve done this for a week, I want you to keep doing it for the next week, only this time, pick up the pace just a little bit. Distance wise, you should be able to cover an extra city block or maybe even two. Continue this for another full week. Each week afterwards, pick up your pace a little bit more to the point where you start to consider a extremely slow jog.


Now that the cardio is out of the way, lets look at muscle building. Im going to surprise you all with a little trick I learned from a trainer friend of mine.

2 minutes.

2 minutes of pushup per hour. how hard is it? You dont have to do 100 pushups, just do 2 minutes of them. I dont care what you do as a job, you can excuse yourself to disappear for two minutes per hour somewhere. Once you have completed your workday and are at home, 2 minutes of situps/ or holding the plank position, or crunches, or leg-lifts. something to work your core. it doesnt have to be monster repetition, just do two minutes of it. 2 minutes every hour. If you are awake for 16 hours a day, that is a total of only 32 minutes of actual core exercises a day. add that to your walking, and you all of a sudden, you have a workout plan! It doesnt have to be hard, or painful Those of us with injuries will find out that this also works. the trick to all of this, is just stick with it. Its so easy to put that weight on, and its hell to take it off. But once you get it off, youve done all the hard work, now all you have to do is maintain it.

Trust me when I say this, you may hate me now for being blunt, for being honest, and in your face about it. But, when the time comes and you need to be in shape, deep inside, your are going to be thanking me. I dont care if you acknowledge me about this, nor do I care if you tell me to go pound sand, The only person who this is going to benefit is you. But you have to want to do it, and you have to stick with it. I dont care if it takes posting results here online for all to see, or calling members here for motivation, do what the fuck it takes. Nobody is going to do it for you, and in the end, its one of the surefire ways to ensure survivability. (think Zombieland rules here, rule #1, cardio. . .)


In conclusion, all I can say is get off your fat ass, and get moving. If you dont want to do what it takes to keep yourself healthy, then send me all that ammo, guns, food preps and silver youve been hoarding, because honestly, you probably wont need it because you wont survive long enough to use it. Nothing but tough love from me to you!


Stay Frosty!
Stormfeather

[The Stig]

Trust me when I say this, you may hate me now for being blunt, for being honest, and in your face about it.

Nah. The old blood and guts screaming thing doesn't make me mad. Doesn't motivate me or convince me of anything either. But it doesn't make me mad.

I do appreciate you typing all that out however, because besides all the drill-instructor stuff you are 1,000,000% right.

I felt so good when I had gotten myself in shape, and feel like so much shit now that I'm back to carrying 20-30lbs of blubber in my gut. I know all I have to do is step foot back in the gym once to get going again but it's taking that first step that seems to get me.

[Stormfeather]

Take that step buddy! All it takes is one step, you know it and I know it. As a matter of fact, im finishing up now and heading out to work out for today! why dont ya join me in spirit? I go do mine, and you go do yours!

As a fyi, this post wasnt directed to anyone in particular, so please dont think it was intended as such. Im a firm believer in Positive/negative motivation, like beating the donkey with the carrot. . .I think thats how its supposed to work! This was meant as a mass message to all who needed a kick in the ass to get moving!

Stay Frosty!
Stormfeather

[Grumpy Old Man]

As an old bald arthritic fat guy, I can tell you several things. After 50 your metabolism slows down, fat goes on more quickly than it comes of, stamina decreases, recovery time increases. It's just the way it is. When I broke my ribs and vertebra last time I was 53 and for 6 weeks didn't do a whole lot physically, but I ate well....too well. Then I was flying a desk and wasn't too motivated, although I did do some stuff with the ponies.

Now I walk, take my herbal supplements, ride my tricycle around the plant, drink mucho filtered water, avoid soda pop and beer, and I eat three meals/day! DON'T skip breakfast!!!! Have an apple, oatmeal, Grape Nuts (a personal favorite) a banana, but have something. I used to have mexican breakfast (coffee and a cigarette) and load up at lunch and eat a light dinner and still couldn't lose weight. Only after I started spreading my caloric intake over the day did the weight start going. Does it go fast? No! but I've lost 20 lbs since the first of the year and I'll keep at it, but not at the pace I was able to do 10 years ago.

I will enlighten you further on things guys over fifty should know down at the Saloon and Grill.

[The Stig]

Take that step buddy! All it takes is one step, you know it and I know it. As a matter of fact, im finishing up now and heading out to work out for today! why dont ya join me in spirit? I go do mine, and you go do yours!

As a fyi, this post wasnt directed to anyone in particular, so please dont think it was intended as such. Im a firm believer in Positive/negative motivation, like beating the donkey with the carrot. . .I think thats how its supposed to work! This was meant as a mass message to all who needed a kick in the ass to get moving!

Stay Frosty!
Stormfeather

No worries mate...wasn't taking it personal at all.

[mitunnelrat]

Damn! I'm not used to anyone but me talking to me like that!

Seriously, you laid out the plan I follow almost to the letter, which I picked up and modified from the Men's Health Hard Body Guide. The exception being the 2 minutes every hour routine, but I'm going to throw a PT mat in my car now for work hours.

I even shit talk myself like that as I work out. Ok, maybe a little worse than that. I have a foul mouth.

I know I was talking in this thread about the paleo diet, and culling certain foods. Works for some people, not for me. I like too many "bad" things too much to cut them out entirely. So I'd have to agree your methods and eating schedule are the way to go. Experience has shown me it works. I'm more of an iced green tea guy now than flavored water though

I rarely leave home without a one gallon jug of water and my 32oz Nalgene to drink from anymore. It replaced the Dew that was a permanent accessory for a long time. Over a gallon a day in soda at one point. Now, I'm ok with only drinking it if I'm eating pizza, and even then its Pepsi, and only 8 ounces of it.

That book I keep mentioning makes all of this stupid easy to do too. If anyone else reading is the type to "need a plan" before doing anything. Get this book. It takes all the guesswork, development, and (for me) excuses away. From exercises, to meal/ workout timing, to how and what to eat...

Also, to follow up on what Stormy said, cardio can come in many variations. I'd recommend finding what you enjoy the most to start with, or what you can do easily as a parent (like attaching a kiddie trailer to a bicycle or something).

I tend to push myself, but now I work just as hard to keep it varied and fun so I don't burn out and quit. Even if something I do sucks (like interval training over 4 miles yesterday) I can recognize its only one hour, push through, and if its that bad I know I can substitute something else in its stead next time, like bike riding or swimming, etc.

I won't do that with running though, or rucking. I originally said combatives too, but figure that should actually be fun...

And I think that just solved my workout scheduling...

[GunnerMax]

so far this deployment I have lost 20 pounds. I chalk it up to:

No beer
No soda
insane amounts of water
and my meals are now 80%+ veggies

[tompnoid]

I call it the rocky work out 45 min cardio then free weights low weight 40 50 lbs and mixing cardio shadow boxing with the fre weights curls sun gods and sit ups and 6 inches. then muscle failure with free weights those of you who don't know what muscle failure is its starting at 20 then counting down to 1 then 19 to 1 and 18 ans so on work till your muslces fall apart it tears and rips all the while building strength and tone.

[msomnipotent]

I started exercising on February 28th. I started out really slowly, but I am up to 1 1/2 hrs on the treadmill at least several times a week. I try for every day now that my back and neck stopped bothering me. It turns out that you really shouldn't be swinging dumbells around while walking 3.5 mph on a treadmill or you risk throwing your back out. Who knew? I have only lost 10 pounds so far, but I finally have some muscle tone for the first time since getting RA. And now the dog gives out before I do on our walks!

I would probably be a lot thinner if cava wasn't so cheap and tasty. It doesn't help to eat salad and fruit all day and then drink a bottle of Spanish champagne to celebrate the fact that I lost some weight. It is a vicious cycle, I tell you!