We talk about all of the things we need to acquire to prep: Food stockpiles, water, weapons and ammo, medications but are there any threads on prepping our bodies?
We are so spoiled. With easy access to AC, cars, power tools and myriad other luxuries, we tend to let our belongings do most of the work for us. We ride our mowers to mow the lawn and the clippings are sucked up into a bag. Or we use that same system to collect leaves that have fallen. We drive to the store that's only 1/2 a mile away (yes, that's me) with the AC blowing on high, park as close to the door as possible, lean on the cart as we walk through the grocery store, then text someone in the house (me again) to help carry in the groceries.
I read a prepper's blog yesterday that talked about how we can make ourselves healthier now and prep our bodies for a SHTF situation. It really hit home for me. I do have health issues but maybe following some of the suggestions on that blog could help me to overcome some of those issues. I can't find the blog again so I can't link to it or directly quote it, but here is what I took from it:
At least once a day, do something the "hard" way. Instead of sucking those leaves up into the mower bag, get a rake and wheelbarrow and physically move those leaves yourself to the compost pile. Instead of driving to the store, put on your backpack and get on your bicycle or walk, (obviously this only works if you're picking up just a few things.)
Mind over muscle - your body will always want to quit. You have to push yourself. I have been doing this in my garden now. I don't have a tiller or power anything for my garden. When it needs to be weeded, I get out there and do it all by hand and I force myself to keep going even though my body is begging for AC. And when you do have to take a break, don't run right in to the AC. Sit outside in the heat and drink water.
Jogging every day is excellent to prepare your body but can you cut down that tree using just an ax and hand saw? Will you be able to do it when you have to get wood ready to heat the house for the winter and there's no more fuel to run your chainsaw? I have branches that need to come off of a couple of trees and have been putting off calling someone to bring their chainsaw over to do it for me. Now, I will use my handsaw to do it. Yes, it will take a lot longer, but I have plenty of time and my body could use the workout.
I used to be a very physically active person. This past year, I have done a lot of sitting on my butt feeling sorry for myself. Oh, I've made a good show of eating healthier. I'm even going to excuse a lot of my sitting around since I spent a large part of that time researching how to eat healthier. But I have seriously neglected physical activity and my endurance probably is so poor as to be non-existent right now.
I am even going to lay a little of the blame on my ex. He actually told me that I could only build endurance through structured exercise, that working around the yard didn't provide any real health benefits. Okay, I'll take the blame for that, too, since I know better, but allowed him to convince me otherwise.
I read here that many of you are very active, hiking, camping, working on the farm, but for those of us who don't have physical jobs or physical demands at home that help us to build endurance, let's get thoughtful and creative and start thinking of ways we can build our strength and endurance as part of our preps.
We are so spoiled. With easy access to AC, cars, power tools and myriad other luxuries, we tend to let our belongings do most of the work for us. We ride our mowers to mow the lawn and the clippings are sucked up into a bag. Or we use that same system to collect leaves that have fallen. We drive to the store that's only 1/2 a mile away (yes, that's me) with the AC blowing on high, park as close to the door as possible, lean on the cart as we walk through the grocery store, then text someone in the house (me again) to help carry in the groceries.
I read a prepper's blog yesterday that talked about how we can make ourselves healthier now and prep our bodies for a SHTF situation. It really hit home for me. I do have health issues but maybe following some of the suggestions on that blog could help me to overcome some of those issues. I can't find the blog again so I can't link to it or directly quote it, but here is what I took from it:
At least once a day, do something the "hard" way. Instead of sucking those leaves up into the mower bag, get a rake and wheelbarrow and physically move those leaves yourself to the compost pile. Instead of driving to the store, put on your backpack and get on your bicycle or walk, (obviously this only works if you're picking up just a few things.)
Mind over muscle - your body will always want to quit. You have to push yourself. I have been doing this in my garden now. I don't have a tiller or power anything for my garden. When it needs to be weeded, I get out there and do it all by hand and I force myself to keep going even though my body is begging for AC. And when you do have to take a break, don't run right in to the AC. Sit outside in the heat and drink water.
Jogging every day is excellent to prepare your body but can you cut down that tree using just an ax and hand saw? Will you be able to do it when you have to get wood ready to heat the house for the winter and there's no more fuel to run your chainsaw? I have branches that need to come off of a couple of trees and have been putting off calling someone to bring their chainsaw over to do it for me. Now, I will use my handsaw to do it. Yes, it will take a lot longer, but I have plenty of time and my body could use the workout.
I used to be a very physically active person. This past year, I have done a lot of sitting on my butt feeling sorry for myself. Oh, I've made a good show of eating healthier. I'm even going to excuse a lot of my sitting around since I spent a large part of that time researching how to eat healthier. But I have seriously neglected physical activity and my endurance probably is so poor as to be non-existent right now.
I am even going to lay a little of the blame on my ex. He actually told me that I could only build endurance through structured exercise, that working around the yard didn't provide any real health benefits. Okay, I'll take the blame for that, too, since I know better, but allowed him to convince me otherwise.
I read here that many of you are very active, hiking, camping, working on the farm, but for those of us who don't have physical jobs or physical demands at home that help us to build endurance, let's get thoughtful and creative and start thinking of ways we can build our strength and endurance as part of our preps.
