Physical Fitness & Survival

[pierre girard]

LOL, I move very slowly or take a snow maschine. I had trouble getting my snowshoes on and off, lost a little my breath with all the cloth and the fat stomach but now I learned to switch the snowshoes on and off without bending down.

LOL still I hope to fight off some weight, christmas pushed me up too at the moment I bring a nice 95 Kg on the scale. Started with some skiing around the place here to get in better shape. I want to be down to 85kg next year this time around. Would be cool to start a list and see if we manage our goals.

cheers
Abbe

Abbe:

What do you use for snowshoe bindings?

I've always been partial to a lamp wicking squaw hitch - which can be a little tedious to tie - but which seldom come undone. Wing likes the gum rubber bindings - a quick tug - and they're on.

PG

 

[Abbe Osram]

Abbe:

What do you use for snowshoe bindings?

I've always been partial to a lamp wicking squaw hitch - which can be a little tedious to tie - but which seldom come undone. Wing likes the gum rubber bindings - a quick tug - and they're on.

PG

I use a kind of cord like something like the lamp wick I dont know the name for the cord. Here is a picture:

cheers
Abbe

 

[Lurch]

but how do you tell one of your best mates you think they fat?

You don't, as a smack in the mouth often offends!

 

[Brian Curnel]

Abbe is that just flat braided nylon?

Oh and to keep the thread true: People often don't need to be told they are fat they are aware of it! A suggestion maybe to eating a smarter meal might be a good start.

 

[william#]

ok
with out full use of arms what can yu do in bushcraft / surnival
i put this forward as i have just partialy dislocated both shoulders

 

[Abbe Osram]

Abbe is that just flat braided nylon?

Oh and to keep the thread true: People often don't need to be told they are fat they are aware of it! A suggestion maybe to eating a smarter meal might be a good start.

Yes, I guess it is. Its a bit slick and I am sure lamp wick is better but I dont know how to get it here.

cheers
Abbe

 

[Brian Curnel]

Yes, I guess it is. Its a bit slick and I am sure lamp wick is better but I dont know how to get it here.

cheers
Abbe

Abbe lampwick is cotton though, and not as durable as nylon, are you sure you'd want cotton as a strap?

 

[Abbe Osram]

Abbe lampwick is cotton though, and not as durable as nylon, are you sure you'd want cotton as a strap?

I thought it would not slip as much, mine slip sometimes.
The nylon has a slippy surface.
//abbe

 

[Brian Curnel]

You could tie a girth hitch (larks head) to the sides of the toe strap if tats the one giving you problems and attach it to your gaiter or the rear strap that would keep it from sliding so much or if you wanted a more permanent set up use a taughtline hitch to tighten or loosen each time.

My stomach sometimes gets in the way LOL so I have to cross my legs to get to a strap....geeez

 

[RovingArcher]

ok
with out full use of arms what can yu do in bushcraft / surnival
i put this forward as i have just partialy dislocated both shoulders

Are you on the mend then? Has anyone put your shoulders back in line? I've never dislocated a shoulder, but have injured my back and shoulders by pulling muscles and tendons. For sure, injury falls into physical fitness I'd think and even a partial dislocation seems like it would be painful and having both shoulders injured would make things much more difficult. However, if you have skills and some tollerance for pain, you can do most things that wouldn't require you to lift much weight or elevate your arms beyond your ability to withstand the pain.

 

[Brian Curnel]

William sorry to hear about your injuries, Shoulders are very important but as Archer said you can do things in Bushcraft using mechanical advantage. I usually hammock camp, it is easy to set up, keeps you off the ground and is nice to your body. Plus it doesn't require alot of physical demand. Starting fire would be most challenging for you I think without the aid of a lighter but i'd certainly use either firesteel, solar magnification or Potassium Permangenate and Glycerine chem. reaction. I don't know to what extent your injuries are but just a couple of suggestions in dealing with pain.. deal with it smarter not harder.

 

[Alchemist]

1- The BMI index is now regarded as outdated. It only looks at two variables, height and weight. It doesnt distinguish between healthy muscle weight and porky fat weight. Athletes have known this for years because most male athletes (including rugby players, rowers like me and swimmers like swampy matt) are regarded as overweight on the BMI when they may be very lean. The BIA is the posh term for your body fat %. This is important. They do some good scales that take your BIA, Tanita are a good brand.

2- If you think your mate is fat then dont be up front. Dont do anything like buy him a skipping rope or running shoes for his birthday either. One good idea is to start up some exercise yourself. Then you should ask if he will join you for some moral support or for a practical reason. He might still see through you but at least he will know you made some effort at discretion. Just an idea.

 

[P Wren]

I agree with what quite a few people on here have said about physical fitness. Alchemist's first point about physical fitness and the BMI index is a very good one.

I bet a lot of Bushcrafters, especially those who are outdoors a lot, will be in better shape physically than you think.

If you are walking, collecting and chopping, carrying rucksacks laden with all that lovely kit we seem to accumulate and foraging for food then you're probably getting a good all round work out - and probably developing a core fitness that is better than many gym bunnies develop on those machines. If you exercise regularly, eat healthily then you body will find its own optimum weight.

There seems to be a real hang up concerning what weight we should be - instead of developing a core level of fitness - and being fit for the activities that you participate.

Rowers, sprinters, climbers, marathon runners will all be fit for the sport that they participate in - they would struggle and maybe develop injuries if they switched to a different activity. A beefy rugby player may have difficulty shimmying up difficult climbing route, and a long distance runner might snap in several places if they ran head long into a scrum !

I'm 34 years old and 180cm (5'11") and weigh in at 90kg (14 Stone). Going by the tables I'm over weight . I am broad shouldered and have a bit of a tummy too. However, I'm a fencing coach and fence twice a week and visit the gym 3 to four times a week where I do a moderate weights programme and either a cardio or endurance training session. This is either done on a cross trainer cycle or rowing machine - I can't run for any length of time as I have acute achillies tendonitis on both ankles. As a result my resting heart rate is 62 beats per minute - so my level or cardio vascular fitness is that of a 24/25 year old.

My diet consists of almost no processed foods at - I cook and prepare all my own meals from fresh ingredients and have been broadly following my training routine for 18 months. My weight has hardly changed - in fact it has increased from 86 kg to 90. This is simply down to muscle mass - as the muscles I use mainly my legs are very developed.

Dr Mike Stroud, Polar Explorer and Military Physician, has written an absolutely superb book on this subject called "Survival of the Fittest: Anatomy of Peak Physical Performance"

Well worth a read…

PW

 

[william#]

will look out for mr strouds book
the problem with training for peak fitness is as the name implies creating a peak which as we all know is a very short time .
sadly as we are not robots we are subject to not only are own peak and troths but also and - as i know at the minute -injury .
as was mentioned before a core fitness is possibly the best way forward with activitys such as walking chopping ect .
has anyone here ever over trained ? it hits you like a lead balloon . i really dont think yu should worry to much about weight i mean it does give you an advantage if yu have some beef - ie using the wieght to break branches - and also yu would make a great meal if things got real bad lol
yeh the shoulders - i have partialy dislocated the scapulars its a strange feeling i can tell you and makes you have to think round everything you do - i think ray did a program on a nam vet with broken leg and and shoulder spending about 3 hrs stripping a bannana tree with his good foot and good arm for a meagre amount of starch .
things have not got that bad for me i manage to pick up the mobile select pizza and press send then after about half an hour i have some food at my door
i started hammocking this year - its true i can not see any way back to the ground any more