[RoyalWe91]

So my wife and I started running recently after realizing we've both gained about 15lbs in the past 12mo. We also hike pretty regularly when the weather is nice. So here's the thing, we've only recently (today) gotten to the point of running 2 miles, and when we finished I thought to myself "if the **** went down, we'd need to move quick much further than that, and with weight!". We live in a city, and it's a few miles to the outside and wilderness. I assume the worst so my preps plan mostly for hoofing it as I doubt we'd get far by vehicle before hitting a traffic jam.
Anyway, apart from working on running what else do you all do for PT to stay prepared. Also do you have any tips on how to run or make it better? I have a hard time motivating my wife to really push herself and she seems like she's having a much harder time with running than I am.

 

[AFF]

High intensity interval training HIIT
tabata
Michigan state drills

Look those up on YouTube and follow some of the challenges ... They are brutal for a 8-10 min workout!!!

 

[TachMed]

Cross train to build both stamina and strength. If it comes down to it you might need to be able to walk all day with a pack strapped to your back. Or you may have to run all day to evade, or if things really get to sucking both.

 

[MooseMax]

Anyway, apart from working on running what else do you all do for PT to stay prepared.

This is what i do - http://www.survivalistboards.com/showpost.php?p=7313931&postcount=4

To prepare for hiking with a pack, hike with a pack - don't worry so much about running. :thumb:

 

[TachMed]

^^^^^ Yep what he said

 

[Trails End]

High intensity interval training HIIT
tabata
Michigan state drills

Look those up on YouTube and follow some of the challenges ... They are brutal for a 8-10 min workout!!!

TABATAS! The fastest way to gain cardiovascular endurance. Hands down. Olympic athlete training center pushes that stuff hard. Locate an oval track. Sprint the straights, walk the turns. It will destroy you! AWESOME physical training!

 

[dontbuypotteryfromme]

For motivation set a goal. Do a tough mudder or something.

 

[Expatman]

here is something I do when taking a break from weight training. It is a hell of a lot more fun than just running for cardio and weight loss:

1. 5-10 min. war-up jog
2. Air Squats X 20
3. Push-ups X 20
4. jumping jacks X 20
5. renegade rows X 20 (15 Kg dumb bells)
6. Tire Flips X 20
7. Mountain Climbers X 20
8. crunches X 20 (feet in the air and 20 in each direction, front, to the left and to the right)
9. Dumb Bell Clean & Press X 10 (15 Kg dumb bells)
10. pull-ups/Chin-ups X to failure (alternate between pull-ups and chin-ups every circuit.
11. 5 min. cool-down jog

do number 2 through number 10 straight through with as little time between each exercise as possible. rest for 1-2 min. (your choice I rest for 1 or less) then repeat 2 through 10 for a total of four circuits.

I am in pretty good shape and struggle to hit 2-10 within 35 min. You can scale it back and only do two circuits as you try to build up to four. Once at four then try to get your time down as low as possible.

It is an awesome workout and so much more fun than plain running. It will help you build some muscle throughout your body while at the same time tremendously increasing your cardio capacity.

 

[богдан]

You won't be running with a pack in any situation if you value your knees.
Want to see how you would do booking it. Try to maintain 4 mph speed with a 50lb pack 15 min miles or 3mph 20 min miles. 4mph is army standard approach speed for a forced march.

As for exercises you really want to go for functional fitness do a good weight lifting routine to focus on muscles you will most use to prevent injury aome cardiovascular and other stuff

For ruck ing you want to do good lower body back and core

 

[okcmco]

I committed to increasing My endurance, strength, energy levels, and flexibility. I have a pacemaker that addresses a birth defect (had it since I was 40). Because of this, my heart rate needs to stay under 155-160 or the pacemaker thinks I am fibrulating, and will bring my heart rate down to 72. At which point I simply stop whatever I am doing!
With all of this in mind, my regimen is cardio, strength training, and yoga. And since I am easily bored and also pretty busy, I combine. And I try to do exercises.that work multiple muscles and systems at the same time. I get my cardio in for half an hour, and keep my heart rate up for another half hour doing chin ups, push ups, rows, squats or leg presses, back presses, curls, all in a circuit so that I have kept my heart rate up for 1 hour- 1 hour and a half
This routine is 3 days a week. Then yoga 2 days a week. The routine keeps me strong and helps me lose weight and increases endurance. The yoga helps with my balance and keeps me limber so injury is less likely. Also teaches me proper breathing. I try to do 6-7 hours per week but I think I need to increase to 10
Sometimes I will work out in the woods, trying to mimic many of my strength exercises without any equipment. Tree branches 6' off the ground for chin ups, 3' off the ground for rows etc.
Sometimes I will put 20 pounds in one of my older packs and do an hour on a read ill at 15 degrees incline. This gets me some funny looks at the gym
I am tempted to do cross fit but I am 53 and getting injured would put a dent in my training...

 

[skiwithnoskis]

I am tempted to do cross fit but I am 53 and getting injured would put a dent in my training...

If you scale to your fitness and ability level you will be fine. It is a great workout I have been going 4-5 times a week for 3 yrs. I am 40 and in better shape than I was in high school:thumb:

 

[JLW1974]

Just keep up the hiking and watch your calorie intake. While hiking, do so with a loaded backpack. Keep adding weight each time you go out until you hit 45 or so pounds, provided your pack is up for the job. Up the miles and intensity of your hiking trails.

Running is fine but hiking is a much better aerobic exercise IMHO and you will lose weight just the same and easier on the knees if you hike with sticks on the descending slopes.

 

[dirtnapper]

Ugh, I'm so tired of hearing about people thinking they are running off to the "woods" to survive. Very few people have ever done that and the chances of that now are far less than before. There is plenty of equipment to detect heat signatures, hollows in the ground, etc etc etc .... you are running nowhere when the economies collapse.
Made it to the woods? Congratulations, you and the other half million people around you will be a good target. You can't successfully run from change. It has to be fought up front, on the front lines, otherwise you lose.

 

[Runamok]

High Intensity Interval Training for cardio-helps you recover faster from strenuous activity. You aren't going to be slowly jogging away from a threat. You will be hauling ass. Same thing of going up a steep hill. It takes a lot of energy for a short period and then you need to recover quickly.

Body weight functional movements for strength-Pullups, squats, rows, pushups/bench press. These are the basic body movements that you should really seek to work on. I typically cycle between, 4-6, 8-10 and 12+rep sets every couple of months to keep progressing.

Extensive core muscle work-this will separate the truly in shape for SHTF and those that aren't. Almost any activity in a SHTF world will require a good deal of core work. Carrying a pack, splitting wood, etc. The deconditioning of core muscles is probably one of the top reasons for spinal issues as well. And there are few things more detrimental than something like that in a SHTF world.

 

[ckirkwood630]

Could give boxing a try. It's great for people just starting to workout or if you're experienced. It's great for cardio, weight loss, strength and endurance training and conditioning, plus by the nature of the sport you're training in one on one fighting (admittingly there are rules), it makes an effective all round workout. Boxing is widely regarded as one of the most effective sports at both entry and experienced level.

It doesn't require any special equipment and includes combinations of running, body weight exercises and circuit training with the option to add weights if you wanted for a more intense workout. Plus post disaster you can continue boxing and boxercise style workouts at home.

If you're looking other options you could try cycling in place of driving say to work, take stairs instead of lifts and for motivation consider entering into full or half marathons as a goal for you running.

Also, maybe consider doing your workouts in trousers, long sleeved shirts and boots, it's not much but the friction of the extra material can contribute over time.

Hope this helps somehow. Good luck.

 

[Belnik]

So my wife and I started running recently after realizing we've both gained about 15lbs in the past 12mo. We also hike pretty regularly when the weather is nice. So here's the thing, we've only recently (today) gotten to the point of running 2 miles, and when we finished I thought to myself "if the **** went down, we'd need to move quick much further than that, and with weight!". We live in a city, and it's a few miles to the outside and wilderness. I assume the worst so my preps plan mostly for hoofing it as I doubt we'd get far by vehicle before hitting a traffic jam.
Anyway, apart from working on running what else do you all do for PT to stay prepared. Also do you have any tips on how to run or make it better? I have a hard time motivating my wife to really push herself and she seems like she's having a much harder time with running than I am.

First, I’d suggest you add variety into your running. Although it’s nice to have a set run plan to act as a yardstick to measure against, it gets old fast, at least to me.

Some basic concepts of running that I use/have used are: “long and slow”- “short and fast”- “combo or intervals*”- “run for time”- “run for distance”-“sprints”- “fartlek*”. Keep in mind I don’t consider myself a runner, I’d bet some runners have a lot more “concepts” to use than I do, also some of these overlap one another.

Fartlek, and combo/interval runs are very similar, and for all intents they are the same but if you like to split hairs there are differences. (you can read about it elsewhere) however “Fartlek” to me is how we did it in the Marines, which was really just running with stops to do different callisthenic exercise. It’s nice as its gets a lot of stuff done in a short time frame, you jog, run, sprint, and do every sort of “PT” exercise you can think of at stations intermixed with the running.

I do a lot of (what I call) combo/interval runs on the treadmill these days. For example, walk a .10 of a mile at 3mph, the run .30 of a mile at whatever, then repeat. Someday I may work a set 1-3 ratio at set speeds, another day I may keep pushing the run faster and faster, otherdays play with the incline. Today I did a 1-2 ratio of walk/run with all the runs at 9mph, somedays I mix longer runs with shorter ones in addition to the walking portion. The bottom line for myself these days is to keep it interesting…because if I don’t I will stop in favor of more fun things like lifting.

There was a time I thought running anything more than 2+ miles was stupid, that it would "eat up your muscles" , and that dynamic lifting and sprints were the ideal. The time frame when I worked both hard I was my most fit. But running distances is far from stupid, anything you don't do much of, you will do sub-par when the times comes to actually do it. The problem with running distances, is over doing it and that is going to be an individual thing.

Next comes Non-running. Like others have said, walk with a pack. Use the same concepts as running, use variety. Carry more weight some days, less others, use different courses to vary the incline if possible. Some days walk without the pack, this stuff should be fun, not just drudgery. Mix things up, use ankle weights some days, carry something in your hands on others, Drag something, or push something…it all carries over to improve your general fitness.

I think you are a fool if you don't also do some form of strength training as well (I've known a few runner/cyclists that never did any) Even if you do mostly body weight movements, they will benefit you. Mix in things like hitting a tire with a sledge hammer, skipping rope, hitting a bag etc. If you want to be well rounded you need to train that way.

Lots more could be written, but I'm sure you get the point...keep it interesting or it will just be one of those things you used to do.

 

[ArenaMoretti]

The focus needs to be on what you are preparing for - you are obviously mostly thinking of a bug out situation, but keep in mind that speed might not be the most important factor, and you also need to plan for longer term survival.

Some ability to run may be important, but focusing on walking while carrying a heavy pack may be more important (and may be easier for your wife, women often have better stamina). The ability to run may get you out of a tight spot, but walking is usually better for covering a lot of ground.

When you get to your wilderness area, what do you plan to do? If you plan to keep moving, again walking long distances is good prep. Think about the day to day things you are planning to do - do you plan to cut wood, move a deer you killed, any sort of physical work - if so, think about the muscles you will use and do something similar, if you cannot do the activity itself.

Activities like tuff mudder are great for both giving you a goal and helping you learn to deal with various obstacles. Your wife may prefer things like longer hikes, maybe combined with some weight training, particularly for increasing upper body strength. Olympic lifts and heavy weights are particularly good as they increase real strength.

My own focus tends to be mostly on bugging in, and I try to do a reasonable amount of work by hand - things like digging in the garden, splitting wood, using the hand crank items I have etc. This gives me a good indication of whether my strength and fitness will be up to having to do these things long term.

I also have a program for general fitness, and to make sure if I have to bug out I can. I aim to be sure I can hike with a pack for a couple of days (including hills) and can run for a couple hundred meters. I had to build up my running ability, at the start I could barely run at all. I started by running as far as I could (like, 20m!) then walking until my heart rate came down to a level I thought would not kill me, then ran again and repeated. Eventually using this method you can work up to the point of continuous jogging, but it only takes a month or so if you are doing it regularly to be able to run for a couple of blocks, and that will get you away from most trouble you will endounter.

I also do weight training, with a focus on olympic lifts that use multiple muscles, and I focus on heavy weights that build strength, not on buillding muscle mass.

 

[SBK]

Could give boxing a try.

Also, maybe consider doing your workouts in trousers, long sleeved shirts and boots, it's not much but the friction of the extra material can contribute over time.

Do you box in long sleeves and boots?

 

[redbrd]

Live your life train for that. Just like there are different ideas of what shtf will be, there is even more ways to exercise for it. Stay fit for life, and the things you enjoy. These are the things you will stick with and benefit you long term.

 

[1611]

....."if the **** went down, we'd need to move quick much further than that, and with weight!"

Get stronger and build your aerobic base. You need a strength reserve for optimal endurance, plus strength and endurance compliment each other as long as you don't put on too much body mass while getting stronger.

Consider wrestlers:

"The importance of strength in wrestling competition as the primary source of human power is frequently underestimated by coaches and wrestler alike. Strength underlies all other factors when one considers the total functioning of the body. Without sufficient strength other factors such as endurance, flexibility, agility, and skill cannot be used effectively."- Coach John Jesse

Or, consider alpinists:

“If you cannot pull a single hard move, you have nothing to endure.” - Mountaineer and climber Tony Yaniro

We live in a city, and it's a few miles to the outside and wilderness.

Don't worry about it just hike with a load every weekend if you can. You don't need to do that everyday to get good at it. Doing it too often may even be counter productive.

I assume the worst so my preps plan mostly for hoofing it as I doubt we'd get far by vehicle before hitting a traffic jam.

Have a strength reserve and a big aerobic base.

Anyway, apart from working on running what else do you all do for PT to stay prepared.

Lift heavy things.

Also do you have any tips on how to run or make it better?

Pose technique.

I have a hard time motivating my wife to really push herself and she seems like she's having a much harder time with running than I am.

Let her build her aerobic base and don't worry about speed until later. Some posters have mentioned High Intensity Interval Training. Okay, but HIIT will work even better if it's added onto a big aerobic base. Training exclusively with HIIT was all the rage among MMA fighters for a bit but now many are going back to building an aerobic base after training exclusively with HIIT and gassing out in fights. MMA trainer Joel Jameson has some good observations and thoughts on this. So does Dr. Phil Maffetone.

To summarize: Spend about three months lifting heavy and running slowly. Take a hike on the weekends. Chances are, if the world as we know it ends in that time and you die it was not because you were not doing HIIT. If you add in the intervals and sprints after building a strength reserve and an aerobic base they will have a greater effect than if you jumped into doing that right off the bat.