Tough Enough - Rumble
Before I even start, I have to say that you must talk with your doctor and find out whether your use of any of the products or activities mentioned in this post, or indeed anywhere on this site, is appropriate for you. Get a complete physical and your doctor’s permission before beginning any physical activity. All statements are only personal opinion, and have not been approved by any authority or agency or anyone else whatsoever. And read our disclaimer statement.
You’ve gotten enough rest and you’re ready to rumble.
So, what would be a good work out to prepare your body for an emergency situation?
First on the list… stamina.
It is most important that you be able to grind on and on under adverse circumstances. To me, that defines aerobics. Aerobics are really not my cup of tea. But I do them, in various forms, because they are a very good way to develop stamina.
But there are other good ways to increase your stamina. Swimming is very, very good. Tennis to some extent. Basketball, certainly so. Whatever makes you pant and sweat over a longer period of time will do nicely, thank you.
You can also build stamina with cables and free weights, if you do it right. A few years ago, I came up with this theory that if I exercised my upper body aerobic-style fashion, I would take off fat where I needed it taken off the most, which is on my upper body. Guess what? It works just great! On me, at least. And it’s a really good aerobic workout in the bargain. How can you beat that?
I’ll do an hour or two of light-to-medium-weight cable exercises that I can repeat 30, 50 or even 100 times on each side… then rest long enough to add 5 or 10 pounds of weight… and then do it again. And again. Sometimes instead of counting repetitions, I just start an exercise when a song comes on, and then keep on doing it until the song is over.
Second on the list is… debatable. But strength is certainly on the list somewhere.
If you need to lift debris off people, or carry supplies a long distance, or even give an injured person a lift over your shoulder, then what they call core strength really comes in handy.
Good strength/stamina building exercises include deadlifts, leg squats, and bench presses (at different angles), in that order.
Read and comprehend the Joe Weider principles of weightlifting before you even start. It will save you a lot of pain for no gain.
Speaking of pain, pain means you should STOP. Not push through it.
Discomfort is fine. You should be mentally strong enough to push through discomfort. Hurting is okay. Harming is not. Learning the difference between the two can take a while. If you are afraid of injury, do not weightlift.
Deadlifts can involve 435 muscles, if done correctly. That is very nearly every muscle in the body. Squats can involve nearly as many.
The secret to deadlifts is to plant your feet flat and try to ‘push the floor away from you’ with your leg muscles… rather than try to lift the weight with your back, which is a very, very bad idea.
For squats, be sure to keep your heels on the floor, and slowly squat down until the top of your legs are parallel with the floor. Or even further than that, if you can. NEVER BOUNCE at the bottom. Keep your back in a ‘neutral’ position, without curving it forward or backward.
Bench presses are a generic upper body movement that gives a lot of overall strength, and they are relatively simple. Just be careful not to load on too much weight, because it is very easy to injury the rotator cuff of the shoulder, among other things. Getting stuck at the bottom of a bench press with no one to help the weight off of you is one of two ways most serious weightlifting accidents occur. (The other is curling the spine off the back of the seat as you do heavy leg presses.)
Again, get your doctor’s permission, your chiropractor’s permission, your insurance agent’s permission, and read Joe Weider before doing any weightlifting. It is so fine. But it is intrinsically not safe.
Other ways of building strength include some construction jobs, masonry… all those kinds of work that is actually work. If you do that 8 to 16 hours a day, no need to go to a gym unless you just like to do it. Funny, but I know lots of people who have that sort of job and do exactly that. I see them in the gym all the time.
I almost forgot one of the best ways to build stamina, and a degree of strength in your legs.
Walking. Or hiking.
You do a little today, more tomorrow, and eventually you find yourself doing 20 milers on the weekend. Nothing is safe any more, but this is probably one of the safest ways of building up stamina over time.
