Quote of the Day and Fitness Reminder

"The most important thing you can do as a patriot in this country is get your butt in shape"
-David AKA SouthernPrepper1

People grossly underestimate the physical demands of combat and true 18th- 19th century living. No going to a cool guy class on a flat 25 meter range or having a few chickens and a small garden are not just about the same thing. Cutting your own wood with a chainsaw, hauling it in a truck then splitting it with a hydraulic splitter is not the same thing.

This serious mistake is compounded by the fact that fitness is a genuine slow cooker concept. Think of it like cooking with a crock pot. If dinner isn't in by 10 you aren't eating it at 6. It takes hours and there is no crank the oven up to 500 and cut off the burned parts option. Should you mess up and stick it into the oven at 2 dinner will be at 10pm. There is just no way around it.

Key to crock pots and physical fitness are patience. That chicken is going to take hours to go from frozen to wonderfully cooked. You didn't get into whatever condition you are currently in overnight and you won't get out of it overnight either. It's going to take between a couple months and a year or two depending on where you are and where you want to go with the variable of how much you are willing/ able to work in the middle. Obviously going from a morbidly obese couch potato to the fitness level of a collegiate athlete or JSOC Jedi will take a really like time. For a reasonably healthy person ditching a 20 pound spare tire, building up to running a decent 5k/ road marching a decent 10k and putting on some muscle might be more of a 4 month thing. 

The point is to get started now.

Food and Fitness

Too many folks are doing a lot of reading and blogging and discussing but not enough DOING.

Food and fitness are the two primary areas people tend to fail in at the most basic level. For goodness sake do something to improve your situation.

Food is easy. We could go at it from a lot of angles but at the most basic level just buy a little bit more of the stuff you regularly eat on each shopping trip. I am talking about shelf stable stuff like dried pasta and sauce, beans, rice, pancake mix, Bisquick, peanut butter and jelly and various canned goods. We will touch on money later but if you can't manage to squeeze five or ten bucks of extra stuff into the budget per shopping trip I recommend looking at your life. If you have some more money and want to stash away some canned staples or emergency food then all the better. I care less how you do it so long as you are doing it. The point is simply that you need to be putting back food in case something happens that disrupts the supply chain.

Fitness is something way too many folks miss. I split off my fitness efforts into another blog because folks would rather talk about other things here. How folks think the world is going to collapse and they are going to be doing all this stuff but lack of fitness will not come into play baffles me. There are way more situations where you will need fitness than cool rifles and emergency food. Sort of like food getting started in any way is a good thing. Eat a bit better and do more exercise. Lift and run or do crossfit, man aerobics or whatever. Heck just go for walks. Doing anything will improve your situation.

In the context we are talking about finances are not that hard either. Avoid debt for obvious reasons. Do some thinking and educate yourself about what is happening and historical comparisons. The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse by FerFal is a bit pricey but has some great info. It's writer has actually lived through an economic collapse which is a lot more than most other folks can say. 
If you have some money that isn't doing anything right now you might want to think about what to do with it. Putting a portion of it into precious metals and emergency food could be a good way to go. 

It is easy to put too much money into firearms.  Most guys who are into preparedness like guns and it's easy to get canalized into stuff one likes. However if you are objectively short on .38 ammo for the nightstand revolver or buckshot for the scatter gun then do something about it. I like a lot of ammo but even the tightest budget will let you put back at least a couple hundred rounds per gun with a bit of dedication and some planning.


Get out and do something! Exercise and stash some food. Look at your money situation and if you need it some ammo. The bottom line is that unless your butt and gut are getting smaller and the pantry is getting filled you are not actually becoming more prepared. A little bit of knowledge put into action is a whole lot better than a bunch of knowledge which you do nothing with.

Doomsday Preppers and Solar Charger Test

Today we caught a couple episodes of Doomsday Preppers on the tv. We hadn't seen that show before as it was not available in Germany so it was pretty interesting. Some things definitely jumped out at me.

First the amount of people who were very prepared but seriously overweight amazed me. I'm not talking could stand to lose a few pounds or a bit of a belly but strait up obese. I just don't get it. The odds they will have to walk more than a couple miles, maybe carrying a moderate load like a get home bag, face a physical confrontation or pull their body over an obstacle are far higher than that they will need a year's worth of food, a Faraday cage or whatever. Also even if they have the discrete skills to survive a gunfight their fat body might not be able to move fast enough and their already taxed heart might give out due to the stress. I talk physical fitness a lot here. Running, lifting heavy things, ruck marching and generally how to be a modern day guerrilla or whatever else you wanna call it. You do not have to do what I do exactly but for goodness sake do something.

Other than that rather obvious note the biggest thing that jumped out at me were gaping holes in peoples preps. Mostly it was people with otherwise great setups that had no serious security plans. Some were seemingly intimidated by the subject and others were back to nature gardening types that are rather naive to the ways of the world.

I decided to do some testing with our little Bruton solar charger. It did a great job charging 2 AA batteries (holds 4 but I only had 2 dead ones) in about 2 hours. I tried charging a device via the USB port some time ago and it failed for undiagnosed reasons. However it did just fine with the batteries and they are what is really important so that is good. Looking at getting a bigger setup. Something large enough to charge a few devices and run some lights. Goal 0 makes some pretty nice stuff.

Anyway I hope you all have a great Sunday

What Did You Do To Prepare This Week and Dog Update

I spent a lot of time writing a post and shortly after publishing decided it had to go back to the drawing board. Not that my mind has changed on the issues but it didn't seem likely to go anywhere particularly productive.

So here we are. In a lot of ways this week was pretty good. The running went well. Lifting and rucking not so much. On the plus side I'm down a couple pounds. I think the illusive reasonable and fits into my life diet code may have been cracked. Will talk about it awhile down the road when things are a bit more conclusive.

My EDC/ GHB is pretty much set as is the car kit. Right now I am running some stuff in the normal bag I haul around every day and just making sure to bring it when I leave the house. This helps keep the amount of 'my crazy junk' in the car to a minimum and is more useful when I have to ride with someone else or whatever. I have a bit of tweaking to do and will write about this stuff sooner or later.

Project AR Upgrade showed up which is pretty cool. It was test fired and zeroed which was big fun.

Slapped some night sights on the Glock 19 which was cool. Picked up one of those new Ruger 10/22's and a Galco Matrix paddle holster also and purchased 200 rounds of .357 magnum ammunition.

Still trying to weigh different options and make some choices. I'll probably do a post and ask your thoughts shortly.

Coming down the pipe: This week I will lift 3 times (1 down), do 3 PT oriented workouts (1 down), run 3 times (1 down) and ruck twice.  Looking to do some trial stuff on our various alternative cooking methods and fiddle around with the little solar charger we have. In the next week or two I will announce a contest. Still lining up prizes and figuring out some details but it should be pretty solid.

Dog is working out really well. He is very easy going and low maintenance. Nudges one of us when he needs to go to the bathroom and generally fit right into the family. Kiddo is still learning how to be nice to the dog but that is a work in progress.

Dog is not exactly a fierce warrior beast but he definitely pays attention to where we are and shows decent guard dog potential. He rarely barks (3x in a week I think) but seems to do it at the right times. That being said most of the home security benefits of a relatively large dog are as a deterrent. The goal is not necessarily to make an impenetrable fortress (thought that is a fine idea)  but for your place to be a higher risk for the crooks) than the one across the street so they rob them instead.

Anyway that is what has been going on this week and a view of what's coming up.

Thursday Blahness

I am so happy tomorrow is Friday. Today I am somewhat frustrated that weight loss has been stalled for a week or so. Of course it is my fault. Guess I am still trying to figure out my not early 20's anymore metabolism. I think lack of consistency has been the issue. Being good 5 days a week isn't enough any more. Decreasing the frequency and degree of 'cheat days' should be the answer.

Maybe I am a bit tired or something. Going to hit the hay early tonight. On the plus side Project AR Upgrade shipped and about to escape the life of not being owned by me. Also the first real week back at the gym is going surprisingly well and it is going to be Friday tomorrow.

Hope you all have a good Friday and tomorrow I will be less of a whiner.

What Did You Do To Prepare This Week?

Most of the past week was spent on real life stuff like getting settled here. Wifey and Walker flew down (to stay) and I picked them up yesterday. Very glad to have them here. Now we are furiously working on getting unpacked.

In terms of preparedness stuff the main thing is that I started doing regular dry fire practice. Had a few bucks lying around so I ordered Mike Seeklander's book "Your Competition Handgun Training Program", Starting Strength and a nice set of those impact sports electronic earmuffs.

Our scale came and I am pleased to say I am down a couple pounds.  It sucks but the saying that "you can't outrun the fork" is true. Drinking significantly less beer and eating better, both in terms of food choices and portions, seems to be working. Go figure.

Anyway that is what has been going on here. 

August Challenge

Challenge #1: Run/Ruck 50 miles

Challenge #2: Lose 5 pounds

Anybody with me?

No need to do both. Choose whichever challenge(s) fit your situation and goals. Look, I am not a doctor or in any way qualified to give medical or fitness advice. I am just a guy doing what he as learned in the way that works for him. It should go without saying that if you ran 0 miles last month do start running but don't be an idiot and try to do 50 miles as you will probably break something. Do couch to 5k instead.

No real logic behind either of these challenges. I had planned to run 40 but 50 seems like a nice round number. Also I want to lose a few more pounds, maybe as much as 10 but 5 is good for a month. As of earlier this week I weighed 188 pounds so that will be the start point with 183 as the goal. This morning I ran 2 miles so just 48 to go.

Winning and Losing: Eating Well, Couch to 5k, Berkey Water Filter and Solar Power

We have been making some changes lately. We have started eating a lot better. More fresh fruit and veggies, lean protien and better carbs. Less eating out, just plain junk and carbtastic blah meals. Most of it is pretty intuitive. If there are not chips in the house you won't eat chips. Having some discipline and not going out to eat every time we feel like it and that sort of thing. The carb thing is kind of a grey area with lots of folks taking different views. We have both tried the super low/ no carb thing before and it doesn't work for us. She just hates it and I am tired and weak all the time. Instead we are trying to eat more reasonable portions of wheat bread or tortillas and brown rice. Just avoiding the huge bowl of white rice or plate of pasta kind of meals. We both feel a lot better and are getting healthier.
Wifey has been doing Couch to 5k. She is midway through week 6 right now. While she, like many people, does not currently and probably never will like running it is working for her. She noticed that dragging the kid up stairs has gotten easier. I would say this is a real good program for lots of people to seriously look at. If you are a fairly healthy person who is of a reasonable (like not morbidly obese) body weight but have not been very physically active this is a great way to get back to it. Toss in some sort of weight training program and you will be good to go. If you are seriously overweight or woefully out of shape it might be wise to do some sort of build up to this program, like eating reasonably and walking 1-2 times a day several days a week for a month or two to build up some conditioning and drop some fat. As always everybody should consult a general practice doctor, a dietitian, a cardiologist and a physical therapist before any sort of change to their diet or beginning any exercise program.

Personally I am cutting back to 2 times at the weight pile a week and upping my conditioning. Still doing the big lifts, just a bit more geared toward holding what I've got while conditioning gets tightened up. The human body only has so much work capacity and most of us only have so much time so there is a sort of push/ pull relationship. If you add or up the intensity in one thing you are going to almost inevitably lose ground in some other. Also inherantly between weight training and running/ cardio/ conditioning there is an inherant trade off. It isn't a bad thing really, especially for someone without many sport specific goals. Unless you plan to be a competitive marathoner or powerlifter it really isn't an issue.

On the downside our Berkey water filter is currently deadlined. I couldn't get it to seal and pass the dye test then (maybe while slightly frusterated;) I broke one of the white plastic nut/ bolt combo's that seal up the holes without an element in it while putting it back on. So I am not sure what exactly was wrong but now there is a new problem to deal with. Talk about not moving in the right direction!

This happened about three weeks ago and I put it away in frustration. I am going to get a replacement nut/ bolt and some more elements (either to replace the faulty ones or as spares) then go from there. On the bright side the good folks at Directive 21 have been great in helping me trouble shoot things and have just been a huge help with this. If I weren't such a slacking procrastinator this problem would likely already be fixed. Had I bought our Berkey from some no name fly by night folks who knows where I would be.  There are no problems that money (hopefully not very much, I really want it to be just the washer, not the element(s)!) and time can't fix. It hasn't been a huge concern because we have another water filter. Maybe there is a lesson there.

On a nice sunny day recently I busted out my little solar charger. I fiddled with it until I had a decent idea how it was supposed to work and then plugged in my kindle. After several hours in direct sunlight nothing happened and my dead kindle was still dead. This lead to a good amount of not very nice language.

 I realised a few things from this. First of all I do not know anywhere near enough about electricity. Second since we have added all sort of stuff, some pure entertainment and some useful since picking this charger up we may have already outgrown it. Third I need to test it at it's primary purpose which will be charging AA and AAA sized batteries. I am waiting for a sunny day when I have time to mess with it. Another more substantial (probably 15-26 watts) portable solar charger and maybe some sort of battery bank could be in order. However I have to do some more testing and become a more educated consumer before putting something else onto the wish list. If anybody has good resources to check out on this front I would be interested. Specifically good primers on electricity in general and a good breakdown of what watt/ size pannels can charge what sort of stuff and in how long would be great.

These two events were pretty frusterating for me. Nothing like having to go back to the drawing board or adding something else to the shopping list in an area where you thought things were good. Then again testing stuff is a good thing, even if you don't get the answers that you would like. Far better to have issues now, with the worst case being spending a little bit of money (water filter) or adjusting my expectations and maybe searching for a new piece of gear (solar charger), then some time down the road during an emergency when I need this stuff to work.

I guess the closing point is to look at eating healthier, getting into better shape plus alsp really start testing and retesting your equipment. Odds are something that should work might not.

Just A Little Bit of Life

I sorta meant to write something today but it just kinda didn't happen. I have been expending a lot of blog energy getting ready for some upcoming time away. All the posts I have been scheduling have sapped me of ideas.

I have really enjoying being back in the gym. Wish I could spend an hour and a half there every day but just 20 minutes makes me feel a lot better. Also ditching the sugar in my morning coffee is helping. Working to eat more vegetables also, especially the fresh ones.

Today I got a box full of Spencer books in the mail. Opened one up and read most of it over a couple hours with 2 beers, a good dinner and a scotch to wash it all down. Think I will go to the bedroom to read a couple more pages then sleep.

quote of the day

 " Lose some weight, get your teeth fixed, exercise regularly, improve your lifestyle."
-Chief Instructor