A Temple

Hi Folks

Im sure there has been discussions on this board about physical fitness.

And I'm trying to get in my head the logical order of being equipped

1. Mind
a Desire to survive
b Knowledge of what you need to do to survive
c Skills how to use your knowledge and practice
what you have learnd
d Think, being able to react when things
are falling apart around you
e Mental strength, to push on when others would fail

2 Body
a Medical Fitness (going to your doctor,
correcting what is wrong ect)
b Physical trainning( endurance and streangth)

3 Eqquipment


I have started back traing a few hours aday and that is what made me think of this.

What im thinking is that the PT part has to be on going for long term success

I agree with you: Too often survival has come to mean some new, expensive piece of kit or some clever procedure.
I'm not sure how to develop mental toughness on your own. The military has been working on this for years. For example, the basis of ranger and parachute training is development of the "press on, don't quit" attitude.

As far a the physical attributes, a checkup and correction of medical prolems is the initial phase.

The next item for many of us, is a proper weight control program and your doctor may be able to help you here. I can't/won't reccommend a particular diet, but eating and lifestyle changes which gets you to and maintains your weight for body mass is crucial.

The physical training is the third aspect of your physical development. For those of us who lack the money, time and access to a formal, supervised gym, we need to develop our own program.
Expensive home exercise equipment isn't necessary.
I developed my own routine by going to a couple of manuals:
"Physical Training"- US Army FM 31-20
"Physical Conditioning"- US Army TM 21-200
"Physical Fitness, The 5BX Program"- RCAF (Canadian Armed Forces)
"Fighting Fit, The IDF Guide to Physical Fitness"- Col. David Ben-Asher
"The Royal Marine Commandos Fitness and Survival Skills"- John Watney
There are a number of other guides out there.

The critical factors are:
Start right now!
Begin small and work up.
Do it every day.
There are opportunities for variety. For instance, use an exercise cycle in winter rather than a mountain bike, long walks or hike varied with runs etc.
Again, keep at it.
GOOD LUCK!

I completely agree with your suggestions. I only would add spiritual development (some would argue that it should be part of the mind) because it can add a variety of benefits. Notably, it can provide hope, a sense of purpose, a recognition of a higher power (and subsequent development of humility) and possibly add a sense of nobility to the cause of helping others. I am keeping this very simple by pointing to "spirituality" and letting the person decide for themselves which path to take.

BTW - The best way to lose weight is still the following formula: decrease caloric intake, increase burning of calories.

Thumbs up, all the way. Being in good shape is more important in a difficult situation that any gear you might carry.

Lack of money or time to go to a gym is no excuse. You can become extremely fit without any equipment whatsoever, just your bodyweight and strict discipline. You can also easily improvise all kinds of effective fitness equipment, like sandbags instead of free weights, climbing rope, pullup bar etc. It doesn't have to be expensive. I just got back from the basement where I did 6 rounds on my heavy bag that I made out of a $2 navy surplus duffle bag. It works just as well as the commercial stuff.

Woodsloafer, those are all excellent recommendations. I would also add the Navy SEAL Physical Fitness Guide to your reading list. Another excellent resource is the site by the boxing coach Ross Enamait:
http://www.rosstraining.com/
Ross is the real deal. Lots of great ideas for bodyweight conditioning, strength training, sandbag lifting etc.

I think you want emotional toughness and mental flexibility. I just finished reading Deep Survival, and having a flexible mind that is able to quickly adapt to new situations and environments is the key most survival situations. Being emotionally tough enough to do what has to be done and not quit or fall apart, is the other factor.

The only way I can think of to develop both of those is to throw yourself into new situations and environments that will challenge you.