So you have the best guns and gear. But are you in shape?

[Kruel J]

I am 40. I walk 6-8 miles a day for my job. I hit the weights too and scale in at 6'0" 220 and 17.25" around the biceps (give me a minute to warm up lol). I am known at work as the guy that can lift heavy things. I swear it keeps me young, even when I know I'm probably a bit out of my limit.

 

[Just Jim]

SHTF lots of things can bring you down. You get old and your teeth give you more problems. Wife would brush her teeth all the time but still come up with gum disease. Had to go in every three months and cut her gums open and scrape her bones and teeth. Just reading recently where it was the tooth paste that caused the gum disease.

Imagine how bad a tooth problem can make that SHTF moment. Learn today and save yourself problems tomorrow. Yet most people are so busy they have no time to learn and they end up paying big time in the future.

 

[rick benjamin]

I wish I could cut-out meds, but my consequences are just too debilitating.
BP, SRI. Here is home, Here I'll stay.
No, really! Used to run 3-10 miles every day, 30 years ago!
Only a legend in the shadows of my mind...

 

[Just Jim]

I don't take any prescriptions, came down with Rosatia working in Iraq and the doc told me I had to take an antibiotic the rest of my life. When the flare up went down I quit taking the pills cause you couldn't work in the sun without it burning like hell. I never took them again and haven't had another flare up in 10 years. Guess the doc was wrong.

I try and stay away from doctors and drugs, it's my survival instincts after watching so many others die under poor care. Won't be any doctors in a SHTF.

 

[RVTECH]

At 56 I am probably a 'case study' for ANY medical journal - I take NO meds - am 6'2" and a slender 198 lbs (been this for years) I walk/run 4-8 miles per day on the job, complain about nothing - eat very healthy - NO soda (ever) and believe water and beer is a food group! - AND I was asked the other day (NO SHEET) if I had "Reached 40 YET!! I get 'hit on' by younger women routinely. Heck My daughter is 21 ! I FIRMLY believe my success has been due to never eating doughnuts, snacks, sweets, drinking soda etc.
- ever.

 

[Who The F R U]

And don't tell me round is a shape!

What good is the best of equipment, if your best equipment [ Your Body] is junk?

I plan on dying in place................... No need to gun and run. Most our guns weigh over 100 lbs set up.

 

[RVTECH]

Oh yea and no smoking - anything

 

[Medic!]

Last time I smoked. I was on fire!

 

[40calruler]

I plan on dying in place................... No need to gun and run. Most our guns weigh over 100 lbs set up.

I would rather have a pistol and a good set of legs than a setup that is just begging for a quick Arial attack on my family and I. I prefer stealth over guns I cannot even pack with me. Will be in the woods surviving while people "die in place".
I get standing still if for some reason you cannot move but a moving target is always a lot harder to hit!

 

[Medic!]

I just want to die strong.

 

[Just Jim]

I would rather have a pistol and a good set of legs than a setup that is just begging for a quick Arial attack on my family and I. I prefer stealth over guns I cannot even pack with me. Will be in the woods surviving while people "die in place".
I get standing still if for some reason you cannot move but a moving target is always a lot harder to hit!

Heavy weapons work well if you can keep the target in your field of fire. A person would have to be really fit to move the weapon and ammo supply even a hundred yards. Most of them are crew served just for this reason. Being fit is really going to be important in a SHTF.

So how long will you be able to survive the woods, everyone in good shape for a winter?

 

[Just Jim]

At 56 I am probably a 'case study' for ANY medical journal - I take NO meds - am 6'2" and a slender 198 lbs (been this for years) I walk/run 4-8 miles per day on the job, complain about nothing - eat very healthy - NO soda (ever) and believe water and beer is a food group! - AND I was asked the other day (NO SHEET) if I had "Reached 40 YET!! I get 'hit on' by younger women routinely. Heck My daughter is 21 ! I FIRMLY believe my success has been due to never eating doughnuts, snacks, sweets, drinking soda etc.
- ever.

Get hit on? They must not have an optometrist in your area. That was a joke now.

 

[Deebow]

Had an old salt tell me once: "You can have a rockin PT score, bench press 385, and run marathons; but it won't mean anything to me if you can't hit anything you aim that rifle at. Give me the guy with the 300 Rifle Score instead of the 300 PT score anytime"

The corollary to that is that it is an iron law of combat that fit people are harder to kill. Gunfights are dynamic events that involve bursts of movement and gross motor movements. What good is skill at arms if you die of a heart attack after you kill the bad guy in your living room?

The only dying in place I plan on doing is in my bed, peacefully, and smiling.

 

[Who The F R U]

Being fit is always good.

If you plan on heading to the hills when SHTF....
You can always hitch a ride with the half of Portland that's going to live of the land in the mountains.

 

[40calruler]

Heavy weapons work well if you can keep the target in your field of fire. A person would have to be really fit to move the weapon and ammo supply even a hundred yards. Most of them are crew served just for this reason. Being fit is really going to be important in a SHTF.

So how long will you be able to survive the woods, everyone in good shape for a winter?

For me a while. Family has a place in the middle of nowhere...not the foothills of portland. Solar and good well water. I go up there for fishing now but could pretty easily survive a winter there. See people coming for a few miles and fish bite year round. IF I make it there I think we can survive a winter ok.

 

[Kid@Heart]

Being fit is always good.

If you plan on heading to the hills when SHTF....
You can always hitch a ride with the half of Portland that's going to live of the land in the mountains.
View attachment 235864

That's not Portland...

Gresham, maybe.

 

[Burt Gummer]

Being 40+ = the downhill slide starts in your mid 40s for most - you have to make a choice.

Is crap food worth it? Like that scrawny model put it - "Nothing tastes as good as thin feels"

If I ate the way I wanted - carelessly - I would be 300lbs, bad back, aching feet, etc.

Instead I eat vegetables and disgusting crap like Kale as much as possible. No pizza, no IPAs, no fried chicken - nada, never, ever - if I didn't have that discipline it would be all over for me. 225lbs - once was 260 - ideal weight is about 210/215.

It SUCKS! But being burdened by weight, eating GMO poisoned processed garbage, grease ball food is OUT forever.

The NetFlix movie Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead really was inspirational. No DIET works. A mindset of sacrifice - an eating lifestyle change works. Either you want it bad enough and you are willing to sacrifice or not.

My friend is 50 and has the physicality of an 85 year old. He loves his pale ales and club sandwiches. We all make choices. But when the wheelchair eventually is required, when the stroke happens - remember people chose to allow that to happen.

We were are Safeway on Barbur Blvd and they have one of those blood pressure monitors. I had him try it and the screen started flashing red - EMERGENCY - go to the emergency room, see a doctor ASAP! (Not kidding, it did).

5 minutes later he was standing there with a case of Ale. You cannot change people, they must change themselves.

 

[Who The F R U]

For me a while. Family has a place in the middle of nowhere...not the foothills of portland. Solar and good well water. I go up there for fishing now but could pretty easily survive a winter there. See people coming for a few miles and fish bite year round. IF I make it there I think we can survive a winter ok.

IF is the question.

Consider that you will have to forage something like 10 square miles of ground per person in your group if your doing trapping/hunting/fishing.

 

[Kid@Heart]

To answer the original question-

6'-2" and somewhere pretty close to 220#.

I am over 60 and not as fit as I once was.

I walk from the sofa to the fridge several times per football game.

I couldn't fit into the clothes I wore in High School. (Don't believe I have seen a Nehru Jacket since then anyway)

I do take some medications daily and have had a bit of trouble with the old ticker...

Running for the hills probably isn't in my future.

 

[Just Jim]

I am 63, worked heavy construction most of my life. Hard work,long hours,outdoors with lots of travel. It has at times been seasonal so I waste no time and kept myself fit. Hard work and lots of noise takes its toll but since I retired the body is healing somewhat. I am learning from my older friends what good health is.

I have always been a large person, 190 lbs in the ninth grade and 275 today. At 5'11 I look overweight but can tighten my muscles to one solid mass. I don't run but do walk every day rain or shine. I work on my mind as much as I do my body by giving myself challenges. I shoot in competition but not to win. I ride motorcycles and do things to keep the body moving. If it all goes down I will probably die breaking my neck while tripping on my dog.