The Sooner You Know Survival Fitness Training The Better

Last month, I started going to free survival skills classes here in Austin, so survival fitness training has been on my mind. The classes are always packed, telling me that interest in survival skills runs high nowadays. 

Who knows what may cause a shit hits the fan scenario (SHTF). Whether it's a natural disaster, economic collapse or god forbid, getting hit by a meteorite, it's never a bad idea to be ready for the worst.

The classes I go to are like Boy Scouts for adults. Those skills are useless though if you can't physically make it to begin with. Lots of people make the mistake of not prioritizing for SHTF correctly. 

What do you do after this happens?

The first thing that will ensure your survival is knowing first aid and having first aid supplies. If you die, it's game over. Simple as that. Last year, all the employees at Fringe took CPR classes. It's super easy to learn. 

After that, I'd say fitness comes next. Your fitness goes a long way to prevent injury and bounce back from injury, since your muscles are your body armor.

If you have your first aid game right, and your fitness is on point, then you'll put those survival skills to good use and you'll be doing better than most. 

Survival Fitness Training 101

There are 2 BIG mistakes people making prepping for SHTF. 

Endurance and over-reliance on guns. 

The 2013 movie Lone Survivor with Mark Wahlberg comes to mind. Think about what those Navy Seals were doing while trying to save themselves: traversing rugged terrain, climbing up mountains, carrying downed comrades, running, etc. 

If you listen to stories about SHTF from veterans, they'll almost always say it was their endurance that saved them. Endurance is usually the same reason athletes and teams fail. You can see when a boxer, MMA fighter or NFL defensive lineman is gassed a mile away. Endurance saves your ass.

That feeling when you outrun predators.

A smart person will take endurance over a gun any day. This article discusses the over-reliance on guns while also suggesting the idea of baseline physical fitness requirements for preppers. What's #1 on the list?

Cardiovascular fitness/endurance.

Here are some basic tasks you should be able to perform to survive SHTF:

• Walk 12 hours while carrying a heavy pack?
• Lug 2 ½ gallons of water in each hand back to camp from a stream 3 miles away?
• Carry a 150lb person on your back?
• Scale a wall?
• Maneuver on crutches?
• Swim across the lake located nearest to you?
• Run 5 miles over hilly terrain?

The article makes for a great read as it also lays out 8 activities you can practice to help hone your survival fitness skills, like hiking for example.

Train so you can mind the gap.

Survival Fitness Training Workouts

Speaking of hiking, take the importance of soft, varied terrain interval running to heart. This circles around again to Lone Survivor and endurance. You can read more about varied terrain interval running and learn specific training for prepper survival in this piece.

I found this awesome and wildly educational article that covers virtually everything. You'll find specific training movements like deadlifts, squats, bench press, and bodyweight exercises. 

Better yet the piece discusses the vital importance of everything from nutrition, diet, intermittent fasting, and sleep, to stretching and agility. The in-depth information trove also lays out survival fitness goals, basic fitness principles and their own version of 10 basic tasks you should be able to perform to survive SHTF.

Better know how to bring the wood too.

After SHTF, and you have the basics under control, you may need to defend yourself and your tribe. Here's the strength training workout for self-defense that will help you fend off all the baddies. 

Finally, if you've found a few minutes not soaked in threats, you probably need to build some shelter. This leads to a subculture of survival fitness training that will prime and pump your primal instincts- lumberjack fitness. 

And who better than a guy who calls himself The Survival Sherpa? He teaches you his "wild woodsman workout", which includes how to chop wood, lift logs, haul logs and jump over obstacles. 

Always better to chop than get chopped.

Deeper Study of Survival Fitness Training

I found a quality YouTube channel called "The Canadian Prepper." His vids are pretty good and what I like the most is that he doesn't seem to be shilling anything or sucking up to a product or company. 

In this first vid, he rates each body type (ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph) based on the ability/capacity to survive a SHTF scenario. 

The next vid discusses losing weight and getting lean for survival purposes. I don't like the fact that it lacks an emphasis on strength training, but his nutrition and diet principles and other ideas are spot on. 

Finally, here are the top 5 survival fitness training exercises according to The Canadian Prepper. The last exercise I think is the best of them all. Using a weight vest for training vastly improves your strength endurance and conditioning without a doubt. 

Thanks again for reading Fringe Nation. Please share your input, feedback and comments about survival fitness training below. 

Until next time, have an awesome day and go beyond the ordinary.