Maintaining a Level of Physical Fitness
Kevin Felts 05.17.18
One of the problems facing sportsmen and preppers is maintaining a level of physical fitness. Decades ago, the majority of the population worked physically demanding jobs in factories, construction, or on the farm.
As demographics changed and more people opted for office jobs, the average weight increased. Here we are in 2018 and obesity and its related diseases are at epidemic proportions.
Question to the readers: Do you know how many people die from deer hunting every year? Yeah, neither do I, but chances are it’s a bunch. How does someone die while deer hunting? When the hunter sees a deer, their heart rate goes up. In some cases the beats per minute goes enough to give the person a heart attack.
Physical Fitness
Then there are the cases of people working on the hunting lease and having a medical emergency. Every year hunters go from sitting at a desk job, to the hunting lease doing physically demanding work. The lack of acclimatation combined with being out of shape and overweight can drive the heart rate to unsafe levels.
On a personal note, one of the things I find changes with age is the ability to maintain a level of fitness. It seems as I get older, the more difficult it becomes to get into shape, and the easier the fitness is lost. While getting ready for an upcoming hiking trip, it takes almost a daily walk to maintain my gains. If I miss a few days, it seems any endurance gained was lost.
However, when I was working a physically demanding job it was easy to keep the weight off as I was on my feet 10 hours a day.
Summer Acclimation
With summer approaching and sportsmen heading out to go fishing, hiking, camping, the summer heat has the possibility of straining the body.
To get ready for the hiking trips this summer, I am spending a couple of hours outside every day doing some kind of physical work. This could be working in the garden, hauling water to the fig trees by hand, pulling weeds around the fence or garden.
The goal of spending time outside is to acclimate to the summer heat, so when I do go on the summer hiking trips, things should not be so bad.
Final Thoughts
Chances are a lot of us could be a little more active. Maybe go in for a doctors visit before going from the office to physically demanding outdoor activities?
Stay hydrated, do not get too hot, and stay safe.
