Western Rifle Shooters Association

Do not give in to Evil, but proceed ever more boldly against it

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Suarez: Combat Fitness -- Getting Started

From Gabe Suarez:

OK guys...I've gotten several emails asking about how to get in shape after years of neglect and sloth. First thing you have to ask is get in shape for what? Since we are a fighting group, I would assume we mean getting in shape for fighting, self defense, etc.

You can divide fitness into several areas but the most important I think is to have a proper weight. If you weigh in at 350 pounds and your fat percentage is 50%, that weight will not help you either in a fight, or for longevity.

Since this situation is the most likely one, I will begin with that.

First thing is to make certain the diet is correct. Pasta, bread, rice, potatoes and doughnuts washed down with a keg of beer every night will not do anything for you.

Look up Paleo Diet and try to follow it as much as possible for six months. Eat vegetables, fruits, meat, chicken and fish as much as you want and avoid other things.

Next thing is avoid (avoid is avoid...not eliminate) alcohol and sodas, and sweet fruity commercial drinks. Water, tea, coffee, and natural fruit juice should replace them.

Eat until you are full and then stop. It is a discipline like anything else. If you think its too much, then forget the whole thing - go back to watching the military channel with your chocolate cake.

Next thing is get out on the road...or treadmill. Start walking...fast. Everyday. Increase the time, and speed. Turn the walk into a run. If your knees are destroyed, use a bike instead. If you have no bike, buy one. Eventually one will run out of excuses, or they will find one to justify the military channel and the chocolate cake.

The road work and the paleo will begin to drop off weight. It will work unless you are either not doing it, or there is some actual physical/hormonal issue that prevents it and then its not a matter of exercise.

At some point you will need to begin strength and anaerobic work. The simplest thing, that you don't need any equipment for is a simple exercise called the Burpee. You can do this anywhere....in your office, in the yard, in the garage, in a hotel room, even in a jail cell.

The low level method is this: Begin standing. Drop to a push up position, kicking your legs out. Kick the legs back in quickly, and stand up. Do them until you are out of breath. Stop, recover, and do anther set. Do it for 15 minutes at least, adding time until you are working for 30 minutes.

Next level is to add a pushup.

Next level is to add a vertical jump when you stand up. Keep adding reps and sets. Eventually you might even want to add some weights but that is for another time.

Walking, eating right, doing burpees. How freaking caveman simple is that??

Begin with that and let us know how it goes.

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Gabe's recent email about commitment to the warrior lifestyle got me onto the treadmill. I'm lean, but since I stopped playing in regular basketball games I didn't have the lungs or the muscle stamina. I prefer running outside, but there are no excuses (cold,rain,etc) to miss a workout with a treadmill.

Also, thanks to a comment on WRSA I also started spending money on my teeth. Again, nothing major but it would have been expensive and problematic if I waiting much longer or if TSHTF and other things became a priority.

It may sound silly, but I am really thankful for the comment on "getting your teeth fixed." I found the top dentist in the area and he was able to do with a filling what others said would require a root canal & crown or extraction & implant. $1000-$4000 became a few hundred dollars. I cannot explain why I waited as long as I did, having the money and the time to have fixed it long ago.

January 13, 2010 at 11:41 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

For those inclined, the "Wii Fit" is a spectacular bit of technology. Aerobic and other exercises, builds balance and dexterity, and makes it into a video-game which is much easier to do than to run or even walk out when it's cold/hot/raining/etc.

Best of all IMHO is that it tells you approximately how many calories are burned by each activity. When Wifey figured out it took ~2 hours on an average day and struggled to complete it - just to burn 200 calories, why... She suddenly started paying VERY close attention to the calories she ingests. Those little "100-calorie" packs of cookies or chips suddenly seem like a much bigger problem when you realize how much work it is to burn those excess calories. This alone is worth the price of the HW...

Lastly, the various games and activities can introduce a level of competitiveness in the family - all will work harder to beat their fellows...

The biggest problem we have is there's only one of them and too many wanting to use it...

HTH...

January 14, 2010 at 1:52 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The treadmill I use counts calories. I have to jog for an average of around 6 mph for about 25 minutes just to burn 250 calories.

One Budweiser = 193 calories, so I've got to run nearly two miles to break even on that bottle.

January 14, 2010 at 4:10 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Paleo Diet works!!! And makes sense. This is the diet we were genetically designed for. Between the middle of September and Christmas Eve of '08 I went from 235 lbs to 208. But this was with a brutal workout, which I was doing anyway with my weight not dropping. All I did was change my eating habits and the weight started coming off. I was 58 years old at the time and when I finished @ 6'2" and 208 lbs I was in better shape than many men half my age and quite a few teens as well.

You may hit a few plateaus but do not let that discourage you. Set you loss goals in small increments to also avoid discouragement. Work up to weights and times slowly.

My knees and hips were not that great so I used the rowing machine, pace at 1km every 5 min and swam laps (minimum of 200 m.) in the pool for aerobics and warm down. Circuit type calesthentics and light weights for warmup before hitting the weights.

Circuit and weights M,W,F and aerobics and abs Tu,TH. Beat my regular ab workout if you can. 500crunches on a swiss ball, 90 of them with a 25 lb plate behind my head. Be sure to hit the upper, lower and obliques.

Adapt the warrior lifestyle and MENTALITY as I did. I have an awful feeling we're gonna need it.

The Paleo Diet
Loren Cordain
ISBN-13: 978-0471413905
in hardcover and paperback

A. Nonny Mouse

January 14, 2010 at 8:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I looked up "wuss" in Webster's Dicktionary.. low and behold, you guessed it, nude picture of Gabby poising on a couch. (Raarrr)
This article to get fat guys off their couch and prepare for combat is a freakin joke. If a person doesn't have desire and allowed themselves to become a huge blob, reading the gay ramblings of a cream puff like Gabby is surely not going to change things. Besides, who decided that everyone has to be a ripped Rambo? You a fatty? Enjoy, be happy.

January 14, 2010 at 11:32 PM  
Anonymous Jeff said...

Well, if you don't have detractors, you probably didn't do it right. Some people just have to be a party pooper. I write this off as Mr. Anonymous is a bully and this is how he makes himself feel better. Dealt with a thousand like him.

January 17, 2010 at 4:50 AM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home