Middle Earth Ranger Forum

Mike,

My logic for posting here instead of elsewhere is that fitness is a part of woodcraft/outdoorsmanship to my mind. The ability make long marches at speed was an essential ranger characteristic.

~RD~

We just spent the weekend at Medoc Mountain State Park. It's really only 325 feet above sea level, but scientists think it was a mountain range many moons ago. Anyway, while there, we walked to the summit. It whipped our . . . well, umm, you get the picture.
It was only a 3 mile hike. The park boasts about 10 miles of trails. My wife and I set a goal to be able to take the trails in one day by spring of 2010. So there will be our endurance training.
It will probably involve the treadmill several times a week and at least one trip to Medoc a month (we're only about 17 miles from the park). We'll see what else we can do to get into shape.

Very little at the moment, but the days are getting longer so I will have some light in the afternoons soon. I go surfing every weekend, but that's about it. My diet is definitely healthy though, with few refined sugars or trans fats, and lots of oats, fruits and veges. It holds off the weight for the moment, but it is a worry as my job involves me sitting for pretty much 8 hours a day.

When my swiss army pack arrives I will load it up and go on some of Metcalf's "brisk walks" regularly.

If you need to get in shape, eating right is the first step, which you can then help along with regular exercise. To reach and maintain a good fitness level it really takes a total lifestyle overhaul in most cases. Temporary diets will only put stress on your body and the effects wont last if you go back to your old diet. So start a diet and fitness regime you can keep up indefinitely.

I know from my own experiences that if your partner isn't making the same effort you are, it can be infinitely difficult to stay motivated. Cooking different meals sucks, and so does leaving a warm bed alone to go walking or running in the morning...

R.D.Metcalf wrote:Mike,

My logic for posting here instead of elsewhere is that fitness is a part of woodcraft/outdoorsmanship to my mind. The ability make long marches at speed was an essential ranger characteristic.

~RD~

I get it now! I thought woodcraft was just that, woodcraft as in making things from wood. HA HA. Makes perfect sense when you put it that way.

I think we are going to buy a wii soon so i will be getting some workouts from that.

The hardest thing for me is that for most the time with my job I drive around in a van, I don't know where I will be or what time I will eat so I end up eating a lot of fast food while driving from call to call. I do try (sometimes) to eat the healthier versions of stuff when I go at least trying grilled chicken sandwiches.

Willrett wrote:I think we are going to buy a wii soon so i will be getting some workouts from that.

The hardest thing for me is that for most the time with my job I drive around in a van, I don't know where I will be or what time I will eat so I end up eating a lot of fast food while driving from call to call. I do try (sometimes) to eat the healthier versions of stuff when I go at least trying grilled chicken sandwiches.

being one who drives 11 hours a day 6 days a week, and spends his whole life on the road, i feel your pain. i live mostly (apx 80%) on Subway tuna on 9 grain w/ lots veggies. i figure its even cheaper @ $5 a footlong, than buying the individual ingredients and ice for the cooler. ive just started this diet (literal sense of the word) about 6 months ago.
since i started this job 2 years ago, ive gained 10ish pounds. however, being 37 i think ive technically lost my youth, so that could also be a contributing factor.

i use 2 ten pound dumbbells as good as i can while driving. and a friend just gave me his old curling bar w/100lbs.
most days i take a few walks. and plan to run when i can afford some shoes. not to mention driving all day makes me smoke like a fish.lol

when life gets back to normal, i plan on doing yoga daily again. more comprehensive strength training, quitting ciggs so i can run distance, study with my friend who teaches Ninpo, love to be able to finally afford Aikido. and when i get replacement arrows, i plan on shooting at least 100 a day. (50 meditative shots in the morning, think Kyudo like, and 50 in the evening from different distances and positions, kneeling, from the side, even lying. i shoot 'from the hip' so i feel this is very important for developing my skill.)

i consider mental fitness equally important, and to this end i take a plant I.D. guide out and pick a new plant every couple of weeks to seek out in the wild and read all the herbalism/utilitarian info i can find on it.
im always practicing simple survival skills; friction fire, cordage, tracking, etc.
and trying new skills; knitting, weaving, smithing, knapping, etc.

Alright, I've taken on some of your ideas/advice, R.D. I went to the local boating supply store and bought a new climbing rope today. I hiked it on over to one of my favorite base camp sites, and hung it fifty feet up in an overhanging oak. It drapes down the top of the main branch, and is coiled up inside a nook in the tree about eight feet up. The tree hangs over a dry creek bed, so when the rope is tossed out and unrolled, it hangs to the ground for exercise purposes as well as an easy way to quickly get up to a high vantage point. The rope is easily and quickly concealed, so within about ten seconds I can have it hidden away again if I need to, just as easily as I could perch myself up in the tree and haul it up after me to watch. I think it'll make a nice addition to the place.

Cool stuff, Greg! Your program is alot like mine.


When I first started getting serious about fitness about 4 years ago, I got way too lean from doing too much cardio. Alot of people asked me if I ran, most would think I was being a smart aleck when I told them I just walked...Until a brave few saw the terrain I was walking

The cool thing is on steep terrain a good walking pace will raise your heart rate to equal running on more level terrain. On level ground I can maintain a steady jogging pace for about 5 miles, this would improve if I gave up smoking but I enjoy a cigarette and I'm satisfied with my level of fitness.

I'm of the opinion that an outdoor program is better than a gym for overall fitness, true a gym offers equipment that will isolate muscle groups to make you look better, but it doesnt offer the challenges or build overall toughness like the great outdoors. I think about it this way while I'm out dodging limbs stepping over rocks or having to scale natural obstacles I'm not getting bored with my workout. Whereas at a gym i'm just moving from station to station bored out of my mind. Its not the same, I dont want a beach or a bar body I want a warriors body. I dont frequent bars or beaches but I do have a sword in my hand almost every day.

Sorry for the tangent I just wanted to explain my philosophy.

I run two or three times/week. The alternate days, I do martial arts, usually a mix of eastern and western. Frequently, this comes to sparring for two hours. Longsword is a great arm and shoulder workout, especially when winding. Sword and dagger or sword and buckler is fantastic cardio. Wrestling at the dagger is an amazing overall strength workout. And of course, all of these develop martial technique, speed, timing and reflex.

I gave up on weights several years ago. Just too rough on my joints. Now I do calesthentics, mostly pushups, a variety of crunches and leg lifts, and squats. These don't develop a bodybuilder physique, but then that's not what I want. The body isn't really designed for parts to work in isolation, but together.

I stumbled across an article that relates to this thread while perusing the ARMA site. While it's really about fitness as it relates to historic martial arts I thought it to be something a good ranger should understand anyhow. And so without further ado here's the link.........

http://www.thearma.org/essays/fit/RennFit.htm


Tenna' ento lye omenta,
Amras

Pwyll wrote:I run two or three times/week. The alternate days, I do martial arts, usually a mix of eastern and western. Frequently, this comes to sparring for two hours. Longsword is a great arm and shoulder workout, especially when winding. Sword and dagger or sword and buckler is fantastic cardio. Wrestling at the dagger is an amazing overall strength workout. And of course, all of these develop martial technique, speed, timing and reflex.

I gave up on weights several years ago. Just too rough on my joints. Now I do calesthentics, mostly pushups, a variety of crunches and leg lifts, and squats. These don't develop a bodybuilder physique, but then that's not what I want. The body isn't really designed for parts to work in isolation, but together.

I couldnt agree more! The little weight training I do is limited to 40 pd barbells with the majority of muscle exercises being push-ups, weighted crunches, pull-ups, rope climbs and sword/spear and shield drills...and *alot* of brisk hiking on steep terrain.


Most body builders are....whoa!....cant say that here...but you get the point A few weeks in the wilderness would see that mass disapear if they didnt succumb to their eating disorders or die from not having a mirror handy I watched a show on bodybuilders once, needless to say I wasnt impressed.

I weight train, but for endurance, fat burning, and strength, not for bulk so I use light weight, lots of repetitions and only three sets...and three days a week. So no bodybuilder here; you don't have to bulk if you don't wish to. I also use an elliptical machine.

At the moment my gungfu is in abeyance. I have a very acute case of plantar fasciitis brought on by a pulled ligament in the right foot. Untreated it can cripple a person...so I'm following doc's orders and taking very good care of it.

I ought to be right as rain by Spring. Until then, weight training and elliptical machines plus my special exercises for healing the injury are all I am allowed to do.

Siani

What exactly is that, siani?


It certainly has an uppity name, no offense, but if I came down with something called by a name like that I would be dissapointed if it werent life threatning

LOL No, not life threatening...but if you are not careful it *will* cripple you...not much of a Ranger if I can't walk at least eh?

There's a ligament, connects bone to bone (heel to ball), in the bottom of the foot..it's the plantar ligament. There's also a sheath or fascia that runs between the ligaments, muscles and bones..kind of mesh like. Ligaments are attached to these by little filaments, like threads, interwoven into the mesh of the fascia.

What happened is that I pulled the ligament, which tore away from the fascia creating a tent like space in the area of the tear. Cells trying to repair it tend to release by-products which cause inflammation and pain..and of course you favor your foot by limping. If you take anti-inflammatories it will get rid of the pain...but not the problem. In fact, they make it easier for you to make it worse. The ligament is kind of frayed now due to the tear and it'll only get worse without good care...crippling me in time.

What really sourced all of this was me getting hit by a car (attacked by a dragon) while in the middle of a crosswalk on March 1st 2006. Triaged, expected to kick (I'd already died and come back), sheer stubborness and a grand sense of humor got me through. But among other things my left ankle was shattered entirely..just splinters left. The orthopedic surgeon did an outstanding job at rebuilding it..I have 95% range of motion in it now...but one thing he couldn't avoid. The left foot is entirely asymmetrical to the right. A shame too as my legs were my best feature. There's a range in which asymmetry is no problem with the body..everyone's feet are different sizes as an example...but mine are *very* asymmetrical now as the podiatrist demonstrated.

That, coupled with excessive weight (fat!) and stomping around on concrete floors doing gungfu did the trick. So now I have plantar fasciitis. I am treating it as directed with a set of special stretches. Might return some symmetry, might not, but it will get the problem under control.

My weight training is geared to fat burning and endurance. I will get to my healthy weight. I don't like to lose. I'm 54 this Summer so it won't be an easy battle...but I *will* win it. I ought to be good to hike and such come Spring.

Sorry for the long explanation. It's a complicated situation with a weird name. LOL

Siani

No need to be sorry, I appreciate the long explanation, now i know more than I did

"I'm 54 this Summer so it won't be an easy battle...but I *will* win it. I ought to be good to hike and such come Spring."


Thats a good attitude to have, I'll drink to your victory