Easy Fitness Tips ANYONE Can Do RIGHT NOW! [Prepper Fitness]

Fitness is an incredibly important part of preparedness that is rarely talked about. And if it is talked about, it’s from people who are doing 20 mile runs every morning and spending 10 hours at the gym every night. It’s a bit intimidating and unrealistic for most people.

The fact is, getting into shape really isn’t that difficult, but it does take commitment. It takes a personal commitment from you to start and stick with a new routine.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a whole lot of time to devote to fitness, but I squeeze it in when I can. I do prioritize it because I know it’s important and I’ve seen results first hand from my fitness routine.

Here’s my fitness routine:

–Walk 3-5 times a week: I only walk about 2 miles at a time and I’m not even trying to walk fast or do anything fancy, I don’t even take any gear. Baby Rogue and I pack ourselves up into the Jeep, drive to the nearest park which is 10 minutes away, unpack our gear and start our walk. It’s become routine now and I love getting my walks in, it’s become more of a daily habit than something sporadic that we do “if we have time”.

–Lift weights: I lift weights at home for about 10 minutes while watching TV. That’s it. I don’t get fancy and I just do it until I feel done. I’m not hardcore into strength training, but the little bit that I do helps in every aspect of my life.

–Hike: I try to hike at least twice a month, but if I can get more than that in, awesome. If not, that’s cool. I will hike with my BONCH (Bug Out I’m Never Coming Home) bag or I’ll hike with Baby Rogue on my back. Either way, it’s a more intense bit of training.

–Eat in moderation: I still eat “crap” food and sweets and things, but I eat everything in moderation. I’m not gorging myself on tacos and cake. I also snack a lot, which some people say is bad, but others say that snacking throughout the day actually keeps your metabolism up. You need to snack the right things, of course, you can’t snack on french fries all day and expect to feel great.

–Meditate: I meditate for about 5 minutes everyday. I have learned so much about myself and the world around me through meditation and it only takes 5 minutes a day! If I can’t find 5 minutes a day to rest my mind, then I’ve got some serious problems in my life and need a serious readjustment of priorities.

Do all of these activities take time out of my day? No. Why? Because they’re just part of my daily routine now. They don’t “take” time, they are just part of my day!

I built up to it, though. In the beginning, I gave myself realistic goals. I didn’t say I was going to walk 20 miles everyday at 5am.

Instead, I said I’m going to get out at least 3 times a week to walk. And I did. I knew I could find the time to get out and walk 3 times a week, even if it was just around my own neighborhood.

Another misconception that I think social media has taught us, is that we have to exercise in beautiful places. I like going to the park and I have the time to go to the park, but if you want to just step outside of your door and take a walk around the block, then do that. Don’t think that you have to go running into the forest just to exercise.

Don’t wait for results, just do it

So many people want to see results RIGHT NOW and they don’t want to wait. But don’t look at this journey as seeing results, look at it as a way to just get outside for some fresh air. Or get out of your house to get social at the gym. Or to just generally improve your overall health.

Celebrate every little victory. If you walked 1 mile that day, celebrate it! Treat yourself with some TV watching or some other activity that you enjoy. Don’t wait to celebrate the end goal; celebrate everything else in between and try not to even think about the end goal.

Get out there and focus on the activity at end, not the end goal.

For 6 months I went out walking anywhere from 3-5 times a week. Just walking, nothing else.

A 5K was coming up at SHOT Show that I wanted to do, but I wasn’t sure I was ready so I did a test run and guess what?

I ran the entire 5K! I’ve run 5K’s and 10K’s in the past and even though I trained for them, I had never run the entire race. Ever.

This time? Through just walking 3-5 times a week, I was able to actually run the whole 5K with NO problems!

I was so proud of myself. I felt so vindicated and it was amazing to see that just by walking I had improved my overall health and stamina.

Start with realistic goals.

Again, start with realistic goals and time. Can you spare 30 minutes in the morning, afternoon or evening to get out and walk a mile? I’m sure you can, you just have to prioritize it.

Can you find 5 minutes a day to meditate? Sure you can! I meditate the moment after I put Baby Rogue down for her nap.

Can you find 10 minutes to lift some weights? Absolutely! Get up and do it while you watch TV.

It really is all that simple.

Get out of your own way

I think what it all boils down to is: you have to make fitness a priority. It doesn’t have to be anything extreme, just walking for a mile or two 3-5 times a week is good enough. Take it from me, as I’m living proof that it works.

You don’t have to completely change your whole life just to start working out. All you need to do is JUST START!

Get up, walk outside, put your favorite music on and just start walking.

You’ll feel better and in time, it’ll just become habit.

Don’t wait for motivation, build up momentum

There are days when I really don’t want to get out and walk. Even though it’s become habit and I like how I feel afterwards, sometimes getting up and doing it is the hardest part.

So I have to build up the momentum: I get Baby Rogue dressed, I get our snacks and waters ready, I get myself dressed, grab my keys, get in the car, drive to park, get supplies out and start walking.

Those are all little tasks that I did in order to build up that momentum to get going. Sometimes it takes us 30 minutes just to get out of the house, but I don’t look for motivation, I go through a series of tasks that help build up the momentum to get us up and going.

And it works. Trust me.

It works

By just getting out and walking, I was able to take my BONCH out on a 7 mile hike and I felt AMAZING! I actually didn’t want the hike to end because I felt so good. Just by getting out and walking 3-5 times a week, I’ve built up my stamina and I can conquer anything that comes my way.

This video talks about how to make prepping a habit, but it definitely applies to fitness:

Good luck with your fitness journey!

Conquer tomorrow, by preparing today!