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Old 10-03-2008, 11:51 PM   #1
Sol Invictus
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Default Fitness

Just a thread to make people sit up and hopefully think a little about life style changes now to help them in the future.

My point in being is to explain what it is like to carry a large heavy load 40 miles.

It is agony - the bergan can be the best in the world, but after a while straps dig in, flesh gets rubbed raw, feet and knees start to feel the strain, every inch becomes a personal nightmare, and your focus goes from your surroundings to your inner being, and that extra slice of 'will' that comes from digging deep.

Your throat will parch even if your fluid intake is large, your temperature will raise alarmingly even on a cold day (which will make you a hypothermia risk as you will shed clothes), your alertness will decrease to almost nothing, and mistakes will happen if you are not at the very peak of your mental game.


What am i trying to get across?

Keep your loads as light as humanely possible.

Shed that 'gucci' kit, shed that 'it will be nice to have' load, and really sit and concentrate on what is vital to your well being. Keep nothing more.

Moving on foot across heavy terrain (moorland, mountains and forests) you want a load that is no more than 20 Kg or 40lb.

That sounds heavy, but after you start adding you will soon realise it is not a huge amount of kit, but at first it will make you go 'stfu this is mentally heavy'.

Now, start carrying a lower load on your walk, say 25lb in a bag. Get your body used to going uphill under loads, and build, build build until you find that 40lb is a very nice load thank you very much.

If you don't, when push comes to shove and you are on that hill and need to move fast, you wiull find you will be ditching gear left right and centre for that little extra relief.

Also, start if you can exercising the body with no weight at all on a rowing machine or swimming. Both are great for building up hearts and lungs.

Running is the fastest way to get good H/L efficiency, but.... running? dammit thats hard on knees and spines.
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