3 Emergency Situations In Which a Fit Body Can Help You Out

1. To Escape From An Attacker

If you’re attacked, and you need to get away, quick physical reflexes will help you out. The more weight you carry on your body, the slower you move. So being at a healthy weight will make it easier for you to run away. However, losing too much weight and becoming anorexic won’t help you in a crisis either. If anything, it’s a hindrance when your body is not as strong as needed to help you get away. So make sure your weight falls in the right range if you want to escape from an attack.

2. To Deal With Extremes Of Heat Or Cold

If a heat wave or a cold wave hits your area, you might have to find ways of dealing with the extreme temperature for a few months (rings a bell, eh?). Physical strength is always a bonus when these things happen. A fit person, with greater muscle tone, has more stamina and can function better during extremes of heat or cold.

3. To Deal With Natural Disasters and Blackouts

We’re all used to having plumbing and electricity. So we don’t imagine situations where we will be deprived of these things. However, there are blackouts occasionally, usually because of natural disasters like storms or heat waves. It’s also possible for the water supply in an area to become compromised due to the incorrect disposal of industrial waste. You might have to chop wood to build a fire and stay warm. Or you might need to get water from a distance and bring it to your home. For all of these situations, you need physical strength and stamina.

Ok now, enough with jokes:)  The question is how do you develop physical strength? There’s no need to start chopping wood and carrying buckets of water! You can develop fitness in a gym and use it in the real world later on. Here are a few tips to help you develop the type of strength that will be most useful:

1. Walk or Run. If you want to develop the type of strength that will help you get away from an attacker, you should be able to run, at least for a short period, until you’ve reached safety. So try to develop your walking and running stamina. You can start out with just walking an hour a day and then switch to running when you feel ready. Try to run on a track or dirt roads so that you don’t hurt your knees. Trekking or hiking are also good options that will develop your body’s ability to cross all types of terrain.
2. Weight Training. To develop your upper body and core, you’ll need to do some weights. There are many simple upper body exercises you can do with dumbbells, such as bicep curls, bench presses and standing rows. These will help you to develop your muscles and feel stronger in your everyday life. Once you start doing these exercises, you’ll be able to lift things more easily, which can help you during a natural disaster. You’ll also have the strength to keep going during extremes of heat or cold.
3. Eating Right. Working out your body is going to keep you strong in your daily life and will help you in an emergency situation. However, exercise is only half of the equation. The other half is eating right. When you exercise, you’re tearing your muscles a little bit each time so that when they heal, they’ll come back stronger. But this only happens if you feed your body right. The most important thing is to make sure that you take in enough protein. If your diet already contains quite a bit of meat, you may not have anything to worry about. However, white meat sources are better than red meat since they’ll keep you lean and help you avoid gaining unnecessary weight. Milk, soy milk, egg whites and beans are good sources if you’re vegetarian.

Of course, we hope that an emergency situation is not going to happen to you. Ever! But it's better to be prepared in case of facing a bear in the woods. And blackouts have been known to happen even in places where there are no power cuts, such as New York City. Stay fit, stay healthy!

Photo Credit: Vulture