A lot of people hate running for exercise. From a fitness perspective, it’s always best to take on fitness routine you’ll actually stick to, so running definitely isn’t for everyone. If you’re trying to get in shape, it’s always advisable to choose an exercise you enjoy and can easily commit to, rather than something that will cause you to roll over and hit the snooze button instead of getting up and doing it.
However, if you’re a committed survivalist, you should seriously consider taking up running. You don’t have to wake up every day at the crack of dawn to run 5 miles, but you should consider integrating it into your lifestyle.
The thing is, there are few other forms of physical fitness that improve your overall endurance and stamina as running does. Weight training is great for overall fitness, and we highly recommend it for survivalism, in fact, we shared a video a few weeks ago that was a great example of just how much weight training can help in a survival situation.
However, weight training doesn’t train your lungs or cardiovascular system the way running does. Let’s face it: while strength is just as important in a survival situation as stamina, you could be as burly as can be and might still meet your downfall if you’re being chased or running away from something, or even on a long, exhausting trek to survival.
Ask anyone who is in the military: our troops run together as a unit each morning, first thing. This keeps soldiers in shape better than anything else they might do. You could lift weights all day long and still collapse into an exhausted heap if you try to run a few miles. This could be a serious downfall when you are fighting to survive.
Again, you don’t have to start running every day, in fact, you probably shouldn’t. However, if you can squeeze a short run in once or twice a week, slowly working yourself up to running longer and/or faster each time, it will greatly improve your physical preparedness and very nicely round out your fitness routine.
Make an investment in the most important survival tool you have, your body, and you’ll definitely be glad you did, trust me. Even if you totally hate running.