What Does "Preparedness" Mean? - Physical Fitness

     I can’t speak for everyone when it comes to preparation. There are too many different purposes for their preparation, too many ways of preparing and too many levels of preparation. What I can say about preparation is that I feel that there are certain things that must be maintained in order for you to claim preparation. Having a first aid kit in your bathroom but lacking proper food storage isn’t what I would call prepared. You can’t be a Jack of All Spades if you’re not covering all your bases. The entire reason of adopting the title of Jack of All Spades is that you’re a Jack of All Trades! So the following series of articles are my opinion of what is required before you can claim “prepared”. Having worked on this topic for a while I’m going to start with physical fitness and move onto different topics and how they relate to being prepared. We’ll cover food storage, martial arts, weapons handling, emergency preparedness, and more. Without further ado we began with the essentials in physical fitness. 

     This subject has long been my enemy. I rarely enjoy working out and I have difficulty committing to a regulated exercise schedule. I do find physical activity extremely rewarding when it’s connected to a sport or an outdoor activity but if the requirement is to run on a treadmill for an hour I’d rather sit in front of the TV instead. Let’s face it, most of us are the same way when it comes to getting out and exercising. The issue really is that when something happens and you’ve got to run for 30 minutes non-stop what are you going to do? I cannot think of any incident off hand that might require you to run non-stop for such a long amount of time but the point is that you need to know where you stand physically. I’m not talking martial arts or defending yourself at this point I’m merely describing your ability to perform on a physical level. 

     How much can you lift? How far can you run? How many pull-ups can you perform? Could you lift and carry another person? These are the questions I think of when it comes to my own personal exercise routine. In the military there are differing requirements between men and women however I feel that it is just as necessary for a woman to know how to carry the weight of a person as much as it is for a man. Pull-ups, push-ups and other exercises might more naturally be suited to the male figure but that doesn’t mean that women could match them. Since I see some of these exercises as a set of survival tools I feel that both men and women should be able to execute them. I won’t preach numbers but will leave that up to you and your own abilities. What should be kept in mind when working on these exercises is “how will this help you survive if you need it?” 

     PULL-UPS: One of the most difficult exercises for the average person is pull-ups. Most everyone can execute a single pull-up yet getting a second or even third can prove to me almost impossible. I’ll admit that even my own numbers are small next to the ever-ready Marines that I work with but that doesn’t mean that I don’t try. From my point of view a pull-up is one of the most important because let’s say that you end up hanging from some precarious ledge and the only means of escape is your own strength. Will you be able to execute a single pull-up and pull yourself from the edge? If you can only do one pull-up is that going to be enough when you really need it? These situations will rarely occur but I’d rather be ready with a solid five or six pull-ups under my belt than nothing at all. 

     PUSH-UPS: This is one exercise that I do enjoy. It keeps me awake during long nightshifts at work standing watch and it stirs up endorphins with little effort on my part. The greatest example to how important these could be was depicted in the movie “Batman Begins” where Bruce Wayne, played by Christian Bale, was trapped underneath a burning log and his butler, played by Michael Caine says, “What’s the point of all those bloody push-ups if you can’t even lift a simple log?” Now, Christian Bale was in shape in the movie as we see when he wakes up and drops to the floor to do a handful of push-ups as if they were nothing. The point however is that if you are suddenly trapped by anything whether a burning log or even some rubble from a building, will you have the strength to push it off you? If you’re able to do multiple push-ups then your chances are better.

     SIT-UPS: Let’s all face it, the majority of Americans in general pay little attention to their stomachs. Sit-ups represent the worst in exercising at times because of how difficult it is to start. Your first few might feel great but by thirty or forty you start to feel the burn. I have noticed though that the great thing about sit-ups is that it literally is the easiest to see results with. You can start with thirty sit-ups one day and move up to thirty five the next. By the end of the month you’ve double your number and it gets easier. From the survival stand point it’s simple to understand why sit-ups are important; your core is essential to your movement.  

     Whether you’re simply sitting up or throwing a punch you’re ability to move is anchored by the strength at your core. Push-ups, Pull-ups, even running is easier with a solid core. Remember, this doesn’t mean that you need rock hard abs or even body-builder muscles. You only need the strength. Find what works for you and stick with it. I do sit-ups every day until it burns and then I come back and do it again later. When I was deployed on an Aircraft Carrier I set my watch to go off every hour and I did forty at a time. You decide what’s right for you! 

     RUNNING: My worst enemy; running. It is true that I despise running above all other exercises but I cannot ignore the validity of such a thing. I sincerely believe that at a minimum every person should be able to run a mile without stopping. I feel strongly that a mile is a distance that stretches beyond the average person but still doesn’t require too much work to achieve. No serious training is needed and no special equipment is required; just the desire to go the whole 5,280ft. 

     SWIMMING: I have little advice for swimming since it isn’t something I excel at however I feel that this is as necessary as any other ability. The ability to swim is literally a life or death situation. I don’t know the statistical proof behind it but I would guess that the likelihood of falling expectantly in to water is much more likely than finding yourself hanging for your life on the edge of a cliff. Swim backstroke, freestyle, butterfly or even a solid doggy-paddle but know it and do it well. Don’t be caught without this ability. 

     FLEXIBILTY: I have learned over my years of martial arts that one of the most understated physical feats is the ability to flex to positions that the average person can’t. Although I admire the heroic feats of Jean-Claude Van Damme I don’t think anyone needs to be able to do the splits. What I think is extremely important about this though is that stretching and using those muscles in this way reduces injuries and more importantly keep you primed for action if you need to. If you need to react your muscles are used to working in a way that responds quickly to action. Make an effort in your exercising to not only stretch for your work out to help your muscles but do it to increase flexibility. There are hundreds of websites available about the best ways to achieve Jean-Claude Van Damme status but find the one that’s right for you and work it into your routine. 

     HEALTHY FOOD: I am no an expert, neither do I claim to know more than the average person does about eating healthy so I’m going to leave this topic very simply at: eat healthy. Your body is a machine and the quality of fuel you put into it determines the performance. We all love a little junk food here and there but balancing it with proper nutrition is extremely important. I put nothing but the highest grade of fuel in my motorcycle so why would I do anything less for my body. 

     There are so many reasons and examples of why this sort of commitment is necessary but if I were to list them off I think that we’d be here a while. I’d rather move on to other topics discussing equally important topics. Never underestimate the power your body has. It is, in my honest opinion, the most complex and important machine on the earth and if we are careless in maintaining it the body will fail. Don’t be that guy that is caught unable to protect his family or friends because he has lacked foresight in preparing himself physically.

Protecting Your Family

     Becoming a target for a hitman or foreign spy is not a common occurrence for Everyday Jacks. This sort of activity is usually left to black ops operatives, former Special Forces and government agents that don’t really exist. The worst event an average person might encounter is a possible bar fight or a stolen credit card. Even though we might never end up in an international spy incident we can still learn a few tricks of the trade from our covert brethren to assist us just in case. 

     There’s no claim on my part to know every secret that makes a good spy or Special Forces operative successful, but there are a few simple tricks that they utilize that are good to know if you or your loved ones are in danger. Even if none of these steps might ever need to be used, they are extremely simple to plan for and should be at least in place in case they do ever need to be used. 

     The first thing every family should have is a rally point. There is really no excuse for this one because it’s pretty standard for every child that goes through public school to have received the “rally point” speech from their local fire marshal. When your house goes up in flames, all members of the family should evacuate quickly and meet at the predetermined rally point to be counted by their mom or dad. Much like a house fire rally point, you should have other rally points in case something goes wrong. 

     A friend in Law Enforcement was working narcotics on a very large case. The suspects somehow learned personal information about my friend and sent some of their goons to follow his wife. There was no telling what they were going to do. Having been briefed of the dangers posed to her and her children she was always aware of her surroundings. On the day the goons started to follow her she was aware enough to realize she was being followed. She called my friend and he instructed her to meet at the rally point. When she arrived my friend and a good sized force of other officers were waiting for the goons. A little planning on the part of my friend and her wife ensured the safety of their family. 

     We might not be working a case against narco-traffickers but there’s no reason not to have a primary, secondary and even tertiary rally point. Make sure everyone in the family is aware of the rally points and how best to get there. 

     In conjunction with a rally point each family should have a safe-word or phrase. While working for Naval Security we were required to have a safe-word or safe-phrase. We oftentimes used common phrases that meant nothing to everyone else around us but to my partner it meant something deadly. This was only used to give myself and my partner more time to prepare for the danger when we discovered some lethal contraband or weapon. I was lucky never to have to use it but we did have it just in case. We usually changed our phrase everyday but we always talked about it that morning before starting our shift. 

Speakeasy access...mum's the word.

     Each family should have safe-words whether it be a single word that you give to the kids so they can identify a stranger is an authorized agent for their parents or if there’s a dangerous situation occurring and you need to pass a covert warning to a family member over the phone. As a young child my parents gave me a safe-phrase and a safe-number to remember so that if something happened to them and they needed to send someone else to get us then we could trust those people after they gave us the safe-phrase and number.

     In reality the safe-word idea can be modified to meet the needs of anybody who wishes to use it. Have a safe-number, word, phrase, sign, whistle or even a handshake. The bottom line is that there should be something in place to reassure you that the person giving the sign is speaking for the family or to warn the family of a potential threat. 

     Some people have security clearances or work against criminals. Other people have businesses that make thousands and thousands of dollars a day. There’s no shortage to the creativity of the criminal or terrorist mind so don’t think that something dangerous couldn’t happen to you. Your normal day job could easily be a target for people who need what you have. There are too many dangerous men out there with a thirsty desire for all sorts of debauchery. Most military members are just grunts and they lack the clearance or need-to-know when it comes to government secrets but that doesn’t stop foreign agencies from hacking into computers and Facebook accounts just to get some info. You never really know who could be a target. 

     The Jack of All Spades is different than the survivalists and “preppers” of the world in the sense that we don’t expect that these dangerous events WILL happen; rather we know that they COULD happen. An Everyday Jack understands that no one needs to prepare for all these things, but they’re simple enough that there’s no reason not to.