Economics and Investing:

Adidas’s $600-a-year subscription for workout clothes is testing the limits of a big shopping trend. Several observations here:

  1. Have we really reached a point in society where we have more money than time? Then we have become a slave to money even more so. Back in the day, people valued their money over their time; they typically tried to fix broken things or would innovate with what they had or could find. Find a Popular Mechanics from the 1930’s and see how it’s full of ideas of how to fix or make things. In the process, we were a whole lot more self sufficient than today. We were a nation of thinkers and doers. Follow the trend line on this one and see where we are headed– instant gratification in all matters of all things. Someone else can do the thinking for you.
  2. BattlBox…What in the World? You can research that one…

Again, when new markets rely upon folks who are so disconnected from reality that they have to have someone else do the shopping, what does that say about us?

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Items from Professor Preponomics:

US News

Currency and Collapse of the Roman Empire (Visual Capitalist) Excerpt: “With soaring logistical and admin costs and no precious metals left to plunder from enemies, the Romans levied more and more taxes against the people to sustain the Empire. Hyperinflation, soaring taxes, and worthless money created a trifecta that dissolved much of Rome’s trade. The economy was paralyzed. By the end of the 3rd century, any trade that was left was mostly local, using inefficient barter methods instead of any meaningful medium of exchange.

International News

For Many in Greece, the Economic Crisis Takes a Major Toll: Their Homes (CANMUA) This article is written about very real people in very real crisis. Excerpt: “Steady work disappears. Meager savings drain away. Welfare program administrators shake their heads. And then, finally, a confrontation with shattering reality.”

EU Lenders Working on Plan for Gradual Greek Debt Relief: Greek Paper (Reuters) Excerpt: “Negotiations between the heads of the EU/IMF mission reviewing the country’s progress on a pensions overhaul, fiscal targets and the handling of bad loans, took a break earlier this month. It was unclear when the lenders will return in Athens. Without their positive first assessment of the reforms, Greece cannot start relief talks it is seeking to show austerity-weary Greeks their sacrifices are paying off.”

Oil Didn’t Wreck Venezuela’s Economy. Socialism Did. (The Week) Excerpt: “But while the oil price drop may have been a proximate cause, and an aggravating factor, Venezuela’s economic woes predate the current oil price drop by many years, and were going on even while the oil price was high, under President Hugo Chavez. The culprit is clear and obvious: The problem is Venezuela’s authoritarian socialism.”

Venezuela is Out of Food: Here’s What an Economic Collapse Really Looks Like (Activist Post) Excerpt: “Many people expect an economic collapse to be shocking, instant, and dramatic but, really, it’s far more gradual than that. It looks like empty shelves, long lines, desperate government officials trying to cover their tushes, and hungry people.”

Fears Grow Over Possibility of Banking Crisis in Italy (The Irish Times) We often turn to macroeconomic models and statistical overviews to understand the mechanics of financial crisis, but we should be ever aware of the terrible toll it takes on individual human beings and their families. Excerpt: “It was a Saturday afternoon and Lidia stepped out of the house for a few minutes to water the flowers in the family’s garden. When she came back into the house, she found her 68-year-old husband, Luigino D’Angelo, hanging from the balustrade of the stairs leading down to the cellar.”

Italy Unveils Most Bizarre Bank Bailout Yet (ZeroHedge) Excerpt: “And this being Italy, where the phrase “political circus” is redundant, things just went uphill from here….” Warning: Commentary following article may contain bad language and/or inappropriate avatar images.

Personal Economics and Household Finance

Self-Reliance Weekly Report: Planning for Spring (Organic Prepper) Excerpt: “It’s here: that time of year when it’s still winter, but the anticipation of spring is in the air. (And possibly on the table in the form of seed and nursery catalogs!) One of my favorite parts of self-reliance is the planning and the dreaming. Right now, I’m figuring out my garden and my livestock for the year. The Self-Reliance Weekly Report is a collection of strategies, made up of the articles, books, DIYs, and products that I found useful on my own little prepper’s homestead.”

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SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.

Odds ‘n Sods:

By way of Tam at the View From the Porch blog, I heard about a thought-provoking piece in Joe Huffman’s The View From North Central Idaho blog: Culture changing concealed carry

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‘Open-carry’ in Texas causing confusion for law enforcement. This law is a legal gymnastics exercise: Not only does it only include handguns, but it also requires a permit. And no carry is allowed at sporting events.

JWR’s Comment: Whenever someone must buy a license or pay a fee to exercise a right, then it is something less than a right. It is in fact a mere privilege, subject to the whim of petty bureaucrats. Fundamental rights are not abstract tokens that are given or sold by other men. They are in fact primary liberties bestowed upon us by God, our Maker. Rights are not substantially secured by asking, “Mother may I?” of any government agency. Rights are more properly demanded or boldly seized and then conspicuously exercised regularly. This secures the liberties that have legitimately belonged to us since birth. If need be, lost rights can and must be restored through proscriptive use. If you live in a land where your rights have been marginalized into privileges, then it is either time to change your government or to change your address. Much like a muscle that atrophies with disuse, any right that goes unexercised for many years devolves into a privilege and eventually can even be redefined as a crime.

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Homemade Caramel Syrup for Your Coffee: Make it with high quality sugar and honey, avoid the corn syrup and enjoy the excellent flavor for about half the price of the store bought version! – Submitted by K.F.

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Cost Of Defecting From The Grid “Some residents may see their electricity bills spike by 300% above what they likely would have been had they not purchased solar in the first place.” What? You’re paying the utility company to use your solar power? – JustCallMeAnn

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Want United Nations Assistance? Eye Scan Required. Excerpt: “An eye scan payment system has been launched by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in Jordanian supermarkets to help Syrian refugees staying in migrant camps to conduct purchases at local shops using their eye instead of credit cards, cash, or vouchers.” – T.P.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“Now the Senate is looking for moderate judges, mainstream judges. What in the world is a moderate interpretation of a constitutional text? Halfway between what it says and what we’d like it to say?” – Antonin Scalia

Notes for Sunday – February 21, 2016

February 21st is the birthday of Zimbabwe’s President For Life, Comrade Robert Mugabe (born 1924). Despite the 2011 revelations of the apparent murder of at least 640 political opponents, Mugabe was elected again in 2013 to a five year term in office. Mugabe and his ZANU-PF henchmen must be driven out of office and sent to prison, where they belong!

February 21st is also the birthday of Group Captain Douglas Bader (born 1910, died 5 September 1982). He was a Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter ace during the Second World War. He lost his legs in a pre-war flying accident, but that didn’t stop him from re-entering the RAF when war broke out. He was credited with 20 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared probable, and 11 enemy aircraft damaged. Bader was eventually shot down and became a POW in Germany. Since the Luftwaffe ran its own POW camps, he became a celebrity with his captors. The Germans would lock up his hollow metal prosthetic legs each night to prevent him from escaping. Bader’s autobiography Reach for the Sky is a must for those studying aviation in World War II.

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Today, we present another entry for Round 63 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator system from Always Empowered. This compact starter power system is packaged in a wheeled O.D. green EMP-shielded Pelican hard case (a $1,700 value),
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate that is good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper with a hammer forged, chrome-lined barrel and a hard case to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel, which can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Gun Mag Warehouse is providing 20 Magpul PMAG 30-rd Magazines (a value of $300) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt; (an equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions),
  6. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  7. The Ark Institute is donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package (enough for two families of four) plus seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate (a $325 retail value),
  8. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating both an AquaBrick water filtration kit and a Stainless Medium Scout Kelly Kettle Complete Kit with a combined retail value of $304, and
  10. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Second Prize:

  1. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  2. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  3. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  4. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  5. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  6. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  7. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  8. Safecastle is providing a package of 10 LifeStraws (a $200 value)

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A $245 gift certificate from custom knife-maker Jon Kelly Designs, of Eureka, Montana,
  3. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  7. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value), and
  8. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).

Round 63 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Fitness for Success When the SHTF– Part 4 by J.P.M.

Pacing for the Out-of-Shape

If you are out of shape and trying to lose weight and build strength, start with small increments that you are able to handle, such as doing only ten sit-ups, push-ups, squats, and jumping jacks. Then rest until the burning sensation subsides but no more than a minute. Then do another round until you have completed your workout time. Dedicating 15-30 minutes is a good amount of time for a balanced workout. If you have a pull-up bar (make sure you have one at your SHTF retreat; good plans for building one exist online), do as many pull-ups as you can manage, then immediately switch to chin-ups, and do the same. Also, pump out a few dead lifts. Try to complete at least two of these sessions per day. One long one (20-30 minutes) with a short one (10-20 minutes) is a good plan. Three work out session (one long and two short) is excellent.

For running, going two or three times a week is good. Run incrementally, meaning run until you can’t and then walk until you’re breathing well. (Don’t continue running if you’re forced to start gasping for air with your mouth open. Slow down until you’ve recovered and your heart rate is slower; then resume running.) As for speed, don’t sprint at top speed. Start out at a jog, and increase your speed as you become more fit. At first, it may seem you aren’t moving much faster then walking, but don’t rush. You’ll get speed (and endurance) with patience. As for distance, start with half a mile and see what you can handle. Ideally for practical maintenance fitness, your distance should be what you can complete in about an hour or so. You don’t want to spend the whole day running.

Continual/Maintenance Fitness Training

You must practice “continual fitness training”. What I mean by this is, instead of taking the elevator, use the stairs. Walk those couple of blocks instead of taking a taxi. Instead of ordering in that pizza from a few blocks away, walk to pick it up. Don’t sit at your desk on break; go down to distribution, and see if you can help lift boxes. If you’re out in the country (sweet!), carry those couple of five-gallon buckets of water instead of pulling out the ATV. Walk over to get that shovel. It’s really not that far. Here, those who live in the country have a distinct advantage, as their daily occupations usually require a lot more physical activity. Consequently, they don’t have to do as much dedicated exercise. The country rocks!

Persevere, continually increasing the amount and intensity of your workouts, until you have reached your maintenance point!

Rough Idea of Your Maintenance Point

The maintenance point is the point where you are merely exercising to maintain your current fitness, not trying to increase, varies widely by person. There is no reason, unless you are a professional athlete, to say, “I should spend more time working out, just because I can.” Remember, the point of practical fitness, which I would venture is the best form of exercise, is to enable you to live a productive, healthy life aside from your dedicated exercise; it’s not that you live to workout. Some factors that determine your personal maintenance point will be age, activity level, gender, build, and metabolism. Needless to say, if you don’t do much physical activity in your daily occupation, you’ll need to devote more time and effort to working out. (I don’t think that office jobs are the healthiest. We are designed for physical activity. But, do your best!) Also, you will slow down with age, but let your body dictate that rate, not you. By maintaining a high level of activity, you will live longer and age more gracefully. There is no reason why older men cannot be strong and fast too.

Determining Your Maintenance Point

Here I will throw out standards of fitness excellence and you can determine your maintenance point with them in consideration.

To complete 50-75 sit-ups, 30-65 push-ups, 30-50 non-weighted squats (if you add a barbell and extra weight, the number of reps reasonably decreases), and 10-15 pull-ups and chin-ups each in a continuous set is superb. If you can accomplish these figures in continuous sets of their respective exercises, you are in excellent shape, for an average six foot 180-210 pound male. The standards for females will be proportionally less. Go for two sets of these proportions a day, so you complete 100 push-ups a day and 200 sit-ups. These are military standards of excellence, which is all you would need for practical fitness. If you are in this good shape, spend the rest of your time elsewhere. There is no need for spending more time working out, without leaving the realm of practical fitness.

For running, to pass the Basic Training fitness exam, you must complete two miles in 16 minutes (for the 17-25 age group). If you can run two consecutive miles in roughly 20 minutes and five or six miles in an hour, you are in excellent running shape. Of course, your times may decrease proportionally with age, but with constant effort and work you should still be in fighting shape into your 50s. Once you can complete these run times, try to be able to do so carrying a pack with at least 25 pounds in it, or if you’re really brave do it in full kit. If you can run good time still, you are ready for TEOTWAWKI. Running in local 5k races also gives you good practice of running under pressure. Your performance will be markedly different when the pressure is on, as opposed to the daily jog.

So, Now…

It was a long one, but you’ve finished this article, and the S hasn’t HTF yet. That wasn’t the point. We don’t want to wait for that. The information I have tried to provide you here is for you to get in shape now so you’ll be ready for the moment of truth. That way you won’t be one of the people in a daze, saying, “How could this happen!?! What will I do?” It most certainly can happen. We live on the edge of a knife. When things go over the edge, you will be physically able to take charge and chart a course for victory through the chaos. Who will people be more willing to follow, to work with, to band with: someone who swaggers about bellowing, or someone who can take the end of the rope and pull the hardest? With strength, courage, honesty, charity, and nerves of steel, we will leave Captain Sofa and his beer bellied looters in the dust and be on our way to rebuild civilization. I hope I’ve been able to help, by this humble contribution.

Letter Re: How to Prepare a Refugee Bug Out Bag

HJL,

There are some good ideas in here, but a few items that may be easily overlooked. First, denim should be avoided for your clothing. While durable, it will perform horribly if you get wet. It’s better to go lightweight with some good synthetic materials. I would suggest convertible pants that can zip out to shorts because you may not know what kind of weather you will bug out in.

When you are looking at your base layers, you can’t forget to start with underwear. Materials that don’t wick sweat away or chafe will spell disaster. Compression shorts and a stick of body glide is a must have if you are going to be hiking any distance.

Camping can help to flesh out what works and what doesn’t, but I would encourage everyone to make sure that their camping experience is closer to a bug out experience than car glamping. There is a big difference between camping out of your car, or backpacking in somewhere. If you are not backpacking some distance with your gear, then you are not really testing it.

JK in CO

Economics and Investing:

The Chilling Ways The Current Global Economy Echoes The 1930s Depression Era – Sent in by B.B.

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Music to my ears! The War On Cash Is Irrelevant If You Own Gold And Silver – D.S.

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Items from Professor Preponomics:

US News

Lawmakers Ask Treasury to Probe Chinese Purchase of Chicago Exchange (Washington Examiner) Excerpt: “It is outrageous that a communist Chinese company — a front for the communist Chinese government — will be given access to trillions of dollars in the struggling U.S. economy and secure information about U.S. businesses. I strongly urge the Obama administration to investigate this firm and stop this purchase….”

It’s February, and China’s Already Broken the Annual Record for US Deals (Wall Street Journal) Excerpt: “The value of the 24 acquisitions of U.S. companies by Chinese buyers is up 15% from the previous record, set last year, when Chinese companies announced 115 deals valued at a total of $20.5 billion.”

Political Backlash Grows in Washington to Chinese Takeovers (New York Times) Excerpt: “As Chinese companies try to snap up American tech businesses, they are setting off ripples of unease in the Obama administration and in Congress, inciting a backlash that has stopped the latest acquisition attempt.”

US Food Chain Safety To Be Scrutinized After ChemChina-Syngenta Deal (Market Watch) Excerpt: “U.S. officials are likely to give the proposed takeover of Syngenta by China National Chemical Corp. scrutiny over food-security concerns, experts said Wednesday, after the Swiss seed and pesticide company said it agreed to a takeover offer from the Chinese government-owned firm.”

International News

Eurozone Crisis IMMINENT as Debt-Ridden Italy and Portugal on Verge of Being New Greece (Express) Excerpt: “Both countries are heavily laden with huge piles of debts and struggling to register any growth amid global market turmoil. Recent figures showed Italy’s economy grew by just 0.1 per cent in the last quarter of 2015, while Portugal’s was only 0.2 per cent.”

UK Ministers Warn of “Domino Effect” If Britain Leaves EU (Financial Times) What would a Brexit mean for the remainder of the European Union?

Multiple Crises Fence in Greece (The Corner) Excerpt: “This creates a dangerous mix that Tsipras has to handle carefully. The impressive factor about recent protests is not necessarily their size or intensity but the breadth of society that they cover. Never before during Greece’s never-ending crisis have farmers, engineers, lawyers and doctors stood side by side.”

Personal Economics and Household Finance

Scammers Score Payday on Craigslist, According to Study (Clark Howard) Be careful. Excerpt: “A study done by researchers at the University of Maryland, New York University and Cornell University found that over half of fraudulent real estate rental ads were not flagged for removal by Craigslist, which means these ads were available for unsuspecting victims to happen upon them – doing great damage to them, and their wallets.”

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SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Oregon was just a sample: The War on Western Working People – Thomas Jefferson changed John Locke’s phrasing when he wrote the Declaration of Independence from “property” to “pursuit of happiness”. Although the reasoning behind this change is well argued, one of the prime reasons was that “private property” was easy to come by in the new world. Now we find that, yet again, that very concept is endangered. – RBS

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SurvivalBlog reader H.L. sent in this article by Mac Slavo; useful information for all of us: Using This Phone Passcode Strategy Will Take The FBI 127 Years To Crack Your Encrypted Data

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D.S. sent in this article detailing how the IRS is your worst enemy in more ways than one: IRS Fails To Follow Basic Web Security Procedures, Increases Risk Of Taxpayer Identity Theft

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Reader MVR sent in this link: Arizona Passes Bill to Stop Federal Gun Restrictions Excerpt: “What this bill does is gives the state of Arizona a protection from Federal infringement of its citizens’ Constitutional right to bear arms. This places all law enforcement in the state in a stable position to refuse, legally, to take part in breaking the Constitution.”

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Showing the increasing dissatisfaction of being tied to a sinking ship: Britain’s EU referendum to be held on June 23 (Warning: autostarting video)

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” – Philippians 4:19-20 (KJV)

Notes for Saturday – February 20, 2016

Today, we present another entry for Round 63 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator system from Always Empowered. This compact starter power system is packaged in a wheeled O.D. green EMP-shielded Pelican hard case (a $1,700 value),
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate that is good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper with a hammer forged, chrome-lined barrel and a hard case to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel, which can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Gun Mag Warehouse is providing 20 Magpul PMAG 30-rd Magazines (a value of $300) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt; (an equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions),
  6. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  7. The Ark Institute is donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package (enough for two families of four) plus seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate (a $325 retail value),
  8. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating both an AquaBrick water filtration kit and a Stainless Medium Scout Kelly Kettle Complete Kit with a combined retail value of $304, and
  10. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Second Prize:

  1. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  2. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  3. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  4. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  5. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  6. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  7. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  8. Safecastle is providing a package of 10 LifeStraws (a $200 value)

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A $245 gift certificate from custom knife-maker Jon Kelly Designs, of Eureka, Montana,
  3. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  7. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value), and
  8. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).

Round 63 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Fitness for Success When the SHTF– Part 3 by J.P.M.

The Dead Lift

Pulling is probably one of the best movements for overall leg and lower back growth, plain and simple. Dead lifts hit your quads, hamstrings, glutes, spinal erectors, abs, traps, and upper lats. This exercise does require a barbell.

Walk to the bar. Stand with your mid-foot under the bar. Don’t touch it with your shins yet. Stand with feet at hip width stance and toes out 15°. Grab the bar, narrow, with hands about shoulder-width apart. Arms should be vertical from the front view, hanging just outside your legs.

Bend your knees and keep going until your shins touch the bar. Don’t move the bar. Keep it over your mid-foot.

Now, lift your chest and straighten your back. Don’t move the bar. Don’t drop your hips, and don’t squeeze your shoulders-blades.

Pull. Take a big breath, hold it, and stand up. Keep the bar against your legs. Don’t shrug or lean back at the top.

It is extremely important to keep your back straight throughout the dead lift! To bend your back could cause back injury, such as herniated disks. Since this exercise should be done properly to avoid injury and these are just the basics, you may wish to do further reading.

Links to illustrations of exercises follow:

Running

The essential piece of a strong fitness routine, running, builds strong legs, glutes, and abdominals, and it also is probably the best way to increase stamina and endurance. Why is it so important? Man has been running since the beginning of time, when he needed a faster pace to escape his enemies. Soon he learned that by running when he wasn’t being chased, he was able improve his ability to run when his life was on the line. The pushup will give you the strength to lift that heavy pack onto your back, but you need to be able to move your body as well as the gear you are carrying forward! Running can be difficult, especially for the beginner. However, with practice and forbearance, it can be enjoyable. There is no such thing as a person who isn’t “the running type”. Try not to forget, though, that we are talking about practical fitness here. Running a marathon may not be what every runner needs to do. This is probably going to be the most in-depth of these entries.

Clothing

Wear clothing appropriate to the weather. The last thing you want is to catch pneumonia! Modern workout clothing is fine, but it is somewhat of a racket; there is very little you actually do need. Here is what I would recommend:

For warm weather: (60-90 degrees F) No more than one layer is necessary.

For cold weather: (10-40 degrees F). These guidelines are assuming a moderate to high level activity run, which will contribute to keep you warm, negating the need for heavier clothing.

  • You will need a base layer, a lightweight one will do fine, coupled with a cotton/poly long sleeve shirt
  • pants (I run in my BDU pants, but sweats also work) between 30 and 40F.
  • Below 30F, you should add a thicker garment over the other two. A hoodie or fleece pullover works nicely. You can opt for a actual jacket, if there is precipitation. A mid-weight bottom base layer will complete your outfit.
  • Be sure to wear a good watch cap or other headgear. If there is cold wind, you may wish to add a balaclava type headgear to protect your face and neck.
  • Thick wool/thermal socks.
  • Boots may be called for, especially if there is snow. A waterproof combat boot, which is designed with elements of a running shoe, is a very good choice. Hiking boots tend to not flex for running as well, but footwear is a very personal item, so get what works well for you. Below 10F, well, do you really need to run? Working out in lower temps may just be foolhardy.

Hydration

Bring water! No matter what the temperature, hydration is key. A Camelbak type hydration system is the best. Be sure to bring enough, but on a workout too much will slow you down, and carrying a bottle is very awkward. It is very helpful to mix with plain water some citrus juice. Any squeezed citrus fruit will do; what I currently use is a grapefruit and two lemons mixed with about a gallon of water and a half teaspoon of salt and sugar (don’t leave out the fruit pulp!). Fill your water carrier with 1 cup of this mixture to every 3 cups of straight water. And there you have your own electrolyte replacing drink.

Running Form

Your running form is very personal. No two people run the same way. By trying to follow a textbook style, you will most likely only become frustrated and risk injury. Experiment to find your own unique style. However, there are some guidelines that are usually universally helpful, which I will state below:

Your torso should be kept straight and you should lean slightly forward, without bending your back . Except for the legs and arms, there should be no other movement. Such “flailing” will waste energy and throw you off balance. It is most important to move in a natural, relaxed manner. You (if you have done your warm-up!) shouldn’t feel tense or stiff or move in an awkward feeling manner. If you are, find the cause and eliminate it. Don’t worry; you probably won’t have any issue with this. It is hard to screw up something you’ve been doing since you were a toddler.

Don’t over stride; this is awkward and dangerous. When running, you aren’t trying to step out farther than when you walk; you’re only trying to take more strides. So, watch how you walk, and apply the same manner to running, only sped up. Your leg and knee should form a slight angle still; if your leg is stretched out straight, you are over striding. Land with your leg as close to the body as possible.

Move your arms. Don’t try to keep your arms still at all. They should form a 90 degree angle at the elbow and swing freely up and down, raising the arm opposite the leg currently taking the stride. However, don’t let your arms come across in front of your chest; they should move up and down only. Again, just let what is natural take place, and you’ll get it right. Don’t consciously try to raise and lower your arms to a certain level.

Don’t slam your feet into the ground. Keep some spring in them, but don’t land on the balls of your feet. Instead, land on your whole mid-foot. Then, make contact with your whole foot and start the next step, pushing off with your toes. Your landing knee should be slightly bent.

After your run, do some reps of warm-ups to gradually “cool” your muscles down. Remember that you will slow down based on the terrain you are running over. I do most of my running on gravel country roads, so they are pretty level and even throughout. Also, remember to slow down on hills. Until you have some practice up-hill running, just gunning it is an injury hazard.

As you run, try to concentrate on what you are doing. While you may be tempted to find a distraction, not paying attention to your running will slow you down.

Pacing It All Out

So, I’ve presented the exercises. Now how much should you do? This depends on your goal. If you’re out of shape and trying to come back, you’ll naturally start with less and build up. If you are trying to build more muscle, you’ll add more also. Once you are at the point you wish to be, you can “stay the course”. I call this maintenance. A maintenance workout is a daily (or several days a week) routine that shouldn’t take more than 15-30 minutes for each session (excluding runs and an additional seven minutes for your morning warm-up). Depending on your own ability, the amount you do will vary, but I’ll sketch out a rough idea in the next section. This pace is assuming you do this workout in your home or workplace. When at a dedicated gym, routine is different. Also, the running pace is assuming it takes place outdoors.

Letter: Home Locks Review From Someone That Breaks Into Homes (Legally) For A Living

HJL,

As a long time reader of the blog, I was interested in the note about secure home products. The trick with the rod with the hook to undo an automatic garage door opener I thought was great; I actually tried it yesterday and after a minute I gave up on it and just drilled the lock. When I walked in the garage I looked up and I almost had it hooked another minute I think I would have had it. Here’s the back story; I break into homes for a living. My job is to secure foreclosed homes. The garage trick I like because most people will lock the front and back door, but the door from the garage usually is unlocked, or only has a knob lock that is defeated with a pipe wrench. I try not to damage the doors or windows when making access into a home; I do not kick, I drill. If you have what most people have on their homes (kwickset) I am in that home in less than 30 seconds. It takes me 15 to drill the deadbolt and 15 to get my pipe wrench to twist your knob lock and be inside the home. If I come across a home that has good locks, like Schlage, I work on windows. Those locks are way too aggravating to drill and have broken many a drill bit trying to. When I come across them, I work the garage door first, and if i can not make easy access there I move to windows. New windows, with a small pry bar and a screwdriver, I can often access the home without damaging the window or the lock.

I do all of my work in the day time. When I got started, I was driving a cheap looking truck and I used to have to speak with a deputy once a week. As my business has expanded I have built up my equipment and bought nicer things. I have not had the law called on me in a year with one exception– an alarm company called for the break in due to the window that was unlocked in one bedroom. I spoke to him for a minute and went on with my work. Didn’t even show my paperwork.

For securing a home, buy nice locks and windows, screw them shut. Under windows, do what people have done for eons– plant cactus, et cetera. (I have had to go by Dollar General to buy tweezers to get those out of me on a job.) Buy a security system, if you don’t just put fake signs on your windows and yard. (Criminals know it takes 30 minuses on a burglar alarm.)

Doors with 4-inch screws are tough; regular doors with a kick guard that goes from a good knob lock to the floor are a beast to even try and kick or break.

If you’re not the easiest to rob, you won’t be the first. Good luck to all of you. – B.G.

Economics and Investing:

Kmart gets into the liquidation business. Why be surprised? The entire company is going bankrupt. Why not take somebody else’s unwanted garbage along for the ride. – RBS

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Items from Mr. Econocobas:

You Are Here – I am not a chart expert by any means, but this is worth a quick peek.

Negative Rates Are a ‘Dangerous Experiment’, Warns Morgan Stanley

Items from Professor Preponomics:

US News

Regulator: Feds Face Rising Risks for Managing Fannie, Freddie (Washington Examiner) Excerpt: “The current situation is unsustainable, Watt said, not only because of the lack of capital at the two enterprises, but also because they cannot effectively compete against each other right now and create market discipline….”

Less Than 1 Out of 3 California Families Can Afford to Purchase a Home: The Number of Millenials Living at Home Continues to Grow (Doctor Housing Bubble) Excerpt: “The last time we were in the 20 percent range of affordability for California was when we were deep in the last housing bubble (on the manic mortgage days and also leading to the implosion). You need to understand what this means. Household incomes are fully stretched. We are now at the stage that companies are offering exotic products to circumvent the inability for households to save for a down payment.”

International News

The Big UH-OH (US News) Excerpt: “Eight years after the financial crisis, the world is coming to grips with an unpleasant realization: serious weaknesses still plague the global economy, and emergency help may not be on the way.”

Still No Deal for Britain on EU Reforms After All-Night Talks (Reuters) Excerpt: “No country has ever voted to leave the Union. Britain is the EU’s second largest economy and one of its two permanent members on the UN Security Council. Its exit would end the vision of the EU as the natural home for European democracies and reverse the continent’s post-World War Two march toward “ever closer union”.”

China’s Subprime Crisis is Already Here – Bad Loans Soaring (Contra Corner) Excerpt: “China’s bad loans have grown 256 percent in six years even as their ratio to total lending dropped. The true amount of debt that isn’t being repaid is open for debate. One example of how the data can be distorted: Banks are making increasing use of their more opaque receivables accounts to mask loans and potential losses, as Bloomberg News reports today.”

Stocks Knocked Back as Oil Rally Falters(Reuters) Will any agreement hold? Excerpt: “Oil prices rose more than 14 percent in the three days to Thursday after Saudi Arabia and Russia, supported by other exporters including Venezuela and Iraq, moved to freeze oil output at January’s levels. Iran endorsed the plan without commitment on Wednesday.” International Business Times is tracking developments… Oil Crisis: Prices Decline Again After Saudi Arabia Refuses to Cut Production

Venezuela’s Maduro Announces String of Emergency Economic Measures (Venezuela Analysis) The problems faced by Venezuela are more severe than most of the rest of the world can truly imagine. Reading the news nightmare is hardly the equivalent of living it. In an attempt to address these, Maduro’s address to the nation lasted five hours. Excerpt: “The economic initiatives include changes to the country’s multi-tiered exchange rate, an increase in the domestic price of gasoline, the implementation of a new tax system, and expansion of community control over food distribution.”

Personal Economics and Household Finance

Central States Pension Fund Proposes Drastic Cuts (Kansas City Business Journal) Anticipate that problems of pension solvency will spread. Plan for your personal solvency independent of any program benefits you’re otherwise anticipating. Don’t believe for a moment that funding cuts always affect someone else. Excerpt: “…In an effort to avoid the fund’s collapse, the Central States Pension Fund is proposing cutting benefits by 50 percent or more for a number of retirees.”

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SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.

Odds ‘n Sods:

A neighbor up the valley who is moving a cattle fence line recently complained that he was having trouble pulling steel T-posts by hand. He said that they often got bent when “rocking” them out, and that in rocky soil, they would sometimes have their cross-plates (“wings”) break off. I resisted the urge to laugh, and I introduced him to my old standby: A Red Rooster T-Post Puller Plate. These work remarkably well. I use mine with one of my pair of 48″ Hi-Lift jacks, but these can also be used by attaching a short length of chain to the clevis on a tractor bucket. (Note: I formerly used the Speeco brand post puller plate, but I learned that those are now made in Mainland China.) – JWR

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From the desk of Mike Williamson, SurvivalBlog’s Editor At Large: Waaay off grid living. (Link is safe, despite the odd looking name.)

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The ultimate survivalist storage media: ‘Five-dimensional’ glass discs can store data for up to 13.8 billion years – If only my computer could write to these disks. – A.D.

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SurvivalBlog reader Grunambulax posted a neat instructable on protecting your iPhone power cord from the inevitable tear. In the day and age of throwaway electronics, it’s nice to see an effort to extend the usable life of some of these things.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern. And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.” Ezekiel 43:10-11(KJV)