Pros and Cons of Manual Safeties on Handguns

The inclusion of a manual safety on a handgun is an intensely personal choice for a shooter. There is no right or wrong answer as a safety lends itself better to certain kinds of shooters and certain situations better than others.

A shooter’s own preference for a safety is usually formed by the sum of their training and experience, though a strong like or dislike of a given pistol design may move the needle one way or another.

The use of a manual safety is not without drawbacks just as omitting one is not always a benefit. A safety may paradoxically be a hazard to those who do not train with it or train incorrectly, and a safety may enhance the capability of a skilled shooter fluent in its use.

The pros and cons of manual safeties can be subtle, nuanced, and may elude those with less experience. Since it is usually impossible to add or remove a manual safety to a pistol once purchased, it is in your best interest to buy the right tool the first time. In this article I will lay out the benefits and potential pitfalls of manual safeties for defensive handguns.

Manual Safety Defined

A manual safety is any control on a gun that when actuated will either prevent the gun from firing or allow it to be fired depending on the position.

The precise means by which it accomplishes this varies from design to design, but is often achieved by either physically blocking the trigger from moving or by disconnecting it from the rest of the fire control group.

Manual safeties take the form of levers most often on handguns, and are moved through a short arc in order to activate or deactivate the safety, known as going “on safe” or “off safe”.

Manual safeties are distinct in category from other user-actuated passive safeties such as grip safeties ala the 1911 or trigger safeties as made popular by Glock pistols.

Such features are activated by the fingers and/or hand, but are done so automatically in the normal course of gripping the pistol or preparing to fire; if no deliberate action and movement is required in the manual of arms to activate or deactivate the safety, it is not a manual safety.

No matter how the safety ultimately functions, the outcome is the same: when activated, the gun cannot be fired, be it from a deliberate trigger pull or accident. This sounds inherently smart to inexperienced shooters but this potential additional insurance against a discharge comes at a cost.

By Hecklerfan – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Disadvantages of Manual Safeties

A manual safety is always an additional step in the manual of arms, no matter how you square it. Ideally, a manual safety would be deactivated in the ready position as the shooters makes the decision to fire and presents the gun out toward the target, not deactivated once the gun arrives at full extension.

After firing and deciding to bring the gun back to ready, the safety is reengaged. The tempo is like this: decision to fire, safety off as gun goes out, decision to return, safety on as gun comes back. Off and out, on and back, off and out, on and back.

In reality, many shooters, especially new shooters do not even do that. What these shooters will often do is treat the safety like an ignition or on/off switch for their gun.

For instance, they head to the range for some practice, get all bagged up with PPE and then, once on the range, click the safety off of their pistol.

They fire however many rounds they choose in practice with no additional manipulation of the safety at all and then, once practice is over, clear the pistol, click the safety on and depart for home or wherever. This is the pinnacle of poor use of a manual safety.

The problem with the latter example is this: that same gun will be used for self-defense and either kept at home or carried accordingly. The safety will be on while the gun is in a loaded, resting state.

Should an attack occur the shooter will have done nothing to bake-in the neural pathways and dexterity necessary to deactivate the safety.

What happens is a loaded, on-safe gun is presented toward the threat, a dead or limp trigger is fanned repeatedly (with no accompanying bang) and then, perhaps and hopefully, the defender realizes their mistake and desperately tries to move the safety to the fire position in time to save their own life.

This occurrence sounds humorous, like the stuff of action movies, but it is all too real and very common, even among poorly trained police officers. The results can be deadly.

A pistol so equipped with a manual safety must be practiced with often, consistently and correctly to ensure that, in a high-stress situation, the safety will be deactivated without conscious thought or fumbling on the shooter’s part.

Training to that level of fluency is simple, but it takes work and a commitment to proper practice at the range and during dry fire. The fear of the above mishap occurring leads a significant portion of new gun purchasers and shooters to select pistols that rely only on passive safeties.

The idea being that so long as the gun is loaded it is ready to be used instantly with no chance of fumbling a control that will prevent it from being fired. The tradeoff is, naturally, that while such guns may be drop safe, anything at all that impinges upon the trigger can result in a discharge.

When you consider the stress levels involved in an attack and how much little time you’ll have to make an effective response, you may be best served by a pistol with nothing stopping you from getting it into gear.

Advantages of Manual Safeties

A manual safety gives the user an additional facet of complete control over part of the gun’s function, specifically the fire control. An engaged manual safety will totally prevent any discharge from occurring no matter if it is a finger or a foreign object in the trigger guard.

This additional level of safety and assurance is welcome during all kinds of activity, but most especially when reholstering where the risk of a “crash on landing,” one of the most common ND’s, is very high.

You can try to logically contort around it all day long: a gun with a manual safety engaged is inherently safer to handle administratively than one without. With trigger blocked or disconnected, any mishap that would result in a negligent discharge from an accident or from plain, ol’ human error will be covered by an engaged manual safety.

We never want to make a habit of relying on the manual safety, and the Four Cardinal Rules of Gun Safety are the keys absolute, but should we happen to make a mistake or suffer an accident, the manual safety will back us up. Think of it like a reserve parachute.

A manual safety is also a hedge against a gun takeaway. There are many tales and recorded incidents of cops and some citizens who had their guns taken from them by attackers who proceeded to try and murder them with it.

Guns that feature no manual safety are no impediment at all to the bad guy in this instance assuming they are loaded, and tragedy has followed in the wake of those incidents.

Guns that featured manual safeties were many times credited with saving the victims’ lives since the attackers could not figure out how to make the guns fire.

It is easy to dismiss the above perk as a fringe advantage or one that you would never need take advantage of, but in my opinion there are far, far too many civilian gun carriers who live blithely unaware of how their fight might really look.

Most of us would like to imagine a classical stick-up with some standoff with our attacker squared up to us and in broad daylight on an empty street. Reality shows us that he will be much closer, and the chances that you both will come to grips with each other are high. Do you really think that you’ll never need to defend against a gun takeaway?

A safety does not need to be a pain to use. Many modern and vintage guns have very well designed and placed safety levers that do not require any contortion of the shooting grip to actuate. For many guns, a shooter’s excuse of “the safety is too hard to run!” is just that, an excuse.

A pistol with a properly shaped and located safety is almost effortless to activate, one needs only to put in enough practice to make activating it second nature. The benefits a safety confers, both in a real situation and when handling the gun administratively, is significant, and well worth consideration.

Other Thoughts about Safeties

A pistol that utilizes a manual safety should at least have a good one. What is a good safety? A good safety is one that is ergonomically placed for easy, intuitive activation by the shooting hand thumb (or rarely a finger) and is easily and smoothly moved across its arc of travel before settling into its resting position with a distinct tactile sensation.

A safety that is small, tough to get purchase on and either stiff or mushy in actuation is a liability, and can be fumbled when time is precious.

Most guns with stiff controls like that can be “massaged” into cleaner, crisper function by a competent gunsmith as a pretty simple job, and such operations are well worth the time and money if you plan on sticking with the subject pistol.

Other safety enhancements are things like extended levers in the case of a too small control or a thinned or relieved lever if the stock control is way to prominent.

Lest you think there is no such thing as a too-large safety after I just got done waxing about the hazards of a fumbled attempt at deactivation, think again; a safety lever that is too large is vulnerable to inadvertent activation in the hand and in the holster. The last thing you want is to be babysitting a holstered and safed pistol.

You should also pay particular attention to holster selection when carrying a pistol with a manual safety. An ill-fitting holster or one that is generically sized can allow movement that will engage or disengage the safety without your knowledge.

This is not the end of the world with a double-action pistol but is a significant hazard with a single-action one. If you are carrying a pistol with a manual safety you must place it in a properly fitted holster and check it for function.

An example of an ideally placed thumb safety is the one on the venerable 1911 and its progeny. Located far to the rear on the frame and ideally situated for easy activation with its long lever, the 1911 safety is pushed down into the fire position and up into the safe position, with down being very easy and anatomically correct for the majority of shooters.

This design is echoed in the excellent Smith & Wesson M&P series pistols that feature a manual safety. Designs of this type are very easy to train into and are rarely mishandled once a shooter has take time to practice with them.

Some guns have a similarly located safety in the form of a combination control lever that functions as both a safety and decocking lever when depressed past its on-safe position. The H&K USP and P30 series guns are two well known examples.

Another common and far less favored safety is that of the slide mounted type, best known today from the Beretta M9 and 92 series of guns as well as its younger siblings in the Px4 Storm line.

This type of safety is much maligned as for its seemingly opposite function in contrast to the way our thumbs work (up for fire, down for safe), and for being very easy to accidentally re-engage in the safe position from fire when one is cycling the slide by hand.

Without considerable practice (or knowing the trick) such safeties can be very frustrating and fumble prone.

The aforementioned trick is not to push the safety up and away with the tip of the shooting hand thumb in a hitchhiking type move, but to keep the thumb high and straight and sweep down into the lever as the shooting grip is acquired.

This will quickly and surely pop the safety off much easier than the alternate method. That little trick comes from Beretta guru Ernest Langdon, so I cannot take any credit for that.

Who Should Use a Safety? Who Should Avoid Them?

There is no easy, fast answer here. Generally I can say that shooters who are not going to practice regularly and deliberately with their guns are best served by a design lacking a manual safety; the time investment and repetitions needed to completely ingrain deactivation of the safety upon presentation is a factor.

Similarly, you do not want a gun with a trigger that is too light and too short, since these lesser-trained shooters are far more likely to suffer from a wandering trigger finger.

Shooters who are willing to put in the time to train and then practice with their firearm can effectively use any design, including one with a safety.

It perhaps seems a bit of a catch-22 that inexperienced and less enthusiastic shooters would perhaps receive the most benefit from a manual safety but they are the most likely to bungle it in actual use, whereas seasoned gunhands can make the best use of a manual safety but are the least likely to need it.

For those reasons, I would say that the choice of whether or not you should select a firearm with a manual safety should be boiled down to two essential factors:

1. Understand what is important to you when it comes to your pistol’s functionality. There is no one true answer. If you like the idea of having the extra margin of error and assurance from negligent discharges and gun takeaways that a manual safety can provide, you should consider one.

Conversely if you want deployment of your pistol to be as glitch-free as possible, you should avoid them.

2. Know thyself! If you do not go to the range to practice with your pistol regularly, or get in routine dry fire practice, you should probably skip a manual safety.

Guns with extra steps between “draw” and “bang” commonly betray their wielders when the chips are down. If, however, you make proficiency with your weapons a part of your mission than you should proceed.

There is no special magic you need to harness to utilize a pistol with a manual safety effectively. It is simply a lot of proper repetition and practice presentations.

But these presentations must be done deliberately; sitting there clicking the safety on and off while you watch TV mindlessly is not dry practice, and you should not delude yourself that it is.

Good Pistols with Manual Safeties

There are approximately a billion excellent pistol designs on the market presently. Okay, I am probably exaggerating a bit, but not by much! We certainly suffer no famine of choice and that is to the betterment of all.

No matter what precise, specific combination of features you want, there is a factory option out there to accommodate you.

The following two guns I have listed are some of my favorite designs with proven track records and known for their reliable and consistent performance.

All just also happen to have manual safeties, or at least feature them as an optional variant. It should be said that a safety does not make a pistol good or bad, it is just another feature that one may find value in or not.

Smith & Wesson M&P / M&P Compact with thumb safety

S&W’s flagship striker-fired guns need no introduction, and several of you will have no doubt read my musings on these great handguns here and elsewhere. The M&P was one of the first of later generation striker guns to include a manual safety as a factory variant.

Even then this was seen as something of an oddity, since the handgun market was trending more and more toward extremely simplified and streamlined operation with a minimum of additional steps to perform in the manual of arms both before and after the shot.

It would appear that a decade’s worth of ever lighter, ever shorter striker-fired triggers have left a significant sect of shooters with some concerns; DA/SA guns and striker pistols with manual safeties have reemerged in greater numbers with strong followings.

It turns out that guns bound for real world use beyond Instagram fame like, you know, actually being pointed at people require different solutions than a striker gun with a trigger as short as a mouse click.

The M&P’s safety is identical in placement and actuation to the 1911, that is to say it is excellent. This pistol retains all of its other superb characteristics only with the added function of a manual safety. A great gun.

Beretta Px4 Storm

I know you are scratching your head because I just got done seemingly dogging these pistols up above.

Recall that I did say there is an easy trick to smooth sailing with Beretta’s slide mounted safeties; after you wrap your head around their “backwards” activation, actually activating them is a simple affair, and the movement of the safety lever itself is very positive, with a “just right” amount of force needed to defeat the detent at either end, and a crisp, fast, slick travel.

The Px4 was apparently the sleeper DA/SA gun of the decade, and is earning a reputation only now as a soft-shooting and reliable service handgun after languishing in obscurity here stateside.

If you don’t mind its top-heavy looking slide, the Px4 is a light, highly modern polymer DA/SA gun that also features a manual safety as a factory variant. Expect to see these gain more steam with dedicated double-action shooters as time goes on.

Conclusion

A manual safety is not a padlock to hamper you getting the pistol into action nor is it a panacea against negligent discharges. It is, like anything else on a pistol, a device to help you control the gun and make it work for you, not against you.

Manual safeties are not for everyone, and they do require training and practice to get the most from them, but what they do offer cannot be gained in any other way.

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Hacking Transmitters, 1920s Style

The origin of the term “breadboard” comes from an amusing past when wooden bread boards were swiped from kitchens and used as a canvas for radio hobbyists to roll homemade capacitors, inductors, and switches. At a period when commercial electronic components were limited, anything within reach was fair game.

[Andy Flowers], call sign K0SM, recently recreated some early transmitters using the same resources and techniques from the 1920s for the Bruce Kelley 1929 QSO Party. The style of the transmitters are based on [Ralph Hartley]’s oscillator circuit built for Bell Telephone in 1915. Most of the components he uses are from the time period, and one of the tubes he uses is even one of four tubes from the first Transatlantic contact in 1923.

Apart from vacuum tubes (which could be purchased) and meters (which could be scrounged from automobiles) [Flowers] recreated his own ferrite plate and outlet condensers for tuning the antennas. The spiderweb coils may not be as common today, but can be found in older Crosley receivers and use less wire than comparable cylindrical coils.

A number of others features of the transmitters also evoke period nostalgia. The coupling to the antenna can be changed using movable glass rods, although without shielding there are quite a number of factors to account for. A vertical panel in the 1920s style also shows measurements from the filament, plate current, and antenna coupling.

While amature radio has become increasingly high-tech over the last few years, it’s always good to see dedicated individuals keeping the old ways alive; no matter what kind of technology they’re interested in.

[Thanks Mark Erdle for the tip!]

via Radio Hacks – Hackaday https://ift.tt/2XX04UN

A Looter’s Tale: A Thief’s Guide to Stealing from Preppers

Disclaimer: This article is a piece of speculative fiction written from the perspective of the “bad guy.” It is in no way intended to inform, encourage or incite any criminal or malicious activity under any circumstances. It is intended to be used as a thought-provoking exercise so you can shore up any weaknesses in your own survival plan and skill set.

Am I what? Ready for the end? The end of what? Oh, The End, with a capital ‘E’. Yeah, sure, I guess. I tell you what I am ready for: shopping. I’ll tell you one thing, young gun; these people are gonna wake up to a whole new way a life when the big machine breaks down.

Things will be bad for them. For you and me, they’ll just get a dose of the way things were, and always have been.

Law of the Jungle. Survival of the fittest. Hell, I’ve been surviving the concrete jungle since I was barely old enough to stand up and take a leak. Peppers? Who or what is ‘Peppers’? Oh, preppers.

Yeah, yeah. I have seen the shows. Even known a couple of legit ones. No, I didn’t rob ‘em. I figured the long con play was best, like an investment. I ever need to make a quick withdrawal- guns, food, vehicles, you know, real loot- I know my buddy Tim will just have it waiting for me as ready as you please.

What’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is also mine.

Okay, listen young gun; I know things are hairy out there. A child like you can feel it. Heh, animals always know when a storm’s comin’. Don’t take a genius weather watcher, if you get my drift. But you’ve gotta be ready.

Gotta be smart, and fast, and mean. The jungle doesn’t care who you are; you can’t cheat it. But lucky for us these busybody nerds have done the hard part for us. They worked hard so we can prosper.

All you need to do is keep your eyes and ears open. Opportunity is on the wind, my boy. People yabber. They yabber on social media. Gab away on forums. Hell, they’ll give away the keys to the kingdom to some total stranger they don’t even know.

So eager to make friends, to be cool and interesting. And secrets got a way of walking off on you. You tell your niece what’s up with your cabin on the side of a mountain topped to the brim with guns, food and water, and next thing you know some young con like you overhears her blabbin’ to her friend about what a great place for a party it is while you are trying to get her to come home with ya.

Something like that, ask the right questions, feign interest in the ditz for 30 seconds and you’ll know just about where to look. See, folks talk too much. They are far too trusting, lad. Preppers are just people, no different. No different except they got more to lose when the chips are down.

Don’t mind me, I’ll just help myself.

Oh, yeah, you best believe we’ll hit it and every other numbskull’s little bolt-hole when things get froggy. Tell you what, form what I see, it won’t be any tough job to roll them even if they live there.

Can do it real quick and clean, pick the lock, pop a window, jimmy the attic louvers, whatever. Hell, we can kick the door in easier than you can kick that trashcan over. Half a dozen ways to let ourselves in, no problem.

Trust me, I did a dime for burgling’ some homes while the owners were home. That was the only one I got caught on in my long and preeminent career, and I can tell you there isn’t one in a hundred homes that has any kind of reinforced doors or windows.

The ones that do, they omit to harden the next obvious ways to get in, like sliding glass doors, second story windows and those little basement windows that little guys like you can wriggle into.

Push, meet Shove.

If going quiet fails, or I don’t want to pussyfoot around I’ll just toss that propane tank off the grill or a concrete pot right through the sliding glass door and walk in.

Now, listen, going loud like that is a sure way to draw heat in normal times, but the way I see it it won’t be normal times when we go shopping. I’m banking on things being so Jay-Zus jumped up bonkers that the Lice won’t even waste time on a “disturbance” call when the world is brewing up around them.

That’s assuming the neighbors even think to call it; they’ll be dealing with their own problems. Heh, that’s assuming the call will even go through. Point is, we won’t be worried about anyone riding to the rescue.

What? You scared of a dog now, young gun?! You turning chickenshit on me, boah?! Look, five will get you ten it’s only some little yappy mop-dog. It might wakeup master dearest just in time to get shushed, but that’s no concern if you time it right. Now, bigger dog can give you a good chomp, but these ain’t police dogs, kiddo.

Trust me, I’m sure every one of these slobs thought their untrained family pooch was going to save the day, and they don’t; they just bark. Even so, some risks ain’t worth it when there is an easier score right around the bend a few streets over.

Any of these joints even smells like a hard job we pick a new one. It’s about getting paid, young gun, not proving anything, you get me? The one time the master of the house is up and alert with gun in hand and itching’ to use it is one time you pay the butcher’s bill.

Well, so what if the dog’s outside? What, you think he’s walking the perimeter, searchlights and all? Give me a break! Listen, if everything else looks green, we can deal with the dog. A juicy cut of meat, some pepper spray or a rat poison pepperoni will deal with the damn dog.

Soft as soft can be.

Now, if one of these fat nerds is home, we’ll do what we need to to get ‘em compliant. The full sturm und drang usually does it. Sound and fury, whatever.

Blow in there, screaming your head off, rough ‘em up and shove a gun in their face and they wilt pretty quick. Then you just corral the rubes while your buddy does the digging. Now, any of them gets outta line, they need an education about following directions.

Naw, man, not worried about a fight, no way no how. Look at these dorks: pick out two of these camo-wearing fools that looks like they could outrun Grammy on her walker without having a coronary.

If that’s too hard pick one. If they think they can go mano-y-mano with your uncle here, they’re dreaming, and if they are dreaming they better wake up and apologize.

Kiddo, your uncle here spent 10 long years pushing iron on that rusty pile in the yard and walking the wall. I was doing 500 pushups a day out of boredom. I could probably pull your little arms off and pick my teeth with ‘em.

And I sure learned how to fight, really fight. You had to, you had to or you were dead. Only the strong got out of Washington C.I. with all their teeth. Well, most of them…

Yeah, they may have guns, may have lots of ‘em. In fact, I’m counting on it. Listen, these cats are always swimming in gear, dripping in it, but they don’t know how to use it. None of ‘em do. All show, no go.

Last one pulled a gun on me on some ass end of nowhere road in LaRue county, thing wasn’t even loaded. No shit, the turd didn’t have a round in the pipe. I stuck him good and left him to die. Kept the gun though for a time before I sold it.

They read plenty of fantasy camp bullshit about this and that, old Army manuals about camo and concealment and some “hi-ya!” fighting style, eat up all this fiction about the end of the world.

Yeah, they think themselves is going to be kings of this ruined earth. Heh, gonna be sad little kings with no crown and no kingdom on a sad little hill of empty shelves when I get done with them.

You’ll know the zebra by its stripes.

Another way you can spot these walking loot boxes: the brand. No, not REI, you idiot. I mean their M.O., the way they dress. It’s like a tribal thing. You ever see those paramilitary cats hanging in the background in all that war correspondence?

The guys wearing the ball caps, the button-downs and the khaki cargos? Yeah, that’s it. Long odds you see someone dorked-up like that in public they are either a cop or one of these prepper bozos.

That, or they dress so frickin’ blah and plain they look like they are trying to blend into the scenery. Right, okay, Colombo. You sure fooled me. They call it “gray man attire.” I know, I know!

Apparently they think it’s your clothes and not your demeanor that makes you blend into a place. Like any amount of gray and tan will hide who they are. There’s only a few kinds of people who dress like that. You see some cat looks either way, you start taking notes.

Another thing, peep the cars in the lots, especially at gun shops, outdoor stores, that kind of thing. You see a truck or SUV bedazzled with stickers, slogans and all that, big lifted suspension, bars on the front and back, chances are you found the mythical “tactical lifestyle” prepper.

I know, don’t make it too hard on me! They deserve what they get, some people act so damn cartoonish you don’t feel bad no matter what you do to them.

All you need to do is trail that thing home, and I promise you you’ll have the mother of all gun caches inside. Wait till the owner is away one day and you can help yourself.

It is crazy, a bit, at least if you want to keep what’s yours, kiddo. But, human nature. People want to identify with something, and broadcast that identity to the world, friend and foe alike.

It’s like a baby seal that clubs itself, see? I mean, sure, why not dare, just dare, someone like me to relieve you of what you have since you want to advertise it. Happy to oblige, nerd.

Weapon of opportunity.

Now, me, I don’t carry on the regular. Naw, man, nothing more than my little penknife. Hey, size don’t matter if you know what you are doing. Knock it off.

I already did extra time for packing a real blade on my last stint. Now I just make use of what I find laying around, tools, screwdrivers, stuff like that. I can make a shiv if I need to.

That’s something else that half cracks me up. These people leave the keys to their castles just lying around in sheds, in garages, on their back porches, everywhere!

Saws, ladders, crowbars, all the stuff I need to rob them blind, left out like cookies for Santa. I know, kid, signs and wonders. If they were smart, and they’re not, they’d keep it all under lock and key so I could not make use of it on my little expedition.

Now, when everything goes tits-up, I’ll have no compunction about packing again. Right now, it may not be worth it, but you need not think your trusty uncle here can’t take a weapon right off someone and put it to them.

Lots of people carry tools of the trade, but it is the rare disciple that really knows how to use one. See, they haven’t thought it through. They haven’t really thought about what it would mean for them to put a bullet in a body, or sink that blade home in a guy’s neck.

They freeze. “Oh, shit! What do I do now?!” Too late, dingus. Bap! Like that. They’re like dogs chasing cars, man. They catch it, and it destroys them. You can usually tell which ones are the real hard dudes; they have that easy confidence, like a big cat.

You can see it. They pull, they’ll shoot you. None of that stand-off business that gives you time to think. Just two to the chest and off to Hell with ya. Heh, you get there you tell him your uncle said hello, huh?

Of course it’s all, as the lofty would say, theo-retical: people are so checked out these days you can be on them before they react. You strike hard and no mercy, they’ll never have a chance to haul their burner out on you, or stick you with a knife.

That’s the other thing! The ones that do carry a gun, and know how to use it, take it from me, they can’t fist fight worth a damn.

Like, at all. Treating that bang-bang like a magic wand. You can tell, too, when you take it from them, the look on their face. Thinking like, “Damn, why didn’t he just run away?”

Well, he can ponder that while I pistol whip his ass with his own gun. Serves them right, thinking this is some kind of spaghetti western.

I see you. Can you see me?

Now, listen up, kid. When the big bang happens, things won’t be the same ever again, at least not for a long time. We won’t be able to buy what we want at the stop-n-rob, even with ill-gotten bills.

Nah, it might have to be this way for a while. Dog eat dog and all. You need to be able to pick these cats out of a crowd. It won’t be like it is today, where they practically advertise their pile of goodies in flashing neon.

You’ll need to be a bit canny, see? But a good hunter always goes where the food is. You shouldn’t think people are just going to button up in their homes like little moles in their burrows.

After the shock wears off they’ll peek out their heads. People will start meeting for wheeling and dealing. Bartering, like the old days. That’s where you nab them.

Pull the old confidence play. Act interested in something they have. Feel them out. Offer something you have, well, something you took, am I right?

You play your cards right, chat with them a bit, act like a good, upstanding survivor of the apocalypse and you can just about get their inventory off of them. Now, that done, you depart and have me or another pal trail them wee-wee-wee all the way home. Then you’ll know where the goods are.

Or, if you are feeling bold, you can try and nick what you need right there. Old fashioned, honest daylight robbery.

Another trick, pay attention in the weeks after, see who doesn’t look quite so skinny as all the other poor shmucks. Toil and rationing will see the baby fat melting off the population. But not some people. Oh, no.

You see, some cat looks like he is still pulling a few extra pounds, odds are that is one of your prepper potpies in the flesh. He might only have been hoarding food, the fat ass, but we’ll take food all day and twice on Sunday. Watch where they go.

You play your cards right, son, stick with your old Uncle Badger here, and when this thing kicks off we’ll have the time of our lives and be living high on the hog.

Conclusion

As stated in the beginning, this has been a theoretical work of fiction, intended to make you think about your vulnerabilities as the Opposing Force, or “bad guy” would see them. It is our hope you will use this exercise as motivation to improve your own state of readiness.

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Incredibly Tiny RF Antennas For Practical Nanotech Radios

Researchers may have created the smallest-ever radio-frequency antennas, a development that should be of interest to any nanotechnology enthusiasts. A group of scientists from Korea published a paper in ACS Nano that details the fabrication of a two-dimensional radio-frequency antenna for wearable applications. Most antennas made from metallic materials like aluminum, cooper, or steel which are too thick to use for nanotechnology applications, even in the wearables space. The newly created antenna instead uses metallic niobium diselenide (NbSe2) to create a monopole patch RF antenna. Even with its sub-micrometer thickness (less than 1/100 the width of a strand of human hair), it functions effectively.

The metallic niobium atoms are sandwiched between two layers of selenium atoms to create the incredibly thin 2D composition. This was accomplished by spray-coating layers of the NbSe2 nanosheets onto a plastic substrate. A 10 mm x 10 mm patch of the material was able to perform with a 70.6% radiation efficiency, propagating RF signals in all directions. Changing the length of the antenna allowed its frequency to be tuned from 2.01-2.80 GHz, which includes the range required for Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity.

Within the ever-shrinking realm of sensors for wearable technologies, there is sure to be a place for tiny antennas as well.

[Thanks Qes for the tip!]

via Radio Hacks – Hackaday https://ift.tt/33ibQu2

Prepper Christmas Guide – Survival and Self-Reliance Gifts for Everyone on Your List

Prepper Christmas gifts comes in as many shapes, sizes, and types as the survivalists who will use and cherish them. Our prepping holiday wish list includes gift ideas for everyone on your Christmas shopping list – no matter their age, self-reliance level, or even the degree of reluctance, they have shown to embrace the preparedness lifestyle.

Unlike so many prepper lists you will find floating around the internet, this is not merely a list of gear. Sure, there will be awesome and essential gear showcased in our Prepper Christmas Guide, but having all of the gear in the world will not save your life if you do not know how to use it or possess any other survival or survival homesteading skills.

The Prepper Christmas Guide list was created to an in-depth grouping of skill-building, emergency readiness, and survival retreat development.

Who Are These Prepper Christmas Gifts For?

• Rural Preppers
• Urban Preppers
• Suburban Preppers
• Tiny House Preppers
• Prepping Families
• Prepper Kids
• Apartment Preppers
• Senior Citizens
• RV Preppers
• Homeschooling Preppers
• Survival Homesteaders
• Off Grid Preppers
• Newbie Preppers
• Expert Level Preppers
• Unprepared Family and Friends
• Liveaboard Preppers

Yes, as you can clearly see the Prepper Christmas Guide has something for everyone… including yourself.

House and Home Essentials

Preppers who live in an off grid or tiny house home often live in modest houses that rely either solely or partially alternative fuel. These folks are also typically doing some type of homesteading and are extremely space conscious.

Survival themed gifts for tiny house and off grid preppers should not only enhance their prepping efforts, but embrace their particular lifestyle, and not take up space unnecessarily, and serve a vital function.

Tiny Salamander Stove

The Tiny Salamander Stove is perfect for an off the grid prepper with a home to heat. It will work equally well in either either a mobile or stationary tiny house.

In addition to warming an off grid house or tiny home, the Tiny Salamander Stove can be used to both cook upon and boil water. A stainless steel cooktop can be factory added to the base unit, as well as a rea water boiler and outside air intake.

The little wood stove pic was used with permission of the manufacturer

The Salamander Stove is made of cast iron, but due to its petite size, weighs only 110 pounds. It will fit in small space but yet is still suitable for a vast array of uses. It still boasts all of the same common attributes and prime features of larger and equally efficient large cast iron stoves.

This survival stove was designed to function with pre-heated secondary combustion technology to ensure it is clean burning, and can harness the utmost energy out of ever single 8-inch long log or lump of coal placed inside.

Even if the prepper who receives this fine gift has never installed a cast iron wood stove before, he or she should still be able to set it up in a short amount of time and get a nice cozy fire started.

Greenlight Planet Home Solar Indoor Hanging Lights

These solar light sets can be hung from a ceiling indoors or outside of an off grid prepper home or tiny house. The Greenlight Planet Home Solar lights sets come with three wall mountable switches and boast 200 lumen per lamp to provide multiple room lighting.

The lights are powered by solar and USB charging systems. The set of lights come with adjustable brightness settings.

Mr. Heater Big Buddy Indoor Propane Heater

The Mr. Heater portable propane heater boast an output of 4,000 to 18,000 BTU radiant heat. This indoor and outdoor safety approved propane heater is capable of heating up to 450 square feet of space and is 100 percent efficient.

This Mr. Heater Big Buddy model features an automatic shut off function if the heater is tipped over, if low oxygen levels inside the structure it is heating are detected, or if the pilot light goes out.

This Christmas gift idea has low, medium, and high temperature level settings, and connects in seconds to a propane tank for immediate use.

Wall Mount Ductless Mini Split Air Conditioner Heat Pump

This Wall Mount Ductless Mini Air Conditioner is designed to be powerful enough to heat a typical small room, making it perfect to cool a tiny house or small off grid cabin.

If the tiny house prepper is not living off the grid, he or she may also like the Wi-Fi kit that can be purchased additionally to be able to control the functions of the wall mount unit for a smartphone when they are on the go.

This cooling unit has a sleep mode function, smart pre-heating setting, low-voltage start up, and a dehumidifier function.

Lavario Portable Clothes Washer

This compact non-electric portable clothes washer is large enough to do a decent load of even thick materials like hoodies and jeans.

The Lavario Portable Clothes Washer is manually powered and cleans clothing in fewer than 20 minutes, while giving the user a decent arm workout in the process.

The Lavario Portable Clothes Washer is small enough to fit inside an RV, tiny house, apartment, or small on grid or off grid cabin.

Survival Homesteading

Preppers who live on a small to large parcel of land have far more options when it comes to raising livestock and growing your own groceries.

Even though rural preppers are better positioned to hunker down on a prepper retreat they create for themselves, their family, stockpiling the supplies they need to bug out with as much of their livestock and growing operation intact should also be taken into consideration when searching for a Christmas gift.

Urban, suburban, apartment, and small town preppers will not be able to raise large livestock on their survival homestead, but they too can often keep small livestock and grow a large portion of the fruits and vegetables they will need to feed the family.

Space conscious livestock enclosures, vertical gardening systems, and portable planters make ideal Christmas gifts for preppers and non-preppers who live in these types of environments.

The self-reliance seeds you plant (pun intended) by giving gifts that can be used to grow, raise, and preserve food to non-preppers can spark an interest in delving deeper into the preparedness lifestyle.

Children, especially homeschooled ones, can learn a great deal from homesteading related gifts. Senior citizens who may feel like a less vital part of a prepper group physically, may be able to provide a priceless amount of knowledge if they are included more in the daily self-reliance activities, perhaps ones they grew up doing on a family farm years ago.

Even if an elderly loved one might have mobility issues or staying at an assisted living facility, he or she could most likely be able to grow a planter vegetable in a room or herbs in a windowsill. Honestly, folks, granny really has no use for yet another pair of slippers this Christmas.

Lazy Buddy Chicken Coop

This small chicken coop is ideal for a prepper who does not have much space to keep chickens, or who may have large acreage that is already claimed by other structures and use.

Even if the beloved prepper on your shopping list has a chicken coop already and ample space, he or she may have been dreaming of keeping a different chicken variety or poultry bird entirely, and need a place to house them or something to use as a brooder.

A chicken coop is one of the great self-reliance gifts that does not immediately scream, “Prepper!” and could entice someone who might be more willing to consider themselves a homesteader or farm to table supporter, to engage in this type of common prepping activity.

A sturdy and easy entry poultry bird habitat like this LAZY Buddy Chicken Coop would also make a great gift for prepper kids and senior citizens. The egg box boast an easy entry from outside of the coop and is designed in a manner which will make it easy to clean.

This prefab chicken coop boasts a waterproof run for the small flock, and both an indoor and outdoor walking area, as well as sleeping quarters. Meat rabbits could easily reside in this habitat, as well.

The LAZY Buddy Chicken Coop is built from quality natural fir wood and finished with a non-toxic and eco-friendly varnish.

Portable Livestock Electric Net Fence

This portable livestock fence is designed to keep medium livestock like goats and sheep in place.

It can be used to rate the animals around a survival homestead when browsing for food or in a bugout scenario when the animals are taken along and need to be contained while feeding.

The Family Portable Livestock Electric Net Fence comes with 14 step in posts – no post hole digging or pounding required to set up this livestock enclosure.

The fence can be purchased in either 35-inch or 42-inch tall varieties, and is 165 feet long. A solar energizer – charger must be purchased separately to power this portable electric fencing system.

Terra Color Vertical Stacking Planters

These compact yet fairly deep vertical stacking planters are excellent for not only small space preppers, but also for folks living on a large survival homestead who also want to engage in portable gardening and indoor growing during the cold weather months.

Large Walk-In Portable Tunnel Greenhouse

This plastic and coated steel greenhouse offers a large amount of space to start seeds and to extend the growing season. You can walk through this hoop house without ducking, and have ample room to move about while working on your potted vegetables, dwarf fruit and coffee trees, as well as herbs and medicinal plants.

This economical greenhouse model also boast eight plastic flap windows to help ventilate the growing structure.

Greenhouse kits come in a vast array of sizes, prices, and materials. You could spend about $1,500 and purchase a glass greenhouse kit that would fit in a large backyard on large acreage, or go small scale and buy a closet style greenhouse kit that can be set up on a small patio or balcony.

Grow Lights

Growing plants indoors over the winter or to give greenhouse plants an extra boost of heat and light will require the purchase of grow lights. Like greenhouses, grow lights come in various sizes and price ranges.

Indoor plant grow lights can be hung from the ceiling, an accompanying stand, or are made with a weighted base so they can sit on a table or stand next to plants.

Like several other survival homesteading items in this section of our Prepper Christmas Guide, plant grow lights are another way to gently push some self-reliance skills and activities onto loved one who are resistant to your lifestyle – but could change their minds when continually urged into simple preparedness “hobbies” that seem more mainstream.

Insulated Coveralls

Survival homesteaders have a plethora of chores to get done no matter what the season or weather outside. A pair of insulated coveralls will be highly useful now as well as when the SHTF.

They come in multiple varieties, some with hats and some without, as well as designed in sizes specifically to fit men, women, and children.

Portable “Silent” Generator

Unless your prepping loved one is new to the self-reliant lifestyle, he or she should already have a generator to power their home. Smaller and portable generators, especially ones deemed to be “silent” or extremely quiet can be quite useful around a large survival homestead both not and during a long-term disaster.

A generator like the one linked in this section can also provide a clean and safe source of power for folks living in or bugging out in an RV, as well as those engaged in tiny house or off grid prepping.

Self-Reliance Hobbies and Self-Defense

There is probably no better way to encourage non-prepping loved ones to garner some self-reliance skills and greater appreciation for DIY skills than parlaying something they want to embark on as a hobby into a survival or homesteading skill.

If someone you care about has shown an interest in one of your skills or at least enjoyed the benefits of your abilities, consider expanding upon that initial interest with a hobby style prepping gift this Christmas.

A prepper on your holiday shopping list may also want to delve more deeply into a skill they are already mastering with an upgrade in their existing supplies and equipment.

Increasing your ability to defend yourself and your preps is an ongoing state of affairs. The affordable items in this section can help preppers with both their self-defense goals as well as hunting prowess.

Brother Sewing and Embroidery Machine

Learning how to make and repair your own clothing is a vital self-reliance skill. Sewing by hand or with an old-fashioned manual pedal machine would likely be necessary during a long-term disaster.

However, helping someone you love get bitten by the sewing bug with an awesome new machine that not only sews, but embroiders as well, could be the first step on the road to off grid sewing greatness.

Once your loved one learns how to sew (and embroider) with this combo Brother sewing machine, she could then be inspired to learn how to make her own patterns, turn old clothing into fabric and give it new life as something else useful – perhaps outfits for babies and little ones in your survival tribe.

Blacksmith Forge

Blacksmithing will be an essential skill to have during a long-term disaster – and for the years afterwards as society begins to rebuild itself. A single burner portable blacksmith forge won’t break your wallet, and is a perfect size for beginners to learn this pioneering skill.

Pottery Wheel

A compact or tabletop version of a pottery wheel is yet another affordable self-reliance skill training gift that is perfect for a prepper, no matter where they live.

These small electric pottery wheels are large enough to make cookware and similar items, yet still small enough they can easily be moved after use, and tucked away until needed again.

If you are handy, free plans abound on the internet teaching you how to extremely economically make your own manual kick wheel pottery wheel – which would be ideal for an off grid prepper – or someone preparing to be once the SHTF.

3D Deer Hunting Target

If a prepper on your list is an avid deer hunter – or would like to be, invest in a lifelike 3D deer hunting target, especially one with a replaceable core.

Even if your beloved deer hunter already has a similar target, getting one or two more would allow him or her to set up a full on 3D hunting trail in their woods for survival training.

Boot Knife

A boot knife is both a handy survival homesteading tool and a self-defense weapon. The knives are almost always fixed blade, and remain entirely hidden inside of a standard set of cowboy boots, work boots, hiking boots, or muck boots.

Books, Games, and Training

During the long, cold months of winter preppers have a little bit of idle time on their hands. There is no better way to fill a long evening than curling up with a great book that offers self-reliance tips or gathering around the kitchen table with loved ones and playing a survival game.

Doom And Bloom Survival Board Game

This board game for preppers was developed by Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy (Dr. Joe Alton and his wife, Amy) and focuses on realistic survival scenarios in a world after a SHTF pandemic event. Doom and Bloom Survival can be played alone or with up to four players (an up to eight player version is coming soon).

Medical prepping supplies and skills are always the most difficult to master as part of your survival plan. Dr. Joe and Nurse Amy are not only expert preppers, they are also wonderful people who stive to teach others how to protect and treat themselves when calling 911 is no longer an option.

Secret Garden of Survival

One of my favorite prepping mentors, Rick Austin – AKA the Survivalist Gardener, wrote this best-selling survival gardening book. Rick teaches the reader how to grow in guilds in the Secret Garden of Survival, and to create a sustainable food forest that will not be detected easily by prying eyes during a SHTF.

To increase your beloved prepper’s self-reliance skills even more, consider buying Rick’s Secret Greenhouse of Survival and Secret Livestock of Survival books, as well and gifting this complete survival homesteading set this Christmas.

Prepper Camp

Rick and his wife, Survivor Jane, left lucrative professional jobs in the city to relocate to a small patch of heaven in western North Carolina to become full-time preppers.

Their dream of living a sustainable lifestyle has not only inspired, but helped tens of thousands of other prepping Americans to become skilled survival homesteaders, as well.

Just a few short years ago Rick, Jane, and a handful of like-minded and dedicated folks launched Prepper Camp. The three day hands-on fully immersive survival homesteading retreat takes place every September in Saluda, North Carolina.

It is about as far from being a prepper expo as you can get. Prepper Camp is more like a prepping summer camp for adults – a temporary community that you never want to leave.

Each year, preppers (both new and seasoned) come from around the country to learn and have fun at Prepper Camp.

No matter how far anyone has driven or flown, I have never heard one of them say it was not worth the trip. In fact, I have heard a few folks say they were going to make it there again even if they had to walk.

Take advantage of holiday season discounts and get your tickets for next years Prepper Camp for someone you love this Christmas.

Herbal Academy

If a prepper or gardening non-prepper you love is (or could be ) interested in medicinal herbs, consider an annual members to the Herbal Academy to put in their Christmas stocking.

An economical membership grants access to written text and detailed guides as well as illustrations, educational videos about herbal remedies, and growing tips.

I thought I was a fairly accomplished amateur herbalist until I took advantage of a membership sale. I only then learned that I had so much more to learn and excitedly began doing so – to the benefit of my family and survival tribe.

One Second After

No prepper must have book gift ideas list would be complete without One Second After. Bill Forstchen, who has often been dubbed the father of the prepping movement, who this best seller and launched an awakening across America.

Forstchen has now completed the One Second After trilogy as well as has written two other incredible survival books – Day of Wrath and 48 Hours.

Bill not only has been the featured speaker at Prepper Camp on several occasions, but proposed to his wife at this self-reliance gathering.
Children and Family Fun

Children are never too young to begin learning about self-reliance and survival homesteading. Our youngest grandchildren began taking responsibility for the chicken coop feed and watering at the age of 3, could identify at least six wild edibles before the age of four, could identify nut trees on our survival homestead, and helped in the making of natural remedies.

Older grandchildren helped with the processing of deer in our homestead butcher shop and went hunting under the guidance of adults.

Even if you live in the suburbs or the city and cannot engage in some of these important self-reliance skill training activities on a regular basis, you can introduce the concepts through hands-on and interactive games, activity kits, books, and role playing – pretend play toys.

Maybe some of the little loved ones on your Christmas shopping list were not born to prepping parents, but that does not mean you can’t play a significant role in helping them to grasp the importance of self-reliance.

Many of the items on this Christmas gifts for preppers kids would also make excellent hands-on learning resources for homeschooling parents.

Top 25 Christmas Prepping Toys

1. Wooden Slingshot
2. Walkie Talkies
3. Education Outdoors – Camp Board Game
4. A Child’s Guide To Whittling
5. Nature Series – Science On Tracking
6. Foraging With Kids
7. Animal Tracks Game
8. Wildcraft An Herbal Adventure Game
9. The Scout’s Guide To Wild Edibles – How To Forage And Prepare
10. Animal Tracks Rubbing Plates
11. Play The Forest School Way
12. Knot Tying Game
13. Farming Game
14. Needle Felting Starter Kit
15. Pretend Play Camping Kit
16. Backyard Safari Mini Lantern
17. Backyard Safari Canteen
18. Pretend Play 6 In 1 Field Tools
19. Pretend Play Animal Caller
20. Set of 2 Wood Bows And Arrows Set
21. Fairy Garden Growing Kit
22. Pretend Play My Little Garden
23. Children’s Gardening Tools And Gear Set
24. My First Tools Set – Real Tools In Kid Size
25. Kids Size Leather Work Gloves

If the children are being raised by prepper parents or on a homestead, consider expanding upon their growing skill set by investing in a new pair of cowboy boots, muck boots, or maybe even a pony or goat of their very own to raise.

Gathering with your extended family members for a Christmas party at grandma’s house can be stressful – especially when you must find a gift for your liberal brother or aunt that thinks all preppers are hiding out in a bunker 24/7, and preventing their children from being exposed to the big wide world.

While it might seem like it at times, it is not impossible to get those folks you care about to see the light. Don’t let those you love be like the “Kungfu Panda” guy in the video above.

Help the unprepared loved ones in your life and all the preppers on your list become as ready as they can be for whatever might be looming around the corner.

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Aerobic Activities – Survival Fitness Training Series

There’s nothing better to get your heart rate up by doing some aerobic activities. No, I’m not talking about aerobics if that’s what you were worried about.

As you’re about to see, there are plenty of things you can do to improve your long-term ability to make physical effort… so let’s not waste anymore time and take them one by one.

Swimming

I consider swimming to be the holy grail of aerobics. I myself didn’t know how to swim until after I was 30 but I tried and I tried until one day I was able to… and now I’m getting pretty good at it!

The benefits of swimming are undeniable. The list could be a lot longer but here are just the main ones:

• it builds endurance
• builds strength
• improves cardiovascular fitness
• tones muscle
• keeps weight under control
• contributes to the health of your heart and lungs
• it burns a huge number of calories

Best of all, it doesn’t put any stress on your knees and ankles like running does. That’s why swimming is recommended for ALL ages, even if you have a bad back or chronic problems with your legs.

The only “problem” with swimming is that, unless you happen to have a swimming pool in your back yard, you’re going have to pay for access to one. But it’s well worth the money, considering the amazing benefits.

Of course, you don’t even have to buy a full membership. Swimming only once or twice a week, in conjunction with the rest of the exercises in this course, is more than enough.

Jogging

Another fantastic option, jogging was discussed in another episode of the series. Careful not to hurt your knees, you’ll need proper running shoes, and try to only jog on surfaces that are specifically made for this purpose, such as running tracks and treadmills.

Cycling

Studies have emerged showing that cycling is actually better than running because it prevents injury. It makes sense because when you jog, with each step you take, you’re putting pressure on your ankles, knees and even your spine.

Of course, you need strong joints and tendons so you need to jog as well, but cycling has the huge advantage of allowing your body to exercise for longer periods of time. In fact, if you’re just starting out and enjoy biking, you can even skip running altogether (for now) and start pedaling.

Is cycling always better than running? Not always. For example, if you’re looking to burn as many calories as possible, running is better because you’re using your entire body to move. When cycling, let’s not forget that you’re in a seated position.

Some more tips for you to get the most out of cycling:

Try different routes. Variety is key as with any “workout” so why not take advantage of the fact that you can travel long distances to see some of your surroundings? This is an excellent opportunity for you to familiarize yourself with all the different bug-out routes you can take.

Measure your distances and break your records. Challenge yourself to always bike more than the list time, even if only by a mile.

Wear a helmet. Over 6000 American cyclists end up in the hospital with head injuries every year.

Rope Skipping

What if I told you that you don’t even need to buy jump rope? You can just use Paracord to do rope skipping. However, if you have no problem spending 10-15 bucks on a professional one, you can find plenty on Amazon.

Either way, the rope needs to be of the proper length before you use it, otherwise you won’t last that long. To find out, step in it with both your feet and raise your arms towards your armpits as much as you can. The length can be anywhere between your waist and your armpits.

Believe it or not, there’s a large number of skipping rope variations you can do.

Here’s how to do rope skipping. Simply step on it with both your feet (like you did previously) and start jumping WITHOUT MOVING YOUR ARMS OR YOUR ROPE (for now). Do this until you’re comfortable with the movement; only then should you start rotating the rope.

The basic exercise is when you do small and fast jumps (1-2 inches off the floor) with both your feet while you rotate the skipping rope from front to back. You only need to jump high enough to give the rope enough room to slip under you. The trick to making this work is to keep your elbows close to you as you do the exercise.

If things are going well, you can increase the speed a little bit. Don’t worry if the rope gets stuck, continue doing it until it almost becomes a reflex.

Now, before we move on to the variations of skipping, let’s talk about the most common rope skipping mistakes as clearing those out will pave the way for your doing every other variation like a pro.

Mistake #1: not starting correctly

What a lot of people do is they bring both their hands back, they throw the rope forward and themselves at the same time. That will never work. To start skipping rope, you need to keep your elbows tucked in like I showed you, and start jumping 1-2 inches off the ground while moving the rope back to front in a rotating motion.

Mistake #2: jumping the wrong way

Man, I rolled on the floor laughing a few weeks ago when a friend tried rope skipping for the first time. He was so funny I just had to make fun of him the whole night. He was putting so much energy to make sure the rope goes through that he started making these really awkward movements.

Keep in mind that the rope is about a quarter of an inch thick, and only needs 1-2 inches of space to pass through.

Mistake #3: turning the rope and jumping at the same time

It’s in our reflex to turn the rope from back to front and jump at the same time, but that will only result in the rope simply reaching your legs while they are on the ground.

So you need to do this in two steps that are something like a third of a second away from each-other:

Step 1: You move the rope forward like I told you.

Step 2: You jump 1-2 inches off the ground.

Ready for some rope skipping variations? They’re not as hard as you think. Well, we’re gonna heave the hard ones for people who are more passionate about this as we have our own purpose in mind.

Variation #1: As you’re jumping, move both your feet from side to side (about 6-7 inches from the original position).

Variation #2: Jump only on one foot by slightly raising the other one 4-5 inches away, then switch. Do 3 on the left, then switch feet and do 3 on the right.

Variation #3: Move both your forward and back as you jump.

Variation #4: Move your feet apart and then together as you jump. Somewhat similar to variation #1 only this time the feet go in the opposite direction.

Are there more variations? Of course, but these 4are enough for now. If you can incorporate these into your routine, that’ll be more than enough.

Burpees

The burpee is an aerobic/strength training exercise that doesn’t require any equipment, and it can be done in very little space.

The movement is complex and, as a result, a lot of people are doing it wrong. Here’s the right way to do it:

Step 1: Stand up straight with your feet wider than shoulder-width apart.

Step 2: Squat down and put your palms on the floor in front of you.

Step 3: Resting on your palms, jump back with your feet until you land in the squatting position.

Step 4: Perform a push-up (optional).

Step 5: Bring your feet back where they were at step 2.

Step 6: Raise yourself up and, optionally, jump in the air.

Torso Twists

This is a really easy aerobic exercise that can be done in a very tight space. The movement is compound, meaning a lot of your muscles will get a good workout.

Step 1. Stand up straight with your feet wider than shoulder width apart, and raise both your hands at chest level with your elbows bent, with one palm on top of the other.

Step 2. Twist your arms left and right while keeping your body straight.

Jumping Jacks

This is a really easy exercise taken straight from military playbooks, where they call it side-straddle stop.

All you have to do is stand straight, then jump until your feet are apart and your hands are above your head (some people like to clap when they do that).

A variation of this are power jumping jacks. You have to stand with your feet together, with your knees slightly bent and your back at a 60 degree angle from the floor. Keep your arms on the sides and make sure they touch your knees.

Then, in a swift motion, jump into the air while raising your arms high up, almost touching each-other over your head. Return to the original position as you descend.

Rock Climbing

The benefits of rock climbing are amazing: you get a full body workout (particularly your core muscles), and it helps with stabilization and flexibility.

First of all, you should start doing this indoors where you are safe. What you really want to do in the beginning is focus on your grip and getting over your fear of heights. Go to an indoor climbing gym and make sure you bring someone or that there’s someone there who can help you.

Second, keep in mind you don’t just need strong arms to climb. As in the case of tree climbing, you also have to use your legs to push yourself up. In other words, if you’re looking to become a better climber, you need to work your feet just as much as your upper body (if not more).

Once you mastered indoor rock climbing, consider doing it outdoors. This is where things start getting more interesting. For example, did you know you can do bouldering, which is outdoor close to the ground climbing without any equipment. There’s even a World Cup for it!

The nice thing about bouldering is that you don’t really need to invest in equipment but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. What’s important now is that you start your first rock climbing experience as soon as possible.

Martial Arts

I want to talk with you about martial arts for a minute. Now, I’m no karate expert, I’m only a prepper but I want to share my perspective to help you decide.

Obviously, every style has its benefits but some are better than the other from our purpose. If you set your eyes on one, you should probably go with that but if you haven’t, I suggest you look intro Krav Maga because, unlike the others. The other martial arts have all sorts of techniques but this one is focused on punching and kicking, which feels more natural.

The other benefit is that the moves are explosive, which is something you need as part of your survival fitness training, anyway. It helps form reflexes too, useful when you’re taken by surprise by an attacker or a critical event. The only issue is that these explosive movements could cause tendon injuries.

Other martial arts to learn? Chinese kickboxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Okinawan Karate, judo or plain old boxing are good places to start.

In addition to the aerobic movements above, a lot of the things you do around your house or yard are also aerobic:

• mowing the lawn
• mopping and sweeping
• scrubbing floors or the bathtub
• chopping wood
• washing the car
• shoveling snow etc.

All in all, aerobic exercises will increase your stamina and your ability to stay alert when surviving disasters and emergencies. They key to getting maximum benefit from them is to make them a HABIT.

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