They’re convenient, surprisingly cheap, and you don’t have to shower other men…

If you think of your home as the ultimate in sports entertainment, then the thought of working out there is probably the lamest of reasons you call it so. Let’s face it: Exercising at home isn’t exactly as appealing as having the guys over for a 24-hour, beers-a-plenty ESPN-Star Sports-Viva Vintage festival.

Such an experience could provide stretches as predictable as Ferrari’s recent regular 1-2 finishes, sure, but overall (especially when the great saint San Miguel’s around to inspire you) everything would turn out be exactly as it should – what whit beer bottles disguising themselves as bowling pins, pals using cold squid balls for putting practice, and your executing the Stone Cold Stunner on a friend who forgot to chip some money in.

Then the next morning comes. You look at how thrashed your den has become and you wonder whether cleaning it all up is even close to what a thoroughly invigorating and well-earned workout means. You literally perspire beer, a punishment so offensive to any human being within smelling distance. This has to stop, you say to yourself. Finally, you decide to sweat it out their right away – in the very comports of your just restored, orderly home.
Building home gyms has its unique advantage. You can watch TV shows with the volume adjusted to your liking, listen to crisp-sounding, original CD’s, familiarize yourself with your own equipment, and get your- swear-a-second mouth into high gear to motivate yourself. Most important, because of the home-base set-up, the likelihood of your fitness resolution morphing into an amnesiac Jason Bourne will be halved.

Space isn’t that much of a consideration because you’ll do away with large equipment in this set-up, anyway. What you really need here is an elastic rubber tubing around two to two-and-half meters long. Your favorite drugstores definitely sell it. Junk any thoughts of using the tubing for purposes that can get you a gig at DARE, please. With it, you can effectively chip away excess fat and fortify muscles depending on the resistance and strength of the tubing you use. WHAT EXERCISE YOU CAN DO? Chest press, bicep curls, triceps extension, preacher curls, squats, calf raises, leg extension, leg kickbacks and shoulder press.

Nature can supply everything that is essential to survival but the secret isn’t just availability. The secret to survival is knowing what you need, where to look for it and how to use it to your advantage. Keeping this in mind the following material has been specifically designed and organized to answer these questions and supply as many helpful hints as possible about surviving within a wide variety of extreme situations.

DIRECTION:
1. Keeping on course: The great frontier has all but disappeared in America. To find your way out of most forests these days, a person only has to walk a few miles in any one direction. The problem is that a few miles can turn into several days of travel if the course chosen isn’t a straight one.
Tip 1 To avoid any delay in self-rescue simply pick an object in the distance and walk to it. As you approach this object choose another directly in line with the first. By following this simple yet effect formula you can’t help but travel in a straight line.

2. Using your watch as a compass: There are three requirements for this process to work. First your watch must have an hour hand. Second the watch must be set to the correct local time and third the sun must be shining bright enough to cast a shadow.
Step 1. Next to the watch place a thin object (Pine needle or twig) capable of spreading a narrow shadow across its surface.
Step 2. Line up the watch so that the shadow crosses over the center of the 12 O’clock symbol.
Step 3. Calculate the half way point between the 12 O’clock symbol and the hour hand. This is True North. To find True South simply line up the hour hand with the shadow, and find the half way point between it and 12 O’clock.

3. Using a pin or needle as a compass: In order for any survival expedition to be successful, you must have the right materials. To use a needle as a compass, you must have a silk or other type of polarizing cloth. This is all you will be needing (aside from the pin of course!)
a) Rub the needle on the cloth in one direction (it doesn’t matter either up or down. It must be rubbed in a dragging motion IN ONE DIRECTION ONLY!!!
b) Place the now magnetized/polarized needle on a leaf or other such floatable material in a small motionless pool of water. The side of the needle that was dragged across the silk will point North. And that’s how it’s done!

4. The Moss theory: Due to moisture content and sunlight, moss generally grows on the North side of trees. This of course isn’t very dependable because of the various climate conditions but it could be a good collaborator to other methods of telling direction.

5. Celestial navigation: The North star, Northern lights and the suns movements are the oldest means of navigation in the world. Northern lights: Simply scan the night sky and watch for strange cloud type objects moving in the sky just above the horizon. These are the Northern lights. After finding them simply make note of their direction by lining up two land marks in a straight line with the movements of these lights. Rising and Setting sun: The sun rises in the East and sets in the West.

6. Know where was that spot again? Triangulation is simple when using a compass. When your standing in a spot you would like to come back to, take out your compass and face directly toward one of the four main directions North, South, East or West. Now simply move to your left 45 degrees and line up a landmark (remember it), then turn back to where you started and move 45 degrees to the right and line up another landmark. This quick triangulation will get you back to this position within a few feet every time. (Just remember your land marks and original direction chosen, then its a simple task of just realigning them)

~to be continued guys, just check my post for the continuation  ok! enjoy and hope this can help you in anyway… c”,)

Take time – before, during, & after each hike – to peruse your gear, your packing habits, even the clothing you wear, for ways to reduce the weight that you must bear. You may be surprised at the amount of unnecessary weight that you inflict on yourself. Keep in mind, though, it is a process. A long-term commitment and challenge. You will, undoubtedly, think of something new practically every trip.

Here are some weight-reducing tips some are original, some are commonly known and used.

•3 lb Pack, 2 lb Sleeping Bag, 3 lb tent
This is, perhaps, your biggest opportunity to reduce weight. Seek out a good 3 lb pack that is relatively comfortable with 35 to 40 pounds in it. Since, most of the time, you will be carrying less than that, the suspension of that 3 lb pack should be adequate for you. Get a good 2 lb, 20 degree, goose-down (or comparable synthetic) sleeping bag and a good 3 lb 3 or 4-season tent. Let’s see, 7 lbs minus 3 lbs (pack), 3.5 lbs minus 2 lbs (bag), 5 lbs minus 3 lbs (tent)–that’s a weight reduction of 7.5 pounds. SEVEN AND A HALF POUNDS !!!

•Seek out TITANIUM products
Pots, stoves, backpack stays, tent pegs, anything metal, if made of titanium, will be significantly lighter than any other metal. For example, my titanium cook pot (with lid & handles) weighs 6 oz. That compares to 14 oz. for comparable MSR or SIGG lightweight stainless steel and about 10 oz. for Traveling Light’s Aluminum entry. For stoves, my titanium Primus butane/propane (with windscreen) weighs 3.4 oz, compared to MSR Whisperlite–12.7 oz, and Camping Gaz Micro Bleuet–7 oz. (both without windscreen). So far, in my experience, strength and durability of titanium products seem to be more than adequate.

•Toothbrush / Tooth Powder / Dental Floss / Sewing Kit
Assuming you use more than just your finger to clean your teeth, here’s a tip or two.
First find a toothbrush with a short head, say 3/4 inch. Next, cut off the handle–leaving about two inches to hold onto–and finish it off by sanding-down the rough edges. Oh yeah, drill a few holes in the remaining handle — if it’s a fat handle, hollow it out with your drill. Be creative — don’t forget to show it to me, if we meet on the trail !

Tooth powder is lighter than paste, and can be meted out much easier. I measure a small palm-full for each day on the trail and store it in a very-small, very light plastic container which resembles a 35mm film container, but is about 1/2 the size and weight.

If you are going to carry dental floss, two suggestions. Take the floss, leave the plastic container behind. Rather than packing a sewing kit, use the waxed floss as emergency thread for gear repair.  Put a sewing needle or two in your first aid kit or somewhere else safe.

•Water Is Heavy
So only carry what you need. Here are two potential ways to reduce the amount of H2o you’re packing (1) If you know the area you’re in and can be sure there are watering holes up ahead, pack only enough to get to the next water hole. Also, (2) if you drink as much as your innards can hold before you hit the trail and at each water fill-up, thereafter, you won’t need to carry as much, after you get going.
I follow these tips and now, most of the time, carry at least one pound less on my back because of it. (Caution: If you alpine scramble or otherwise navigate crosscountry – esp. if you desert hike – you may need to pack it all – plan carefully.)

•About Stuff Sacks
I carry much of my gear in color-coded stuff sacs and zip-loc freezer baggies. Where I use stuff sacs, I adhere to the following. (1) Use the right size sack–wasted space means unnecessary weight. (2) Cut off labels inside sack (3) Allow just enough drawcord so sack can have full opening–cut off the rest and melt the ends so they won’t unravel (4) Use the strongest-smallest plastic cord-locks you can find. All this may seem insignificant, but it adds up after a while.

•Clothes
Cut off unnecessary labels and lengths of cord. If garments have cord locks, replace them with lighter versions, or instead, use small doubled-up patches of light-weight leather with slits. I’ve noticed that some manufacturers have been doing this, also.
If you carry extra clothes for emergencies, cut off pockets, cords, tags, unneeded linings, etc.
I have saved some weight on hats by cutting out labels and replacing plastic adjusting straps with elastic. It feels better and won’t break in the field as easily as the plastic ones.

•Backpacks
Shorten nylon webbing straps wherever possible. I once saved a quarter pound (4 oz) by removing the hypalon crampon patch from the top of my pack’s lid and the nylon belt loop with foam backing from the inside (which allows the lid to double as a hip sack when removed from the pack). In addition, I removed a couple of plastic loop fasteners on the sides of the lid used as part of the hip sack configuration. Most of the time, I don’t need those parts (and their corresponding 1/4 pound !).
For the times I was taking a long trip which included some day-hiking or I needed the heavy-duty hypalon patch, I purchased a second lid.

•Boots, Shoes & Laces
Two tips here. The first, definitely do it. The second, consider it a potential way to significantly reduce relative pack weight, but don’t take it as gospel. Analyze your own situation, experiment, and do what’s safe and healthful.

First, on shoes and boots, I cut off excess shoe lace–for two reasons (1) excess shoelace means unnecessary weight and (2) excess shoelace means safety hazard in the bush. Ever have a big lace-loop catch on an exposed root or tangly bush ? After you cut them, scorch/burn/melt the ends so they won’t unravel.

And secondly, as your pack weight goes down, your requirement for heavy boots is reduced, as well. Since each pound on your feet is supposedly equivalent to 5 pounds on your back, you can reduce the relative weight of your pack by getting a pair of lighter weight boots.
If you have, as one lightweight packer terms it, entered the new paradigm where your pack weight is really low–25 pounds for four or five days–you might even want to consider going with a sturdy pair of 2 pound cross-trainers or running shoes. Like I said, though, there’s potential here, but experiment. What works for me, may not work for you.

Consider the implication. Assuming the “1 pound on the foot is equal to 5 pounds on the back” theory is true, trading-in the 4 pound boots for a pair of 1 3/4 pound running shoes (with vibram soles) would decrease your relative pack weight approximately 11 1/4 pounds ! It’s at least worth a second thought !