You May Be Strong . . . But Are You Tough?

Yard Dart · Oct 4, 2013

As a little boy, I was scrawny, weak, and prone to illness (much like a certain former president). For a long time, I thought I was just doomed to be pathetic, until my dad took me canoeing. In the mucky, hot, poorly maintained trails and portages of the Boundary Waters in the north woods of Minnesota, I learned that I could be tough, scrappy, and indomitable. I took a brutal pleasure in carrying the heaviest pack I could over long and steep portages, willing my toothpick legs to take one step, then another, then another, until I saw the blue expanse of the next lake peeking through the trees. That was all I had to work with: a willingness to push myself harder than anyone else, to charge headlong into the roughest terrain, and to ignore cold, rain, heat, bugs, and my own internal discomfort.
With the popularity of high-intensity workout programs, military-inspired training, and brutal adventure races, mental toughness is in the spotlight. The gold standard of a hardcore athlete is how much pain they can tolerate. But what about simple, plain old ruggedness? What does it mean to be physically tough, as well as mentally tough? Is it enough to simply be strong, or is there something more to it?
Strong But Weak
I will always remember the day I dropped in on a CrossFit class and went out for the warm-up jog with no shoes on. One of the other guys there, massively strong and musclebound, was shocked and asked me if it hurt or if I was scared of broken glass. I explained that I’d toughened up my feet over the last few years and it didn’t bother me at all. If I was caught shoeless in an emergency, the few seconds I needed to put on shoes could make the difference between life and death. It didn’t matter how fast I could sprint if my feet were too tender to handle the asphalt.
I see that reaction all the time: big guys with lots of muscles who wince as soon as the shoes come off or who insist on wearing gloves whenever they lift weights. They are immensely strong within their particular domain, but have very strict limits on their comfort zone. As soon as they are forced out of it, their performance drops drastically.
Defining Toughness
Men in particular often confuse toughness with strength, thinking that being strong is automatically the same as being tough, when in fact the two are distinct qualities. As Erwan Le Corre, founder of MovNat, says, “Some people with great muscular strength may lack toughness and easily crumble when circumstances become too challenging. On the other hand, some people with no particularly great muscular strength may be very tough, i.e., capable of overcoming stressful, difficult situations or environments.”
Toughness is the ability to perform well regardless of circumstances. That might mean performing well when you are sick or injured, but it also might mean performing well when your workout gear includes trees and rocks instead of pullup bars and barbells. “Toughness…is the strength, or ability, to withstand adverse conditions,” according to Le Corre.
Being able to do that requires both mental and physical toughness. No amount of mental toughness alone will keep you from freezing in cold temperatures, but if you’ve combined mental training with cold tolerance conditioning, for example, then you’ll fare much better.
Toughness is a Skill
It is a myth that you’re either born tough or you’re not. The truth is, toughness, both mental and physical, can and should be trained and cultivated, just like any other skill. There are certain mental techniques that help you cultivate an indomitable will, patience, and the ability to stay positive and focused no matter how bad things look. There are also certain training techniques you can use to condition your body to withstand discomfort and tolerate environments that would normally cause injury.
Mental Toughness
Mental toughness boils down to how you respond to stress. Do you start to panic and lose control, or do you zero in on how you are going to overcome the difficulty?
Rachel Cosgrove, co-owner of Results Fitness and a regular contributor to Men’s Fitness, stated in an article on mental toughness, “World-class endurance athletes respond to the stress of a race with a reduction in brain-wave activity that’s similar to meditation. The average person responds to race stress with an increase in brain-wave activity that borders on panic.”
Similarly, the biggest determining factor in whether or not a candidate for the Navy SEALs passes training is his ability to stay cool under stress and avoid falling into that fight-or-flight response most of us drop into when we’re being shot at. Developing ways to counteract the negative response to stress helps us stay in control of our bodies so that we can maintain the high performance needed to do well in any situation. That is real mental toughness.
Another way to look at mental toughness is willpower. When everyone else has decided they are too tired, you decide to keep going. In sports, this is called the second wind, when an athlete determines that they don’t care about their fatigue and decides to push harder despite it. When a football team is behind two touchdowns but picks up the effort anyway, determined to win despite all signs to the contrary, that’s an example of willpower in action. They may still lose, but they are much more likely to make a comeback with this approach.
So, how can you cultivate mental toughness?
Small Discomforts
One of the best ways to develop mental toughness is to accept small discomforts on a regular basis. Take only cold showers or occasionally fast. In the book Willpower, Dr. Roy Baumeister recounts the training regimen of famed endurance artist David Blaine. Before a stunt — some of which have included being encased in ice for over 63 hours, being suspended over the Thames in a clear plastic box for 44 days, and holding his breath for 17 minutes on live TV — Blaine will start to make up little inconvenient routines for himself to maintain, simply to test his willpower. These are usually small things, like touching every overhanging tree branch on his walk to work, but they get his mind in the habit of exercising will, to do something when it would be inconvenient or uncomfortable.
Examples of this include sticking to an inconvenient diet, living without a car, or shaving with a straight razor.
There’s a lot to be said for simple acclimatization to discomfort as well. The little nicks and bruises you get from training in wild environments can be hugely distracting when you’re just getting started, but if you keep heading back out, you eventually find them little more than useful feedback on positioning and technique.
Think Positive
Most of us have an internal monologue going on in our heads, telling our own story. How this sounds depends on our view of ourselves and external stimuli. If you’ve always been good at schoolwork, you might envision yourself as “smart,” but maybe not “strong” or “charming.”
The thing is, these definitions are mostly arbitrary. Anyone who works hard enough at academics can do well in school, and anyone who trains hard enough can do well in sports. Whether or not we are willing and able to push ourselves hard enough to do well often depends on that internal story.
So, the simple solution is to only accept positive self-talk. This is a common tactic of the super-successful, and is standard fare in such personal development classics as Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People, Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, and Stephen R. Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
Have a Reason
One of the most powerful motivators in training and life is knowing why you cannot fail. Jack Yee, who writes specifically about mental toughness and has been featured on T-Nation and Mark’s Daily Apple, remembers his time at the famous Gold’s Gym in Venice Beach, where he saw not only old school greats like Tom Platz, Lou Ferrigno, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, but also a large number of promising amateurs, many of whom had more impressive physiques. However, they rarely lasted long: after one defeat at a competition, they would give up. One discouraging setback was enough to shatter their confidence.
The antidote is to remind yourself why you’re out there in the first place. A common trick I used to use in my running when I was feeling defeated was to imagine that my girlfriend was being threatened by kidnappers and if I didn’t get to her in time, they would kill her. Since my motivation for exercising was to be useful to those I cared about, this worked for me. No matter how beat up I felt, I would always run faster. Another trick for this is to use an iPhone app called “Zombie, Run!” You perform missions related to outrunning zombies — another great motivator!
Mental Toughness Training Summary

Allow (or seek out) small inconveniences and discomforts in your everyday life. Learn to tolerate them.

Start to judge your internal monologue, rather than simply accepting it for what it is. Actually listen to what you’re saying and decide if it’s a belief you want to let into your life.

When you’re feeling tired and talking yourself out of your workout, remind yourself why you’re training. Weigh the importance of the inconvenience against the importance of the why and get out there.

Physical Toughness
Compared to mental toughness, there is considerably less talk about physical toughness out there, probably because it is wrapped up into strength and conditioning. But the truth is, being physically tough is very different from being strong, fast, or powerful. Physical toughness includes the ability to take abuse and keep functioning, to recover quickly, to adapt to difficult terrain and contexts, and to tolerate adverse conditions without flagging.
Le Corre’s method of training, MovNat, emphasizes the value of developing a tough body by training in environments that do not accommodate the trainee. Training outdoors, in adverse (or simply not climate-controlled) conditions, is a core tenet of MovNat’s methods. Le Corre says of physical toughness, “[it] is the ability of the body to withstand hardship, such as food or sleep deprivation, harsh weather conditions such as cold, heat, rain, snow or humidity, and difficult terrains (steep, rocky, slippery, radiating heat, dense vegetation etc.).” Click here for a complete primer on MovNat.
Physical toughness boils down to the changes your body makes to make it more resilient. This has the effect of unloading your willpower so that you can push yourself harder mentally, since your threshold has effectively increased.
Thicker Skin
A very simple example of physical toughness — and one that is used as a euphemism for toughness in general — is thick skin. Men who train hard in gyms rarely develop calluses beyond those along the base of the fingers that are the result of the bar pinching the grip. Men who train with tough objects, like stones, logs, or in nature tend to develop thick skin all over their fingers and palms. The same goes for the feet. Accompanying this change is an alteration in the sensitivity of the pain receptors in those areas. As you become accustomed to walking barefoot, what used to be painful becomes a comfortable massage.
Exposure to the elements is the best way to develop this very real form of physical toughness. Train barefoot with minimal clothing, with rough implements. Start with shorter durations and forgiving surfaces so you don’t get to the point of actual injury, and increase the time and ruggedness of the environment. You will learn to tell the difference between discomfort and real pain. You’ll also learn how to be gentle when dealing with rock and dirt, but you’ll get tougher as well.
Supple Joints
An oft overlooked form of toughness combines mobility, flexibility, and durability. Hard training puts a lot of stress on the body, but this stress is multiplied when every movement stretches a muscle close to its full range or pushes a joint near its limit. Flexible joints can move farther without incurring stress on their support structures, reducing fatigue and the wear and tear that adds up to leave you sore and whimpering on the ground.
To that end, give mobility training serious consideration in your workout routine. Not only will it save you pain, it will allow you to absorb more punishment and do more reps without feeling the effects, which makes you that much harder to bring down.
The Art of Manliness recently published an article on an excellent method to develop mobility: self-myofascial release.
Hormonal and Adrenal Changes
Another example of physical toughness is harder to see. It consists of the metabolic and hormonal changes that go along with hard training. These can manifest in better energy management, so that you fatigue more slowly, and recover quicker, so that you can come back hard with surprisingly little time to recuperate. When most people would be down for the count, you’re back in the ring, having already caught your breath and cooled off.
The simplest way to train this kind of toughness is by limiting your rest between workouts or exercises, sometimes even at the expense of your performance. Be careful, however: there is a fine line between stimulating adaptation and overtraining, so remember that you need to give your body time and resources to build itself up stronger than before. Eat well and sufficiently, and get enough sleep. These habits will build up a store of resources you can lean on when rest isn’t so easily available. Occasionally, apply an acute stress, like intermittent fasting, to teach your body to adapt quickly and be efficient with energy, or train with little sleep. But in general, you’ll be able to handle more if you’re well-rested and well-fed.
Another interesting technique I’ve recently been using to improve my cardiorespiratory durability is nasal breathing. This involves restricting myself to only breathing through my nostrils, even during hard workouts. The result is more efficient oxygen usage. This technique causes me to regulate my pacing somewhat, but I’ve noticed that I don’t get out of breath nearly as quickly, even when I switch to regular breathing for a particular workout.
Environmental Tolerance
A relatively rare form of physical toughness is environmental tolerance. The most well-known variety is altitude acclimatization, in which athletes train at elevation and compete at sea level. This is normally seen as a way to gain an advantage in sports, but adaptation to low oxygen is also an example of physical durability, the ability to handle a difficult environment.
Another example is cold tolerance. The body will literally increase its ability to generate heat if you habitually go without excessive clothing and expose yourself to acute cold shocks. Even in the winter, it is possible to train with only a t-shirt and shorts. You’ll learn to distinguish between the superficial sensation of cold on your skin and the deep chill that threatens hypothermia. The first gives you feedback about your environment while the second is an indicator of potential danger.
In addition to training with less clothing, I also only take cold showers, which has also improved my ability to tolerate a wider range of temperatures without feeling real discomfort. Of course, both of these are pretty uncomfortable at first, but over time, they become less so, and you will find yourself becoming noticeably more hardy in general.
Physical Toughness Training Summary

Expose yourself to rough environments and forgo the usual protection, increasing the intensity of exposure slowly over time.

Learn and implement mobility and self-maintenance exercises into your regular training routine.

Train with less rest between sets or workouts, but take excellent care of yourself in the meantime.

Train outside in all weather with as little protection as you can tolerate.

Conclusion
My favorite way to develop pure toughness, both physical and mental, what I call ruggedness, is through outdoor training with minimal protection. Inspired by Erwan Le Corre and the MovNat method of training to approach exercise the same way I approached camping as a kid, I frequently train in a wild environment with nothing on but a pair of shorts, climbing trees, hoisting and throwing rocks, scrambling up and over boulders, and running over gravel-covered trails.
The constantly shifting terrain and objects challenge my body, but they also challenge my patience and focus. When a relatively small rock becomes nearly impossible because of its shape, it is frustrating. When I’m trying to sprint up a hill but keep slipping on loose sand, it is frustrating. When a gnarly tree branch makes pull-ups into a twisted mockery of the pristine movement I rock at the gym, it’s really frustrating. Slight pain from scratches or harsh ground is a constant, and with no clothing, the cold is often an issue, especially if there’s snow.
Everything is harder, or rather, I should say everything is more complex. The result is that I learn how to tolerate stress, both mental and physical, and how to adapt to make something work despite the fact that the environment is not cooperating. I deal with it or fail. When I’m out there, it doesn’t matter that I can deadlift 3x my bodyweight on a bar, because that doesn’t change the fact that a rock is completely off-balance and seems to be actively trying to roll onto my toes. And that doesn’t change the fact that I’m picking it up and carrying it up the mountain anyway.
That is the definition of tough.
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You May Be Strong . . . But Are You Tough? | The Art of Manliness

gunbunny · Oct 4, 2013

Yes, something like this: Once squatting 400+ pounds on the rack, but now lie broken in my back.
A little Friday evening rhyme for you.
Strong but no longer tough. Age doesn't help things (not using it as a crutch- just an observation).

Gator 45/70 · Oct 4, 2013

Beats me ?
I do know that when my famous Cou-san Leroy broke a couple of bone's in my foot last January I opted out that he bring me to the local E.R.
1. He was not going to drive or be keeping my truck.
2. I was not going to pay for a 110 mile ambulance ride.
3. I drove myself, Cruise control is your friend !

Brokor · Oct 5, 2013

I weighed 115 lbs. at 18 yrs. of age when I first went into U.S. Army infantry training. Needless to say, I made it with flying colors, and back then (over 20 years ago now) that's saying a lot. I've seen much larger guys bail out and break down crying. No cell phones (they didn't exist except for the ones in the bags which were too expensive), no outside contact, no liberties aside from a bi-weekly PX visit (chaperoned) for a haircut and a few supplies. It wasn't until our AIT period, much later in training when we actually received a few hours to visit the town. Things sure have changed. I made a trip to Fort Benning in 2006 to see the jump towers, and I was surprised at how there no longer exists a separation from military training and civilian life. Most recruits are never without their phones, and they do not experience the hardships we had to endure.

Of course, I am not sure if being kicked and slapped upside the head and forced to low-crawl through fire ants makes you a better soldier. No need to worry now, though. I am sure the kids today will prove to be excellent soldiers regardless of their training...after all, they have the "warrior ethos" to memorize instead of actually coming into the military as an honest person and just recognizing the standard as typical.

I've been out of service for a few years now, but I still recall not too long ago, running past a group of young men who were half my age, and by every right they should have left me in the dust. There they were, wheezing and complaining, still in the frame of mind of a civilian, wanting a better reality than the one they were given but too feeble to suck up the pain and drive on. A soldier follows orders, and performs every duty in a military manner. But, when that military is no longer sufficiently comprised of real soldiers, it's time to hang up the boonie cap and grab a beer, because that's no military I want to belong to.

Most go into the military looking for careers. That is a good thing, but to place this diatribe in perspective, when I first joined, I wanted to train on the biggest guns, operate the deadliest armored vehicles, jump from planes, become a trained fighting machine, and serve with honor as a meat shield. Period. Times have changed.

Yard Dart · Oct 5, 2013

Brokor said: ↑

I weighed 115 lbs. at 18 yrs. of age when I first went into U.S. Army infantry training. Needless to say, I made it with flying colors, and back then (over 20 years ago now) that's saying a lot. I've seen much larger guys bail out and break down crying. No cell phones (they didn't exist except for the ones in the bags which were too expensive), no outside contact, no liberties aside from a bi-weekly PX visit (chaperoned) for a haircut and a few supplies. It wasn't until our AIT period, much later in training when we actually received a few hours to visit the town. Things sure have changed. I made a trip to Fort Benning in 2006 to see the jump towers, and I was surprised at how there no longer exists a separation from military training and civilian life. Most recruits are never without their phones, and they do not experience the hardships we had to endure.

Of course, I am not sure if being kicked and slapped upside the head and forced to low-crawl through fire ants makes you a better soldier. No need to worry now, though. I am sure the kids today will prove to be excellent soldiers regardless of their training...after all, they have the "warrior ethos" to memorize instead of actually coming into the military as an honest person and just recognizing the standard as typical.

I've been out of service for a few years now, but I still recall not too long ago, running past a group of young men who were half my age, and by every right they should have left me in the dust. There they were, wheezing and complaining, still in the frame of mind of a civilian, wanting a better reality than the one they were given but too feeble to suck up the pain and drive on. A soldier follows orders, and performs every duty in a military manner. But, when that military is no longer sufficiently comprised of real soldiers, it's time to hang up the boonie cap and grab a beer, because that's no military I want to belong to.

Most go into the military looking for careers. That is a good thing, but to place this diatribe in perspective, when I first joined, I wanted to train on the biggest guns, operate the deadliest armored vehicles, jump from planes, become a trained fighting machine, and serve with honor as a meat shield. Period. Times have changed.
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First off... you skinny SOB at 18....I was 165 at 18 when I went in with a very similar story in 86. I put on 20 lbs in basic and AIT and discovered coffee on the firing range...as it was the only thing warm in the middle of winter at Jackson. I dragged my knuckles doing push-ups on the cables at Benning and the first unit I hit at Bragg said welcome and we deploy in three days... whoo hoo. I was stuck carrying the guidon more times than I can count... but my lung capacity was greatly improved as I had to work harder. For many years I could out run, and road march most any fool trying to keep up... man has age caught up with me.

I went back to Jackson for training and got to visit the basic barracks and interview the new troops.... man just in that 10 years stuff had changed so much. When I was in basic they were trying to get the drills to stop hitting us.... these new kids could flash a "I'm stressed" card and get off the hook- wow.

I still relate stories once in a blue moon and the usual response by the younger generation is BS. Now I now what the Vietnam vets thought of us snot nosed guys coming in back in the day. You give all you got, and then you keep on humping... as that hot shower and warm meal is down the road....somewhere.

Brokor · Oct 5, 2013

Yard Dart said: ↑

First off... you skinny SOB at 18....I was 165 at 18 when I went in with a very similar story in 86. I put on 20 lbs in basic and AIT and discovered coffee on the firing range...as it was the only thing warm in the middle of winter at Jackson. I dragged my knuckles doing push-ups on the cables at Benning and the first unit I hit at Bragg said welcome and we deploy in three days... whoo hoo. I was stuck carrying the guidon more times than I can count... but my lung capacity was greatly improved as I had to work harder. For many years I could out run, and road march most any fool trying to keep up... man has age caught up with me.

I went back to Jackson for training and got to visit the basic barracks and interview the new troops.... man just in that 10 years stuff had changed so much. When I was in basic they were trying to get the drills to stop hitting us.... these new kids could flash a "I'm stressed" card and get off the hook- wow.

I still relate stories once in a blue moon and the usual response by the younger generation is BS. Now I now what the Vietnam vets thought of us snot nosed guys coming in back in the day. You give all you got, and then you keep on humping... as that hot shower and warm meal is down the road....somewhere.
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Ha! I carried a guy your size in first aid class and got a hernia from it. I kept on toting him, realized the next morning when I went to the latrine that my hernia was gonna cause a delay in training. After the surgery, I recycled back to week 6 and picked up there. I weigh in between 145 and 150 lbs. now, which is a good weight at 5' 8" I suppose. I sure do miss the early morning breakfasts (all you can eat) cottage cheese and fruit. I take my time eating these days, though.

Troy brownrigg · Oct 10, 2013

Strong tough, you got to be kidding me! I would rather be smart, and in good health. Smart enough to prepare for what's coming, smart enought to grow my own food. I can lift more with a push of a button than twenty strong men. Toughness can be replaced with knowledge. Snipers can rack up kills from a mile away, and are smart enough never to be seen. When I was 125lbs I was in gymnastics and was bench pressing 225 lbs and could walk on my hands for hours. Now I'm old and wouldn't attempt it. I work out every day I take a shovel out to the horse stalls and clean them, mend fencing on a 55 arce ranch and tend to a herd of goats. The I plant a garden in my spare time. When I get tired I try to learn something off the internet from sites like this. I order how to books in case I need them for future events. books on eatable plants, how to use plants to make some medicines one might need, how to survive a nuclear event. I would rather be smart and prepared, then strong or tough.

Yard Dart · Oct 10, 2013

@Troy brownrigg welcome to the Monkey!!
I agree that we would be much better served by being smart, skilled and in good health. Though we can not ignore the fact we need to be in good shape, and able to physically perform all the task needed to survive in your AO. Not just a gym rat, but actually getting out there and training or working in the environment, such as your lifestyle you spelled out above. Glad to see you here!!
YD

Silversnake · Oct 10, 2013

To me, toughness has more to do with resiliency, heart, grit and the commitment to do what needs to be done regardless of the ugliness. I've been in a few situations where I look around at the rest of the team and said "I know this sucks. Somebody's probably gonna die, so let's get it over with, but accomplish what we came for". BTW, if you're the guy saying that, have the balls to be the first one to step into the fray. Just sayin'.

Troy brownrigg · Oct 10, 2013

Silversnake said: ↑

To me, toughness has more to do with resiliency, heart, grit and the commitment to do what needs to be done regardless of the ugliness. I've been in a few situations where I look around at the rest of the team and said "I know this sucks. Somebody's probably gonna die, so let's get it over with, but accomplish what we came for". BTW, if you're the guy saying that, have the balls to be the first one to step into the fray. Just sayin'.
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What I think is coming is an all out nuclear attack, followed by a civil war or the likes of. With seven million people in the Phoenix area and a million in the Tucson area the idea of getting it over with is not the answer. Better to be out of sight and not seen in the upcoming events, because the masses outnumber you badly. Be smart it will be the only way to save your families.

Silversnake · Oct 10, 2013

Troy brownrigg said: ↑

What I think is coming is an all out nuclear attack, followed by a civil war or the likes of. With seven million people in the Phoenix area and a million in the Tucson area the idea of getting it over with is not the answer. Better to be out of sight and not seen in the upcoming events, because the masses outnumber you badly. Be smart it will be the only way to save your families.
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You miss the point completely. You can be as smart as you want, but without toughness/discipline, you will get mentally, physically and emotionally overwhelmed, not to mention set a horrible example of how to persevere to those you are leading (your family). A leader who demonstrates toughness inspires it in those around him/her. Being smart does not show your kid you understand it sucks that he can only eat his ration. Or can't go out and play. Or has to say goodbye to his pet dog for good (EDIT: Old Yeller). Or has to shoot a bad guy, then help clean up the mess.

Troy brownrigg · Oct 10, 2013

Silversnake said: ↑

You miss the point completely. You can be as smart as you want, but without toughness/discipline, you will get mentally, physically and emotionally overwhelmed, not to mention set a horrible example of how to persevere to those you are leading (your family). A leader who demonstrates toughness inspires it in those around him/her. Being smart does not show your kid you understand it sucks that he can only eat his ration. Or can't go out and play. Or has to say goodbye to his pet dog for good (EDIT: Old Yeller). Or has to shoot a bad guy, then help clean up the mess.
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I grew up on a farm slaughtered countless aniamals for food. Spent twelve years in the military. Shooting somebody no big deal, eating a dog, I eat rattle snakes on occasion. I've hunted this area for forty years. I really have no emotions anymore. As far as my son goes 8 years in Iraq, he'll be a great plus. You can be as tough and as mean as you want, get out in this desert with the millions that will have too! is suicidal. We're talking 115 degrees plus no water and no transportation. The discipline is being smart enough to wait until this desert kills off 80% of those tough people. Physically I'm to old to last in these deserts for any lenght of time. Prepared for decades on how to survive in this area, and keep others out of harms way. I think I set a very good example, knowing the enemy is half the battle. Home turf which is sixty miles from anyone is a great plus. The Russians in WWII allowed the Germans to move forward hundreds of miles, then picked weapons from the frozen dead. Every year hundreds of imigrants try to cross this desert alot don't make it, when I was younger it was normal to have 300-400 dead a year. Now the border patrol saves them. No I don't think anything will overwhelm me or the group that will be here.

Silversnake · Oct 11, 2013

Silversnake said: ↑

You miss the point completely. You can be as smart as you want, but without toughness/discipline, you will get mentally, physically and emotionally overwhelmed, not to mention set a horrible example of how to persevere to those you are leading (your family). A leader who demonstrates toughness inspires it in those around him/her. Being smart does not show your kid you understand it sucks that he can only eat his ration. Or can't go out and play. Or has to say goodbye to his pet dog for good (EDIT: Old Yeller). Or has to shoot a bad guy, then help clean up the mess.
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EDIT: This response sounds harsh, not meant to be offensive.

Troy brownrigg · Oct 11, 2013

No offense taken, glad to hear other peoples opinons. I've reseached many ideas, and reseached some history about this location. When the 49er's headed to Taxifornia, the loss of life was great across the death valley area. Therefore Those in Taxifornia will have no choice but to head north through Oregan / Washington were talking 35 million without resources. Seven million in the Phoenix area and a million in the Tucson area. Arizona gets it's water through the Central Arizona Project CAP from the Colorado river. Any major event and Arizona has no water and no eletric. You know whats in Arizona: old people and hospitals. My plans are simple stay out of sight as much as possible and don't engage the masses. Most people in Arizona are equally armed and know how to shoot. The numbers would wipe anyone out after a while, there is just way to many of them. What will work is to let mother nature kill off as many as possible, or let them fight it out. We have enough resources to hold out for a couple of months, enough trained people to secure this area against small numbers. I think what's coming is going to be very bad.

VHestin · Oct 12, 2013

Well I guess it's a good thing the women in my family tend to be the tough ones. I remember my older cousin, one time he got a cold, and he carried on like he was on his deathbed. I suppose basically trying to homestead on our property here necessitates toughness. Alot of things around here I don't do because I want to exactly, it's simply if I don't do it, it doesn't get done. So I cope by being a potty mouth while doing it

wastelander · Oct 12, 2013

I believe all people do what they must do. Life will force them sooner or later and this toughness is what has brought us this far. We are all tough.

Bear · Oct 14, 2013

@Yard Dart I really like this read... Thanks for posting it... lot's of applications in a lot of different ways... another tool ... and another "tool sharpener" :0)
Thanks again,
Bear

Chad Peterson · Oct 26, 2013

I hope I'm on topic here. Maybe you've heard of this book by Ben Sherwood, The Survivors Club. He dwells on an aspect of survival that keeps me intrigued. Top of page 63, "Is it possible to tell if your prone to behavioral inaction?" Also called negative panic or dislocation of expectation.
The scenario was a plane crash. The most likely to escape the plane before smoke and flame consume the cabin (90 seconds) are the young slender men. How many young slender men would be willing to step over and on the older and maybe not so slender to escape.
You have to read the book...........
My point is that until the crisis hit I'm not sure how I'll react.

Bear · Oct 26, 2013

Chad Peterson said: ↑

I hope I'm on topic here. Maybe you've heard of this book by Ben Sherwood, The Survivors Club. He dwells on an aspect of survival that keeps me intrigued. Top of page 63, "Is it possible to tell if your prone to behavioral inaction?" Also called negative panic or dislocation of expectation.
The scenario was a plane crash. The most likely to escape the plane before smoke and flame consume the cabin (90 seconds) are the young slender men. How many young slender men would be willing to step over and on the older and maybe not so slender to escape.
You have to read the book...........
My point is that until the crisis hit I'm not sure how I'll react.
Click to expand...

That's a great book @Chad Peterson... Page 29 has the story of a 145 lb grandmother who lifted a 3,450 lb 1964 Chevy that had pinned her son... granted it was just a few inches but it was enough to save him.... There are lots of great books like Deep Survival that delve into the human mind under extreme stress... folks with years of training that have died when their training should have clearly saved them... but for one reason or another... the "event" cancelled out what they knew and their muscle memory and they perished as if they had no prior training.... there is another book that I can't remember the name of but it was written by a woman who interviewed some of the 911 survivors... amazing stories... people actually paused to tidy their desks and lost precious moments... others froze... inconceivable behavior as the survivors related their actions but they were overcome and their minds shifted somehow... That is what is so important about what was originally posted here IMHO.... Toughness takes practice... and awareness of how your mind will work... that old story about folks who die in getting lost in the woods... they die of shame... maybe that's true... Deep Survival has a story of a mountain rescue professional that died in the woods... he had all the training and gear... and yet he still couldn't save himself... it's a good read if you haven't read it... and the author also has a website as well... there's a review somewhere around here on the book as well... You are correct... I'm not sure we all know how we will react if a crisis hits... the point is to prepare yourself mentally so that the odds that you will react appropriately improve in your favor... Those are my thoughts FWIW... Thanks for posting...
Bear

Dont · Oct 29, 2013

This whole thread has been informative and just great! Living out "there", I think "am I worthy" to live in the mountains.. I consider this when the plow blade literaly falls off the truck.. If a gen set fails up the hill at the well and I need to drag one up there on a sled.. It's all in how you approach an adverse situation and you know that there is NO not solving the problem.. I say I would like to have a warm shop to work in during the winter, then drag the welding bottles up to the plow and weld the blade back on in the snow bank.. Things just need to be done , so get to it...

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