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In a few days, I'll be entering my 20's. Lately I've been noticing my physical health has been in decline. Though my job is physical, I've been steadily gaining weight since I stopped PTing with Army ROTC. Now, I've never been "athletic" but there have been times in my life where I've been stronger, faster and generally fitter than the average person (average American at least).
My goal is to combine my quest for physical fitness with my love of hunting/trapping/hiking and all-around outdoors and woodsman activities. Partially inspired by an old article on a fitness website ( http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2010/05/10/real-life-role-playing-what-is-your-profession/ ), I plan to train myself both physically and mentally in the fields of physical fitness, cross-country endurance, archery and bushcraft. Quite literally, my goal is to train myself into a ranger.
I'll be attempting to post daily whenever possible, sharing pictures and anecdotes of my training regimen along with some tutorials in training, survival, bushcraft, etc.

Tomorrow, I'll be sharing some more specific information on my goals and where I currently stand, along with a tutorial on packing a backpack/ruck.

Have you picked out your favored enemies? Any feat chains you’ve got planned out? For that mater, what edition ranger? 1st? 5th? Pathfinder? I can understand wanting to go with archery, rather then TWF. Less likely to get in trouble with the cops a/o injure yourself.

Sounds like a fun way to combine getting healthy and hobbies. Good luck!

Alright, as promised, today I'll divulge more specific information on my current physical condition and plans for physical fitness training.
A mere six months ago, I was exercising regularly, I was fairly fit (about 25% body fat). I am currently ~300lbs and at about 40% body fat.
Long-term goals: reduce weight below 225 lbs, reduce body fat to between 15% and 20%, Build endurance and practical strength to where I can run crosscountry with a fully loaded pack, Train archery to where I can reliably hunt small game.

Short-term goals: Begin running 5 miles at least once every other day, Daily body-weight workouts, Begin bike riding 15+ miles once weekly. Build a simple takedown longbow to practice archery with. Acquire bow hunting license.

And now for the fun part of this post. I'm going to show what I typically carry when I go backpacking, camping, hiking, etc.

First off is my backpack (a pretty standard military issue assault pack), attached to it is my wristwatch and Gerber LMF II Infantry Knife (a great knife, lots of weight, great for battoning and it has a built in hammer and glass-breaker. It also has holes on the handle so that it can be easily fashioned as the head of a spear).
Inside my bag I keep the following:
1. between 2 quarts and a gallon of water. a gallon is preferred as it provides enough to survive on for 3 days.
2. a crappy little survival knife. It makes a good signal mirror and holds my fishing kit, useless wire-saw, sewing kit and whetstone.
3. a clean teeshirt
4. a clean pair of bootsocks
5. a blue tarp that can be easily used as a poncho or as shelter.
6. A cold-weather trapper cap
7. weather underwear, shirt and pants (polypropylene)
8. A small, white garbage bag containing sterile gauze, bandages, first aid/burn creams, first aid tape, matches, etc.
9. a small tin mess kit containing a fork, knife and spoon (not very useful, save for having something to cook in)
10. a flaregun (better to have it and not need it...)
11. a length of 550 paracord
12. two rat traps (easier and more effective than snares
13. multiple pairs of gloves, for both warmth and protection
14. goggles for eye protection.
15. two black garbage bags to store everything that you wouldn't want getting wet. (also, they can make decent ponchos if you need to)

So, that's about everything. Obviously, backpacking is about personal preference and some people choose to travel lighter than others. I, personally like to have everything I might need on hand.
I probably won't blog over the weekend, but my next post will be about my custom built longbow.
Thanks for reading!

a couple things that I forgot to include with my backpacking list:
Always be sure to pack things so they take up the least amount of space. Ranger-rolling is a great technique and is well worth learning.
Pack your bag so that you can easily reach the things you may need at a moment's notice. You're probably not going to need your spare clothes or cold weather gear as quickly as you'll need a poncho once it starts to rain.
All first aid and emergency supplies deserve their own pouch. The last thing you want to do when you or a friend is injured is have to dig through all of your stuff to get to the important stuff.
EDIT: maybe I'll do a basic first aid tutorial later on

Well, I decided to take it easy this weekend as it was my birthday and valentines day. My bow did not get made. Instead of doing a post about the bow, I'll be doing a tutorial on basic bodyweight training and the paleo diet.

How this not been locked yet? Blog posts are specifically prohibited by forum rules. Also, the paleo diet is bad and you should feel bad for hopping on that bandwagon and then attempting to spew its nonsense on a gaming forum FFS.