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Stamina Training by wearing armor

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Sir William:
I have a hard enough time just walking, I try to avoid running at all costs- unless I'm being chased by a dog.  But if I'm in armor, I'm not gonna run from a dog...let him break his teeth trying to bite me.  :)

All kidding aside Ulrich, Ian's right- if you're not already in shape, that's the best place to start.  Your body is currently acclimated to just you- if you engage in regular exercise, then upping your game using your maille is a solid way to build that stamina- but you want to have something to build on.

Get your body right with itself first...one bad step can cause a greater injury if you're carrying 20+ lbs of added weight, like a mild twisting of an ankle can become a really nasty sprain or break because your body's not used to the added weight.  Be safe and be patient and you'll eventually achieve what you're after.

Sir James A:

--- Quote from: Thorsteinn on 2014-08-14, 06:12:12 ---IIRC there was a fella that advised knights to run a mile each day in the woods in their hauberk. There was a scene with Toby Capwell running in the woods in a show but bugger if I can remember which show it was.

--- End quote ---

Believe it was "How to Mount a Horse in Armor, and other Chivalric problems" by Dirk Breiding; was a short clip.

And what the others said. If your stamina is low, don't go straight to armor. What I did was regular treadmill. Then I added wrist and ankle weights. Still haven't done it in armor, but I can't dress myself, sooo.....

If this is just to be used to armor for DoK and such, my advice would be to, as boring as it may sound, put on your armor and just go about whatever daily activities you can in it. If you aren't running at DoK, you don't need to run in armor. I can tolerate 8 or so hours in armor for the day at faire and such, reasonably well, but I'm winded from running in armor after 10 or 15 seconds. I've run in armor quite a few times, and it's not for very long. Like the first 7 seconds of this video (Sir Nathan and Sir Edward running in armor too):



Armor is a very special beast. It's part cardio. It's part muscle mass. It's part ability to deal with being sweaty and warmer than usual. It's part just being stubborn enough to say "no, I'm not taking it off yet, I'm gonna wear it a while longer!" even when you might be thinking "this stuff is heavy!".

Sir Ulrich:
I do hike regularly just not in armor. Usually up hills and long distances with my one friend. I do not run though which makes me think I am not in shape for running. Running is out of the question for me considering that. Maybe I can start with just walking a bit in it and run without armor to build myself up. I however am not overweight and my arms are toned from regularly swinging my mace. I think I may just start with wearing my hauberk and doing squats to build my thighs up.  And I am 5 ft 9 height wise. I am just unsure if I should do this every day or every other day, last thing I wanna do is over exert myself.

I think I may just wear my hauberk regularly every other day to work that out. Only issue is the gambeson but I think I COULD theoretically wear it with a long sleeve shirt due to it being wedge riveted. Going about daily activities sounds easy enough to get used to wearing it normally, prolly gonna try that tomorrow if I'm not still not sore from the regular exercise I did yesterday involving squats.

Sir Edward:

Definitely, I agree with what others have said. Don't run in the armor.

Going for walks in the armor, perhaps on varied terrain, would probably be more suitable. Just going up a hill in the armor will be strenuous enough. :)

Sir Ulrich:
I figured as much that walking would be better. I'd hike in armor if I could but I don't want the police thinking I'm being suspicious so treadmill it is, mine even has a way to bend it up so it mimics walking uphill. Probably could watch TV or a movie while using it too and in an air conditioned room it wouldn't hurt me much honestly as it's quite hot out and dont want to end up getting sick from the heat.

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