I’m sure TTAG’s Armed Intelligentsia think they’ve got this one. The most important non-gun thing you can do to win a gunfight? Situational awareness! The sooner you identify a threat or threats, the earlier you’re aware of your potential egress, cover and concealment options . . .
the better your chances of surviving a potentially lethal encounter. Yes, OK, but — there’s something even more important.
Your fitness.
I’m fully aware that some People of the Gun have permanent disabilities. Conditions that remove fitness from the self-defense equation. For them, a firearm is a godsend; a tool that evens the odds against a stronger, more mobile opponent or opponents. Good luck to you all.
For the rest of us, being overweight and unfit can and should be a temporary condition.
Fighting — any kind of fighting — is an enormously tiring business. It puts tremendous strain on every system in your body. If you’re overweight and unfit, you will tire quickly. You will have a diminished [potential] capacity to think, move and/or act during the inevitable adrenaline dump.
If you’re fit you can hit harder, run faster and stay in the fight longer. You might just, you know, live longer.
This 58-year-old former OFWG lost 27 pounds following a ketosis-flavored (i.e. no flavored) diet. I got fit by taking Krav Maga classes. But I’m not going to tell you how to lose weight or increase your fitness. I’m simply saying do it as if you’re life depends on it. Because it does, in every way that’s important.