The Four Pillars

Todd Bumgardner is the founder of Packmule Training Co., where hunters train year-round to be season-ready. He’s been a human performance coach for 20 years, including 8 years with a tier-1 unit. Todd owns a gym in Northern Virginia, currently resides in California, and spends more time in the mountains than is likely responsible.

Understanding Crises

There are a few truths about crises:

• You can’t predict what they’ll be.
• You can’t predict when they’ll happen.
• You can’t predict how long they’ll last.

You can make educated guesses based on how you spend your time. If you’re in the mountains often, odds are that’s where trouble finds you. But probability isn’t certainty. You could just as easily face a mess in a city, or fight for survival on a Hawaiian beach.

Since you’re here on Uncharted Supply, you know gear matters. But remember: your body is gear too. If you want the endurance to survive any crisis, you must train your body with the same intention you put into selecting the best equipment.

Physical Crisis Needs: A Critical Analysis

Building crisis-level endurance isn’t random. It’s a layered process built on need. So, what abilities must your body have to thrive in a crisis?

1. Endurance — The ability to go for a long time at varying speeds and intensities.
2. Strength Endurance — Using strength over long periods and repeated efforts.
3. Repeat Sprint Ability — Being able to “drop the hammer” multiple times when needed.
4. Recoverability — Recovering fast enough to go again when seconds count.
5. Efficiency Under Load — Carrying gear or supplies without being crushed by it.
6. Durability — Limiting injury risk and severity when accidents happen.
7. Power — Jumping, lifting, throwing, and moving obstacles when survival depends on it.

With these needs defined, the next step is learning how to train for them.

Build Your Aerobic Base

Your aerobic base is the foundation for:

• Endurance — sustaining long efforts.
• Recoverability — bouncing back between intense bouts.
• Durability — reducing injury and improving tissue resilience.

An efficient aerobic system burns fat longer, lowers inflammation, and strengthens tendons, ligaments, and collagen. It also improves nervous system regulation, helping you switch from fight-or-flight to rest-and-digest when needed.

Training guidelines:

• Minimum: 2 hours/week of low-intensity work for at least 8 weeks.
• Better: 3–4 hours/week, with phases up to 4–6 hours.
• Include long sessions (2–4 hours) to improve fueling efficiency.

Intensity zones:

• Zone 1: 50–60% max HR (easy conversation pace).
• Zone 2: 60–70% max HR (full sentences before pausing to breathe).

Best methods: easy running, run-walk intervals, rucking, hiking, rowing, or biking — especially movements on your feet, since that’s likely where emergencies play out.

Improve Your Movement

Small improvements in mobility accumulate into big gains in efficiency and durability.

• Efficiency: Less energy per movement = longer endurance.
• Durability: Healthier joints = reduced injury risk and faster recovery.

How to train mobility:

• Daily practice: warm-ups, strength/conditioning prep, or short breaks.
• Consistency matters more than volume.
• Try Todd’s 1-minute Morning Mobility Routine.

Train for Strength Endurance

Max strength is good, but strength endurance is survival. It keeps you useful when the crisis lasts longer than a few reps.

Why it matters:

1. Sustained output: Nervous system + muscles contract harder, longer.
2. Energy savings: Higher relative strength lowers the effort cost of every step or lift.

Method: Eustress Training

• Choose a weight that challenges you but allows good form.
• Perform prescribed reps while keeping HR under 150 bpm.
• Rest until HR = 160 minus your age, then go again.

Example:

• 30 total deadlifts (sets of 3, with 3 reps in reserve).
• Stay at the bar, breathe, and repeat until finished.

This develops physical stamina and critical mental resilience under pressure. It also trains your nervous system for repeated high output, making you better prepared for a crisis.

Wrapping Up Part 1

So far, you’ve learned:

• The key physical needs for crisis endurance.
• Why aerobic training is your foundation.
• How mobility boosts efficiency and durability.
• How strength endurance makes you more resilient and useful.

Coming in Part 2:

• Training with rucking and carries for efficiency under load.
• Power development.
• Building repeat sprint ability.
• A bonus workout to prepare for the unknown length of crises.