Men are deemed to be the epitome of strength, endurance, and survivability. It was Earle Liederman, physical culture enthusiast and author of “Endurance” who made the case in his book about the importance of knowing how to survive. He states that every man should be able to save himself; he should be able to swim, run far enough, and if the situation requires it, a person should also be able to perform chin touches. As it turns out, you need to be pretty tough to survive in the wild!.

Now, in modern-day circumstances, there are no situations where you’d need to show off your physical strength in order to survive. However, these exercises are quite interesting on their own and so, without further ado, here are 3 ‘survival’ benchmarks, according to Liederman.

Mali Maeden/Pexels | Or you could just avoid messing with hornets - your choice

1. Swim For At Least Half A Mile

Let’s assume that you are in a forest and you stumble upon a huge hive of angry hornets. As you are being chased by hornets across the forest, the most logical thing to do might be to jump in the water. However, when you do so, you realize that the hornets are waiting for you at the surface. In such circumstances, you need to know how to hold your breath underwater and swim for at least half a mile to survive.

2. Run At Top Speed For 200 Yards

You just got off from work and you can’t help but feel sad about the fact that you are not getting a promotion. Suddenly, a would-be thief shows up out of nowhere and tells you to give up your wallet and car keys. This is where survival techniques such as these come in handy. You are going to run as far as you can, as fast as you can. You’re not going to be mugged on the street by an unarmed criminal and go down without a fight. Not today.

Pixabay/Pexels | Before you run, make sure the mugger doesn’t have a gun

3. Do At Least 20 Chin Ups

There is no proper explanation as to why Liederman considered chin-ups to be one of the survival benchmarks but they can surely come in handy if you’re looking to impress your crush. On second thought, upper body strength can come in pretty handy if you ever find yourself in a situation wherein you are threatened by a physical challenge. You know how the saying goes; it’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels | It’s all about survival of the fittest; literally

So, the moral of the story is that there are many things you should do for survival but what actually increases your chances significantly is your ability to make decisions under duress and how smart you are.