I have decided to move the blog back to the original location at http://myprimaladventure.blogspot.com/. Let’s be honest, I’m not going to be a professional blogger any time soon, so it really isn’t worth it to me to keep the domain name and pay for the web hosting. So once it runs out that will be it. For the two or three of you that actually read it, come on over to the new old site and leave me a comment on the rare occasion I actually write a post.
Well, I actually started writing this a couple of months ago after watching the videos from the Ancestral health Symposium. In particular the talks given by Mark Sisson and Erwan LeCorre. It was kind of long and drawn out, and it was starting to bore me, so I just deleted it. Part of the reason it was taking me so long to write it is that I have been taking my own advise. GET OUT OF THE FUCKING HOUSE! Get outside and play. Feel the joy of moving. Get dirty!!!. If you have children this is mandatory. How do you want your kids to remember you. ”Dad sure was a hard worker. The house was always kept perfect, the lawn was immaculate, and he never passed up an opportunity to put in some overtime and earn some extra cash. It would have been nice to see him more though.” Or, “Dad was awesome. He always had time for us, always played with us, gave us so many happy memories, and always taught us fun ways to be happy and healthy.” I know which way I’ve chosen.
I went to the park with my kids the other day and was completely disgusted with what I saw. 99% of the parents there couldn’t get their asses of the benches or their eyes of their iPhones for half a fucking second to interact with their kids. I don’t think the majority of them even knew were there kids were half the time. It was kind of heart-breaking to watch a kid begging their parent to just interact with them even just a little, only to be told to “Go”. I swear, there was only one other guy that was throwing a football around with his son. It is important to give the kids some independence on the playground, and I absolutely give it. It helps them develop social and problem solving skills which are desperately needed these days. But I also want them to see that dad still likes to play and have fun and it doesn’t have to end when you grow up. We got in some good games of tag, and several races(they were actually pretty long runs, and all my oldest’s idea).
The other thing I see my kids learning is that fences are meant to be climbed, gates are optional. Trails are OK to follow, but it’s also fun to make your own path. 1) We are having fun, getting some exercise, exploring nature, and making discoveries. 2) I think these lessons translate well later in life into other areas. I don’t want my kids growing up to be sheep.
Now, here is where LeCorre comes into play. Most of us have forgotten how to move and play properly. It is important to re-learn these skills so we get the most out of it and ***NOT GET HURT***. I watch my 3 year old playing in the back yard, barefoot of course. She naturally has perfect barefoot running form. She performs the “Grok Squat” with ease and can sit there indefinitely. No need to re-learn anything. Unfortunately, it’s not the same for most of us. We need a little help remembering who we are.
Bottom line, turn of the damn computer and go outside. Do something fun. Be a kid again. Be a kid with your kids.
It seems that everywhere I look, I am reading something about the HCG Diet. OK, so what is it? Well, HCG stands for human chorionic gonadotrophin, a hormone produced during pregnancy. Its purpose is to promote the secretion of progesterone, which will make the uterus thick with blood vessels and capillaries, which are needed to support the growing fetus. That’s all well and good, but what the hell does it have to do with diet?
Back in the 1950′s a British doctor by the name of Albert Simeons was studying pregnant women in India that were on a calorie deficient diet, as well as overweight boys with pituitary problems. Simeons proposes that this hormone he found in the pregnant women’s urine, along with being put on a strict 500 calorie per day diet, would help people to lose fat and curb their appetite.
The claims I read on all the web sites selling HCG say that it keeps you from feeling hungry, mobilizes fat, and redistributes the fat from the stomach and butt. Oh, and exercise is not needed. In fact, it is discouraged. That’s really not much of a surprise. You’re only eating 500 calories per day, how much energy could you have. The cost for these “treatments” is a mere $500-$1000 per month, but it’s OK because, they claim it is really free when you figure in how much money you wont be spending on food(Yes, I read that. I’m not being sarcastic).
HCG has been approved by the FDA as a fertility drug, and nothing else. The way around this is an MD can write a prescription for whatever they want. For those that do take it, here is a list of possible side effects you may want to consider:
That’s quit a list. I wonder how many other drugs you will need to go on to feel better after going on HCG “treatments”. There is also the Homeopathic versions of the drug, but these are nothing more than water that may or may not have even a trace amounts of the hormone in it after it is diluted(That’s some real expensive water).
There are NO clinical tests that show HCG has any better rate of weight lose than placebo, at least that is what the Peer-Reviewed studies show. All of the other crap out there is a joke. One of the biggest promoters of the HCG diet was Kevin Trudeau. In fact, his book, The Weight Loss Cure “They” Don’t want You to Know About, is considered required reading on many HCG sites on the net. If you are not familiar with Trudeau, just do a simple Google search and see just how slimy he is. From his early arrests for larceny and credit card fraud, when he impersonated a doctor to deposit $80,000 in fraudulent checks, charging hundreds of thousands of dollars on peoples credit cards after stealing their name and Social Security numbers, and his involvement in Multi-Level Marketing schemes(AKA pyramid schemes). How anyone can take ANY advice from this guy is beyond me.
Here is my take on it(and again, this is my take. I hope you do your own research and form your own opinion). People are looking for the Magic Pill that will solve all there problems for them. People don’t want to address what is going on in their lives, even when it is killing them. Here’s some advice. Look at what is wrong, find out what you need to do to fix it, AND DO IT! Yes, sometimes it requires changing your entire lifestyle. But in my experience, this can be a good thing. I know because I have been there. I have been in these peoples shoes. Not too long ago I was obese. I was over 250 lbs, and only 5′ 9″ that is pretty damn big. I knew I needed a change. It would have been real easy to look for the magic pill, but I knew that would never work. I changed not only how I eat, but how I move and how I think. I am now at 175 lbs, and have added quite a bit of muscle, so who knows how much fat I have lost. I have achieved the goal that people going on the HGC diet are looking for by following a Primal/Paleo lifestyle and adopting functional fitness and natural movement. The best part is it is sustainable over the long haul. I’m a year and a half in, and I’m still improving, and it’s still easy and ENJOYABLE. I can’t imagine starving myself on 500 calories a day as being a fun way to live.
Let’s face it, at 500 calories a day you will lose weight. It’s called starvation. You will not be able to sustain this without doing damage to your body(or having Sally Struthers trying to raise money to feed you). You will not have the energy to enjoy life. I also worry about putting a hormone in your system that is not meant to be there. What could this do to your endocrine system? That I don’t know.
All too often we hear the same typical excuses of why someone can’t get healthy. The one that has been bugging me lately is “I don’t have the money for a gym membership, and I wouldn’t have the time to go if I did.” Well, there are no more excuses because that doesn’t fly! I have gotten into the best shape of my life and I have yet to set foot into a gym. My gym is my back yard, the park, the great outdoors, or on the bedroom floor if need be. All those locations come without membership fees.
As for equipment, one of my favorites is my own body weight. Do a hundred burpees and then tell me you didn’t just get one hell of a workout. Just a couple of weeks ago my workout consisted of 5×100 meter sprints, push-ups, pull-ups, and body weight shoulder presses. The entire workout, including warm-up and cool-down, was under 30 minutes.
My workout gear consists of sandbags, a sledgehammer, Bulgarian bags(made from a truck tire inertube), a homemade medicine ball and some kettlebells. The kettlebells are the only traditional weights that I own. I only need a couple of them, so it’s not like I had to break the bank to get them. The rest came from my favorite gym equipment store, The Home Depot. A 50 lb. bag of sand cost a couple of bucks. I wrapped the sandbag in duct tape(another couple of bucks) to give it some durability, and I’m working out for less money than a McDonald’s Value Meal. The sledgehammer cost a little bit more(still under $20), but I get to use it as tool(imagine that) to get work done too, so it is worth the extra money. The Bulgarian bag was pretty simple. Cut open the inertube, fill with sand, zip tie closed and duct tape the handles – done! The medicine ball was an old basket ball. I cut a hole in it filled it with sand, and duct taped it(You may see a pattern forming here with me and duct tape).
No more Excuses! If you’ve got 20 minutes and your own body weight you can get great workout. Go outside, take a run/walk/sprint/crawl(yes, I said crawl) through your neighborhood. Head to the park and find something to climb(If you have kids they will love you for this). In short, learn to love movement again. Learn the joy of moving in a more natural way, they way we were designed to.
And here is a very important key point. You need to turn off the computer, turn off the TV, and leave the i-Phone behind. Go outside and play.
Over the 4th of July holiday I had the chance to have a “discussion” about fitness, nutrition, and running shoes with a former marathoner. Can you guess how that conversation went? It was what I expected for the most part. There were a few surprises. I had no idea runners were so attached to their running shoes! I had just come in from running some sprints. I had worn a pair of minimalist shoes(Nike Free TR’s. Not really that minimalist, but they are what I have.) since the holiday festivities were held right outside where I was staying so I was worried about debris in the grass and the pavement was a little hot to go barefoot in the Florida heat. I mentioned how I would have preferred to run them barefoot, as I find it better. The runner then went on to inform me of the role good running shoes play. Apparently, it is important they be flexible, with proper padding in the heel, and good arch support. I was told how if I don’t have those things then I will suffer from any number of ailments from running, ranging from shin splints to stress fractures in my heals over time. I informed him that that is not the case for me, and that if those are problems people face then they are not running properly. Well, that went over like a fart in a wet bathing suit. Experienced runners don’t like to hear they are doing it wrong. But riddle me this Batman, if the arch is one of the strongest load-bearing structures(the Roman aqueducts are still standing after all), then why do we need to “support” them? You only need to have cushioning in the heel if you are slamming your heel down on the ground. In that case, then yes, you will hurt yourself without it. I used this example, let me know if I’m off base, If you were pounding on your hand with a hammer and realized “hey, this hurts”, would you A) develop a padded glove to wear that will absorb the shock and minimize the impact of the blow, or B) STOP HITTING YOURSELF! The running shoes are simply masking the problem, and further weakening your foot in the process. As a species, we’ve been developing for a very long time, and the ability to run is a big part of our development. The amount of time in our history that we have been wearing modern style shoes is a mere blink of the eye in the big picture of human evolution. Something tells me natural selection is a little better at determining what works best for us than Nike, Asics, Saucony, and New Balance combined.
We’ve all heard of the Tabata, but what exactly is it? The Tabata is named for a study done by Dr. Izumi Tabata and his colleagues at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, Japan. Here is the abstract from PubMed:
| 1. | Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1996 Oct;28(10):1327-30.
Effects of moderate-intensity endurance and high-intensity intermittent training on anaerobic capacity and VO2max.Tabata I, Nishimura K, Kouzaki M, Hirai Y, Ogita F, Miyachi M, Yamamoto K. SourceDepartment of Physiology and Biomechanics, National Institute of Fitness and Sports, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. AbstractThis study consists of two training experiments using a mechanically braked cycle ergometer. First, the effect of 6 wk of moderate-intensity endurance training (intensity: 70% of maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max), 60 min.d-1, 5 d.wk-1) on the anaerobic capacity (the maximal accumulated oxygen deficit) and VO2max was evaluated. After the training, the anaerobic capacity did not increase significantly (P > 0.10), while VO2max increased from 53 +/- 5 ml.kg-1 min-1 to 58 +/- 3 ml.kg-1.min-1 (P < 0.01) (mean +/- SD). Second, to quantify the effect of high-intensity intermittent training on energy release, seven subjects performed an intermittent training exercise 5 d.wk-1 for 6 wk. The exhaustive intermittent training consisted of seven to eight sets of 20-s exercise at an intensity of about 170% of VO2max with a 10-s rest between each bout. After the training period, VO2max increased by 7 ml.kg-1.min-1, while the anaerobic capacity increased by 28%. In conclusion, this study showed that moderate-intensity aerobic training that improves the maximal aerobic power does not change anaerobic capacity and that adequate high-intensity intermittent training may improve both anaerobic and aerobic energy supplying systems significantly, probably through imposing intensive stimuli on both systems. |
To sum it up it is 20 seconds of maximum effort on a given exercize, followed by 10 seconds of rest. this is done for 8 cycles for a total of 4 minutes for the full cycle. If these are done properly, as in you don’t hold back(max effort means just that) the Tabata will provide one hell of an intense workout.What I like about them is how versatile they are. My personal favorites are doing kettlebell snatches and swings, but the options are limitless. You can do them running sprints, jumping rope, bicycling, with burpees, with a sledgehammer, a heavy bag, etc., etc., etc. Get creative with them. Put several Tabatas together with a brief rest between and do something different for each one. I use my little Gymboss timer to keep track of the intervals, but there are also some free Mp3 downloads out there also. There is one at www.beach-fitness.com/tabata/ that is good. Now get out there and have fun with them. |
Welcome to My Primal Adventure. This Blog is dedicated to getting back to our true nature, both physically and mentally. We as humans have forgotten who we really are. To quote Erwan Le Corre of MovNat, we have become “Zoo Humans”. It is time for us to break this cycle, and get back to our true nature by getting back to nature. To get back to where we should be physically it will take eating and moving the way we were designed to.
Eating: Whether you call it Primal, Paleo, Ancestral, Evolutionary, or any of the other titles given to it, it is about eliminating the foods that are harmful to us(even when Conventional Wisdom tells us they are good for us) and embracing the foods our bodies were built to use as fuel(even when Conventional Wisdom tells us they will kill us). This means avoiding grains of all kinds(even the whole grain ones). Grain(especially those containing gluten), in any form, are harmful to the body. You also need to avoid omega 6 containing PUFA oils like Canola, corn oil, soybean oil, etc. Excess PUFA’s in the diet will lead to excess inflammation in the body. You want to aim for an even balance of omega 3 and omega 6 in your system for optimum health. This also means to learn to embrace saturated fats like lard, tallow, coconut oil, and butter. Keep in mind, the food you eat should have been eating right too. Grains are just as bad for cattle as they are for us. Look for grass-fed meat whenever possible. For a more comprehensive list what what foods to avoid and what to embrace check this out.
Moving: We need to learn to develop functional fitness. Our bodies are amazing machines that have been developing for millions of years through evolution. The traditional models for exercise will lead you to believe that isolation movements while lifting weights or long, tedious hours, grinding out mile after mile of chronic cardio are the only ways to be healthy. The truth, however, is this will only set you further back from making real progress.
Mentally: Humans have become detached from our environments, detached from nature, detached from our food, and detached from ourselves. It may seem strange that I’m sitting here at a computer and writting this on a blog on the internet, but we need to turn off the computer, get out from in front of the TV, and get away from technology. We need to get back into nature.
Now don’t get the wrong impression. No one is saying to put on a loin cloth and run around grunting. We are not pretending to be cavemen. We are simply acknowledging that we evolved in a certain way and to embrace that in order to maximize our overall health and happiness.
The transition may be scary at first, but it is completely possible and easy to do. Once you embrace this lifestyle you will be amazed at where it will take you both physically and mentally. I hope through this blog I can help by sharing what I have learned and by sharing my own experiences