Hi,
I just thought I would share a great exercise routine that was recently posted on Mark's Daily Apple blog (if you haven't visited the website yet, I highly recommend to do so). It is an e-book he's giving away for free, you just need to subscribe and then you'll get the password for the e-book download.
I like his fitness program so much, because it makes total sense. He tries to imitate the way our primal ancestors moved as much as it is in our modern world possible and he does so in a very efficient and fun way. If you're browsing the Holistic HEALTH Board, you should know that keeping our bodies in shape and staying fit is crucial to attaining good HEALTH.
Please take your time and skim through the book, I promise it will change the way you view the concept of exercising. Here is the link to the subscription:
[Removed]
Your friend
Rob
Sure, I'll use the text Mark posted with the releasing of the program:
What is Primal Blueprint Fitness?
* Primal Blueprint Fitness (PBF) is a strategy that will help you build or maintain lean muscle mass, reduce your body fat, increase your energy, improve your strength, agility and power-to-weight ratio, reduce your risk of getting injured, improve insulin sensitivity, boost immune function and increase organ reserve.
* Primal Blueprint Fitness is a 92-page eBook with a weekly workout schedule, logbook for tracking results and detailed instructions on how to develop functional, diverse athletic ability and lean, proportioned physique.
* Primal Blueprint Fitness is borne out of The Primal Blueprint, the concepts illustrated in the Primal Blueprint Fitness Pyramid and the movement patterns of our ancient forebears.
* Primal Blueprint Fitness is all about identifying hacks and shortcuts that produce maximum results with minimal time-commitment, pain, suffering and sacrifice.
* Primal Blueprint Fitness is infinitely scalable. No matter your fitness level, age or experience, PBF is for all skill levels.
* Primal Blueprint fitness is a sustainable. Itas not a 30 or 90-day crash course. Instead, Primal Blueprint Fitness is for life.
* Primal Blueprint Fitness is a central part of the Markas Daily Apple community, with reader-submitted Workouts of the Week (WOWs) and user feedback playing an integral role in the program.
Everyone here should subscribe. The blog is a great source of recipes, work habits, physical activity, sleep and all kinds of healthy lifestyle ideas. I've used many recipes and posted them in the many recipe threads and as a general resource in the Food and Recipe Index.
You don't have to agree with everything or find everything feasible. I don't. And you can always unsubscribe if you don't like it.
Also, physical activity is the best thing you can do for your blood sugar and many other health factors which affect acne. This does not mean prolonged intense workouts like running 5 miles or more or hour long workouts which are actually bad for you causing oxidative stress and inflammation. And mostly wasted effort.
You also need to be active, as in not sedentary, everyday. Working out 3 days a week is not enough. Especially if you, like most, spend the rest of your days avoiding walking anywhere, climbing any stairs or avoiding any physical labor.
Another method to borrow from for those that want to stick with 'conventional' workouts is Body for Life. In this you work out 6 days a week, but workouts are fairly brief. On alternate days, you weight train or do cardio, but always starting out very easy and finishing with brief intense physical exertion. With weights you do fewer reps in the first set. This is your warmup. Do 3-4 sets in which the last set should require intense effort to fatigue the muscle. One day you do 3 exercises for the upper body. The next time you do lower body. And I don't remember about the 3rd day. With the cardio, you start out slow and finish with a sprint or some equivalent.
Also, Mark's Daily Apple exercise recommendations have many variations all with the idea that you do the best you can to mimic the kind of activity most animals and early humans engage in. This means roaming about foraging for food, traveling from place to place and doing chores much of the day, everyday. With occasional brief extreme exertion as in escaping danger or charging after prey. He offers a workout pyramid involving a rare sprint or some equivalent like just once per week. Low intensity activity every day as in walking, chores, etc., (which is what I believe and do) and do some moderate resistance training 3 days a week.
Bits of info scattered throughout my Good Things tread, which I recently began compiling into a section on exercise at http://www.acne.org/messageboard/index.php...t&p=2661867 :
-Regular low to moderate physical activity, like the type Mark recommends, is anti-inflammatory. Links to studies in the inflammation section of the Good Things thread:
http://www.acne.org/messageboard/index.php...t&p=2574309
Exercise section of Good Things, but it's mostly a summary of info from MDA and a link to here:
http://www.acne.org/messageboard/index.php...t&p=2661867
-Short bursts of very intensive activity is good for blood sugar: interval training such as sprinting, stairs, or hills. Or weight/resistance training. Any short bursts of intense exercise will help blood sugar, so take the stairs!!
-Short bursts of very intensive activity also stimulates the release of HGH. Anti-Aging.
-Cells in muscles pull glucose out of the blood stream. Good for stable blood sugar.
-Regular, daily, low to moderate physical activity helps with fat metabolism.
And of course, exercise is good for stress and adrenal health (the low to moderate activity combined with brief exertion only. Chronic cardio or hours long weightlifting elevates cortisol) the lymph system and circulation therefore the immune system, sleep, etc.
Here are some links to some good Mark's Daily Apple articles:
This one is anti-chronic cardio in which he illustrates how these long boring workouts most people do a few times a week are, as I've always felt, mostly wasted time and effort.
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/chronic-cardio-2/ (just like crunches and sit ups are mostly wasted effort, especially for women who should do leg lifts instead).
Case against cardio:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/case-against-cardio/ in which the below recap appears:
The benefits of low level aerobic work (walking, hiking, cycling, swimming):- increases capillary network (blood vessels that supply the muscle cells with fuel and oxygen)
- increases muscle mitochondria
- increases production of fat-burning and fat-transporting enzymes
- more fun, because you can talk with a partner while doing it
The benefits of interval training (sprinting in short intense bursts)
- increases muscle fiber strength
- increases aerobic capacity (work ability)
- increases muscle mitochondria (the main energy production center in muscle)
- increases insulin sensitivity
- increases natural growth hormone production
The costs of chronic (repetitious) mid- and high-level aerobic work
- requires large amounts of dietary carbohydrates (SUGAR)
- decreases efficient fat metabolism
- increases stress hormone cortisol
- increases systemic inflammation
- increases oxidative damage (free radical production)
- boring!
I definitely agree with the interval training. Long sessions of steady state cardio has always made me feel terrible afterwards, very drained. Interval cardio (HIIT) makes me feel great for the rest of the day and much of the next day.
Yeah, sprinting is fun and exhilarating. Jogging is boring and gives me a headache.
Also, I have this stair climbing thing which I try to get on several times a day when I'm working from home, simulating climbing several flights of stairs throughout the day. And when I'm starting out slow I often feel fatigued and sluggish and start thinking maybe I'll just climb 100 steps rather than 200 this time, but then once I start to 'sprint' for about 60 steps/30 seconds, I find I easily do the 200 or more before I know it.
Link directly to MDA's archived Workouts of the Week aka WOWs. New ones added frequently.
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blue...e-week-archive/
Note that some of them are posted by blog participants and may be too advanced for some. Others, nearly anyone should be able to do.
Great example: Do a 50 yard/meter sprint, crawl half way back (good for shoulders and more) then stand up and do walking lunges the rest of the way, repeat the sequence.
Also, if you download the primal fitness e-book, he has variations for any ability level of each of key exercises: pull ups, push ups, etc that everyone should be able to do. Not that they need to be part of your regular workout because of the boredom (not to mention the isolation of muscles), just things you should be able to do. Do them once a month or so as a test of your progress.
Since drobEk and Alternativista introduced me to MDA I've become a HUGE fan of Mark's work. I've since bought his book to get a more thorough understanding (even tho u can pretty much get the basic info for free on his site) and have been following the Primal diet and exercise ever since. All I can say is...WOW!!
My background prior to switching over: Fitness/diet enthusiast for 8+ years, alternative/holistic advocate, nature/animal lover.
I always seek the best when it comes to health, and I thought I had a very solid understanding until I went Primal. Now my workouts are MUCH less, yet I've gained more core strength and look like an MMA athlete with half the effort from before. Diet is top notch ever since I dumped grains and now totally pig out on sweet potatoes without shame Now I actually have FUN when I exercise, whether they be a 30 minute weight HIIT or a 20 minute cardio HIIT. I'm back baby now better than EVER!!! Super thanks for making me a Grok, ROCK ON!
Just wanted to add info about 'Fiber Menace.' I'm surprised that no one on this board had ever brought it up, considering how closely related it is to many of the highly favored diets here. If you go to the website you can read pretty much all the necessary info for free
Link to Wikipedia entry on High Intensity Interval training HIIT, including links to studies demonstrating how much more effective this method is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensit...terval_training
The best type of exercise is that which you can enjoy. Find a sport you love, practice it regularly. I don't think you should be restricted to certain types of exercise.
That is true. But it is not contradictory to the topic of discussion here. MDA specifically says that. His weekly high intensity activity are things he enjoys such as ultimate frisbee, an activity that involves a lot of moderate physical activity with many moments of extreme exertions. Many sports would qualify as would all kinds of hobbies, chores and daily activities. 'Workouts' are not even required if your activities mimic the kind of physical exertion we, and all other mammal, are meant to make.
Mark Sisson's book and blog provides all kinds of workouts because so many people seem to need that. They want to be told what to do. Which is why I named some other workout programs that people may want to look at, provided they stick to the basic principles.
The primal fitness ebook also names some abilities that people should be capable of doing such as pullups, and variations for different abilities to help you work towards being capable of doing pullups. Not because they should be your regular workout, but because you should be capable of doing them.
I thought I'd post this, since in other threads, people are always concerned about what to eat post and pre workout and are struggling about eating carbs when they for whatever reason don't want to:
The costs of chronic (repetitious) mid- and high-level aerobic work- requires large amounts of dietary carbohydrates (SUGAR)
- decreases efficient fat metabolism
- increases stress hormone cortisol
- increases systemic inflammation
- increases oxidative damage (free radical production)
- boring!
You know, my 71-year-old mother follows this method without even knowing it. She's always enjoyed walking and walked a lot, but in the past few years, she started making her daily+ walks weave around the blocks surrounding her home so that she is always walking up and down moderate hills. Then a couple times per week, she walks up a really big, steep hill, then wanders around the very hilly neighborhood at the top as she works her way back down. She keeps up a fairly quick pace the whole time. I've done it with her when visiting and it is a good workout. And she does this at least daily unless there's precipitation, even though she lives in the far north of Wisconsin, a very cold place in winter. Even though it's very cold there, the extreme weather usually passes to the south, so she doesn't get a lot of days off. So to sum up: 71, extreme winters, no excuses.
Oh, and the stairs in her old house (which she remodeled herself) are very steep. Climbing each step is pretty much like rising from a deep one-legged squat. And she does it many, many times per day. People should never decide they are too old to climb stairs, which is what my grandmother did. If you are capable, do it. Stairs and hills are your friends. Don't avoid them.
That reminds me of the author of the book 'Diabesity.' She was the first head of the diabetes foundation or whatever when it was created and was at the forefront when what used to be considered an old person's disease started showing up in young adults and even children. As a doctor and teacher, she always took the stairs when making her rounds. A lot of students complained about this, so she told them they could feel free to use the elevator. And she noted the difference in health over the years among those that followed her to the stairs and those that took the elevator. She never mentioned working out. She didn't need to. Her work wandering around visiting patients interspersed with a lot of stair climbing mimics the kind of activity we are meant to do.
I've done this too without realizing it. The leanest and fittest I've ever been was when I was an undergrad at a University in an historic 10-story building with slow elevators. So, right off the bat, I decided to never waste time waiting for an elevator to go up one floor or down two. But since, that usually wasn't the number of floors I needed to traverse, I gradually began climbing or descending more and more flights of stairs until I never took the elevator. Most of my classes were on the 4, 6 and 9th floors with the cafeteria on the 3rd and professor's offices on the 10th, btw. And depending on where I parked, there was a long uphill hike to the building. And I was usually running late, so did it at a rapid pace.
I never 'worked out' during this period other than walking, yet as I said, I was in the best shape I've ever been in. The only time my thighs, my problem area, have ever looked good since I was a teenager. (Mark Sisson cited studies on women that found that this type of exercise is particularly effective on these problem areas in women.) And I didn't do this daily either. I tried to set up my schedule to have all classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and some semesters, managed to have everything Tuesday and Thursday. So, I had this 'workout' 2-3 times per week only. I was basically replicating the Primal Fitness method without knowing it. And it worked.
I've been trying to replicate this with my activities now, but I work from home where there are no stairs and the only hills in my town are the banks of the bayous and I refuse to get in the car to drive somewhere to 'workout' on a regular basis. I do it sometimes. There's a park nearby that's in a bowl formed by the bayou bank and the roads built up around it with one really big steep side. I wander around the paths which go up and down smaller hills, occasionally charge up the bank and 2-3 times I go up the big, steep side. It's actually a fitness park with pull up bars and inclined planes for crunches and whatnot. It's pretty interesting, really. Some of the equipment is for some non-traditional exercises.
Also, some weekends are spent at my sister's beach house where there is a huge bridge that goes over the intra-coastal waterway. A bridge and channel big enough to let container ships and tankers pass through. We get up early, walk to it a few blocks away, then over it, around a bit on the other side, then walk back over it. Then go beach combing.
Here is another example of what interval training can do and another way to implement it. Obviously, her body is insane and from what I can gather, she never trains for more than 20 or so minutes. She has dozens and dozens of videos and her own website that details each workout, most of which require no or minimal equipment.
Since drobEk and Alternativista introduced me to MDA I've become a HUGE fan of Mark's work. I've since bought his book to get a more thorough understanding (even tho u can pretty much get the basic info for free on his site) and have been following the Primal diet and exercise ever since. All I can say is...WOW!!
My background prior to switching over: Fitness/diet enthusiast for 8+ years, alternative/holistic advocate, nature/animal lover.
I always seek the best when it comes to health, and I thought I had a very solid understanding until I went Primal. Now my workouts are MUCH less, yet I've gained more core strength and look like an MMA athlete with half the effort from before. Diet is top notch ever since I dumped grains and now totally pig out on sweet potatoes without shame Now I actually have FUN when I exercise, whether they be a 30 minute weight HIIT or a 20 minute cardio HIIT. I'm back baby now better than EVER!!! Super thanks for making me a Grok, ROCK ON!
Wow, I'm so glad to hear that! I have a similar story, been running cross country and track for some years, yet it has never brought me as much joy as the Primal lifestyle. I am very thankful to Mark & MDA community for doing such a great job..I advise everybody to visit the website and check out all the good info out there.
Grok On!
Here is another example of what interval training can do and another way to implement it. Obviously, her body is insane and from what I can gather, she never trains for more than 20 or so minutes. She has dozens and dozens of videos and her own website that details each workout, most of which require no or minimal equipment.
Oh yea, she is amazing and so is her website..well, to some extent. And, she is from my country I could tell that by her accent after like 5 seconds
Here is another example of what interval training can do and another way to implement it. Obviously, her body is insane and from what I can gather, she never trains for more than 20 or so minutes. She has dozens and dozens of videos and her own website that details each workout, most of which require no or minimal equipment.
That is a scary advanced workout. I'm confused though. She referred to that workout as interval training, but it looked to me like she worked pretty intensely for 12 minutes straight, unless breaks were not shown. Maybe she took her time with whatever she was doing on that notepad as her breaks?.
And she spent all that time talking about how just a few one legged squats throughout the day made a big difference to her butt. Did you see the squats she was doing? anyone who can do that probably has little room for improvement to their butts!