A quick update from the strength challenge:
I rand a duathlon with Jeff this weekend. Despite the cycling and running I am still feeling strong. New highs on squat prove that progress is still happening.
As time is running out on this challenge I am excited to see where I am at. I will have to admit that I am starting to feel the results slow. I am no longer blasting through the previous workouts numbers, I am making steady gains. This is probably due to the amount of endurance training I am still doing. Now that the spring season is in full swing. It is time to add a little more volume in.
Anyway, here are the latest results
Squat: 205x8, 215x8, 225x8, 235x6
Seated DB press: (45x8)x4
Pull-up (slow reps): 10x4
Bench Step Up: 45x6 each leg
TRX feet elevated push up and pike: 12,10,10,8
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Friday, March 29, 2013
Strength Challenge Update 3/28. PLUS Friday Fit Tip
Time for another workout update for the strength challenge. With 5 workouts in the books I am still making good progress. It's amazing how little time I am spending and how I am able to continue my triathlon training full speed ahead with no noticeable effects from strength training.
I will have to admit, I have gained two pounds. I believe this is probably due to my appetite. There are days where it seems like I can eat eat and eat more without ever feeling full. I know I said I would keep weight constant. I apologize for my lack of discipline in the kitchen.
Just as an example here is what last week's training looked like for me
SAT: 12x150m sprint 250m jog
SUN:Lift
MON: Spin class 45:00
TUES: 2hr moderate hike
WED:Spin Class 45:00
THUR: Lifting and 10x100yrd swim :30 seconds recovery.
FRI: Easy spinning 45:00
Most meat-heads would tell you there is no way I could gain muscle mass or strength with so much cardio. I seem to be able to defy all odds. It's funny how what is "common knowledge" can be defied when all variables are considered. I know I could gain more and be stronger without, but that is not the purpose. My goals were to get 10-15% stronger.
Here are the stats from my workout:
Deadlift 5x8 @275, 285,285,285,295
Incline Smith press (slow reps) 5x8 @155,155,155,155,145
Cable Row: 5x8 @120
Hanging Leg lift: 5x10
Here is my Friday fit tip:
How did static stretching come to dominate almost every warm up and cool down protocol of fitness? If you take a closer look at research, static stretching does almost nothing for actually warming the core temp, reducing injury, or increasing performance.
If static stretching does one thing well, it's probably making you able to touch your toes. In articles I have read about the matter as long as we have an acceptable range of motion, static stretching does nothing for us athletically. It doesn't "stretch" the muscles. Just inhibits your stretch reflexes making it so they lengthen further.
I know that as many of you read this you are shaking your heads wondering how I can write such a thing when everyone else in the gym, or the run, or in yoga class is doing it. If this is the case how can so many people be wrong? Like with chronic cardio, we are conditioned, taught, and brought to believe that we are getting something more out of it.
So what is a better option? You want to loosen up your tight back, get mobile, and be able to tie your shoes without sitting down. My answer for you is to look into dynamic stretching and mobility drills. I do these with all my clients. The basic principal is that we are moving through the range of motion rather than just standing there.
This accomplishes two things. First we are getting a good warm up in, and second we are actively stretching, such as you would be doing in real life. Research has shown this to be much more effective. Drills like leg swings, hurdle duck unders and many more.
If you would like to learn a little more about how to stretch dynamically get in touch with us!
I will have to admit, I have gained two pounds. I believe this is probably due to my appetite. There are days where it seems like I can eat eat and eat more without ever feeling full. I know I said I would keep weight constant. I apologize for my lack of discipline in the kitchen.
Just as an example here is what last week's training looked like for me
SAT: 12x150m sprint 250m jog
SUN:Lift
MON: Spin class 45:00
TUES: 2hr moderate hike
WED:Spin Class 45:00
THUR: Lifting and 10x100yrd swim :30 seconds recovery.
FRI: Easy spinning 45:00
Most meat-heads would tell you there is no way I could gain muscle mass or strength with so much cardio. I seem to be able to defy all odds. It's funny how what is "common knowledge" can be defied when all variables are considered. I know I could gain more and be stronger without, but that is not the purpose. My goals were to get 10-15% stronger.
Here are the stats from my workout:
Deadlift 5x8 @275, 285,285,285,295
Incline Smith press (slow reps) 5x8 @155,155,155,155,145
Cable Row: 5x8 @120
Hanging Leg lift: 5x10
Here is my Friday fit tip:
How did static stretching come to dominate almost every warm up and cool down protocol of fitness? If you take a closer look at research, static stretching does almost nothing for actually warming the core temp, reducing injury, or increasing performance.
If static stretching does one thing well, it's probably making you able to touch your toes. In articles I have read about the matter as long as we have an acceptable range of motion, static stretching does nothing for us athletically. It doesn't "stretch" the muscles. Just inhibits your stretch reflexes making it so they lengthen further.
I know that as many of you read this you are shaking your heads wondering how I can write such a thing when everyone else in the gym, or the run, or in yoga class is doing it. If this is the case how can so many people be wrong? Like with chronic cardio, we are conditioned, taught, and brought to believe that we are getting something more out of it.
So what is a better option? You want to loosen up your tight back, get mobile, and be able to tie your shoes without sitting down. My answer for you is to look into dynamic stretching and mobility drills. I do these with all my clients. The basic principal is that we are moving through the range of motion rather than just standing there.
This accomplishes two things. First we are getting a good warm up in, and second we are actively stretching, such as you would be doing in real life. Research has shown this to be much more effective. Drills like leg swings, hurdle duck unders and many more.
If you would like to learn a little more about how to stretch dynamically get in touch with us!
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
The Last 12 weeks... well, 18.5 to be exact.
First off, thanks for the mention, Andy. This last weekend was great. I was lucky enough to go to Park Forest, IL with my beautiful wife and compete in a powerlifting meet. It was the first time that I have done powerlifting since 2007. I ended up tying the personal records that I had set the week before on the squat and on the deadlift with a 250kg/550lb squat and a 320kg/705lb deadlift. I was very happy with both of those numbers and it was great that one of them ended up being a state and American record for the AAPF. In the bench I managed to get 140kg/309lbs up, but that was down twenty or more pounds from where I was planning to be; I don't know what happened earlier in the week, but I somehow managed to put a pretty bad strain on my pec minor while I was benching at about 60% for sets of two. The strain caused me to have to bench with a narrower grip which was interesting. It was a little disappointing, but I don't much care about bench, to be honest, so I was still happy to hit 140kg easy with a narrow grip.
I was happy with all of my numbers, but I had to adapt my training more than usual while I was nearing the end. This was because it had slipped my mind, kind of, that I had been training for 16.5 weeks leading up to to the point when I realized this and that I would be needing a pretty big taper if I wanted to compete safely. I was starting to feel pretty run down and my numbers were shaky in all aspects of my lifting, which, for anyone who knows me, is something that doesn't usually happen during a training cycle. Feeling tired is a normal thing, especially with my programming, but I usually recover within a day or less and feel ready to go again. I was staying sore for two, sometimes three or four days and always feeling sluggish so I knew something was up. I decided to start tapering volume and intensity about two weeks out instead of my normal one week taper; it ended up working out well and allowing me to maintain the peak that I hit the week earlier, so I was pleased with that.
The reason that I had been training for that many weeks in a row was actually two-part. The first was that I had just been training to train and to test a new program that I had put together which included set-matching, a post that I wrote about earlier this year. I ended up seeing a lot of progress after six and a half weeks, which was great, but when I found out about my powerlifting meet and a strongman competition, I decided to use to program to train for both... So I took three days off and started my training for the strongman competition. The first five weeks of my program were devoted to training for it and then the last six were for the powerlifting meet. I say devoted, but by that I mean they were just the focus. Since my strongman training portion uses powerlifting and weightlifting, I was technically training for both; then my last two days of the week were strongman practice. After the competition, I took one of my strongman practice days and made it a powerlifting meet practice day. So, like I said it ended up being a long training cycle with a competition at the end. Haha...
I will post the video of my strongman competition as well, I wrote a bit about it back in February. It was a great time and I was able to get second place. I was happy with the progress that I have made in becoming better at the events -especially in the stones, a previous major weakness of mine.
Anyways, the videos will be below and as Andy said, if you have nay questions be sure to let me know!
Well, I apologize, but I cannot upload videos longer than a minute it seems, so here are the links below. Feel free to watch them if you have about 5 minutes!
Powerlifting Meet Strongman Competition
I was happy with all of my numbers, but I had to adapt my training more than usual while I was nearing the end. This was because it had slipped my mind, kind of, that I had been training for 16.5 weeks leading up to to the point when I realized this and that I would be needing a pretty big taper if I wanted to compete safely. I was starting to feel pretty run down and my numbers were shaky in all aspects of my lifting, which, for anyone who knows me, is something that doesn't usually happen during a training cycle. Feeling tired is a normal thing, especially with my programming, but I usually recover within a day or less and feel ready to go again. I was staying sore for two, sometimes three or four days and always feeling sluggish so I knew something was up. I decided to start tapering volume and intensity about two weeks out instead of my normal one week taper; it ended up working out well and allowing me to maintain the peak that I hit the week earlier, so I was pleased with that.
The reason that I had been training for that many weeks in a row was actually two-part. The first was that I had just been training to train and to test a new program that I had put together which included set-matching, a post that I wrote about earlier this year. I ended up seeing a lot of progress after six and a half weeks, which was great, but when I found out about my powerlifting meet and a strongman competition, I decided to use to program to train for both... So I took three days off and started my training for the strongman competition. The first five weeks of my program were devoted to training for it and then the last six were for the powerlifting meet. I say devoted, but by that I mean they were just the focus. Since my strongman training portion uses powerlifting and weightlifting, I was technically training for both; then my last two days of the week were strongman practice. After the competition, I took one of my strongman practice days and made it a powerlifting meet practice day. So, like I said it ended up being a long training cycle with a competition at the end. Haha...
I will post the video of my strongman competition as well, I wrote a bit about it back in February. It was a great time and I was able to get second place. I was happy with the progress that I have made in becoming better at the events -especially in the stones, a previous major weakness of mine.
Anyways, the videos will be below and as Andy said, if you have nay questions be sure to let me know!
Well, I apologize, but I cannot upload videos longer than a minute it seems, so here are the links below. Feel free to watch them if you have about 5 minutes!
Powerlifting Meet Strongman Competition
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Strength challenge update!
Alright folks, I've got some results from the latest workout performed on Sunday. Sorry for the late update!
Before we get started I need to give credit where credit is due. Our very own Chris Roth had an outstanding meet in Chicago and broke a weight class record in dead lift at 320 kilos if I remember correctly. Big ups to Chris, it's a real testament to how hard he works but more importantly how knowledgeable and persistent he is with his training. Please do not hesitate to get in contact with him if you'd like to get your own superhuman strength!
As for my own training, it is coming along quite nicely here is what the numbers looked like:
Squat: 5x8 @215lbs 10lb increase from my last back squat workout.
Standing dumbbell press: 45lbs 5x8 using a slow rep protocol
Underhand chinup: 5x10 using slow reps
Single Leg Squat: Onto bench with 25lb dumbbell at shoulder 5x5 each leg
TRX push up: 5x25,20,20,20,18
My squats have been increasing quite nicely, overall a 10lb increase for 8 reps would be 80lbs a set, times 5 sets = 400lbs increased total weight lifted. I would consider that a good increase in work capacity.
The presses have gotten better too, last time I used 40's.
Workout time went well, it was a 27 min workout.
That's all for this addition, stay tuned for more updates!
Friday, March 22, 2013
Strength Challenge Update....Plus Friday fit tip
This is workout Number 4 of the strength challenge I've reached the halfway point on this journey and have made some big gains. Take a look at the numbers
Deadlift: 5 sets of 8 275,285x3 275 INCREASED 10lbs
DB One arm press: 5x8 65lbs
DB Pullover 5x10 65lbs
DB one arm row 5x8 65lbs
DB swing (same as kettlebell swing) 5x12 65lbs
Total workout time 26:44
As you can see I am increasing weights, actually decreasing my workout time a little, and I added 5 lifts after week one where I was doing 4. Efficiency, and strength not a bad combo. Needless to say, lifting only twice a week, as long as you are following the proper protocol, can be very effective.
And now, it's time for the Friday fit tip.....
The law of diminishing returns is a simple concept we often misinterpret, or completely ignore.
If some is good, more must be better right?
Not so, the law of diminishing returns states that we start to see less results with the more we work. Imagine running for 30 minutes, you will get a great deal of health benefits, add another 30 minutes and you would expect to see twice the benefit according to simple logic? Unfortunately it's not so simple, you probably get 85% benefit at 30 minutes then the next 30 would yield the next 15%. This is a very simplified example, but we can apply it to all aspects of fitness.
I see this all the time in health and fitness and people don't quite understand the basic idea. They slave over the treadmill, they lift set after set, they don't see improvement, they get discouraged, they assume they aren't working hard enough and make the excuse that being fit takes too much time.
Part of my experiment here with strength is that it is simple to get fit, in a 30min gym session you can see great results. I am all about efficiency, if I can get 80-90% results in half the time you know I am going to choose the more efficient option. 10% at twice the cost doesn't appeal to me.
Seeing as time is the number one excuse why people don't work out, I believe people need to take this into consideration. Apply the law of diminishing returns, evaluate how much that extra 10-20% is at twice the cost of time. If it is important to you, then go ahead, but if you just want to be fit, I would err on the side of getting in, getting out, and not having the time excuse ever deter you.
What do you think? Could your gym routine be cut shorter and still yield the same results? Need some help finding out how much to do, practical ideas, or advice, email me and I will help you out!
Andrew
Deadlift: 5 sets of 8 275,285x3 275 INCREASED 10lbs
DB One arm press: 5x8 65lbs
DB Pullover 5x10 65lbs
DB one arm row 5x8 65lbs
DB swing (same as kettlebell swing) 5x12 65lbs
Total workout time 26:44
As you can see I am increasing weights, actually decreasing my workout time a little, and I added 5 lifts after week one where I was doing 4. Efficiency, and strength not a bad combo. Needless to say, lifting only twice a week, as long as you are following the proper protocol, can be very effective.
And now, it's time for the Friday fit tip.....
The law of diminishing returns is a simple concept we often misinterpret, or completely ignore.
If some is good, more must be better right?
Not so, the law of diminishing returns states that we start to see less results with the more we work. Imagine running for 30 minutes, you will get a great deal of health benefits, add another 30 minutes and you would expect to see twice the benefit according to simple logic? Unfortunately it's not so simple, you probably get 85% benefit at 30 minutes then the next 30 would yield the next 15%. This is a very simplified example, but we can apply it to all aspects of fitness.
I see this all the time in health and fitness and people don't quite understand the basic idea. They slave over the treadmill, they lift set after set, they don't see improvement, they get discouraged, they assume they aren't working hard enough and make the excuse that being fit takes too much time.
Part of my experiment here with strength is that it is simple to get fit, in a 30min gym session you can see great results. I am all about efficiency, if I can get 80-90% results in half the time you know I am going to choose the more efficient option. 10% at twice the cost doesn't appeal to me.
Seeing as time is the number one excuse why people don't work out, I believe people need to take this into consideration. Apply the law of diminishing returns, evaluate how much that extra 10-20% is at twice the cost of time. If it is important to you, then go ahead, but if you just want to be fit, I would err on the side of getting in, getting out, and not having the time excuse ever deter you.
What do you think? Could your gym routine be cut shorter and still yield the same results? Need some help finding out how much to do, practical ideas, or advice, email me and I will help you out!
Andrew
Monday, March 18, 2013
Super Workout - Interval Trail Sprints
Super Workout: A workout that kicks your ass in all aspects of your health. It's on par with super foods and Superman.
While I'm in the process of writing my second post on "Improvement," I'll share one of my favorite super workouts (yes, I just made that term up) - Interval Trail Sprints.
Go to a trail, not just any trail, a trail with elevation gain. Sprint 100% intensity down the trail, preferably uphill. The sprint should last 10 to 20 seconds. If this is a trail with short ups and down sprint uphill until you reach the peak. If this is a constant uphill slope (like climbing at mountain) sprint until 10-20 seconds have been reached. Now it's your rest period. Short up and down trail - rest by walking until the trail heads back up gradient. I don't want any of this distance runner stuff where you are able to jog during your rest period. If you can jog during your rest period that means you are not running at 100%. For the constant uphill trail - Rest 2-4 minutes and completely stop during your rest. If you try to walk you will only be walking uphill and actually wasting more energy instead of recovering. I recommend walking in place. In any circumstance rest 2-4 minutes. Repeat the interval 8-12 times. By the time you reach your fifth or sixth interval your sprint speed will start to slow down. This doesn't mean you can jog your intervals. You are still going all out, even if it is only 70% speed. When you get below 70% sprint speed, your workout is over with 8 intervals being the minimum.
Workout short version:
10-20 second 100% intensity uphill trail sprints
Rest 2-4 minutes
Repeat 8-12 times
For example, Mt. Tabor is a few blocks from my house. I run jog to Mt Tabor for a warmup and depending on which trail I take, it will be 1-3 intervals until I make it to the top (a 400 foot elevation gain). During these intervals, I walk in place for my rest period. After I reach the top, the rest of my workout is me walking back down hill on a different trail and sprinting back to the top. By the end of the workout, I have climbed (sprinted) up Mt Tabor 3-6 times.
So why is this a super workout?
- High intensity: burn a lot of calories in a short amount of time
- Muscle Building: every muscle in your body will build muscle. Legs are obvious by sprinting up a hill, but your upper body will also build muscle by your arm movement. In order to obtain 100% intensity, your arms need to be pumping with incredible force and your legs will follow. All of your lateral muscles will be working to help keep balance on the uneven trail surface
- Cardio: 10-20 second intervals at 100% intensity + elevation gain. Enough said
- Stress Reduction: Both being immersed in nature and exercise has been shown to reduce stress. Read my "Fresh Air" post.
- Overall body health: I don't feel like listing out all of the MANY different health benefits of being immersed in nature and exercising so I just grouped it in this category. Again read "Fresh Air."
That's my super workout for the day. Leave a comment about what you think about interval trail sprints (ITS) or results from your ITS workout. I also want to hear from you!! Share some of your super workouts that I can try.
While I'm in the process of writing my second post on "Improvement," I'll share one of my favorite super workouts (yes, I just made that term up) - Interval Trail Sprints.
Go to a trail, not just any trail, a trail with elevation gain. Sprint 100% intensity down the trail, preferably uphill. The sprint should last 10 to 20 seconds. If this is a trail with short ups and down sprint uphill until you reach the peak. If this is a constant uphill slope (like climbing at mountain) sprint until 10-20 seconds have been reached. Now it's your rest period. Short up and down trail - rest by walking until the trail heads back up gradient. I don't want any of this distance runner stuff where you are able to jog during your rest period. If you can jog during your rest period that means you are not running at 100%. For the constant uphill trail - Rest 2-4 minutes and completely stop during your rest. If you try to walk you will only be walking uphill and actually wasting more energy instead of recovering. I recommend walking in place. In any circumstance rest 2-4 minutes. Repeat the interval 8-12 times. By the time you reach your fifth or sixth interval your sprint speed will start to slow down. This doesn't mean you can jog your intervals. You are still going all out, even if it is only 70% speed. When you get below 70% sprint speed, your workout is over with 8 intervals being the minimum.
Workout short version:
10-20 second 100% intensity uphill trail sprints
Rest 2-4 minutes
Repeat 8-12 times
For example, Mt. Tabor is a few blocks from my house. I run jog to Mt Tabor for a warmup and depending on which trail I take, it will be 1-3 intervals until I make it to the top (a 400 foot elevation gain). During these intervals, I walk in place for my rest period. After I reach the top, the rest of my workout is me walking back down hill on a different trail and sprinting back to the top. By the end of the workout, I have climbed (sprinted) up Mt Tabor 3-6 times.
So why is this a super workout?
- High intensity: burn a lot of calories in a short amount of time
- Muscle Building: every muscle in your body will build muscle. Legs are obvious by sprinting up a hill, but your upper body will also build muscle by your arm movement. In order to obtain 100% intensity, your arms need to be pumping with incredible force and your legs will follow. All of your lateral muscles will be working to help keep balance on the uneven trail surface
- Cardio: 10-20 second intervals at 100% intensity + elevation gain. Enough said
- Stress Reduction: Both being immersed in nature and exercise has been shown to reduce stress. Read my "Fresh Air" post.
- Overall body health: I don't feel like listing out all of the MANY different health benefits of being immersed in nature and exercising so I just grouped it in this category. Again read "Fresh Air."
That's my super workout for the day. Leave a comment about what you think about interval trail sprints (ITS) or results from your ITS workout. I also want to hear from you!! Share some of your super workouts that I can try.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Strength Challenge Update 3! The paleo diet: so easy a caveman can do it!
Today was workout number 3 of 8 for my four week strength challenge. Overall, good workout. I did 5 lifts today for 5 sets. This extra work pushed me over my 30 minute time limit, overall it was 33 minutes. If you would like to call the experiment a failure now go ahead.
Exercises, Reps, Weights:
Front squat, 8, 155
Standing overhead press 8, 95x3 85x2
Supported split squat 8, 50,55,55,60,60
Pullup (slow reps) 10,10,9,8,7
Dips (slow reps) 10,10,8,8,6
There you have it. Making some good progress. We will see how I feel here in a few weeks!
Now I would like to add a bit of scrutiny towards a common health fad. From time to time, it is nice to put things into perspective with fitness and nutrition fads. Remember jazzercise? how about the atkins diet, juice cleanse anyone?
Today I am calling out the "paleo" diet. That's right, this is nothing more than another one of the trendy fitness fads encircling the web, gyms, and whatever you call those places that look like garages that people "cross fit" in.
First let me lay down the premise of this diet. Humans, once roamed the savanna long ago, we didn't have agriculture, we didn't have twinkies, we didn't have teeth for very long. This lifestyle is what us modern homo-sapiens evolved into. Therefore, we should eat only what we have evolved to eat. They say that the evolutionary process takes hundreds of thousands of years. That long ago, there were no fields of golden wheat, no sources of grain, fruits, or genetically bred vegetables year around. We ate whatever we could scavenge This is what the paleo diet is based on, eating the same components which our distant ancestors evolved on.
This means no grain, no legumes, no sugar, no milk, no flour, nothing in a package. Vegetables meat, some nuts and seeds, and a little fruit here and there.
Sounds like a killer diet right? People have raved about this diet and particularity those closely encircled in the cross fit cult.
Let me start off by saying that this diet is instantly effective over the standard american solely on the fact that you are bringing awareness to what you put into your mouth. Imagine how much kale you would have to eat to account for the calories in peanut butter and jelly sandwiches you are giving up. Cutting sugar and refined carbs is always a good call that is not my argument here.
Another hole in the paleo doctrine is that they say before agriculture humans didn't eat grains. This is absolutely false. According to discovery magazine fossils of human teeth during the paleolithic period have been identified with residue of grains similar to barley and farrow It may be the case that we hadn't yet learned to grow it ourselves but it is likely we learned to eat the grain when we found it.
The next issue I have with Paleo is looking at what set us apart from the rest our species. Soon after we learned to cultivate our own food, our evolution took a turn. Because we didn't have to digest all the meat and foliage, which takes a great deal of effort on our system, our brains were able to thrive. This is because less energy was being put into our digestive system to survive. Also, look at monkey's they all have big mandible jawbones and protruded eyebrows. This is because they need it to bite through hard foods. The big muscles attach to the protuberances on their head. Because humans learned how to cook and cultivate food we evolved jaws capable of communication, our brains also had more room to flourish.
Last, did it occur to anyone that our ancestors evolved to crave salt, sugar, and fat? The three biggest vices in anyone's diet? We were destined to fail. This is because we know that these foods have the most energy, which used to be priority number one on the savanna Walking all day scavenging burns a lot of energy, and when you don't have an abundance of junk food it would be hard to keep up. The average lifespan of our neanderthal brethren was significantly less. Who is to say this diet will provide lifelong nourishment?
Now I hope I have sparked an insight. Always be weary of the next biggest thing. I ask you all to be keen to the pseudo science, think deeply, and form your own opinion rather than just listening to any schmuck behind a keyboard......wait a second
All in good health,
Andrew
Exercises, Reps, Weights:
Front squat, 8, 155
Standing overhead press 8, 95x3 85x2
Supported split squat 8, 50,55,55,60,60
Pullup (slow reps) 10,10,9,8,7
Dips (slow reps) 10,10,8,8,6
There you have it. Making some good progress. We will see how I feel here in a few weeks!
Now I would like to add a bit of scrutiny towards a common health fad. From time to time, it is nice to put things into perspective with fitness and nutrition fads. Remember jazzercise? how about the atkins diet, juice cleanse anyone?
Today I am calling out the "paleo" diet. That's right, this is nothing more than another one of the trendy fitness fads encircling the web, gyms, and whatever you call those places that look like garages that people "cross fit" in.
First let me lay down the premise of this diet. Humans, once roamed the savanna long ago, we didn't have agriculture, we didn't have twinkies, we didn't have teeth for very long. This lifestyle is what us modern homo-sapiens evolved into. Therefore, we should eat only what we have evolved to eat. They say that the evolutionary process takes hundreds of thousands of years. That long ago, there were no fields of golden wheat, no sources of grain, fruits, or genetically bred vegetables year around. We ate whatever we could scavenge This is what the paleo diet is based on, eating the same components which our distant ancestors evolved on.
This means no grain, no legumes, no sugar, no milk, no flour, nothing in a package. Vegetables meat, some nuts and seeds, and a little fruit here and there.
Sounds like a killer diet right? People have raved about this diet and particularity those closely encircled in the cross fit cult.
Let me start off by saying that this diet is instantly effective over the standard american solely on the fact that you are bringing awareness to what you put into your mouth. Imagine how much kale you would have to eat to account for the calories in peanut butter and jelly sandwiches you are giving up. Cutting sugar and refined carbs is always a good call that is not my argument here.
Another hole in the paleo doctrine is that they say before agriculture humans didn't eat grains. This is absolutely false. According to discovery magazine fossils of human teeth during the paleolithic period have been identified with residue of grains similar to barley and farrow It may be the case that we hadn't yet learned to grow it ourselves but it is likely we learned to eat the grain when we found it.
The next issue I have with Paleo is looking at what set us apart from the rest our species. Soon after we learned to cultivate our own food, our evolution took a turn. Because we didn't have to digest all the meat and foliage, which takes a great deal of effort on our system, our brains were able to thrive. This is because less energy was being put into our digestive system to survive. Also, look at monkey's they all have big mandible jawbones and protruded eyebrows. This is because they need it to bite through hard foods. The big muscles attach to the protuberances on their head. Because humans learned how to cook and cultivate food we evolved jaws capable of communication, our brains also had more room to flourish.
Last, did it occur to anyone that our ancestors evolved to crave salt, sugar, and fat? The three biggest vices in anyone's diet? We were destined to fail. This is because we know that these foods have the most energy, which used to be priority number one on the savanna Walking all day scavenging burns a lot of energy, and when you don't have an abundance of junk food it would be hard to keep up. The average lifespan of our neanderthal brethren was significantly less. Who is to say this diet will provide lifelong nourishment?
Now I hope I have sparked an insight. Always be weary of the next biggest thing. I ask you all to be keen to the pseudo science, think deeply, and form your own opinion rather than just listening to any schmuck behind a keyboard......wait a second
All in good health,
Andrew
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