I recently finished reading the book
The Primal Blueprint, by Marc Sisson and enjoyed it so much I quickly signed up to become an affiliate of his. This book is an easy, enjoyable read that teaches you how to eat, exercise and even live the way we were designed to so that we can all be lean and healthy, instead of following the modern diet and way of life that is fattening us up for the doctors office.
Marc is a former elite endurance athlete who after many injuries and illnesses saw the drawbacks of chronic cardio and a high carb diet. Something Kettlebell Planet readers probably are already aware of. After retiring from professional endurance sports he became a personal trainer in the late 80's. As he learned more about how to help clients lose weight and become healthy through research and practical application, he started to realize that a lot of conventional wisdom is completely wrong.
Today he is a 50 something year old man who sports full on six pack abs and a has amassed a massive wealth of knowledge about how to get into the best shape of your life without sacrifice and pain. That's right, no dieting and no hamster sessions on the treadmill. That being said, this isn't one of those "eat chocolate cake every day and lose weight" scams that people want to believe either.
Instead,
The Primal Blueprint, teaches you how to eat and live the way we are meant to, instead of following the herd of sick, unhappy and obese people today who listen to conventional wisdom because they don't know any better. For example, if a high carb diet and long hard cardio sessions are the key to health and low body fat, then how come people are so fat today? Did you know that before the agricultural revolution humans were stronger, smarter, more athletic and most importantly healthier than after wards, and especially now? Most of today's diseases and health issues are not truly genetic, people didn't suffer from them before agriculture, they are almost completely dependent on lifestyle factors. People are killing themselves with poor diet and improper activity.
The efforts people are making to eat right and exercise diligently are simply not working! The amount of people who suffer from obesity, diabetes, cancer, arthritis and heart disease keep going up, and even the biggest fitness buffs often carry 10 to 20 pounds of excess body fat!
Mark's book teaches that:
- Weight loss is all about insulin, moderate your production by eliminating sugar and grains (yes, even whole grains) and you will lose the excess body fat you desire without dieting - plus you will improve your energy level, reduce inflammation, and eliminate disease risk.
- Eating meat, eggs, and a generally high-fat diet not only is healthy but is the key to effortless weight loss, a healthy immune system, and boundless energy.
- Slowing down your typical cardiovascular workouts, and incorporating brief, intense strength sessions and occasional all out sprints can produce fitness benefits far superior to workouts that are much longer and more grueling - and can eliminate the risk of burnout.
...we should model our diet, exercise, and lifestyle behaviors after our primal ancestors from 10,000 years ago, adapting them strategically to the realities of high-tech modern life. The inexorable technological progress of civilization has led us ever farther astray from the dietary habits and active, stress balanced lifestyles that allowed our ancestors to prevail under the harsh competitive circumstances of evolution. However, we are genetically identical (in virtually all aspects related to human health) to our hunter-gatherer ancestors, owing to the fact that evolution ground to a halt when the major selection pressures of starvation and predator danger (eat or get eaten!) were eliminated. Thus, we can achieve effortless weight loss, vibrant health, and boundless energy by living according to the Primal Blueprint.
The central premise of this book is that your genes don't have to be your destiny, that you can "reprogram" them with healthy behaviors and thereby make even strong genetic predispositions to disease, excess body fat, and other adverse health conditions irrelevant.
The 10 Primal Blueprint Laws are:
1. Eat lots of plants and animals
2. Avoid poisonous things
3. Move frequently at a slow pace
4. Lift heavy things
5. Sprint once in a while
6. Get adequate sleep
7. Play
8. Get adequate sunlight
9. Avoid stupid mistakes
10. Use your brain
Like I said, I loved this book and feel that everyone should read it so that they can learn how to take care of themselves because nobody else will.
Ab Fall Outs
swings and 
, although playing with them like in the image above could get you knocked out! I think that the concept of playing for fitness is really lacking in most people's training, especially endurance athletes. Why do all that road work when you can just play soccer for example? The health benefits would be better. I fall into that trap too though, for example my strength training is very structured because I compete in powerlifting and strongman, so kettlebell training for me has to be fun and carefree or I won't do it regularly.
make you big and strong so if you aren't doing them, I have to ask why? Here is the workout I did:
video on how to deadlift before, but it bears repeating after watching some of the novice lifters (by our standards) in our crew pull today. Check it out to learn how to properly execute this old school lift. 
Clean and Press
I found in a park 3 times
)
Halo 3 x 5-8, paired with Kettlebell 1 Hand Swing 3 x 15/hand
, 
, big ropes, logs, heavy weights, sleds, 
and rocks. One training tool I have seen in videos and heard the odd comment about is a mace. 
Log Clean and Press
tells us, I don't believe that direct 
is bad for you, and I have a hard time believing you need sun screen unless you are going to spend prolonged time in some serious sunlight.
circuit you can try out. 
.
Figure 8 to Hold
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