Skimlinks Test

Listen to the latest episode!!

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Barbarian fitness and nutrition!

Another designation I have always had for Paleo Quick Start nutrition and exercise is "barbarian fitness".
I know that this just makes people think somewhat negatively about the concept: I mean, weren't barbarians just stupid, and not really "civilized"?

Well, that's right!

Think of barbarians as living on the "outskirts" of ancient civilizations; primarily Rome.  Germanic tribes were predominant, but there were others; the Celts, the Thracians- many others.

I imagine that they respected the civilized achievements of those Romans, but were highly suspect of the other, what they would have seen as decadent aspects of that same civilization!

I think, as Paleo folk, we are kin to the barbarians:

Living on the outskirts of a civilization that we realize has become... decadent.
Poisoning the environment, lacking in morals, even eating foods that are sadly lacking in the nutrition needed by vital, active humans- barbarians are willing to AVAIL themselves of the benefits of civilization, but are also all too aware of the drawbacks of the lifestyle- the Neolithic grains, the relinquishing of basic human rights to an aristocracy and priestly class- the subservience of civilized stratified life!

So, as "barbarian fitness" practitioners, we should imagine ourselves as living "on the edge" of a corrupt empire, taking advantage where we can from it's bounty, but also cutting ourselves off from the many corrupt shortcomings that have settled into it's workings...

Take the BEST of civilization, and PRESERVE the best of our hunter/gatherer forebears_

This is the role of the BARBARIAN!

To take the best of both worlds.  A kind of hunter/gatherer- civilized person amalgam.

No comments: