Golf is the perfect Paleo Sport!

Paleo Golf strikes quite the nerve!  They almost seem the the Ying and Yang- Paleo OR Golf!!


Nothing could be further from the truth!

I think the problem is that people who are drawn to Paleo eating/living are drawn from strength and fitness orientation.  Your typical Paleo "peep" has been a weightlifter for years, has experimented endlessly with diet, and finally found Nirvana in the Paleo Diet and lifestyle!


The lifestyle part seems rooted too much in...  weightlifting!  Not that there is anything wrong, per se, in weightlifting.  It's just that lifting weights, in and of itself, is NOT necessary for total health!


Wow!  Did I just commit Paleo heresy?  Maybe, but if I hear any more about the importance of "Olympic  Lifting" and "Powerlifting" rituals, I will laugh out loud!

Not that I am down on strength training- far from it!  


Training for strength is the "Holy Grail" of fitness, in my humble opinion.

But formal weight lifting, is in reality, just like marathon running, and synchronized swimming, a....

SPORT!!

Weight lifting is not the ideal- strength training is the ideal- this can be accomplished rather easily with "Visualized Resistance" training, where you self resist by imagining you are working against a heavy weight.  

No trauma- no injury- no nerve (via a heavy bar on your neck!) injury, just strength and body composition stimulus-- what a concept!

Running marathons is sport/recreation.  

Lifting weights is sport/recreation...

Eating "Paleo" and exercising with Visualized Resistance and body-weight exercise is PHYSICAL CULTURE in it's original meaning:  HEALTH!

It is so easy to get diverted down various "Rabbit Holes" of fitness and health- I mean, if you run longer and more, aren't you healthier??  And if you lift more weight and even MORE, aren't you healthier yet??

Well, no.  You just want to do enough to stimulate improvement: in body composition, overall strength and fitness, and HEALTH.  After that, you'd be better off working on your nutrition (which is WAY more important than exercise anyway!), and your GOLF GAME, which is kind of like "Western Meditation" in my book.

Most Paleo adherents work out too frequently, too hard, and TOO LONG!

It seems that ALL, virtually ALL exercise strategies fall into this camp:

Too much, too hard, and too long!  ( and without the idea of PLAYING/FUN!)

My advice?  

Work out intensely, and Virtually ( don't use weights- imagine the resistance, or use manual resistance (one arm resisting another on a curl, say).... and use body- weight exercise, aka sit-ups and push-ups and hindu squats...and isometrics!  

Do it briefly, and intensely, and frequently (this is key: with weights it needs to be infrequently- using natural methods of resistance if can (and should!) be almost daily!

AND THEN GO HIKE THROUGH THE WOODS, DANCE AROUND WITH YOUR KIDS, PLAY GUITAR AND SING WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS, OR PLAY A GAME OF GOLF!

Really, all of the above are excellent Paleo Health Strategies!

If you think about it, health and life are really simple:

Eat really well!  (Eliminate grains, industrial seed oils, and sugar- Eat grass fed beef, seafood, good fats, and fermented foods as well! )

Live really well! (Exercise hard, briefly, intensely, and without causing harm- "no chronic cardio or chronic weight training for sport") 

Get lots of SLEEP! (enough said- 8 hours minimum in total blackness!)

Lots of slow, social, movement oriented "sport" movement that mimics tribal interactions that our ancestors dealt with and enjoyed for millennia, aka GOLF!

The more I think about it... 

GOLF IS THE PERFECT PALEO SPORT!

J