How to Exercise for a Lifetime podcast on PaleoJay's Smoothie Cafe

DVR's

You need to exercise.  This much is obvious, although many of us hate to do so, seeing it as somehow a waste of time, when we are all so busy.  I mean, you need to do this thing for work, and you have to shovel your walk, and mow, and help your kids with homework, and volunteer at church and school and help your neighbors-

Welcome to modern life!  Now, faced with such a situation, most of us, unfortunately, decide to…

Not Exercise!  

Despite the legions of benefits exercise provides, approaching and sometimes even surpassing those benefits of diet and lifestyle- we balk.  We try for awhile, we do this and then stop, we join a gym or classes and then- stop.  Finally, many (most) go back to the old ‘well, if I just lead an active lifestyle, and take a walk on a regular basis, I’ll be fine!’  

You won’t be.  You need regular, intense exercise, on a regular basis, or you will decay, mentally and especially physically.  It’s not even open for debate: you will.  You’ll be alright for awhile, but you will decline, unawares, until sarcopenia reaches the point where you have almost no muscle tissue left.  That’s where we start looking at assisted living, and nursing home arrangements.  Diabetes is on the horizon, and also dementia if you ignore your paleo diet, along with early death and limb amputation, among other complications. 

 If you don’t exercise, you can be looking at such things in your early 60’s…

Here is how to exercise, and never stop- ever.  

Exercise at home! 

Even Arnold, the ultimate gym rat, doesn’t exercise nearly enough now.  He eats pastries a lot, and travels too much to get to the gym- also, his joints and back are worn out from the heavy weights.  In my opinion, he blew it.  Exercise at home- then it is built into your life!

Exercise every day- at the same time!

If you do something at the same time, roughly, every day- why then it is built into your routine.  You will do it, you don’t even think about it or question it.  For me, I do it first thing, every morning.  It’s just what I do, just as I brush my teeth before bed.  It’s what I do!

Exercise in front of the TV!  

I don’t know what it is, but Puritanical types think this is not good.  By restricting my TV time largely to exercise time, I am not wasting time in any way shape or form!  In fact, I don’t allow myself to watch ‘entertainment’ types of shows (Netflix, or movies in any way) if I am not exercising.  You would be astounded at how this makes you want to exercise!!  ‘Oh- it’s morning- now I can go downstairs and watch that wonderful show again!!’

Exercise using DVR’s (which is Dynamic Virtual Resistance), Isometrics, and Calisthenics!  

That really is all you need.  Aside from stretching, that should be built into your morning routine as well.  DVR’s are the least known, yet the most beneficial of all, since by flexing your muscles throughout their full range of motion you are simultaneously strengthening and enhancing every muscle group in your body.  You can see them demonstrated at www.paleojay.com, or in my ebook Perfectly Paleo Exercise.  Even if you do nothing else, these exercises will revitalize your body from head to toe.

Isometrics

Using a heavy duty nylon strap, you can do squats, deadlifts, presses and curls for your whole body!  Hold the strap beneath your feet, and press, curl, and deadlift at multiple holding places in each movement.  For instance: in the curl, stop at the bottom of the arc, and push your maximum, holding for about 6 seconds.  Pause, and repeat.  Then, move up to half-way up the arc of motion, and repeat 2 or three times.  Then, all the way near the top of the curl.  Repeat.

To do this same routine upon your whole body, from presses, to curls, to squats, to deadlifts, to lateral raises to upright rows, and then bent rows- why it only takes about 10 minutes, tops.  And it will increase your strength more than anything else you could do, including hours in the gym lifting weights.  Really!  And you can do it all in front of the TV in your living room.

Calisthenics

‘Drop and give me 20!’  What a turn-off to exercise such an admonition is.  No, I just want you to do as many pushups as you can.  And the best way to do so, safely and effectively?  Negatives.

Hold yourself in the pushup position, and slowly lower yourself to the floor.  Get up again, using your legs, and again lower yourself, as slowly as you can, incrementally to the floor.  Repeat until you are exhausted, or your start dropping too fast to resist much.  This should only take about one minute or less- negative pushups are quickly exhausting, and there is no danger of injury. (unlike the awful bench press).  

ALL of the benefits, with none of the downside!  

The other thing I’d like you to do, after this is the straight-legged situp.   Don’t bend your knees, don’t anchor your feet- just do the situps with straight legs, and go down as low as you can with your forehead towards your knees.  Go for reps, and know you are benefiting your spine along with your abs.

Finish up with some easy floor stretches.  I always have a yoga mat that I exercise on, to spare the carpet and cushion my old bones.  Improvise, stretching your back from side to side, crossing your bent kneed leg across yourself to left and then right as you lay on your back.  Stretch our as far as you can lying prone, first left arm and right leg, and then vice versa.  If you can manage a ‘back bend’, where you lift yourself onto the crown of your head from a back lying position, and then holding it- 

Why then, not only have you mastered the finish of the usual PaleoJay workout, but you will have totally manipulated your spine in such a way that is superior to that which you would receive in a chiropractor’s office.  Congratulations!

OK, that is your daily workout!  It really won’t take much time at all, (30 minutes or less) and if you are like me you will find ways to make it longer.  For not only does it feel really good, but you want to watch your show on TV for just a little bit more.  You will learn to associate the good physical feeling of exertion with the satisfaction of really good entertainment.

Next time, I will tell you some ways to extend your exercise habit, in ways that are not only painless, but wonderful in their own way.  

For now- just exercise every day, at the same time!  It’s easy, habit forming, and will literally save you.

pjsc 128 No Gym Needed!

One of the biggest deterrents to someone actually doing the exercise that their body is crying out for is this: they think they need to join a gym (expensive and intimidating to the uninitiated), and then of course they have to find the time to get there.  Driving over, getting into your special workout clothes, waiting in lines to use fancy machines or heavy weights on supports and on benches covered with the previous users sweat…

and music you may hate is often blaring at you, and lines of folks peddle away on bicycle trainers, going nowhere, watching TV…

Doesn’t sound too appealing, does it?  And so, unsurprisingly, most people simply give it all up, and say “I just walk!” when the subject of exercise comes up.  While walking is fine, most people just walk really fast for exercise (this is silly and unproductive- walking is not meant to be rushed!), and then drive the rest of the time when they are not on their 1/2 hour really fast, dorky looking walk through the mall or the neighborhood.

So, I will agree: rule #1 of Perfectly Paleo Exercise: walk, but walk barefoot, outside in the grass when you can.  Pumping small weights ala Heavyhands is ideal, and a great total body workout can be had, pleasantly if not easily, in 10-15 minutes!  And otherwise- just walk into town if you can, or at least just park at the very back of the parking lot when you shop.  It never adds more than a few minutes at most to your trip, and makes parking easy and safe for your vehicle, and adds health to your life.

Rule #2: Exercise at home!  That’s right, in your living room, your den, your basement- wherever.  I have my gymnastic rings hanging in the basement, and it is so fast and convenient and productive to just go down there and do some pushups, pull ups, flies, and one-legged squats and rows.  Never takes longer than about 30 minutes to totally stimulate the entire musculature, safely and very productively.  No spine compression like with a barbell on your back, or shoulder destruction from bench pressing a heavy barbell- and flexibility is also enhanced. 

Rule #3: Work out, hopefully daily, and do it first thing in the morning.  Come up with a sequence that works well for you- I vary mine slightly from day to day, but each day usually has a focus- for instance, tomorrow is pushup day.  I’ll get up nice and early, to have the living room (and the television) to myself, and then I’ll walk in, coffee in hand, and start my Netflix show as I begin slowly flexing and working out.  Virtual resistance is always how I begin, slow, intentional flexing of each muscle group in the body throughout the entire range of motion, for 7-10 reps each.

Rule #4: Stretch! After my whole body has been worked via virtual resistance, I get down on my floor mat and go through a series of stretches.  I also work my ankles, my hands, massage my bare feet, ( I always exercise barefoot when I can), and finish with a long hold of a back bridge, adjusting my spine while I get the blood into my head- it feels great!

Rule #5: Do pushups.  You don’t need to do them every day, I like to concentrate them into 2 times per week, Sundays on the rings, and Thursdays on the Perfect pushup rotating pushup handles.  I do them with my legs elevated, and I do sets with regular width grip, wide grip, and then narrow grip.  30, 25, and 20 lately.  Then I repeat, for at least four sets; sometimes up to 10! 

If I do the 4 sets, that’s a total of 260 reps.  I pause briefly between sets, and sometimes to isometrics and self resisted exercises as I do so.  This is much more beneficial than any sort of heavy weight training, or long distance running, since it develops the entire body in a very beneficial way, giving your body a symmetry of proportion, not bulky, blocky muscles and a protruding stomach.

Rule #6: Get a rebounder!  I don’t want you to spend a lot on anything, after all, I haven’t asked you to join a gym, get special shoes or clothes, or anything much.  Ideally, you will have a one time purchase and installation of gymnastic rings, buy the heavy duty Perfect Pushup handles (the standard ones wear out quickly), and a mat for the floor. (I got a rubber yoga mat at Target). But, do get a rebounder, which is a mini-trampoline!  Nothing comes close to stimulating your lymph system, which processes your waste products from the body, and it naturally enhances the virtual resistance exercises as you gently bounce on it.  You actually have to experience rebounding to realize how healthy it is (I always finish up with the “Ab bounce”), and all you need is a cheap rebounder.  Mine, like my mat, was from Target- $30.00.  I’ve had it, and used it daily, for years!

Rule #7: Do sit ups!  I’m really coming to believe my grade school gym teachers had it right- back in the 1950’s and early 60’s, they had us doing multiple sets of pushups and sit ups, along with jumping jacks and burpees, chin ups and rope climbing!  What could be more paleo than that?

Somewhere along the line, body builders started doing “crunches”, which were said to totally isolate the abs.  BS!  I think they caught on because they are really easy!  Do sit ups!  Put your hands behind your head, do not anchor your feet under anything, and sit up all the way, getting your head down as low in front as you can.  After awhile, you will be touching your nose to your knees, or close to it. 

This is not just for the abs in isolate, like the crunch- this, like the pushup, is a total body exercise, and is particularly beneficial to the back and the spine. 

Tuesdays are sit up day, along with hindu squats (high rep squats to the floor, swinging the arms as you go), slow regular pushups with hands flat on the floor, and several other exercises I have adopted over the years.  All are detailed in my eBook Perfectly Paleo Exercise, and in PaleoJay’s Smoothie Cafe paperback.

Rule #8: EXERCISE!  It’s not optional, just like eating, our Ancestral bodies really require regular exercise, natural exercise that satisfies our flexibility, strength, and aerobic needs.  Good sleep, good natural foods made by God, not man, (this means no gluten!), and exercise are all necessary for health and well-being.   Get started tomorrow- just go in the living room and do some pushups and sit ups.  I don’t care if you can only do one of each!  Do one, rest, do another, and so on.  If that’s all you can do, then that is as good for you as hundreds are to someone else.  Do a little stretching, eat well that day in a Paleo sort of way, go to bed early, and do it again tomorrow- I guarantee it will be easier the very next day. 

Rule #9 & 10:  REPEAT

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pqtd 119 THE Essential Exercise

"Many People wonder how a single exercise without movement could produce results comparable or even superior to an exercise with movement.....Only one or two seconds are required to take a curl from thigh level to chin height. The hardest part of the curl is not the start or finish, but instead the middle of the curl,where leverage causes the greatest effort. Yet the muscles are in that position for only a fraction of a second. With isometric contraction, the muscles would be exerting full force in this position for up to 12 seconds, so theoretically, one effort here could build as much strength as more than a dozen repetitions performed in the conventional fashion."

"Bruce Lee. The Art Of Expressing the Human body."

This quote should bring us all pause.  The immortal Bruce Lee, saying that one repetition performed isometrically can do as much as 12 reps of conventional strength training!  And do you know what- he’s right! 

In my opinion, the core of every single exercise regimen should be doing isometrics- tense the entire body, gradually, from calfs to neck- hold this tension for 6–8 seconds, and then relax.  Repeat, 5-6 times seems ideal.  Breathe freely while you hold your “most muscular” pose, but really tense those muscles!

This will take about 1 minute, 2 at the most!  Repeat a few times during the day, and you are doing more good for your musculature than hours of lifting weights.  Really!  Isometrics done in such a manner have been documented to be wonderfully effective in lowering blood pressure, for one vital reason to do them. 

But, it also builds strength, and not just in the muscles, but in the tendons and ligaments.  It all depends on the amount of tension your give the exercise, but if you flex hard, your body will be stimulated to develop your musculature to a great degree- especially in the form of extreme definition.  Your muscles will seem to stand out markedly beneath the skin, making them very visible.

The next step?  Do isometrics. but do them while you are moving.  How?  Let’s say you are doing a curl.  Do it slowly, flexing hard as you curl, supplying the resistance from within.  This is moving isometrics.  Continue for, oh, seven reps.  Remember, this is all without any weights.

This will tax your biceps far more than a barbell or dumbbells would!  Why? Because there is no momentum, no leverage variance in the amount of effort.  As Bruce Lee alluded to above, in this case you are working to your utmost ability throughout every part of every repetition you do! 

The result?  Maximum results, in the minimum of time.

Now, just repeat this cycle of moving isometrics, or Perfectly Paleo Exercise on a daily basis.  Add in barefoot sprinting and/or walking, a paleo type of diet, ample sleep and good sun exposure, stretching, and ideally some heavy hand walking as well.  You will be so healthy and fit!

To really immerse yourself in the ideas, and to figure out just how exactly to implement this type of exercise into your life, go to www.paleojay.com and read, read, and read. 

Or, just get PaleoJay’s Smoothie Cafe in paperback on Amazon, or the ebook Perfectly Paleo Exercise on iTunes, or anywhere else, and be easily guided into transforming your health and exercise!  Easy Peasy!

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Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #83 Grill your way to health and fitness!

I know, my paleolithic friend: that sounds a little “simplistic” to you... but, I really think that this could be the foundation of your mastery of the paleo diet and lifestyle, and so your entry into long-term, lasting health and fitness!

I was mowing today, and looking back from my tractor seat, I saw that the mowing looked, well...spotty!  I stopped the tractor, lifted up the hydraulics on the 3 point hitch, but I kept the mower deck ON.  I crawled down next to the mower deck...  Peering up, I saw the blades on the deck were not turning!  Oh no!!

Bottom line: the belt that keeps the blades turning had frayed, and finally snapped- I was out of business!  And I had planned to work on my new, print book this afternoon- PaleoJay’s Smoothie Cafe- the book!.  Oh well, the best laid plans of mice and men, as they say.

I took off the mower deck shroud, cleaned up the mess of broken belt and grass clippings, and went in to order a new belt.  Not the end of the world, was it?  Yet I was stressed out, a bit.  We all like our plans to go as we expect.  So, I went to my grill!

Earlier, I had bought a “flat chicken” from the local grocery, and I started up my Weber charcoal grill!  I have a propane torch, and I used it to fire up the coconut hull briquets I added- these coconut charcoal briquets are the best- the most even heat you will find, and the finest ash residue ever, even better than real wood charcoal.  (Although, for high heat, the real wood is better).  As for Kingsford and other standard charcoals- forget it!  Loaded with petroleum byproducts, you might as well burn plastic under your food...

Not flat chicken, but almost as good!

Propane grills suck, in comparison to charcoal.  No arguments, no nothing- the heat is wimpy, and why not just use your kitchen stove?  It’s exactly the same!

OK- enough grilling philosophy!  I put on some brats, and my flat chicken, seasoned with garlic, salt and pepper- a flat chicken cooks faster than a whole chicken, by the way, since it has had the back bone removed, so it lays flat on the grill.  A recipe for crispy tastiness bar none!

Still, it takes a good hour and a half...

All the better, I thought!  There is nothing more Paleo than sitting by a flaming, smoking grill, perhaps with a tall, cool, cheap beer brewed of corn, and meditating on life.

And, after about 15 minutes or so, why not do a set of pushups?  So I did, and then another.  Why not some pullups, since that felt good?  So I did.

I had soft country music blaring from my garage radio, and I started feeling good; positively tribal!  I just kept alternating sets of pushups and pullups, drinking a little beer, and then checking on the chicken- I was in heaven!!

And that is exactly my point!  The Paleo diet- at least the real paleo diet, is not complicated, esoteric, or hard to fathom.

You just need to grill some real meat.  Do some real exercise, not complex routines of Olympic barbells and machines, jogging and Crossfit and Pilates!  Give me a break- do something our grandparents would recognize as food, and also as beneficial exercise!

Eat meat you grill yourself!  Do exercise that is simple, and actually benefits you in real world, performance measurable terms!  And do it all at home, in the real world environment that you actually live in, not a gym or clinic or whatever!

If you buy real foods, prepare them yourself (on your grill is my favorite!), and also drink a Paleo Green Smoothie each and every day, and do exercise daily (again, at home), you will be as healthy as a person can be.

No!

You don’t need clinics, doctors, dentists, or gyms.  Really!  You only need your own commitment to natural health, and a willingness to ignore the charlatans intent on selling you bad food, bad medicine, and bad exercise.

NO!!!

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NO NO NO!!!!

PaleoJay's Smoothie Cafe podcast #109 Rebuild your Exercise Damaged body!

pjsc 109 Rebuild your damaged body

I have said it before, and I will say it again: heavy weight training, endless cardio/aerobics sessions, and even the classic couch potato strategy all can, and usually do, result in the same result- an injured, weak, either just fat or “skinny-fat” body!  They all come to the same, unintended destination- a physique that no one would want, with lots of damage, pain, too much fat tissue, and a predisposition to not ever do anything to aggravate the pain- which means no exercise at all- ever!

Obviously, this is a horrible conclusion.  We all should resolve to be the adult that our 9 year old selves would have wanted!  We should all be-

Active adults, who are proud of our bodies, proud of our physiques, and pleased with what we can do physically!

Pain free.  Sleep well, and have no back, neck, hip, knee, or shoulder pain.

Strong, with a good endurance, and good flexibility.

Free of excessive body fat!

No chronic disease!!!

In the modern age, these seem to be increasingly elusive, if not impossible goals, at least in the public mind.

 Everyone says things like “I’m too old now, I can’t change.”

 And “I have to die of something!”

Here is the thing:

If you exercise with heavy weights, you will become injured.  No exceptions!  I know, I’ve been there.  Perfect form won’t save you.  Low reps won’t save you!  Heavy weights, on a regular basis, just aren’t natural, they aren’t “paleo”, and they aren’t healthy!

Likewise, the endurance sports, like running, triathlon, swimming and bicycling for distance and speed- will destroy your musculature, your joints, and your health, setting you up for cancer, fat storage once you stop (due to injury), and endless pain in later life!

“Oh my GOSH!” you must be saying.  “Why, maybe I should just watch TV and play video games, be a couch potato and save my body!!”

Sorry.  That is the worst option of all!  You will definitely get back pain, and early on, and you are set on a collision course with:

Diabesity, Mental fog, and an early demise!

SO WHAT SHOULD YOU DO??

Perfectly Paleo Exercise!  It’s really kind of a no-brainer, but no one wants to consider it.  You know- how pedestrian!

Bodyweight exercises?  Pushups, sit ups, pull ups?

Simple stretches, self massage and back bridges??

Isometrics???  Self resistance???

And VIRTUAL RESISTANCE EXERCISE, where the muscles generate the resistance internally, creating the same stress as heavy resistance but without the trauma?

It just seems too good to be true.  Especially since it has been common knowledge for thousands of years, throughout virtually every culture.

It’s just not new and different!

Like Cross fit.

I’m kind of sad to bring this up, since the ideal of Cross fit seems so pristine...

But it’s not, not at all.  Cross Fit is a business, first and foremost.  It had a great premise in the beginning: combine the various realms of fitness into a whole!  Add in strength training, combine it with community and the spirit of competition and competitiveness, add in endurance and variety!

Wow- sounds great!

But then, they come up with Cross Fit “games”.  More competition!  People pushing themselves... way too hard!  Add in the pressure from that competition, multiply it to “Win at all costs!”, and we wind up with:

MASSIVE INJURIES.

OK- here is my bottom line:

Do not see fitness as a competition!  It’s not a race, it’s not a contest, it’s not the “Hunger Games”!

Just like proper diet, in other words a diet free of processed foods, grain fed industrial meats, and fast foods and excessive carbs-

FITNESS AND HEALTH IS A WAY OF LIFE- NOT A COMPETITION!!

And this concept can be taken throughout your life.  You can rebuild your damaged body- just do Perfectly Paleo Exercise!  Ditch the weights- throw away your running shoes- just do simple body weight exercise- in particular Virtual Resistance Exercise- this is the most rejuvenative of all!

Stretch and massage yourself as well.  Just as proper diet is really simple, once you understand the basic principles, so is exercise!

Bottom line:  Eliminate Wheat! And GET DOWN AND GIVE ME 20!!

(Or whatever- competition and pressure are irrelevant)
Just GIVE ME WHAT YOU HAVE GOT, AND STOP!  THERE WILL BE MORE, TOMORROW!

Gradual, persistent, continual progression is the key.  Kill yourself today, look good tomorrow, briefly, is irrelevant. And, winning an exercise competition is... counterproductive, and irrelevant!

Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #66 Exercise Each Morning, Forever

pqtd 66  Exercise each morning, every morning

That sounds rather severe, but it really isn’t- think of it as a really slow, easy way to “clear the cobwebs” and slowly rev up the old bodily and mental machinery.  I don’t mean to say you should bounce up out of bed and charge away to sprint, do pull ups and pushups, and then jog for an hour, followed by stretching- not at all!

I want you to slowly awaken after a full 8 hours plus of restful sleep, in a totally blacked out room.  Take a series of deep, costal type breaths lying on your back in bed: inhale slowly, as deeply as you can, first expanding your diaphragm down by your belly, and then slowly filling up the upper portion of your lungs completely- then slowly exhale.  Do this 5-10 times, and you will be completely awake!  Go to the bathroom, and then you can go like me downstairs into the kitchen, where I start the water boiling for my coffee and tea, and do some quick warmup motions on each set of joints- elbow, neck, knees, back, shoulders- just easily rotating the joints to get the synovial fluid going, readying them for the day.  Just like a CAT.

Next, I take my first cup of coffee, laced with a teaspoon or so of coconut oil, and go to the gym... my living room!  Barefoot and with minimal clothing.  You can do similarly, but a room with a tv or computer is really nice- there you can do your morning workout with a Netflix show on!

Spread a yoga mat on the floor, and start your exercises- for my money, virtual resistance exercises are perfect to start- they completely revitalize the body as they refresh and strengthen it.  Go methodically throughout your entire musculature.  Then, go down to the mat and stretch! Finish with a back bridge if you can, and then go to your rebounder, and bounce on that for another 10 minutes.

The L-Sit

Only watch your Netflix favorite while you are exercising- this will make you eager for the next morning when you can pick up where you left off.  Trust me, once you’ve done this for awhile, you will find the perfect exercises for you, and you will relish this early morning routine.  As you progress, you can add in more exercises- for instance, twice per week I also do several hundred pushups in sets of 30-40 with different hand spacings, alternating with hindu pushups, hindu squats, and straight-legged situps.  But just twice per week maximum!

The daily routine, with the virtual resistance, self resisted exercise like curls with one limb resisting the other, the stretching and the rebounding can, and should, ideally be done daily- it is that gentle, and pleasant.  But don’t mistake- it is also very, very effective in strengthening every inch of your body, from your neck to your toes.

Done in this manner, daily exercise is restorative, nothing to dread but something to look forward to. And you will be setting yourself up from the start for what will inevitably be a happy and productive day!

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PaleoJay's Smoothie Cafe podcast #92- Script out your Mornings for maximum Health and Happiness!

pjsc podcast #92  Program and Script out your mornings for maximum Health!

The thing about waking up, and starting your day to remember is that it is the most important part of your day, and so of your life! What you do to start your day actually determines your DAY- the outcome depends upon the beginning!

Especially with health and wellness, this is crucial. First, you need to start a good, productive, happy day with a really good night’s sleep- and that is super important!!  Ok, I guess your perfect day starts with going to bed nice and early; enough to get a good 8 hours or so of quality, blacked-out room quality type of sleep...

But now, it’s morning! Do NOT lay in bed thinking about all the things you should do, or not do- go to your scripted, pre-planned, programmed every day morning routine:

I have one, that works very well for fitness, health, productivity, and overall HAPPINESS!  Want to hear it?  OK:

I awake, just before my alarm clock. Always!  I get up quite early, before work so I can do my script! After all, it IS the most important time of my day!

I start in by doing deep breathing, deep costal breathing- meaning that I breathe deep into my diaphragm, swelling my abdomen with life-giving oxygen,and then fill my chest as well to the max,  and then slowly exhaling until my lungs are completely empty.  Repeat.

Do this maybe 10 times or so, and you are completely awake, and energized!  The benefits of this total costal breathing are wonderful, and not to be underestimated.

Then, I arise and go into the bathroom, where I do a series of limbering moves- not really “exercises”, but just moves where I take my limbs and joints, slowly and easily, through a range of motion to get them activated.
Shoulders, neck, elbows, knees, hips, and ankles...  Maybe 3 minutes or so.

Aerobie Press

Then, I go downstairs, and heat up water for coffee in an electric carafe for coffee.  I add coconut oil to three cups, about a teaspoon or so, and then, when the water is hot, I make the organic coffee with my wonderful Aerobie Press coffee maker! (This is the best way to make coffee- better than machines that cost thousands of dollars- trust me!)

And, whilst the water is being heated, I take the canister from my trusty Vitamix Blender and load it up to make my own food supplements for the next few days!

I start out with about a cup of green tea, which I pretty much always have in my kitchen thermos, and a can of coconut milk...

And then, I begin adding in: kefir, spirulina, kelp, cinnamon, ginger, turmeric, spinach, the frozen california mix of veggies... heck, just check out my perfectly Paleo smoothie recipe at www.paleojay.com and you will be golden!  With this elixir of the gods made in my Vitamix, I have achieved my nutritional script for the next few days, and cannot fail- I have reached nutrition NIRVANA!!

Next, I take my perfect cup of coffee into the living room, and turn on Netflix...

This is pretty much the ONLY time I watch TV- when I exercise!

I turn on my latest compelling movie or news program, and begin my virtual resistance exercise, which is flexing intensely while you move through a total motion. It achieves all that I used to get through weight training, but with no damage to joints and tendons, and much more naturally and pleasantly! It is the cornerstone of my fitness regimen, and I recommend it to everyone- weight training and Aerobics are the USDA Food Pyramid of exercise- those forms of exercise are highly recommended, almost universally so, yet their results lead inevitably to injury and debilitation!

Just as the food pyramid, or My Plate update of the stupid Food Pyramid leads to obesity and disease nutritionally!

Moral of the story?  Anything recommended by Big Government, Big Food, or Big Anything is a LIE, meant to benefit THEM!!

I hate tattoos, but if you must get one, that would be worthwhile...

OK, back to the script: You have spent maybe 15 enjoyable minutes exhausting the muscles of each part of your body, methodically, in turn, while you were engaged watching a television program you really wanted to watch!  Not a bad way to start your day, is it?

NOW, do the same thing, but do it on your rebounder!  You know, the little mini trampoline you bought on Amazon?  Just get a cheap one at first- they are fine; later you can upgrade to a Bellicon- but the cheap ones ($50 or so) work well enough.

You just slightly bounce ( you’re still watching TV remember) while you go through your same Virtual Resistance exercises that you learned at www.paleojay.com, or at www.transformetrics/exercises.com, or from the great eBook Perfectly Paleo Exercise.

But this time, you finish each move at a different ending point:

half-way up, or all the way up, or at the beginning of the movement!

And, when you finish, you hold it isometrically, for several seconds.

This makes a huge difference in the results- that isometric hold!

I like to start with first cycle, hold in the beginning part of the motion (say the beginning of the curl), second part on the rebounder in the middle, and the third motion at the end of the movement!  And, since you are bouncing throughout, you are simultaneously exercising and energizing every part, and every cell of your body.

Now, I don’t do the same routine every day, and neither should you.  But this is my base routine, my home place that I do pretty much on a daily basis.

And if you have a base routine, a script that you follow, and don’t even have to think about, daily...

Well, welcome to health, wellness, and happiness!

It’s all built in. After this, everything else is strictly downhill.

Are we really Paleo, or are we... Barbarians?? PaleoJay podcast #57

Are both "paleo"?

First off, I want to say- I am so glad to have my computer back and running!  Thanks so much to Elan technology of Columbus Ohio for “saving my PASTURED bacon!”  New hard drive with total data recovery- thank guys!!  And now, lets go into the show:

I have always loved the Paleo metaphor for diet and lifestyle!  Paleo, ancestral, primal; they all kind of work- they get the idea across that we have strayed from our roots- our future is in our past- we have REALLY MESSED THINGS UP!!

But, when I really think about it, at this point we should really call ourselves barbarians!

I have always loved reading about ancient history and civilizations!  Did you know that the mummies of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs tend to be riddled with artherosclerosis, arthritis, and most of the modern diseases that we thought were only... modern!?

Well, they are!  The Egyptians of thousands of years ago might have been surrounded by “barbarians” that had none of these diseases, and most of their own lower classes probably were also immune, since they didn’t have the money to eat lots of grains, mainly in the form of sweetened confections that the upper classes prized.  The more in depth that the old mummies are studied, the more modern diseases are discovered in these ancient corpses!

And then there is Tacitus...  a Roman from 98 A.D., he wrote about the German barbarians of the time- 

“he mentions that they all have common physical characteristics, blue eyes (truces et caerulei oculi = "sky-coloured, azure, dark blue, dark green), reddish hair ( rutilae comae = "red, golden-red, reddish yellow") and large bodies, vigorous at the first onset but not tolerant of exhausting labour, tolerant of hunger and cold but not of heat.[2]

In Chapter 7, Tacitus describes their government and leadership as somewhat merit-based and egalitarian, with leadership by example rather than authority and that punishments are carried out by the priests. He mentions (Ch. 8) that the opinions of women are given respect. In Chapter 9, Tacitus describes a form of folk assembly rather similar to the publicThings recorded in later Germanic sources: in these public deliberations, the final decision rests with the men of the tribe as a whole.”

Sounds like a pretty fair, modern group of folks, really, doesn’t it?  He goes on to say that they don’t eat much grains, being from a cold, inhospitable land (nothing like the sunny Mediteranean!!) and mainly subsist on meat, vegetables, and dairy herds!  Sounds pretty PRIMAL, doesn’t it?  I think these guys would have loved a good Paleo smoothie, along with a nice grass fed steak topped with butter and bacon!  And think of this: potatoes weren’t even discovered yet!!  These ancient barbarians were golden!!

At any rate, what I think about the German barbarians is this: WE, we Paleo folk, are more like THEM than pure hunter/ gatherers!  WE live in civilization, or preferably on the outskirts of it (in more rural communities that are self-sufficient), and can choose to pick and choose from what civilization has to offer, but ignore and pass by the decadence and rotten morals that it is also riddled with...  We can use the technology of civilization, but ignore and shun the GMO’s, the pharmaceutical poisons, and the toxic processed fake foods!

We instinctively know better!  

We can be Noble Barbarians! Taking what we want of value of modern civilized society, and ignoring and reviling what we KNOW to be foul!  

Kind of gives you a mission, doesn’t it?  Do what’s right- 

1. Eat what’s right- only real food... RIGHT??
2. Exercise right- real, bodyweight, and moving-through-nature exercise!
3. Sleep right, plenty of it!
4. LIVE right- avoid decadence and the EVILS that civilization tends to accumulate
5. Live TRIBALLY- this is what the barbarians kept up from paleolithic times- a TRIBE is the only natural agglomeration of peoples that really works, and that keeps everyone accountable!  No welfare in a tribe!!

And there you have it!  Another thing the Romans noticed-  They realized that these barbarians were awfully similar to their own ancestors!  The upper classes all had “ancestor rooms” in their houses, with wax faces of the ancestors going back hundreds of years, which they saw every day since they were children...  and the oldest ones were..

 blue eyes ("sky-coloured, azure, dark blue, dark green), reddish hair  "red, golden-red, reddish yellow") and large bodies

In other words, they recognized that these barbarians were in face the same tribes of people that had originally conquered Italy in the early days, and were just like their own ancestors!  Blonde hair was particularly prized by ancient Romans...

So, let’s be proud to be Paleo/Barbarians!  Best of both worlds!!  

And also, I received an audio message from Deborah S. Hart-Serafini that I wanted to share- Deborah is an avid Vitamix fan, as am I, and she, well, just listen to her here: 

I feel the same way as Deborah!  And you should too, my Barbarian/Paleo friend!!

Don’t be a decadent Roman or Egyptian, eating sweetened honey-cakes of wheat, sugar, hummingbird wings and dates- be a barbarian!  EAT REAL FOODS!  Live a real life, not one of subservience to a self proclaimed political or priestly class, be part of a vital TRIBE- a community of EQUALS!

Get yourself a Vitamix- There is a special on now where you can get one for $299!!- just click on barbarian paleojay’s link to the right, and blend and cook your own food-Do NOT take the “medicines” they try to drug you with-  don’t rely on the Aristocratic Decadent Powers-that-be- Take back your health!!

This is my message to you!

J

PaleoJay Podcast #26- Don't be a Human Zoo Animal!

Click to hear PaleoJay #26 today! Free podcast!!

Human Zoo Animals...

Well, it seem I've done gone and lost my notes for this 

podcast!  But hey- nevermind- it's all here in my own dulcet 

tones- AND- it is recorded with a NEW MIC- the FIN, by Heil

Mics.   Have you seen the "Hunger Games" movie?  I just did,

 on Netflix, and THIS MIC is featured front and center as the 

Mic of the Future!

So, although I am PALEO Jay, I guess I am also Future Boy as well...

Anyway, I'm sure you will appreciate the enhanced audio!

Your Health Guy, 

PJ