Work Out Like a 4 Year Old podcast on PaleoJays Smoothie Cafe

Most people work out all wrong!  They get in their car, and drive to a gym to exercise.  Or, if they have wised up over time- they skip all of that, and have a home gym setup at home, in their garage or basement.  That is fine, and what I have done for many years; the idea of driving to a gym and working out is fine in high school or college, and is how I exercised throughout my early 20’s.  It’s a good way to learn…

Then, you work out on a regular schedule in your home gym.  Weights in the basement, with a sturdy power rack are great.  You can get big and strong in this manner, which is great in your youth!  But as you age, what is the best way to stay fit?

Well, I maintain that working out in your living room or TV room if you have one is ideal!  Not only for you, but for your 4 year old grandson as well, and he can show you how:

Approach your workout like pure play, for that is what it ideally is.  All you really need is a space in front of the television, a yoga mat (to protect your carpet and cushion you a bit), a rebounder, and an Exergenie (ideally)  for isometrics.  I also recommend the Perfect Pushup, but get the pro or heavy duty model- high volume pushups will wear out a standard model quickly, while my heavy duty model has lasted more than a decade with no signs of wearing out!  The other thing I like to have is an ab roller, which is a wonderful exercise, but this is optional- straight-legged setups are just as good- I just like to do both.

When my 4 year old grandson is over, as he has been lately a lot, and we can’t go outside because it is so cold, I turn on the TV for him, and just observe.  He sets down my rebounder, and starts- jumping!  

If the TV is on for an hour, he jumps the whole time!  Sometimes, he may run into an adjacent room to get a toy to hold while jumping (Batman is a favorite), or to crouch down by his giant Batman cave toy, but he quickly resumes his jumping again.  I notice that when the action is exciting- (fast cartoon chase scenes and the like)- he jumps much higher and faster!  He gauges his intensity by how he feels at the moment in time, and this is the essence of intuitional training.  His endurance is off the charts!  I feel he should avoid strength training until he is at least 40 pounds or so…

He doesn’t do it for health, or because he should. He just does it naturally, out of joyful movement that is part of our humanness.  It feels good, and so he does it with gusto!  

We should do the same.  Now that I am in my 60’s, I have no desire to be big.  Strong is something else, something we should all aspire to improve, always!  Maintenance of musculature is one of the most important aspects of health, lifelong- but especially as we age.  So, isometrics are ideal, as they vastly increase strength, without huge additions of bulk!  No, just lean, corded muscle (and tendon improvements as well), that shapes and is the engine of your body.

I have a book I wrote a few years back that outlines my workouts, called Perfectly Paleo Exercise.  The ebook version is better, and cheaper, but the gist is here- I do virtual resistance exercise first, (after turning on the TV of course), and flex my muscles throughout their entire range of motion. Here is my basic outline right here, on YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI65LRENdKo

This is the perfect core series of exercises for anyone, for all time!  Years ago they were called Tiger Moves, which I think is king of hokey- I like Virtual Exercise better.  But whatever- this type of weightless exercise, where the resistance is generated by you, yourself within the muscle is the safest, most productive way to maintain and improve all aspects of muscular fitness!  So start with that…

Then, get on the floor mat, and start stretching.  Start off with a long Asian squat, where you squat deeply with bare feet flat on the mat, and just relax in that position- this is the most beneficial, needed stretch that Westerners can do.  It takes the load off of your back, and is the basic ‘resting posture’ of human beings that don’t have chairs, worldwide.  Then, lie down on your back and stretch, get on all fours and stretch and move, and wind up in a back bridge if you can do so- I have daily for many years, and find it to be a total body stretch, and isometric hold that is invaluable!

Then, just as my grandson runs off to grab his Batman toy, I go to the wicker basket I keep all my minimal exercise gear in and grab my Exergenie.  Mine is an old one from the 1960’s that I got on Ebay years ago, and it is wonderful for isometrics- but, you can use a long strap just as effectively for the same purpose.  There is a product called the forearm forklift that works perfectly for this, although it is meant to move furniture without straining your back.  It is two nylon straps with built in handles, and it is great for isometrics, and also for moving heavy furniture!

Use your Exergenie or nylon straps to do presses, and curls, upright rows, bent rows, deadlifts and squats, and shoulder extensions.  I like to do 3 isometric stops for a hold of about 5 seconds at the beginning, middle, and end of each movement.  Very intense, really as intense as you’d like, depending on the TV action at the moment, and very effective for maximum strength!  Really, in 10 minutes you can cover the whole body very well indeed.

Then, I grab my rebounder just like my grandson, and start in to bouncing away!  This is wonderful for your lymph system, and also your cardio.  I like to do two more sets of Virtual resistance on the rebounder as I bounce, and find it to be wonderful for balance as well.  

You may want to wind up with manually resisted neck exercises, and bouncing while seated on the rebounder for a wonderful ab workout.  

I really can’t imagine waking up, and not doing this first thing every day, as I have for years.  Instantly energizing, and it covers all the bases.  Of course, I also do sets of pushups, straight legged situps, and ab wheels two times a week, then I usually omit the last rebounder sets.  And, I still go down to my basement gym a couple of times per week, mainly to do pushups on my gymnastic rings, pull-ups and ab curls, pistol squats with the rings, and isometrics on the power rack…

But that’s just me.  Those last are optional, just because I have my gym, and like using it.  All you really need are a mat, a TV, and a couple of straps.  And a rebounder, for total fitness and health!  For your whole life long.

And, a batman toy for the grandson!

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.

Make Health a Habit podcast

The number one reason that people are not healthy is not because they don’t know what to do, or how to do it.  Sure, knowing how to properly exercise is crucial, and knowing what you should eat (and not eat!) to be healthy is as well- so, if you don’t know how to do either one, study up.  

Read on www.paleojay.com on both subjects, and get my ebook on Perfectly Paleo Exercise, complete with all the links you need to understand how to exercise naturally, ancestrally, and completely.  This won’t take all that long, and then you will know what to eat, and how to properly exercise.  Of course, you could study both subjects for the rest of your life and learn new things continually.  But, the basics are always the same!  Real food, not processed man-made crap, pastured meats and dairy, wild seafood.  Get rid of grains in your diet, and maximize your sleep to at least 8 hours per night.  Cultivate your “tribe” of friends, family, church members, work friends, neighbors.  Exercise daily, and experience nature as well on a daily basis.

But, now that you know what to do- what is the obstacle?  I’m sure you know it:  it is doing it, you have to follow through.  Walk the walk, not merely talk the talk!  This is what is really hard for folks to do.  Knowledge is indeed power- but only if you actually do what you know you should be doing!  

So, you need to make health a habit!  And so, for the next few weeks, I want you to prioritize your health habits.  Make sure to sleep 8 hours per night, and then to exercise the next morning.  Do this every single day for 21 days!  This is the minimum amount of time most people need to create a new habit.  

You will find if you get the sleep you need, and have the discipline to exercise each and every morning, eating a proper paleo diet will just seem natural, since you are so conscious of the health of your body during this time.  So really do it- sleep and wake with natural exercise in front of the TV waiting for you each morning, to help you to gradually awaken your body and mind, stretching and invigorating your entire body in a methodical, pleasant way.  

I guarantee that, at the end of three weeks, or 21 days, you will have become addicted to feeling great.  Or at least semi-addicted!  For it turns out that 21 days is the minimum time needed to create a habit in your life.  To create a rock-solid, hard core near positive addiction to health and exercise it takes 66 days!  At this point, you will have created a lifelong habit that will be a part of your very being, something that you will no longer be able to imagine living without.

For instance, I have had three days where I have been unable to exercise due to family commitments, and my sleep was cut short as well.  My diet stayed good, but not ideal for the same three days.  Was I tempted to stay “off training” after these days were over?

On the contrary, daily training is so much a part of my life, that the first thing I did this morning after waking was to go downstairs and train.  I did my default workout, which includes virtual resistance training, flexing while rebounding, stretching on the mat over my whole body, and isometrics.  I even do self resisted neck and face exercises, and massage my feet and otherwise work my grip strength and wrists.  And I’ll tell you, as I went through that workout it was as if I was slowly recovering my health, that vibrant feeling of wellness that is so much a part of me!  

I was instantly back in the habit of exercise and healthy living, despite me brief break.  And once you develop the true habit of health, you will be the same- a day without exercise is always possible to you, but if you have any real choice you will never choose it!  You know from long experience that health is addictive, in a completely positive sense.  You will hate to miss exercise, just as you will learn to be disgusted by bad food choices!

In fact, I plan to go downstairs after this, and do a brief 15 minutes of so of pushups and rows on the gymnastic rings while I listen to a podcast.  Not because I have to, or feel that I should- no, I’m looking forward to going down into that dusty, half concrete and half dirt floored basement to work out- because it feels so darn good!  It makes me feel alive and glowing with life again, just like it did this morning.  It blows away the cobwebs in my mind, and makes me feel like doing more productive things!  

Like I say- health is my habit.

Health Priorities!

Our lives are consumed with keeping things going- at least mine surely is!  Two trees fell last night, unbeknownst to me, and unfortunately both of them fell across a road!  Yikes.

I was working in my garden, and then remembered I needed to pick up some branches that had fallen recently, so I could mow later.  I picked up said branches, and then spotted two more, up behind the garden.  Now, you need to know that my property is located in a coulee, which in the French parlance of the explorers who explored my area here in the driftless zone, long ago- a coulee is a three sided valley.  A big valley in my case, surrounded on three sides by tall bluffs, covered with woodlands.  It’s wonderful in that it is naturally very isolated.

My house, one of the original farmhouses in the coulee, is on the corner of the two roads that converge in the valley- and so, I have a road on the south side of my house, and another on the east side.  These are the only two roads that are out here.  

When I went after the two branches up behind the garden, I noticed a lot of shade here.  ‘What the heck?’ I thought, and walked up the little hillside to the road.  A tree had fallen, probably due to the incredible amount of rainfall we have had this year in the Coulee Region.  The tree, a box elder, halfway blocked the road to the south of my house. 

Sighing deeply, I’m sure (I have lots to do lately), I got my chain saw, my wonderful Stihl Farm boss, and went to work.  Maybe an hour or so, that was it, and the road was at least clear.  The rest of the tree can wait until Fall, or at least until I have more time.  I still had to mow, the next three days are scheduled for all rain!

I decided to head down the East road, to see if there was more damage.  I drove my diesel tractor, chain saw still along for the ride… there it was- another tree down!  I was the menace of the coulee, blocking both roads!  

I got down, fired up my Stihl, and cleared up this mess as well.  Another hour.  That’s two hours of heavy chain saw work, cutting, bucking, dragging, and stacking of bad firewood- and, this morning was my big heavy pushup workout day- so, I was a bit tired to start.  I like to take it easy after a heavy workout.  Recovery is important!

Now, I could finally mow!  Mowing is quite enjoyable, since I can listen to podcasts, or to AM radio like Rush Limbaugh.  No one explains modern politics better than Rush!  When I finally finished this, a couple of hours later, I went into the house.  I told my wife about the two trees down, and how I had to cut them up.  

“Did you cut up the old dead apple tree?” she asked.  

I shrugged.  “I never even thought of it.” 

She looked crushed.  

Well, I guess I will cut that down tomorrow, in the rain.  Why it was important, I had to ask.

“Because I can see it out the kitchen window,” she responded.  

I guess it’s all about priorities.  I wanted to clear the road so no one would get killed driving home in the dark.  But, since she spends a lot of time at that kitchen window, that seemed most important.

It is similar to everything in life, I thought.  A healthy diet, for instance, one without grains and sugars, heavy on vegetables and grass fed meat- it seems really important to me!  To get a good night’s sleep, every night, and to exercise on a daily basis- it all seems incredibly important to me. I am super-aware of how I will look and feel if I do such things right on a regular basis, and how bad I will feel and look if I don’t.  I make it a priority!

Other people have very different priorities.  They are fixated on making the maximum income, for instance.  Stay up late, eat fast foods, so you can ‘make deals’ and work more and more and more!  Ignore exercise and sleep, pay no attention to family and ‘tribal’ community connections- pursue the mighty dollar above all else!  And when you do have ‘downtime’- hey- party and go on elaborate vacations, showing everyone how you have got it made!  

Ridiculous.  We all need to set true priorities.  As humans.  We need to perform regular human maintenance- we need a good, paleo type of diet.  We need natural, ancestral sorts of exercise, as shown in the Perfectly Paleo Exercise book.  Calisthenics, Virtual resistance exercises, along with good stretching- forget heavy weights and gyms and Crossfit and long distance running and triathlons… they all have nothing to do with true health, with physical culture.

And don’t think I am telling you to go with the Medical Clinic Paradigm- the one that tells you that you need to go to the doctor on a  regular basis, getting tested over and over for anything that might possibly be wrong, and then to take dozens of prescription drugs to alter your mood, your cholesterol, and your blood profile:

BS

I really want you to not do any of that!  That is just the corrupt, current medical business practice, wanting you to spend lots of money on tests, (scoping for dollars), drugs, and surgeries!  Just forget all that, and be like our grandparents and their forebears all the way back to paleolithic times: do it yourself!  

Again: exercise daily.  Sleep 8 hours nightly.  Don’t take drugs, prescription or otherwise. (Prescription are worse than recreational, really!).  And above all- clean up your diet- eliminate grains, especially wheat.  Eat grass fed, pastured, organic and natural.  And cultivate a ‘tribe’, whether through church, or school, of family, or all of the above- we are social beings after all!

And get out in nature, every day.  It is amazing to me how many folks are just stuck inside, staring at screens of one sort or another.  And they never venture outside!

Although I do my share of “screen staring”, for instance as I write these words, I more than make up for it by my outside time.  I pretty much live in the Little House in the Big Woods, and only after all is taken care of do I venture inside to do my “fiddling”, meaning my writing and all else.

So, set your priorities my friend- your body, fitness, and mental state first, so that you are prepared to support your family and everyone else in your tribe.  Only if you have taken care of yourself, set your priorities, can you hope to accomplish anything else truly worth doing.

When NOT to Work Out!

A really big lesson that needs to be learned about health, fitness, and wellness is to not work out sometimes!

I know, for me this was a hard, hard lesson to learn, and actually internalize.  If you are motivated to change your diet to a paleo path, eliminating grains and vegetable oil, and replacing them with good meats and seafood and a green smoothie loaded with veggies and coconut milk, spices, green tea and berries- why, then you are highly motivated indeed.  Just like me!

And diet is definitely the number one thing most folks need to change.  There is no reason to go “by halves” here- clean up your diet- it is all positive!  No downside whatsoever.

But, here is the thing: exercise is different.  The big thing is this- everyone thinks that more is better!  

It’s not.  It seems as if it is at first, when you make great gains in musculature, endurance, and everything else.  

“Let’s just keep this going forever,” you think, “ I will exercise myself into a superman or woman!!”  You envision yourself getting bigger, leaner, and stronger forever, and eventually wearing a cape or carrying a golden lasso…

It doesn’t work that way.  At least not in the real world.  

Especially as you age.  And although I am now 65, I don’t mean that you have to be that old to change your exercise protocol- even if your are 30- well, you are no longer 20!  

The better your diet, actually, the less you NEED to exercise!  Diet is by far the most important element of fitness and health, and although I personally exercise every single day if I can- diet trumps exercise!  Exercise simply stimulates the body to use the good nutrients you have eaten, and takes advantage of the good rest and sleep you have had to utilize these nutrients to build your body into the healthy, wonderful shape that you want.

The takeaway here is this: if you feel you have to exercise every day, no matter what-

You don’t.  

Relax.  Chill out.  If your diet is good, if your home life is largely stress free (no one’s is, entirely!), and you have slept a good eight plus hours per night for a while-

Exercise is a good “plus” for you!  Do it, and go at it Perfectly Paleo Exercise style: hard, intense, and briefly.  This will stimulate muscular building, and also cardio improvements- but don’t forget stretching.  Stretching is almost as important as building muscle and endurance, and as you get older, it is even more important!  

Get on the floor, squat down for time, and STRETCH every day of your life.  And the older you are, do it more and more, not less and less as most do!  

And while you are young: don’t think you have to exercise to failure.  (EVER)  Don’t think you have to exercise every single day, although if life lets you, why do it, because it feels good and natural.  

But, if you are writing a list for your daily chores, DO write this: 

1. Exercise 1^st thing, unless you really can’t- then don’t, and don’t worry about it

2.  Eat Paleo, meaning real food

3.  Rest well, avoid stress, and cultivate your “tribe”, facilitating family relationships

4. Get to bed early, so you can wake up and exercise without conflict from more important things

THIS is Perfectly Paleo Exercise in a nutshell!

Making Health Habits- How To

Creating habits for health is probably the very best thing you can do in life!
Wow, that sounds extreme, but it is 100% true. “Once begun, half done,” as the old saying goes, is true of anything. And the truth is that, if you don’t eat right, it you don’t exercise, if you don’t sleep a solid 8 hours per night, and so on- you are not going to be healthy.

And, by not being healthy, you will be destined, over time, to be unhappy as well. That’s just how life works, grasshopper… Even if you are very successful, say, in your career, and make lots of money- if you are unhealthy, and don’t have a fulfilling family life and social life, along with a well balanced spiritual life- you lose! You lose the happiness prize!

The good news is that all of these pillars of a healthy, fit, happy life are all derived simply from developing good habits. And developing good habits is a pretty straightforward, and not really difficult endeavor. Step 1 is simply to figure out what good habits are essential for health:

1. Eat a healthy, paleo type of diet. Most people find this the hardest to do, so start here. Start with a big breakfast, so get up plenty early to make it, along with packing a good lunch. Do not have any grains with your breakfast, such as toast. Also, no juice, which is just sugar water. A green smoothie is ideal, but you can just start with eggs and bacon and/or sausage, and coffee. If you have no problems with dairy, load that coffee with cream! And remember- don’t limit yourself as to how many eggs or how much meat you can have- eat as much as you desire- it’ll keep you full.

Do this every day, for a solid week. Then, go for another week! Each night have meat with vegetables for supper, and sometimes have a sweet potato or white potato, loaded with sour cream and butter. Or perhaps some white rice with your pork chop. Just no grains at all, and don’t drink milk, especially not skimmed. Cottage cheese, full fatted, is also great for meals or snacks.
Now, do it for a third week. You should never let yourself be hungry, ever! Stay satiated, and happy with protein and especially lots of good fat. Never touch margarine or other industrial seed/vegetable oils- eat the real stuff!

Congratulations- that was the hardest part of the whole habit making and changing strategy. You now follow a paleo type of diet, and after 3 weeks you should feel and look good enough that you will never desire to give up this healthiest of all habit.

2. Keep up with your diet habit, but now add in the sleep habit- go to sleep each night early enough that you get a solid 8-9 hours of sleep per night. You could do this first, making it easy then to get up early and make your food for the day, but it is your choice. The food changes make the most obvious improvements, so I’ve started there, but it’s your choice. Keep this up for a couple of weeks, and you will be ready for the next step.

3. Exercise! This is also a tough one for folks to whom it is new, but it is as important as your nutrition and sleep. You may want to go to bed even a little earlier, just to make sure you have the time to exercise in the morning. I don’t want you to do a lot- in fact, it is key that you do not! I want you to start with 10 minutes of exercise, all done in your living room.

Turn on the TV, Netflix or Amazon Prime is ideal since they pick up playing right where you left off last viewing. As the show plays, I always start with virtual resistance exercise, which is where you flex each muscle group through its whole range of motion for reps. For instance, you can do the “high reach”, where you flex one arm at a time as high as you can reach, flexing through the whole range of motion for, say, 8 reps. Next, do flies, where you cross your arms as if doing dumbbell flies in front of your chest, flexing with internally generated resistance. Then, pulldowns as if chinning yourself, flexing all the while, followed by half-squats, flexing your quads as you go down. Finish up with curls, flexing hard for 8 reps.

The sequence, again:
High reach
Flies
Pulldowns
Half Squats
Curls

That’s it! You should feel energized, and your entire physique should be enjoying a nice “Pump”. Pause your show for the next day, and look forward to it, since you will now only watch your program while exercising. (A great incentive!)

4. Do this, along with good sleep and a wonderful diet for three weeks. By now, you will be looking and feeling great, and will be wondering what additional things you can do to keep this going, and even accelerate your progress. Congratulations, not only on your great improvements in health but more importantly-
On developing wonderful Habits of Health!

Check out this episode!

No Heavy Lifting for Arnold!

When you talk about exercise in the usual paleo circles, ala crossfit etc., the mantra is to “lift heavy things!” The idea that you must lift heavy, meaning heavy weights on barbell back squats, deadlifts, and presses is a given.
Well, I am here to say that it is not necessary, and never has been. It is not the weight lifted that is important, it is the muscular contraction intensity that counts! This can be achieved very well with isometrics, for example, without moving a muscle at all under weight, and so perfectly safely.
For no matter what someone else tells you- lifting weights under heavy loads is extremely dangerous, and actually inevitably damaging to the joints, tendons and ligaments. For a testament from an expert, what does the now aged Arnold Schwarzenegger have to say about heavy back squats?
“ I always have done each body part three times a week, with the idea being to train six days a week. But when you average it out it ends up being five days a week. You know, there are weeks when you’re sick, or weeks when you travel.
Are there core exercises that you still do today?
Well, my favorite exercises I’m not able to do today, because of joint problems. For instance, the basic squat. I would love to be able to squat again, but in order to protect my knees I do mostly the Lifecycle and bicycling and the elliptical, but no more squats. The knees are like a tire. When the tires last up to 30,000 miles, you have to decide how you want to use them. Do you want to use them up in one year, or do you want to use them over a period of 10 years? It’s the same thing with joints. So, I decided 10 years ago, when I started to feel the wear and tear and was feeling pain in my joints, that now I should adjust my training and do more high reps with less resistance. Therefore I stay away from the squat, and I stay away from heavy bent over rows, but I do the heavier rowing on a Cybex machine and do the lighter exercises with free weights.”
So, that tells you right there: Arnold has damaged his body with heavy weights! And, he is one who knows how to do it right, and still- damage! Here is what he has to say about the heavy clean and press exercise:
What about for shoulders? You’ve had rotator cuff surgery.
“I used to love doing the clean and press, because you get the traps, the front deltoids, and the side. It’s really a fantastic exercise that I recommend to anyone who starts out weight training. I also liked to do the dumbbell press, but I can’t do either anymore. So now I just do my presses on a Smith machine, which is safer on my shoulders because it’s on a track. But I have to say, it’s so fantastic to see the development of all of these machines. It allows you to train around your injuries— you don’t have to stop training because of injuries anymore. These machines allow you to isolate your muscles without the risk of hurting yourself.”
Rotator cuff surgery?? This stuff is not paleo, folks! No One should be training in a manner that actually makes injury inevitable, even when doing the exercise perfectly.
Now, Arnold has had a wonderful career, and can be excused for giving his early heavy weight lifting background part of the credit. And luckily, he woke up in time (10 years ago), as he underwent surgeries and his body cried out in pain. (I’m sure it still does. Ronnie Coleman, an 8 times Mr. Olympia winner is now in a wheelchair (he is 52 year of age). Arnold won the title 6 times before retiring.

The point is that, either man could have built amazing physiques, cut and defined, with plenty of mass, perfectly safely and keeping their health intact, using Perfectly Paleo Exercise techniques. They might not have had quite the sheer bulk, but the bulk achieved with steroids and heavy weights has nothing to do with health, and actually has nothing to do with usable strength or aesthetics.
Using virtual resistance, creating the resistance by the power of the flex in self-resisting an exercise, coupled with blood-infusing pushups and situps, coupled with things like pull-ups and bodyweight squats, is more than enough for a perfect build and usable strength- without damage to your precious body.
So train naturally. Train for health, wellness, and a pleasing physique, not a bloated mass of bulk surrounding a bunch of injuries.
   Be more like this guy:

Charles Atlas: no weights physique!

Check out this episode!

pqtd 133 Competitive Sports Destroy Health and Fitness!

Sometimes we lose sight of reality, and go down blind alleys in pursuit of health and fitness.  The Olympic Games springs to mind, as they are on right now.  As do professional sports of all kinds- they are a form of specialization, and the public idolizes sports heroes as archetypes of fitness and health!

Nothing could be further from the truth.  Specializing in any sport, to the point where you are competitive on a world wide, or even a national level, will compromise and damage your health to a huge degree!  Did you know that NFL players build their health in the off season, and then destroy their bodies and health over the playing season, by playing their sport?  Oh, and the average lifespan of a professional football player?  Mid 50’s. 

Hey, I would already be dead!  Now, I know there is a lot of money and glory involved in being a pro football player, but my point is that health and fitness are not a part of it.  The point is, if you specialize in a particular sport, be it running, swimming, gymnastics, triatholon, or weight lifting- heck, even Crossfit has become a sport!- you are no longer working for health and overall fitness- you are working for glory.  For competition.  You are a showboater!

Health and Fitness for life?  I have set this as my goal, and I only compete with myself.  I train to get stronger, faster, and more flexible on a daily basis.  I compete only with my past performances, however.  Competing with others only encourages you to take chances- if you try to do a handstand or a blanche in gymnastics before you are ready, you could injure yourself.  In fact, advanced moves of any sort, from Olympic lifting to gymnastics are risky, and could injure you, putting you out of training altogether for long periods of time!  Safety matters, and in a huge way- as a Paleo Exerciser you need to put cautious yet vigorous training at the top of your priorities, right up there with an ancestral, grain free diet. 

Don’t specialize!  Alexander the Great, long ago, noted that the Olympic athletes of his day turned out to be substandard soldiers- they had specialized to greatly, and only wanted to do the “event” that they excelled in, rather than being all around soldiers.  The same was noted of the gladiators of ancient Rome, who turned out to be inferior soldiers in battle, since they were only skilled at one on one battle, and were mainly trained in pleasing the crowd, not killing quickly and efficiently.  Also, as a side note, it is interesting that far from the movie version of gladiators, they were not lean and sporting a six-pack- the gladiators purposely ate lots of wheat, because they knew it would stimulate lots of fat storage.  They were the Sumo Wrestlers of their day, since they wanted lots of fat to protect the stabbing swords from reader lives than Football players today.  Football is really just kind of “Gladiator Light”!

So, to build your health, don’t be an avid competitive anything.  Play sports if that’s your thing; just realize it has nothing to do with health and wellness!  That would come from your ancestral diet, your daily green smoothie, your lack of grains, and your training.  And your training?  Perfectly Paleo Exercise is my term for it- virtual resistance, Charles Atlas types of self resisted and bodyweight exercise, isometrics, and walking and sprinting barefoot!  Basic, simple stuff.  Including getting onto the floor and stretching each and every day of your life! 

Actually, the original idea of Crossfit was a good one- include all methods and modes of fitness into your training regime!  Strength, endurance, gymnastics!  Great idea, but then… they turned it into a competitive sport!!  This made it the worst of all possible worlds, with epic injuries and incredible burnout potential.  Get the idea?  Competitive = Burnout and Injury!

So go back to Perfectly Paleo Exercise.  You can do it anywhere, in your living room or motel room.  No equipment is needed.  It doesn’t have to take a long time, but it feels so good, you might decide to lengthen the time! 

Check out this episode!

pqtd 120 HOW to Exercise Daily!

The Book

I’m sure you’ve all heard the adage to “exercise 3 times per week”, because your body needs rest days to rebuild.  Although this may be true for abusive exercise systems using heavy barbells and dumbbells, a ‘going to failure’ mentality backed by a substandard diet…but not for those of us who practice Perfectly Paleo Exercise!

This is the type of natural exercise that uses your own body as resistance, as in virtual resistance, isometrics, calisthenics, self-resisted exercises where one limb resists the movement of another, and body weight movements done either on gymnastic rings, pushup handles, or from bars.  In this type of exercise, daily exercise is not only possible, but vastly preferable, since our bodies have been designed for daily movement and exercise! 

If we couple this movement with good sleep and a healthy diet, why then our body is well able to recuperate, and even thrive on such a schedule.  My schedule?  I work out first thing, every morning, first thing upon arising.  I think this is the very best way for most folks to work out- you get to bed early, because you plan to get up early- that takes care of the good sleep part.  You work out first thing, so nothing can interfere over the course of a busy day- that makes sure you get it done!  I have my green paleo smoothie after I shower, along with a cup of coffee with heavy cream and a little coconut oil mixed in, along with cinnamon and cocoa powder- and so, from the start, my nutrition is pretty much assured for that day.

That’s it- 1,2,3- Feeling great, still early morning, and no worrying about getting my workout in, or when to max my nutritional density- they are all done!  Of course, I still need to eat, but a can of sardines for lunch, nuts for a snack if I want, and hopefully I can grill out (my favorite thing!), in the evening.  On busier days when there is no time to grill, I can always heat up something I have grilled on an earlier day, like Sunday, and saved in little glass jars in the fridge.  Microwave them for supper of lunch, or even have another smoothie that you made a few ball jars full of two days ago…

Often nowadays, in the late afternoon when I get home from work (I substitute teach lately as my retirement job), I head off into the woods barefoot and shirtless, swinging my little dumbbells of from 5-10 pounds in heavy hands fashion- this is rejuvenating to me, and 10-15 minutes in the woods, working hard like that, combines forest bathing with wonderful exercise for the entire body!

The key is that my exercise regimen is tiring, but easily recoverable from, since I don’t tax the joints with heavy barbells and dumbbells at awkward angles, and don’t overload the muscle to build awkward bulk.  That type of force on the body means eventual injuries, and then you can’t exercise- you often can’t even do simple movements!

So go natural!  Build your muscles, ALL of them.  Every day.  Enjoy it, feel what it’s like to be a wild animal in nature, doing what humans are meant to do, moving over the earth, hanging and pulling and stretching and flexing!  That is how to be healthy, look healthy, and actually to just enjoy life to the full.

Check out this episode!

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!

Check out this episode!

Paleo Quick Tip of the day #98 Cheers to Paleo Exercise every day!

pqtd 98  Wake up and work out

Bridging!

That sounds a little simplistic, doesn’t it?  Well, it is, and that’s a big part of its beauty: if you work out first thing in the morning, there is no decision to be made!  You get up, and then you work out...

You don’t have to plan just when you will work out, just what exercises you will do that day- nothing at all!  You just need a plan in your head:  Here’s mine!

On Mondays I do virtual resistance exercise, on a rebounder as I gently bounce away, in front of the tv- either news or more likely a Netflix program.  I keep a cup of coffee laced with coconut oil by my side for occasional sipping.  Very relaxing, but by the end I am lathered with sweat, and all my muscles are engorged with blood and pleasantly tired.  Maybe 45 minutes of so total time.

Tuesdays are one overall total body set of virtual resistance for each and every body part, with quite a big of stretching on the floor.  Then, I superset high volume straight legged sit ups, pushups, hindu squats, and hindu pushups.  Repeat this superset about 2 times.

Wednesdays I do Monday’s program!

Thursdays I do high volume sets of pushups with raised legs on the Perfect Pushups rotating handles, with regular grip, wide grip, and narrow grips- then, repeat at least 5 times.  I follow with side planks, super setted with ab wheel pushups.  A big strength day!

Fridays are the same as Monday and Wednesday, except I finish up with self resisted chest, arm, and back resistance exercises.

Saturday is a repeat of the Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday program!

Sunday is my biggest workout of the week, with handing leg raises, pistol squats with the gymnastic rings, pushups, flies and rows on the rings, hack squats, pullups and dips for multiple sets.  I also do a couple sets of kettlebell swings for high reps- these are like sprinting in the Winter months!

My point it this- I never have to think about what to do, or when to do it- I just do it!  You don’t have to do exactly what I do, but you have to have a program, a rough outline of what to do, and then you can just follow through, on auto-pilot if you will.  There is no decision to be made- it is just like taking a shower later, and shaving, and brushing your hair and eating lunch- it’s all just part of your day!

 

And the very best part is, after the first 45 minutes or so of your day, everything else is just down hill!  Easy peasey. 

A good workout, hitting the entire body, with stretching and  the circulatory system included, leaves you feeling just glowing and energized, with a feeling that you have already conquered the day, so you might just as well go on to accomplish more!  And you don’t need to keep in the back of your mind that you somehow need to fit in a workout later... because you’ve already done it.

Although, this morning post workout feeling is so addictive that you may, like me, come to want to repeat it later in the afternoon or early evening, and go outside pumping heavy hands weights of 6-8 pounds or so, as you walk around a forest trail, for maybe 15 minutes or so.  Or go to your gymnastic rings and do a quick set of pull ups, chin ups, push ups, and dips. 

This is what I call “Paleo Happy Hour”!  Cheers!!

Check out this episode!