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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Paleo Quick Tip of the Day 36 The PUSHUP is the ULTIMATE exercise!

The results of pushups!

We all know about the pushup- a simple, boring means of exercise from grade school gym class- we all want to do spinning classes, Olympic lifts, Powerlifting and Pilates!!

Well, I’m here to tell you that, unfortunately for marketing, (the same marketing that tells you that saturated fat is bad, high cholesterol needs lots of drugs to “solve” it, and that whole grains are wonderful)- that the same marketing has been done to pervert EXERCISE!

Real Food is perfect food- God made foods are ideal for us and our health!  Duh!!

Grass fed meat, butter, free range eggs and pork, wild caught seafood, organic local veggies- ALL are vastly better for us than CAFO animals and eggs, pesticide riddled produce, and dairy that has been “processed” under extreme heat and deprived of its nutrients and enzymes...

BUT, REAL EXERCISE is in the same category!

The PUSHUP is the ULTIMATE EXERCISE!

Let me say that again: the pushup is the ULTIMATE EXERCISE!!

Better than p90X, better than Olympic, Power, or bodybuilding- better than spin classes, rock climbing, or Pilates- nothing is better for your health, physique, or your overall sound mind in a sound body than the simple PUSHUP!

Glad I got that out of my system.

Just like real food, the message has been lost because... there is nothing to sell!

Here is the real deal: just do pushups, twice per week!

This is like sprinting, with your upper body (your WHOLE upper body!)   And the benefits are legion.  Your rib cage and ALL of the muscles of your upper body, abs, and lower back all benefit.  Your cardio and “wind” improve as much as if you were on some stupid cardio machine.  AND your musculature develops in a totally natural and symetrical way, unlike weight lifting, which really does stimulate unnatural bulk and blockiness of the physique...


And so, for your fitness foundation, I, PaleoJay recommend:

Gymnastic rings are fantastic for pushups!

Twice per week, do a pushup workout!  Men AND women.

I do mine in front of the television... this is optional!

First, I do a set of virtual, dynamic, or self resisted exercises, which are basically a set of flexing my muscles, much as a bodybuilder would do, for repetitions...  I cover all the muscles in the body, deliberately and completely focused.  It feels great, and is the same thing that the ancient Greeks and Romans did to develop the physiques of the statues we still admire today.

THEN, on either Wednesday or Thursday, I do pushups:

Get the heavy duty version!

I do have a set of Perfect Pushups, which I think are wonderful since you can both go deeper into the movement, and also since they rotate to make it safe for the elbows and shoulders.  But, you can do it without just fine!

Do one set of pushups with your arms at shoulder, or medium width.  If you can do 5; do 5- then next time, do 6...

Next, do one set at a wider grip- whatever you can do, but do NOT go to failure- just whatever you can manage to do that leaves a little effort “still in the tank”.

You can also do L-sits on your Perfect Pushups! 

then, do a set with a NARROW grip- about 12 inches from palm to palm...  this set will be less reps!

Repeat
I like to do my pushups with my legs raised on the back of a couch, or other support, but whatever works for you at your current level is wonderful!  It’s just gradual progression...

One note: for women especially, but anyone deconditioned:

If you can’t do pushups, (as many can’t nowadays)- just do negative pushups!

If you need to, leave your knees on the floor...

But, you can also do negative pushups, which are the BOMB!

For a negative pushup, you just get into the top position of the pushup, and then just slowly lower yourself into the bottom position!  Repeat...

This simple strategy duplicates all of the results of a standard pushup- really!

I like to do this 2X per week- this gives ample recovery, and will quite simply do more for your body than hours and hours of the commonly marketed exercise systems (like crossfit, P90X, Olympic and Powerlifting) and all the other marketed and over-hyped exercise protocols I’ve heard about and seen advertised on informercials and misinformation on the internet; unfortunately even on Paleo Exercise podcasts...

I’m sorry this podcast is longer than I wanted, but I thought this information was incredibly important.  EXERCISE is being made WAY overcomplicated!

The ancient Greeks, or Hellenes as they called themselves, were the start of so many things! The founders of modern medicine, the ideal of a sound mind in a sound body, the very notion of an ideal human form!!

AND WHAT THEY DID WAS PUSHUPS!

So go ahead- be an exercise Hippocrates!  Do pushups!

Twice per week!!


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Paleo Pull ups and Pushups ALL DAY LONG!

I have been planning to increase my numbers of pull ups and pushups; a worthy goal indeed!  I usually top out at about 18 pull ups or chin ups (pull ups are where your hands grasp the bar with a forward grip, chins with your grip facing back at your face).  I also have a set of "handles" in my garage, that are flexible and kind of sideways, so I can cover lots of different angles to hit the muscles in different ways.

Anyway, I figure I need more volume to get me higher numbers of reps!  Experimenting, I found that I can do, let's say 15 reps at a time, but I can do 5 reps ALL DAY LONG!  


That's right, if I limit my reps to 5, and periodically as the day goes by do 5 more, and 5 more, and so on, buy the end of the day I've done maybe 100 or more repetitions!  Plus, since today is Sunday, where i usually do a real basement/outdoor type of workout, I'll do my usual 18 reps, followed by more sets of less reps...

That's a lot of pull ups!  I think that this will be beneficial in a big way; I also decided to add in pushups as well, since I have a perfect pushup device right next to my pull up handles in the garage.  Each time I pass by, or think about it, I'll do my 5 pull ups, and then 20 pushups, since 20 pushups appears to be the number I can do all day long.

It's the morning now; I will let you know how it goes later today...

... I'm back!

I did my Sunday workout early, and decided NOT to do my usual high rep pullups- I just kept doing 5 reps pull ups and 20 reps pushups- between each other exercise I did.  I've not been counting- I like to go by "feel", not numbers, and all I can say is I've done a lot of pull ups, a lot of pushups, and I don't feel at all burnt out, and plan to do lots more!


I think I'm on to something here- not something to do every day, but maybe once a month or so, just do lots and lots of one particular exercise you want to improve!

Let's say you can do 10 pull ups.  Try this same idea, but limit your reps to 3!

"But Jay but Jay!" I hear you saying "I can't do a single pull up! What about me??"


Just support yourself on a stool, so you can assist yourself with your legs.  Use your legs just enough that you can do a few reps, slowly. Here is a blog of mine that explains, and even has live examples!
Wowzer!!

 leg assisted "aerobic/isometric" chins and dips

Perhaps you can already to a "negative" chin, perhaps not- if not, again, use your legs to help just enough that you move slowly downwards.  It really will not be all that long that you can do a real, unassisted chin or pull up, and that is a real accomplishment!  Lifting your own bodyweight with your upper body is probably the most functional exercise you can do- real world strength indeed!  It engages not only your arms and back, but your entire core, abdominals, and grip.  Anyone who can do this exercise, even one single rep, is a paleo person; they could survive handily in the wild, just like our ancestors did.  Most people, even children these days, cannot do this exercise!


Especially if you are a woman- I would really focus on this movement/exercise!  Using the leg assisted version, you can start doing the actual exercise immediately.  Chin/pull ups and hindu squats together will make a paleo person of you.

Again, I plan to do a lot of these little mini-sets today!  I'm going to go out by my grill, by the garage, and will repeatedly be doing pull ups and pushups while I grill my chicken and salmon and mushrooms...  I was playing guitar earlier, and stopped often to do a set of pushups- (no pull up bars in  the computer room here).  Kind of a fun challenge really!

I could see doing this periodically with many exercises- perhaps doing 50 hindu squats, over and over and over throughout a Sunday...  what fun!  I'll keep you posted-

J