PaleoJay's Smoothie Cafe 112 Make time for exercise, or you find time for disease!

I borrowed this title from Shawn Stevenson, who has the Model Health show podcast... thanks Mr. John “No Bite” for alerting me!

Check out his podcast: it’s quite good!  And heed his advice- you DO need to exercise!  Not super hard, and to “failure” as so many recommend- definitely NOT.

But, your body was definitely built to MOVE, and if you don’t move around, a LOT, you will definitely be making room for disease, and your life will be shorter, and FAR less pleasant than it could be otherwise.

Diet, of course, is important.  Vitally important!!  So, with that in mind, grasshopper: cut out the processed foods, the fast foods, the sugar, and above all the grains!  The grains are the hardest for everyone, since they’ve been touted, pushed, lauded, and applauded for decades!

BUT THEY ARE POISON TO YOUR BODY AND MIND!!

That’s it, that’s the bottom line: if you didn’t know before now that our own American government, medical clinics, and so-called “leaders” have been lying to you...

Well, now you do.
The “food pyramid”, or now the “my plate” promoted by your tax supported government agencies-

Is guaranteed to make you sick, fat, diabetic, and prone to heart disease and cancer!

Multiple servings of grains and sugars per day will do that.

So, cut that out, and go back to the diet of your grandparents.  Eat real food, meat and veggies, real fat (nothing of vegetable “fake” fats like margarine or soy oil- just real foods, like God made them!!

GMO grains are made to be avoided.  Who wants to be part of a government experiment to see if maybe these will kill us, but we won’t know for years??

But back to topic: EXERCISE.  You need to do it.  Your body’s genetic expression expects it, and if it doesn’t happen, your whole body will start to unravel- give up- it actually thinks it is already DEAD.

Our bodies NEED movement, and they need physical exercise, or stress!

Start out with pushups, and walking barefoot.

If you can do 20 pushups, start out with ten.  If you can do 10, start out with 5.  If you can’t do any, do them supported on your knees “Girl pushups, if you will”, and do one or two.

It doesn’t matter where you start- the important thing is to progress, gradually.  Your body will thrive on this!  All it wants is a direction- either towards health, fitness, and wellness...

or towards less movement, less vitality, disease and death.

Your body, and Nature doesn’t really care, either way-

It is YOUR CHOICE.

I have chosen movement, and health, fitness, and wellness!  I start each morning, and I recommend you do as well, with virtual resistance exercises, followed by intensive stretching, and then PUSHUPS.

Just like (I hope!) you learned in grade school, as I did.

As I said: start out with about one HALF of the amount you can do.  Do NOT go to failure, or anywhere near failure!

Then, after a brief rest, do another set of one half what you can really do!  ( I do mine in front of the TV, so this is really not onerous at all)- I limit my TV watching to when I am exercising, so I really look forward to it.

You will too, if you observe this caveat!

I don’t care how advanced, or unadvanced you are, physique-wise... this system works amazingly well for anyone!

You do the exercise (please be sure to use perfect form), and NEVER go to failure, or even CLOSE to failure.  Repeat.
Repeat again.
Keep repeating.

Watch the show.  ( I am currently watching “Longmire”, which I love!)  Your taste may vary.

As you watch, feel your muscles, how they move- concentrate on the feeling of movement, like an animal would.  And just keep repeating, over and over, pushups after pushups- trust me, it’s kind of pleasant, gives you a feeling of accomplishment, and it flushes most of the major muscle groups of your body with life-giving blood!!

This is an incredibly health giving exercise routine, and over time will literally transform your physique, your health, and your life!

Ironically, since it really isn’t all that hard, once you get in the morning habit, it’s really....simple, easy, and actually enjoyable- something you’ll actually look forward to!

And believe it, you will gradually get stronger and stronger, slowly, and injury free.  You won’t need to spend any extra money on arcane training programs, supplements, or anything at all!

To sum up, here is what you need to do for maximum health and wellness:

Eat real foods!  (God and Nature made foods, that we evolved to eat and thrive on).

Avoid modern grains, sugars, and processed foods!   (Anything labeled low fat is particularly BAD).

Exercise: Spend at least 20 minutes each morning, watching television and doing pushups, stretching, and otherwise “getting in touch with your physical being!”

Last, and probably MOST importantly-

WALK!

Slowly is fine, probably better than a herky-jerky fast motion.  The best walking is done barefoot, or at least with minimal shoes like moccasins, or Xero shoes, that do not have raised heels, and allow your feet to move naturally.  This is great for not only your foot health, but also your knee, hip and ultimately your spine health!

There is a lot about how many “steps” you need to take, I don’t think this is valid: just make an effort to walk.

Park really far at the grocery, or the big box stores!  It only takes seconds to walk past the crowded, packed in cars that all are obsessed with getting as close as possible to the entrance!

And take “forest bathing nature walks” as often as possible!  Nothing is more restorative, both to body and mind, as walking, ideally barefoot, on a pristine path through a forest, or along a beachfront.

If you can do it daily, do it!  Otherwise, just do it as often as you can.

Not only your physical health, but your mental health depends on it.

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!!


Check out this episode!