PQTD #126 Get Down on the Floor!

What the heck?  What do I mean by telling you to “get down on the floor?!”

Just that- you cannot be flexible and fit, with your mobility intact, unless you get down on the floor (or ground) each day, to stretch, to sit, and to just exist!   We are not meant to exist in the sitting position, with occasional standing and walking only- we are meant, in fact we are designed through long evolution to be able to negotiate multiple terrains, and to do so without shoes, without eyeglasses, and without chairs.  The old adage to “use it or lose it” never rang more true in history.

I have seen many older people, and by far the majority lose the majority of their flexibility, mobility, and balance by their 50’s- and from there on out, it goes down at an alarming degree, until they are ultimately almost bed-bound.  Many are confined to walkers, and can only get out of their chairs by using “lift chairs” that electrically lift them into a standing position with no muscular activity of their own!

The key phrase here is no muscular activity of their own.  Before these people start their long decline in physical decrepitude, they begin by losing muscular strength.  Without a basic level of strength, you are dooming yourself to early, self-inflicted invalidism.  So, do your Perfectly Paleo Exercise, your strength training calisthenics and virtual, isometric, and self-resisted exercises every day, if you can.  But definitely three times per week minimum!

But, while you are doing your daily exercise, get down on the floor.  I have a yoga mat in my living room I do my pushups and sit ups (straight-legged- no wimpy “crunches” for this paleo man), my hindu squats and back bridges all on this- but, I also spend good amounts of time just sitting on the floor or ground, both inside and out.  Because, once you are accustomed to it, sitting on the ground actually just feels good, right, and natural.  Because it is!

PaleoJay practices what he preaches!

I have been in Asia, and while we have a “chair based” culture, they have a “floor based” culture- and they are the better for it!  I was amazed to see 90 year old frail men and women over there rise effortlessly to their feet after sitting on the floor for a meal of an hour or more.  And I am not talking about exceptionally athletic people at all- just slender, kind of frail looking folks, but who had kept their mobility simply by continuing to sit on the floor throughout their lives!

Think about it- in a chair, you are really in a kind of “cast”.  A comfortable one, but a cast nonetheless!  In the old days (say before about 50 years ago), it didn’t matter as much, because in the course of daily living almost all of us moved our bodies all day long, standing, squatting, walking, pulling and lifting as we went about our daily lives. We would often be on the ground, to plant or lift something. Or just to lie back and contemplate the sky, instead of staring at a small screen for a break.   Survival required it back then. 

No longer.  Now we sleep in flat comfy beds- (if you haven’t inclined the head of your bed yet, do that- see “Inclined Bed Therapy” and read of the many benefits of raising your bed head 4-6”)!  Then, we get out of bed, sit in a chair to eat, then drive sitting to a job where we sit all day!  Then, come home, sit, and watch TV or at our computer til it is back to a flat comfy bed again.  Just by getting on the floor for 1 hour out of the 24, we would be vastly better off, health wise!

So, get down with your bad self!  Get funky, get on the floor- let your many stabilizer and trunk muscles do what they are there for.  Your core will work, your legs and back will regain flexibility and mobility.  All just from getting on the floor!

Check out this episode!

PaleoJay's Smoothie Cafe #80 Train Like...a Kitten!

PaleoJay’s Smoothie Cafe #80  Train like... a Kitten!

I know- you are going to think that I, your faithful PaleoJay, have gone off my rocker!  But I mean it- if there is ONE role model that we need in this fast-paced, sleep deprived, cortisol laden modern American and Western lifestyle that we have inflicted upon ourselves, it is the KITTEN!  Or the cat, or any version of any cat being, of any size...

How does a kitten live?  Or any cat, for that matter- they SLEEP about 20 hours per day!  GREAT START!  They get up, and they STRETCH methodically, and then get started on their day... usually, they will, if domesticated, go to their food bowl and eat.  If wild, they will start HUNTING.  When they find some game, they RUN IT DOWN, kill it, and eat it- starting with the organ meats.  (Great cat wisdom there!)

Kittens, in particular, are great role models, especially for those of us who have NOT followed an exercise regimen, or are definitely NOT “kitten” aged any longer-

Kittens know how to train to become cats; tigers or lions or panthers too!

They start by methodically exploring their own bodies and movement skills, and gradually expanding upon them.

First, they squirm and stretch- play act fighting and hunting with their little siblings, and with just random strings and reflections. (shadow boxing!)  And it works!

Their skills grow and grow- in a matter of weeks, and then a few months, a kitten becomes a fearsome CAT of whatever size it is meant to be, with gymnastic and athletic skills that are absolutely awesome to see!

“But Jay” I hear you saying, “How does this mean anything to me??”

Well, grasshopper, or preferably KITTEN: in a word- everything.

Go thou, and do likewise-

When you arise- STRETCH!  Religiously, every morning!  Have a regular routine, and   follow it- It is really important.

Next, eat a good, paleo-type of protein, and veggie rich breakfast!  Religiously, again, every morning!  Eggs, bacon, pastured steak and paleo coffee loaded with cream and coconut oil and cinnamon, a giant PALEO SMOOTHIE loaded with; well, with EVERYTHING a vital, strong human could possibly need or want!

EXCEPTION:  OR- if it’s a Sunday, or a day off, and you want to relax and don’t need to work, and want to emphasize your cat-like laziness and sleepiness-

Drink the Paleo coffee, and that is ALL!  You are going into your CAT hunting/fasting mode:  Lay around... stretch... enjoy the lethargy, the pure luxury of reveling in not having to RUSH!  Observe nature, pay real attention to it- the birds, the squirrels, the sounds of nature.  MEDITATE ON IT.  Your cat-like, primeval body is benefiting greatly- shutting down stress hormone (cortisol) production, revel in the very feel of the grass beneath your feet as you walk in the backyard.  Think about how you will spend the day- if Sunday, you can go to church and feel the spiritual recharge and exchange between you and the divine that will energize you- a real meditation!  Next, come home again, and, if hungry now, you can eat, but consider, just consider, kitten:  maybe you would like to work out now.  If you really listen to your body, you really just might feel this way- I often do...

A kitten knows when it’s time, intuitively.  You do too; you’ve just kind of... forgotten.

Last week, I knew I should NOT work out!  I didn’t feel guilty, I just KNEW that my body wanted to REST like a cat would.

Tomorrow, I know that I CRAVE a good workout!!  On the rings!  One the P-bars!!  Sprinting barefoot!!!

HARD but short!  It will feel fantastic- Like a cat running at top speed after hapless prey!!

And so, to get back to the EXCEPTION DAY:

Relax all morning, chill out.  Meditate. Pray. Stretch.  Enjoy the early morning (or late morning!)... Drink your Paleo coffee, loaded with ketogenic fats, and enjoy...

Go to church.  Meditate and pray again.  Enjoy the feeling!

Don’t eat- enjoy the feeling of not having to eat, to prepare or clean up, or anything but relax!  Prolong it!!


Converse, get in touch with family, read.  Maybe now you feel like working out?  I often do!!  SO DO IT!  Do your Perfectly Paleo Exercise!  Work your body, catlike, exploring all different was of moving and exerting yourself- NOT to “burn calories”, NOT to “get a pump”- just to move like a kitten or a cat- for pure FUN and the JOY of it!!

Afterwards, just like a Lion that has run down it’s prey, you will start to crave REAL, God made FOOD!  Because you now deserve it, and can make good use of it!!

So, DO IT!!

Let’s say it’s early, or mid-afternoon on a Sunday:  Fire up your grill!!  That’s what I do, routinely on these
exceptional Sundays!

Paleo Smoothie before blending

Put on a slab of ribs- (Imagine you just ran down the boar and killed it)

Add in some bacon- (from the same boar...)

Put on a roast of grass fed beef- (from a ruminant you killed after the boar)

And GRILL SOME LIVER from that same ruminant cow-like creature, to which you can add some Hollandaise sauce tomorrow morning for your workday huge paleo breakfast!!

I like to grill a whole weeks worth of meat on Sundays, and it is a blast to do so!!

Think about it: like a cat, you have relaxed, meditated, revitalized your feline body by stretching, contemplating, getting more-than-adequate sleep, and just plain getting in touch with your bad self!

THEN, you ran down your PREY, KILLED IT, (Figuratively speaking: you just bought it from your local farmer or rancher probably)- and now you are reaping the nutritional rewards for both yourself and your TRIBE of CAT-FOLK!  (Perhaps Catness is among them?  I don’t know...)

CRACK A BEER DUDE!  You have earned it!  It’s the Catnip equivalent of a human reward...

You need the carbs- and you have revitalized you, and YOURS!!

Party on, Catness.