PaleoJay podcast #43- Last in the Trilogy of A New Paleo You- Back to the Future- with Exercise!!

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Hello to you, my favorite listener- thanks for tuning in!  I hope you’ve been along for the ride so far on our making a New Paleo You by going Back to the Future- back to the real, God-made foods eaten by our Paleolithic ancestors of 10,000 years plus; and even the diet of our great grandparents which was much, much closer to the natural diet of humans than what we consume now.

To recap- in week one the recommendation was to change our diet- this is the first, second, third and fourth steps in reclaiming our healthy, Paleo self from the past!  Lots of real foods- pastured butter, grass fed meat, wild caught seafood, lots of vegetables, real sea salt, cultured dairy like Amasi and kefir, nuts, some fruit.  If fat loss is not a priority, white rice and sweet potatoes, and even white potatoes on occasion are fine as well.  Eat LOTS, until you are really full of real food; THEN, you won’t be so tempted by the inevitable JUNK (modern processed) fake food like substances that so inundate our current environment.  Week two, we added in movement, not really exercise, just walking as much as we can at a normal, easy pace into our everyday life.  Also, the crucial importance of sleep was brought up- 8 hours per night minimum!

One of the lynchpins of the New Paleo You transformation is to add in a daily green smoothie, preferably the tried-and-true new paleo you paleo smoothie, whipped up in your trusty Vitamix blender!  This one step ensures ample vegetables each day, quick and easy, but it also ensures ample everything- the Paleo Smoothie on paleojay.com is so loaded with nutrient density that it alone will cover most of the nutritional battle!  So kids- blend it up each day, just like PaleoJay!

Now, in our final step in going Back to the Future we will add in real, honest to God and nature exercise- although it may seem different from the heavy weight lifting, crazy frantic cardio, and other sports oriented sorts of fitness regimens, it is just as effective, much safer, incredibly convenient, and injury preventive rather than a cause of injury!  The name of this miracle exercise: Virtual Resistance Exercise!  Ta Da!!

The idea is to flex the muscles, deliberately and slowly, through a complete range of motion, supplying the resistance within the musculature itself- for instance, practice doing a curl with your right arm, flex it hard, and slowly curl it up, imagining you are curling a heavy dumbell- you can make it as hard as you like!  Do it for reps, say 8...
You’ll notice the results seem very similar to curling a real weight, but there is no danger of strain to the back, no cheating is possible by swinging the weight, and most importantly, it strengthens the ligaments and tendons as well- kind of building real world strength from the inside out!   Really, do this for a while, for each musculature section of the body in turn, and your physique and strength will change dramatically, with virtually no risk of injury, no investment in equipment, and the ability to do it anywhere! ( I prefer to do my virtual resistance training in the early morning, daily, in front of the television in the living room)... high point of my day, really!

Here is a good visual representation of how to do it, by John Peterson of Transformetrics-Transformetrics exercises

The basics are ably outlined here by John and Wendy Pett, showing these core exercises that are equally beneficial to men and women.

And, here is a quick version by a babyish 60 year old mois (I’m now 61), going through a demonstration of a good morning routine-
visualized resistance demo with PaleoJay

Another great plus in my mind to doing these virtual resistance exercises is that they can be done daily- the trauma to the muscle tissues is that much less.  This results in a natural looking, chiseled type of muscular development, rather that a bulky, or chunky type of physique- think Greek Sculpture in lie of a Russian Dump Truck...

After a few weeks of eating a Paleo type of diet, walking a lot, sleeping 8 hours per night, and doing virtual exercises on a regular basis, you will really be transformed- physically, mentally, and even spiritually!

That’s how transformative and rejuvenative this returning to the Natural diet and lifestyle meant for us by our Creator, and hard-wired into us by Nature, really is!

Back to the Future, indeed!

After awhile, you will be feeling so healthy and become so energized  that you will naturally just crave more exercise- the feeling of moving your body through nature is built into us as well- this is where another great idea can come into your life-
with Erwann Lecour’s  Movnat !

This is just a system of exercise that, like virtual resistance, is ancient and natural to the human species of animal- simply moving ourselves around through a natural environment, trees and grass, over sticks and around obstacles like rocks, climbing, balancing, jumping, and doing it all barefoot; again, like virtual resistance exercise without equipment and apparatus.  Just bear in mind that Erwann is an advanced example in these videos- start slowly, just walking around your yard or in a park barefoot, running occasionally, and build up to a weekly sprint session!  Experiment with climbing, crawling, and just immersing yourself outside in nature!  Almost all of us have cut ourselves off from nature, turning ourselves into captive Zoo Animals that have lost the ability to get about in our natural environment as God intended...

We really have all that we need to maintain and increase the abilities of our bodies within ourselves!  That is the truth behind all of the misinformation we have been fed since birth, that we need complicated routines and machines, surgeries and drugs, special shoes and clothing to be healthy and fit!

Nothing could be farther from the truth!  As Angelo Coppola of the excellent podcast
http://www.latestinpaleo.com/ puts it, “Humans are not broken by default”.

Amen to that!
In closing, I will mention that I have an ebook on the iBookstore, Amazon, and everywhere else called Perfectly Paleo Exercise goes into much more detail on this topic.

And so- Welcome Back to the Paleo Future!  It’s going to be a heck of a ride, do fire up your inner Delorean and throw in some real, God made fuel and let’s start this ride!

And check back here on a regular basis at www.paleojay.com , and don’t forget to tune in to the PaleoJay podcast, each Monday, on iTunes, Stitcher, the Downcast app for your phone, or even right on your computer at www.paleojay.com !

Questions or comments?  Speak them right into my site on your computer, and I’ll hear what you have to say.  I promise I will respondez vous ...  And, leave a review on iTunes, and I will be forever grateful my friend- again, you are the best listener ever!

God bless us, everyone!

J

Barbarian Fitness and Nutrition- PaleoJay podcast #36

Barbarian fitness and nutrition- PaleoJay podcast #36 on iTunes

Barbarian Fitness and Nutrition- PaleoJay podcast #36- Listen NOW!!

Another designation I have always had for Paleo Quick Start nutrition and exercise is "barbarian fitness".
I know that this just makes people think somewhat negatively about the concept: I mean, weren't barbarians just stupid, and not really "civilized"?

Well, that's right, in a way... they were open to the advantages of civilization, but were also well aware of the weaknesses of civilized living.  Barbarians, in their best sense, have been paleolithic tribal people who also took advantage of the technologies developed by civilized folks when those technologies were to their advantage.

Think of barbarians as living on the "outskirts" of ancient civilizations; primarily Rome.  Germanic tribes were predominant, but there were others; the Celts, the Thracians- many others.

I imagine that they respected the civilized achievements of those Romans, but were highly suspect of the other, what they would have seen as decadent aspects of that same civilization!

I think we, as Paleo folk, are kin to the barbarians:

Living on the outskirts of a civilization that we realize has become... decadent.
Poisoning the environment, lacking in morals, even eating foods that are sadly lacking in the nutrition needed by vital, active humans- barbarians are willing to AVAIL themselves of the benefits of civilization, but are also all too aware of the drawbacks of the lifestyle- the Neolithic grains, the relinquishing of basic human rights to an aristocracy and priestly class- the subservience of civilized stratified life!

So, as "barbarian fitness" practitioners, we should imagine ourselves as living "on the edge" of a corrupt empire, taking advantage where we can from it's bounty, but also cutting ourselves off from the many corrupt shortcomings that have settled into it's workings...

Take the BEST of civilization, and PRESERVE the best of our hunter/gatherer forebears_

This is the role of the BARBARIAN!

To take the best of both worlds.  A kind of hunter/gatherer- civilized person amalgam.

And, speaking of taking advantage of the best way of doing things, let’s talk about sculpting your body- weights and machines are the best way, right?

Wrong!  This is another case of civilized thinking getting it wrong- machines isolate individual muscle planes of motion, and build mostly just bulk.  Free weights, while a better option, also primarily build muscle bulk, and when you haven’t developed the all -important mind-to-muscle connection that is what really lets you tense and develop the musculature with symmetry and proportion- kind of the look of a classic greek statue, not a 300 pound lineman or Olympic or power lifter...

The very best, and most accessible option for maximum safety and optimum results for both men and women is visualized resistance!

You’ll almost never hear this talked about, simply because, just like the Paleo/Ancestral/Primal/Barbarian diet- there is nothing to sell!

You just tense the muscles of your body, methodically, throughout their complete range of motion, kind of a “flexing meditation” that you perform through each plane of motion in turn, until your whole body has been stretched, renewed, and stimulated to grow and shape itself in the very best way for your own genotype!

Sounds too good to be true, I know, but it really is the best thing since sliced brea---, uh, no, I mean since grass finished beef liver on the grill with hollandaise sauce!

Just add in some bodyweight exercise to finish- pushups, chinups, straight legged situps, hindu pushups and hindu squats, and finally some sprinting once a week or so...

You will naturally develop your body to it’s own God given potential, and most NATURAL, appealing, and functional state.

 I do have an eBook about it, explaining the how-to’s in detail, but there is also plenty of info right on my site at www.paleojay.com

So- eat like a barbarian, train like a barbarian, and you will look, feel and perform like a barbarian!  And that is definitely a positive!


J

Visualized Resistance Exercise- How To!

Ok, today I show you a simple little video that you can easily replicate, and add into your daily routine!

This is the high reach, and is really good at both rehabbing shoulders, including the oft injured rotator cuff.  The key is to slowly move through the motion, feeling each part of the exercise by consciously tensing the musculature throughout- the back, the shoulders, the arms- all are gently yet very thoroughly exercised in this way.

The exciting part of this type of exercise, besides it being very convenient is that it is extremely safe.  You are always in control of the resistance, since you are supplying it yourself!  You can do this in front of the TV in your living room, outside in the sunlight and fresh air- virtually anywhere- and there is zero compression of your spine and other tissues.  It's just a really good way to go, with no downside; something you can't say about almost any other form of exercise!  It's free, it's easy to get started, it is very effective, and it leaves you feeling rejuvenated rather than drained!

Here is a link to an earlier blog post, where I show a few more exercises in a brief format-

DO THEM ALL AND EXERCISE YOURSELF FROM HEAD TO TOE!

Paleo Exercise and TV

Good luck in your training!  

J

How to Make Yourself Lean and Healthy!

OK!  You don't want to follow standard medical advice, and common wisdom- you definitely do not want to make yourself Fat and Sick!  Why you wouldn't want to would have most of our M.D.'s and the entire FDA scratching their collective heads in bewilderment, but hey- it's your life!

Eat a Nutrient Dense, High Fat Diet!  

I know, it sounds crazy!  The opposite of what you have been told by authority figures for your entire life! But it is true... each bite you take, each drink you ingest; even what you rub onto your skin- all of these should be as full of nutrients, as healthy with vitamins and minerals as they can possibly be.

You have spent most of your life eating "styrofoam"- food-like substances that kind of fill you up, that taste really good, but, unfortunately, provide very little in the form of substantive nutrition.  Both micro-nutrients, and macro nutrients- the building blocks of your entire body and it's overall health.

YOUR BODY IS LITERALLY STARVING!

It has tons of calories, from fast food and processed foods and breads and pastas etc...  

But it is starving for nutrition that it can actually use to build and restore your body.  

Your body continually says to you "I am hungry"; and you oblige by getting some more crappy food to eat, as listed above.  But that doesn't cut it- your body wants NUTRITION, not empty styrofoam calories!

YOU might care about taste, and good "mouth feel"; your body could care less- it wants useable fuel.

It's as if you have a new Ferrari, and you put cotton candy in the gas tank, so it "tastes wonderful"- 

How would your Ferrari respond to that?

Exercise LESS, but intensely and briefly!

I know, you've been doing tons of cardio, and aerobics, and you just need to do that to burn calories!

Strangely, again, you've been misled.  To lose weight (and I really mean FAT here, not weight per se), you need to build muscle.  More muscle will burn more calories, continually; even at rest.

This is what you want!  Slow, long duration exercise literally teaches your body to store fat, and become better at being weak and slow.  

Try intense, "visualized resistance exercise", sprinting, intervals on a bike at high intensity, body-weight exercises in series of intense effort instead.  (See Charles Atlas above!)  or Perfectly Paleo Exercise

This will have the opposite effect; it will teach your body to build muscle, shed fat, and become stronger and faster.  

Eat NO Whole grains- or any OTHER grains!

This is the most controversial, perhaps, of all of my recommendations... well, they are all controversial in that regard; but- no grains!  

Grains- WHEAT, barley, corn, etc. are loaded with anti- nutrients (poisons), especially since they've become genetically altered in the past 40 years.  WHEAT, in particular, has become a demon weed, nothing like the biblical wheat of the past, or even the wheat of the 1960's!  It has become an irradiated nightmare, that will irritate your intestines, and allow invaders entry to your bloodstream, and thus to YOU!  

I'm talking autoimmune disease, I'm talking arthritis, heart disease, breast and prostate cancer, plantar fasciitis, carpal tunnel... the list is endless- the inflammation from the grains,  how they migrate through the "leaky gut/intestine" into the body have free reign to cause all of these diseases, and more.  

PLUS, wheat and other grains immediately turn to sugar- not in the digestive tract, BUT RIGHT IN YOUR (CAVITY PRONE) MOUTH!   

And sugar is the fertilizer of Cancer.

So, I would not recommend bread, or pizza, or donuts, or pasta, or crack cocaine, or methadrine, or heroin or....

Stay Away from Hospitals and Clinics!

Another controversial topic- will I never learn?  

Did you know that the 3rd leading cause of death in the US is....

Death by Doctor?

The proper term for this is Iatrogenesis, so know that, if you go to the hospital or clinic, you certainly may die.  The drugs they prescribe may kill you, the environment you are in, where superbugs are rampant, since overuse of antibiotics have caused a race of superbugs to proliferate....

You are much better off at home!  

Unless you have a gunshot wound, or are in a car wreck- they are great at that one-shot, fix-it-up stuff!  After that- 

Get back home!  Besides, hospital nutrition, i.e. food SUCKS!

That says a lot, in and of itself.

So, there you have it.  Kind of a huge paradigm shift, I know.  I hate to throw so much on you at once, I really do!  It's tough to absorb- so,

My bottom line, if you've been with me this far?

Cut out grains from your diet!

This means wheat, corn, soy, all of them.  Bread, pasta, pizza, cereal- anything made from WHEAT!  

This also includes bad vegetable oils, like margarine and Crisco and soy and peanut and canola oils- eliminate these non-foods!

Eliminate processed foods- Fast foods, soft drinks of all types- diet or sugared, and all fruit juice and "low fat" types of milk, which are after all just "sugar in a glass"!

And, for now, believe it or not- That's it!!

It's enough!  Just doing that, and that alone, will make you healthy beyond your wildest dreams.  

Even if you smoke cigarettes; that's small potatoes compared to what we are talking here!

You drop the sugar- you drop the grains-

YOU ARE 90% 

THERE!!

Save the "small stuff" for a later time- believe it or not, the cigarettes and the exercise are, in comparison to the food you eat:

SMALL STUFF!

J

Be a Paleo Pirate!

In the words of Steve Jobs:

"Wouldn't you rather be a pirate than join the navy?"

I know I would!  

Who wants to march in lockstep, doing what everyone else is doing, the the 1950's man in the grey flannel suit?  Virtually no one wants to think of themselves in that way.

We all want to be out there, carving out our destiny!  

Well, if you adopt the paleo diet and lifestyle, you are doing just that!

Almost no one understands that eating real food, especially good, natural, God-made FATS is incredibly healthy!  The fat soluble vitamins contained in pastured butter and coconut oil; i.e. fat is key to preserving your health, and ironically your leanness as well!

You probably already know this, if you are a Paleo person...

But why not go all the way, and become-

A PALEO PIRATE!!

Don't hide your light under a bushel- put lots of real whipped cream in your coffee!    Put pastured butter in your paleo smoothie- flaunt it!  I do, I put in butter (Kerrygold Irish butter is available widely), coconut oil, palm oil- you can even add butter or coconut oil to your morning coffee, along with your whipped cream! BE A PIRATE!  Don't be afraid of the S.A.D. Standard American Diet low fat NAVY PEOPLE!!  They are LOSERS!!

YOU are a PIRATE!!  

Carve out your voyage:  Be defiant- do what you know to be right, nutritionally and physically.  

1. Eat lots of good FATS!  Remember that fat does not become fat on your body- BAD, PROCESSED CARBS become FAT on you body!

2. Do NOT eat "healthy whole grains"!  These do become actual body fat in the worst sense of the word.

3. Do NOT engage in "chronic cardio", or endless sessions of "aerobic style, low intensity, long slow distance types of exercise".  They do nothing except wear down your joints- calorie burning, or, more importantly fat burning is almost nonexistent.  

4.  DO strength training!  Briefly and intensely is perfect!  

5. Do NOT use weights!!  Here is the ultimate piratical notion personified!!!  Almost NO ONE agrees with this, but I am here to tell you- 

You Don't Need Weights!!

Really...  you don't need free weights, you don't need machines, you don't need a gym membership...  I believe that weight lifting is in the same camp as chronic cardio, a recipe to destroy joints, and destroy health long term!  Yikes!  Did I really say that??

To maximize your body's potential, all you need is... drum roll....

YOUR OWN BODY!

Perfectly Paleo Exercise indeed!  Bodyweight exercise, self-resisted exercise, and, the ultimate lynchpin to all of these:

Visualized resistance exercise

Actually, that alone is all that you really require for optimum fitness and body composition, along with proper, paleo diet...

I know, it all sounds crazy- eat fat to lose fat... exercise less, without equipment to optimize your lean body potential...

But it is all true!  

Be a Pirate, Matey!

Ignore the Navy and the mainstream-

DO WHAT YOU KNOW IS RIGHT

AND BE A 

PALEO PIRATE!!

Arrggghhh!

J

The Perfect Paleo Exercise!

You've heard of weight lifting/ strength training/bodybuilding










You've heard of power lifting.

You've heard of Olympic lifting!

You've even heard of Movnat!

Movnat is a great step in the right direction...

But, what you have NOT heard of is...

Visualized Resistance!   (Here are all the exercises you need, in a form you can easily duplicate.  Thank John Peterson and Wendy Pett for the demonstrations, but then, just do them, daily).

This is the stuff that Charles Atlas made his reputation from-  self resistance generated within the muscles!  It is also known as DYNAMIC TENSION!  (Remember from the comic books??)
The Comic Books withstanding...  it WORKS!!

You just- self resist throughout the range of motion.  So simple it seems almost... fake!

But it is not at all!  I honestly believe that, for MOST people, Visualized resistance is ALL that they really need to be totally fit!!  


That, and a completely PALEO DIET, eschewing grains and sugars, primarily!

I really think that, from a "Moving Naturally" and a "Paleo" perspective; i.e. getting back to what is natural for humans, nothing is more natural than this self resisted, cat-like means of natural exercise!

And NOW, my new eBook is out on Amazon- Perfectly Paleo Exercise
Soon to also be available on all other vendors, including the iBookstore...

Bottom line?

Fix your diet!  Eliminate grains and sugars.  NOW!!  
That is at least 80% of the battle!!

For the rest of the battle?  Well, I would say:

Incorporate a paleo smoothie that immediately fixes the deficiencies in your diet that you've had for decades:   


All of the micro-nutrients, proteins, intestinal-repair and rejuvenating agents, vitamins, minerals, and just plain nutrient dense foods that you've been lacking for... decades, at least!


That is MOST of the battle!  REALLY!


But, after you've incorporated all of the dietary changes that will revolutionize how you look, feel, and perform...


Well, you need to perform!  


These exercises will help you to do just that:

Safely- Easily (No equipment needed!!)- and VERY effectively!!


I know, I am a lone voice in the wilderness on this; but trust me:

Weight lifting is a dead end.  Body weight resistance is not only adequate...

It is really all you need!!  


AND SELF RESISTANCE (VISUALIZED ESPECIALLY) IS THE BEST KEPT SECRET IN NATURAL HEALTH!


Just try it, please!   Coupled with a paleo diet there is nothing better for you.

I think it doesn't catch on, primarily, because, just like the Paleo Diet-

THERE IS NOTHING TO SELL!!


J