CST Free Weight Exercises By Scott Sonnon

About a month ago I promised a review of Mark Sisson’s new book “The Primal Blueprint“.

I’ve been chewing over what to say about the book. I’ve read it and re-read sections. I’ve smiled at parts, been stimulated, learned things and been refreshed by the simple wisdom. The sort of things I’ve been writing about here for the last couple of years - adequate sleep, intermittent fasting, sprints/intervals, walking, weights, a low carb diet, minimal chronic stress, play - are pulled together into a meta narrative, a big story that makes sense of fitness, food, stress and more.

I don’t want to be accused of sycophancy (again) but this really is a great book - accessible without being dumbed down. If someone wanted to read something that would sum up what I think is the cutting edge in health and fitness, this is where I’d point them.

The science is there - I think Mark expects intelligent readers - but it is well presented and explained so that you can make sense of what he is talking about.

After introducing the Ten Primal Blueprint Laws in Chapter 1, Mark gives us a parable of the laws and how far we have departed from this great Torah. We meet Grok and his modern antithesis - Korg. Grok naturally follows the laws..he has to, they define his life. Korg of course has departed far from that way of life. His food and movement is fundamentally unnatural.

Then Mark exlains the laws in detail - how to eat, how to exercise, to rest. Yes the rationale is doing what Grok would have done….but naturally we find that this is also what is healthy.

Lots of the material is on Mark’s website, but here it is drawn together, integrated into a convincing and compelling argument that is difficult to challenge.

A nice thing as well is that this book is fun! Eating and moving like this is not work, it is play. It is doing what you were built for, what you were designed for. And when you do that you will be having fun!

Highly recommended!

(more…)

(more…)

Here’s a secret of getting things done when you’re hesitating, procrastinating, not looking forward to it, or otherwise stalling or trying to put off doing something … Just get started!
What I Go Through Every Morning.
Every morning the alarm goes off and I wake up … instantly think “It’s that time already?” … quickly go through [...]

Related posts:

1. Never Wait - Ready, Fire, Aim! I want to share with you one of the most…
2. Become Superior By Making Mistakes Read this powerful quote, and think about it for just…
3. What To Do When You Don’t Feel Like Working Out At some point during your fitness journey you’ll feel like…

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
(more…)

Today marks two years to the day since Cressey Performance opened.

Looking at some relatively recent research, you’ll find that the US Bureau of Labor Statistics finds that 34% of small business start-ups are no longer in existence two years after their inception.  So, the logical assumption is that we’re automatically more awesome than at least [...]
(more…)

Ok, I think Frank’s Exuberant Animal stuff is really good (this talk is superb) and he is coming to Edinburgh later this year to do a seminar with Rannoch. ……. but surely you could do all this with a sledgehammer or a shovelglove?

(more…)

We’ve mentioned Methode Naturelle before in connection with Erwan Le Corre. Wikipedia describes this Natural Methode as

A (Natural Method) session is composed of exercises belonging to the ten fundamental groups: walking, running, jumping, quadrupedal movement, climbing, equilibrium (balancing), throwing, lifting, defending and swimming.

A training session consists, then, of exercises in an outdoor environment - a course of greater or lesser distance (a few hundred meters to several kilometers), during which, one walks, one runs, one jumps, one progresses quadrupedally, one climbs, one walks in unstable balance, one raises and one carries, one throws, one fights and one swims.

Erwan, in his MovNat philosophy, has taken this basic approach and developed it, adding some of his own ideas.

The American Parkour site has just posted a fascinating document.

Pilou, a Primal Fitness and DC local who grew up in France has found, translated, then made available for us, Georges Herbert’s “Methode Naturelle.” He writes:

“For the past few months, I have been reading and experimenting with Georges Hébert’s physical education guide from 1912 that I found digitized on Google Books. I think most traceurs have heard something about Georges Hébert, the “Natural Method” and how it somehow relates to Parkour. Thanks to that book, I was able to see for myself what it was all about, and I have to admit that I have been very impressed.”

The PDF is here

Donwload it - it is interesting, even just as an historical document.

(more…)

Despite what the advertising says, Red Bull apparently is not an energy drink!

Effect of Sugar-Free Red Bull Energy Drink on High-Intensity Run Time-to-Exhaustion in Young Adults.

Consuming sugar-free Red Bull energy drink before exercise has become increasingly popular among exercising individuals. The main purported active ingredient in sugar-free Red Bull is caffeine, which has been shown to increase aerobic exercise performance.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of sugar-free Red Bull energy drink on high-intensity run time-to-exhaustion in young adults. Physically active university students (n = 17, 9 men, 8 woman; 21 +/- 4 years, 73.4 +/- 3.1 kg, 175.1 +/- 3.2 cm) participated in a double-blind, crossover, repeated-measures study where they were randomized to supplement with sugar-free Red Bull (2 mg.kg body mass caffeine or ~147 mg caffeine; 4 kcal/250 mL) and noncaffeinated, sugar-free placebo (lemon-lime flavored soft drink, tonic water, lime juice; 4 kcal/250 mL) separated by 7 days. Exercise capacity was assessed by a run time-to-exhaustion test at 80% &OV0312;o2max, perceived exertion was assessed immediately after exercise, and blood lactate was measured before and after exercise. There were no differences in run time-to-exhaustion (Red Bull: 12.6 +/- 3.8 minutes, placebo: 11.8 +/- 3.4 minutes), perceived exertion (Red Bull: 17.1 +/- 2.0, placebo: 16.6 +/- 1.8), or blood lactate between groups. In conclusion, sugar-free Red Bull energy drink did not influence high-intensity run time-to-exhaustion in young adults.

(more…)

This is some Challenge, underway as I write.

On 29th May 2009 at 11.30pm, Richard Dunwoody started a 1000 Mile Challenge to walk the same mile 1000 consecutive times (from the Bedford Lodge hotel in Newmarket up the Bury Road to a post half a mile away and back again) for a 1000 consecutive hours with the last mile up the home straight of Newmarket racecourse just before the Ladbrokes Bunbury Cup on 10th July 2009.

In 1809 Captain Robert Barclay Allardice was bet that he couldn’t walk 1000 miles in 1000 hours for 1000 Guineas – meaning he had to walk one mile in every consecutive hour 24 hours a day – the challenge therefore taking 42 days with the maximum an hour and 20 minutes sleep at any one time (if you walk back to back miles in different hours). He completed the challenge on 12th July 1809, losing three stone in the process with his challenge hailed as ‘one of the greatest human feats ever attempted.’

200 years on, champion jockey, polar explorer and BBC presenter, Richard Dunwoody MBE is recreating this challenge walking the same mile 1000 times in Newmarket – 1000 miles in 1000 hours but this time to raise a substantial sum for charity – Alzheimer’s Society, SPARKS, Racing Welfare and Spinal Research

.

Think about what is going on here - walking 24 miles a day, every day….with no significant sleep……

Barclay is an amazing character.

(more…)

(more…)

Kurt contacted me today to tell me about his blog which is focussing on paleo nutrition.

The Blog is at

PāNu
paleolithic nutrition - duplicating the evolutionary metabolic milieu

It is a superb resource. Kurt is a medical doctor - a radiologist - who was made aware of the paleo diet after hearing Gary Taubes speak. He is addressing a range of topics really well, including Paleo Booze, intermittent fasting and paleo on a budget.

An excellent resource that is now in my Google Reader!

(more…)