I Am a Better Man in Every Sense of the Word
It’s Friday, everyone! And that means another Primal Blueprint Real Life Story from a Mark’s Daily Apple reader. If you have your own success story and would like to share it with me and the Mark’s Daily Apple community please contact me here. I’ll continue to publish these each Friday as long as they keep coming in. Thank you for reading!
Mark,
I have to start by saying thank you for providing me with the tools that allowed me to change my life.
I live in New England and as a former “New Englander” you know very well that we enjoy our food, especially in the winter months. I grew up eating what my parents fed me which was mostly comprised of the typical standard American diet foods. Luckily, I was very active throughout my childhood and into my teens, playing sports year round, so I was able to stay in relatively good shape without worrying what I stuffed into my pie hole. Needless to say, after school was finished I started gaining weight. Same ol’ song and dance, the sports stopped and the pounds rushed on.
I became a firefighter/paramedic which if there is anyone involved with public safety you’ll know that the meals cooked at the station are so incredibly carb heavy that it’s difficult to get up for the bell even hours after the traditional “face stuffing”. Anyway, from my late teens until a few months ago I tried and tried to “eat healthy” and go to the gym as often as I could. Inevitably, “eating healthy” left me starving, and getting married and having my first child allowed almost NO time for the gym… I needed a change.
I did as much research as I could on living a healthy lifestyle. Due to the MASS confusion of healthy living I sort of ran around in circles for quite a while. It started by reading magazines like Men’s Health and Men’s Fitness, etc. What I found was that these magazines promoted quick and “easy” ways to sick pack abs and huge arms. The magazines were primarily focused on exercise, particularly easy exercise. I followed the so-called easy way to six pack abs and huge arms, lo and behold… beer gut and weak arms.
I knew at this point I needed a fundamental change. I hadn’t ever felt a dire need for immediate change until I began getting injured at work. With all the lifting and carrying of sick patients I do on a weekly basis I began to feel nagging back pain, weakness, fatigue, and then finally a back spasm that put me out of work for two weeks and made me a frequent flyer at my chiropractor. Right around this time I landed my dream career profession – a full-time career firefighter. I couldn’t have been happier. I started the fire academy in late May of 2011, trained hard and met some great friends that I’ll have for the rest of my life. In particular I became close with a guy named Mike. Mike is an avid CrossFitter who in my opinion was the fittest guy I had ever met. He was strong as hell(!) and agile, which confused me due to his size and strength. In essence, I was incredibly jealous. I believed I was in great shape, but it was at the cost of being sore and stiff all the time.
One day about 2 months after we had finished the fire academy, Mike and I happened to land on the same engine company for the shift. I finally built up the courage to ask for some advice, which was difficult because I thought I had it all figured out and was just in a short remission from being fit. Anyway, I shared my dilemma with Mike and asked, what the heck do you do beside CrossFit? He said one word to me that literally changed my life: PALEO. At first I thought it was ridiculous, there was no way I could give up pasta, bread and whole wheat products, they’re healthy… or so I thought. I finally gave myself a slap upside the head and said to myself, “If Mike is this successful, there must be something to this Paleo thing.” I began my research. Being a fiend for knowledge, I couldn’t stop reading. The first book I purchased was your book, The Primal Blueprint. After reading it, everything made so much sense to me that I couldn’t believe that this wasn’t common knowledge. Following The Primal Blueprint I read Robb Wolf’s The Paleo Solution. Needless to say, I immediately began putting my knowledge into practice and the results just began reinforcing everything that I had learned.
After about 6 months I went from 225 lbs to 198 lbs, and from about 17-18% body fat to approximately 8-9% body fat. My nagging back injuries disappeared. My fatigue completely disappeared. I had my first child as previously stated, my son Jack, and now I’m a dad that’s full of energy as well as a husband who is never too tired and fatigued for our true primal instincts! *wink wink* My main point here is that this change of lifestyle has made me a better husband, a better father, a better firefighter/paramedic and in general, a better man in every sense of the word, and I cannot thank you enough for being a 50-something year old man who can still drive a 27 year old man to be as strong/agile and sharp as you are. This June I’m headed back up to Maine to hike Mt. Katahdin for the second time, and I’m gonna give it hell this time around! Grok on!!!
Grab a Copy of The Primal Blueprint 21-Day Total Body Transformation and Start Getting Primal Today!
Posted By: Mark Sisson
Congrats! You sound happy and look amazing!
Awesome transformation. Enjoy Maine!
“wink wink” indeed!
Touching. I love hearing about the deep internal changes that going Primal causes. Congrats!
Awesome results! Are you also doing CrossFit now?
I did crossfit for a short time, too expensive monthly, So I adopted the idea of crossfit. I write up a workout before i do it, usually full body. About 2 exercises per major body area, (push ups)(pull ups)(squats)(core/abs) with a cut off at about 100 reps each and do it as quickly as possible without my form lacking. Depending inthe exercises it takes between 30-40 minutes. That twice a week with one beach sprint day thrown in weekly.
Steve,
Is that all you really do for exercise (2X/week) and a sprint day? You look like you are as fit as an ox. I have been training relentlessly for a long time now, trying to pack on quite a few lean pounds, but without progress. I also write my routines with a crossfit twist. I have been exercising 4-5 days/week but cannot seem to add on the muscle. I am currently 6’1″ and weight a meager 145-148 lbs. Any suggestions and/or advice will be greatly appreciated. Awesome work!
Too much! See here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PdJFbjWHEU
It seems a little odd, and I couldn’t get used to the idea of working out twice a week but muscle needs ample recovery time for maximum effective growth. The only catch is that by the end of the workout I’m almost ready to puke, it might not be for everyone but I’ve found that two ULTRA intense workouts a week compared to 5-6 putter around workouts because I’m sore as hell from the day before are MUCH more effective. I have the energy to do a full body ass kicking and then about 4 days to fully recover. When I notice my soreness almost gone I do it all over again, pretty simple. Might not work for everyone but it sure did for me
My advice is to go back to the primal basics and don’t get pulled into the “chronic cardio” paradigm. Its always tempting to believe that doing more = more, but its really not true. I do a regime of 2 x body weight workout per week (pullups, pushups, squats), 30-40 minute max, FULL effort. A once a week full out sprint session (10-15 mins max), and once or twice very slow long run/walk of 1 hour, or more if possible, but heart rate never above 70-75%. The key is intensity – with the weight training doing less at higher intensity is much better than 5,6 times a week just going through the motions. You body will adapt to the Maximum load you put on it, so you must raise that maximum, and allow plenty of recovery time, less recovery time = less ability to “max out”
Sorry – should also mention in the weight training, cover the 5 “primal” workout areas, ie, Back, Legs, Core, Shoulders, Chest – and the once a week (and no more !) sprint session is critical to triggering the changes in your body, you can almost feel the HGH flowing in your system after a sprint session…
Great workout approach. Thanks for sharing. I am struggling to come up with something crossfit inspired. But I don’t want to pay 300 dollars a month, or give up rational planning, or do high rep oly lifting. I like some crossfit ideas and intensity, but I just can’t drink the kool aid.
Hey,
Thanks for the information. Could you post an example of your workout I may benefit from adjusting my routine to something similar. Perhaps less is more…
Thanks
Yesterday was like this:
Wide decline pushups x100
Medicine ball push ups (one ball, diamond hands) x100
Wide pull ups x100 ( I can’t do 100 pull ups in a session so I do as many as possible 30ish.. Than do 10 second negative reps counting as 10 pull ups. So I did 7 negative reps) 70 seconds worth.
Chin ups x100 (same premise)
Body weight squats x 200
Jackknife crunches x100
Medicine ball mason twist x 300
Doug, you NEED to read “starting strength” and follow the program to a T. You can thank me in a few months.
Fantastic before/after contrast. You give hope to the rest of us.
Awesome transformation! How do you handle eating primally when the rest of the guys on the truck may not necessarily be primal?
I love it when the benefits of this lifestyle go all the way around our own world so to speak. Congratulations!
Congrats! So happy for you!
hubba, hubba!
Looking at the 2 images, it’s just incredible. I’ll definitely get this book and see if this helps.
“After reading it, everything made so much sense to me” How many times have we all said or heard this?
Great story, great transformation. I wish I knew about primal when I was your age.
And you look younger too!! It never ceases to amaze me how everybody peels off years with primal. I’d have thought you were 35 in that first picture, but now you look like a guy in his twenties–a super hot guy in his twenties. (Excuse me please, it’s just the cougar coming out. LOL)
Now, now ladies… No drooling. Just because he’s 198 lbs of tall, dark, and heroic… um… Sorry, I forgot what I was going to say.
You know what I’ve noticed about the primal/paleo community? There seems to be a high incidence of men who are not only happy to be strong and healthy, but happy to be *happy.* Most importantly, I see so many guys around here who are just as thrilled about being good fathers and partners as they are about how cut they are in the mirror.
In short, this place seems to be where the Real Men all are ;D Congrats on joining the club!
(Also, all that AND a firefighter? Youd better get your wife on the paleo bandwagon quick cause shes gonna need some strength and agility to fight off all us other paleo girls and defend your honor ;D )
I second that, it’s good to see that REAL men are here and thriving. If I’m every in the dating pool again, I’m finding a Primal man!
Paleo / primal dating site, anyone…?
I actually got frustrated with my Match dates, googled “paleo dating,” and my boyfriend’s OK Cupid profile came up. I joined the site just so I could see the rest of his profile (his food entry: “paleo + cheats”) and 10 months later he is the best thing that’s happened to me!
Irish twins coming up!
Glad I wasn’t drinking anything, ’cause this made me LOL!
whooo hoo you look HOT!
and THANK YOU for putting your life on the line to save others!
As for nagging back pains, doing the “superman” is very helpful, for many, in case anyone is looking for a good exercise to sooth an aching back.
Hippocrates always spoke about the importance of a healthy back.
Nowadays, back pains are almost the norm for many with prevalence of desk jobs involving being hunched over a desk for 8 or so hours a day.
Indeed, I began doing a lot of core work. Which helped strengthen the back essentially from the inside out, it all started falling into place once I started that.
looking good!
Hot hot hot!
More pictures please.
Loved your story! Thanks for sharing. Grok on!
Honestly, I’d be happy if my “after” picture looked like his “before” picture.
Lol! That’s the thing about pre-Paleo. Sometimes you think you don’t look or feel so bad (yes he looks pretty good in the original pic) until you really go Paleo and your world will never be the same again.
Yah me too. Im 240 at 5’6 tall. I am just starting Primal and frankly I am hoping for results like this. just started getting off the bread and “healthy whole grains”
In a word – wow! Great job and very inspiring story.
Wow, what a transformation! Like you, I find it hard to believe that Primal/Paleo isn’t common knowledge, it makes so much sense once you get past the initial disbelief.
even his hairs desapeared. incredible!
Wow you look great, how tall are you? I have seen what the guys at a fire station eat. How do you avoid that..with all the time you have to spend there?
Wow you look fantastic! What a transformation. Hot!!! I just love Fridays…..I’m going for a lie down!
Haha thanks everyone, I appreciate all the kind words. I’m 6’1. It’s not easy to turn down all of those big meals, and I catch a lot of crap for it. But I already know how it’d make me feel physically. It feels a lot better waking up tight every morning instead of bloated.
Do you respond by showing them your six pack or challenging them to a sprint?
You look amazing. Thanks for sharing.
Awesome transformation. I wish more firefighters and EMTs would go primal, it’s nice to know you’re strong and agile for people who need you! It’s interesting, looks like you lost your hair as well… (kidding).