23 Oct

Book Tour Update

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Picture5 Book Tour Update

(This video can’t be embedded, so when you click the screen you’ll be directed to a new site – kcra.com – that hosts the video.)

An update on last week’s event announcement:

Early this week I hit the road for a mini book tour in Northern California. I started off shooting a spot on NBC’s local news affiliate (KCRA) in Sacramento (video above). Between this and a stop at another local news station (this time in Reno, NV) I had the pleasure of giving my first official Primal Blueprint PowerPoint presentation to CrossFit Genesis and other Primal enthusiasts in Roseville, CA. The response was overwhelming. It was unbelievably inspiring to meet people one-on-one that are turning their lives around with the PB lifestyle behaviors. You see, I get emails every day from readers with success stories; we have dozens of them showcased here, and many others have been featured on MDA. I cherish every one of these as life affirming tales of personal triumph. But there is something altogether different to have someone approach you, tears welling up in their eyes, to tell you that you’ve changed their life. It was an incredible experience for which I am immensely grateful.

I want to thank everyone that came out. And special thanks goes out to Phil Mancini at CrossFit Genesis for being such a gracious host. I had a wonderful time and hope to be able to do it again sometime.

As The Primal Blueprint begins to make its way on to store shelves I’ll be holding more speeches and events like this. In fact, in early November I’ll be back on the road. This time to San Francisco to film a spot on ABC’s “View of the Bay”. I am planning on setting up another speech or two, so if you’re in the San Francisco area stay tuned. I’ll be providing updates in the next couple weeks.

Check back tomorrow for another reader-submitted Primal recipe. Have a great weekend, everyone, and Grok on!

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22 Oct

Bodyweight Exercises and Injury Prevention

IMG 2289 Bodyweight Exercises and Injury PreventionDespite our recent spate of posts extolling the many and varied benefits of heavy resistance training, I’ve actually been moving away from the weight room for a couple reasons. Foremost is my desire to stay active and as injury-free as possible. While I still wholeheartedly endorse and believe in lifting hard and lifting heavy, at my age I’m starting to realize that the potential for injury – at least for me, personally – is too great to risk spending three days lifting heavy things on a weekly basis. At this point in my life, my motivation is simply different. I’m not really interested in pushing myself to the limit, let alone past the limit (realistically, those days are behind me); I’m instead focusing on maintaining my current performance. It’s almost a Buddhist thing where I’m content with my strength and my body (and have been for a long time now), rather than dissatisfied and constantly striving for more. I also Grok (or “own”) the notion that my diet dictates 80% of my body composition, so I really don’t have to work so hard to maintain muscle mass, strength, power, body fat etc. I’ve touched on this in the past, but a recent email from reader Griffin made me realize a substantial post was in order.

Keep reading…

21 Oct

The Danger of Muscle Imbalances and the Importance of Symmetry

musculature The Danger of Muscle Imbalances and the Importance of SymmetrySymmetry is a beautiful thing. It seems to be nature’s preferred state, at least in the structure of organisms: two eyes for stereoscopic vision (the better to hunt you with), two legs of equal length for injury-free traversal of the environment, two hands, two arms. For all intents and purposes, the two sides of the body are approximate mirror images of each other, with corresponding muscles and ligaments and tendons. Our anatomical symmetry is obviously a product of evolution, because a balanced body simply works better. Kids born with right legs an inch or two shorter than the left are more prone to injury, just as cars with bigger wheels on the left will be more prone to disrepair. Objective human beauty is determined by symmetry of the facial structure, as if we’re innately drawn to balance. A balanced body structure, too, is objectively attractive, because it connotes strength and competence in matters of survival (war, hunting, protection). It becomes clear that if symmetry weren’t important for survival in this environment, it wouldn’t have been selected for, we wouldn’t be drawn to it, and plants and animals would have assumed entirely different forms. Maybe we’d be amorphous blobs just kind of oozing around (as opposed to the amorphous blobs with legs and arms that presently populate our planet).

Keep reading…

20 Oct

How to Maintain Muscle While Losing Weight

weightscale muscle loss How to Maintain Muscle While Losing Weight“Losing weight” is insufficient terminology. It’s too vague, too unspecific. When a person sets out to lose weight, just what are they trying to lose? Bone density? Muscle mass? Organ weight? Of course not – they’re generally looking to lose adipose tissue. People want to burn body fat, and they want to do it without negatively impacting the more beneficial sources of (corporeal) gravitas. Simply put, you want to lose fat, not muscle. The only problem is that the popular methods for shedding weight often result in excessive (but really, any amount is excessive) muscle loss, too. I’m talking, of course, about precisely the practices I rail against in the Primal Blueprint Chronic Cardio, ultra low-cal/low-fat ascetic dieting, and other trappings of Conventional Fitness Wisdom. Granted, adhering to any, individually or in concert, will probably help you lose weight, but a ton of it will come from your lean mass (not to mention bones and organs). That said, if you’re going for skinny-fat chic or the waiflike, undernourished look, feel free to run fifteen miles a day and live off canned tuna and rice cakes. The scale will drop, and you won’t be weighed down by that pesky musculature any longer.

Keep reading…

19 Oct

Dear Mark: Depression Diet?

pastry Dear Mark: Depression Diet?I occasionally get emails from readers who are interested in lifestyle changes that can either complement or replace their conventional treatments for depression. Since our post a few weeks ago on antidepressants, I’ve gotten a slew of emails asking me about the role of nutrition in mental health. In response I thought I’d devote a Dear Mark to the general question of diet and depression. Thanks to all who wrote in or commented on the boards or forum!

It comes as no surprise that nutrition directly impacts brain performance just as it does the functioning of every other organ. Although the roots of clinical depression involve a complex (and theoretically contentious) mix of physiological, genetic and socio-emotional factors, the physical picture hones in on neurotransmitters, chemical messengers that travel between nerves in the brain. Of all the neurotransmitters, the key players in mood disorders are dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin. When we talk about a diet that supports mental health, we’re essentially looking at nutrition that sustains both optimal neurological functioning and hormone balance.

Keep reading…

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