When you ask most people what it takes to be fit, you get some pretty wild answers. Hours on the treadmill or pounding pavement every day. Hours in the weight room. Obsessing over how to turn every moment of the day into an opportunity for some kind of workout move.
I never liked what I heard, and after many decades of overtraining, I decided it was time to come up with a sane alternative—Primal Blueprint Fitness as I’ve called it over the years. It boils down to three logical steps all rooted in ancestral patterns people lived for hundreds of thousands of years:
Primal Blueprint Law #3: Move Frequently
Primal Blueprint Law #4: Lift Heavy Things
Primal Blueprint Law #5: Sprint Once in a While
All told, it’s a handful of hours a week, most of it moving frequently. In addition to those 4-5 hours a week of walking or other light movement, throw in an hour’s worth of strength training and 15 minutes of sprint time. There you go. Do that, and you’ll be in darn good shape.
Read MoreIt’s Giving Tuesday, and while I know the world is full of good causes, today I’m highlighting one close to my heart. It’s one I’ve contributed to significantly because it matters on so many levels.
I’ve spent nearly 14 years working against the tide of misinformation out there around human health and agricultural agenda. Diana Rodgers has worked tirelessly and creatively for the same purpose. She’s just launched a crowdfunding campaign to finish what I think will be one of the most groundbreaking, revolutionary documentary films ever—one that has the power to turn the public conversation around health and ecology. But she needs support to finish and distribute this film, and that’s why I’m sharing her campaign today.
Read more and watch her video to see for yourself.
Read MoreEarlier this year, I collaborated on a pair of papers (1, 2) with Matthew Wallden, Global Head of Institute of Education for the Chek Institute and an absolute obsessive when it comes to applying ancestral lessons to modern life. The papers were all about how humans today are failing to honor their tissues at rest: by sitting in chairs, slumping on couches, and slouching at the computer. The sad fact is, we’re ignoring the myriad ancestral or archetypal resting positions that humans have been using for hundreds of thousands of years, and this is having huge consequences on our health.
Read MoreAs you might have noticed, I’ve been doing more mini-videos about my daily routines, training regimens, and other thoughts on health. After some initial trepidation and a lot of demand from readers, I find I actually really enjoy doing them. They’re a great way to get a quick take on a topic and give a visual representation of all this stuff I talk about on the blog. They don’t take that long to make. People like them, find them helpful. It’s actually the perfect medium to complement my writing.
In the past, I’ve done videos on a broad range of topics: active workstations, standup paddling, Ultimate Frisbee, the evolution of my fitness routine and outlook, microworkouts, slacklining, and my coffee routine. Today, I’m showing a video about my favorite exercise: the trap-bar deadlift.
Read MoreIf you’ve been here for any appreciable amount of time, you know how insane my fitness routine used to be.
I used to run 10-20 miles EVERY SINGLE DAY.
A “short ride” would be 100 miles. Uphill.
Rest days? I’d rest when I was physically unable to move.
It wasn’t even a fitness routine because it was counterproductive. It didn’t make me fitter in the holistic sense. I wasn’t even very strong, mobile, or explosive. I was “fit” only in a single domain.
Read More“Has Mark given up Primal?” I get this question all the time, and I’m not surprised. Over the past few years, I’ve really focused on exploring the utility, applications, and ins and outs of the ketogenic diet. Why?
I’m still Primal and have been for over a decade. That won’t ever change. And you can go Primal—drop industrial seed oils, added sugar, and grains—and be perfectly fine. Better than 95%. You’ll lose body fat, gain energy and performance, and reduce your risk of degenerative disease. It will always be the foundation of my eating—and living. But I see (and have experienced) keto as a boost, an enhancement, a Reset. A return. Today I’m answering some questions around this idea with a new video.
Read MoreSprinting workouts are often the missing piece in people’s fitness repertoire. Even devoted fitness buffs—the ones who post daily gym selfies, keep detailed workout diaries, and top their Strava leaderboards—may neglect this critical component of well-rounded fitness. Some consider sprinting too risky. They’re haunted by images of an Olympic sprinter pulling up short with a strained hamstring in the middle of a gold-metal race. Others think sprints are too short to make a difference. How much payoff can you really get from a workout where the active sets last three or four minutes max?
Those concerns are understandable but unfounded.
The benefits of sprinting are profound. Upping your sprint game can help you make an assortment of breakthroughs, from fat loss to fitness performance (including in endurance and ultra-endurance events). And while sprinting obviously carries a higher injury risk than low-intensity movements like walking or lap swimming, it’s also quite safe… when done correctly.
Read MoreLast week I shared with you how I cook my steaks. Today I’m covering another grilled favorite—chicken. A lot of people hesitate to grill chicken, especially skinless chicken, and rightly so. Its leanness means that high heat has the propensity to dry it out…unless you know how to marinate well. My daughter, Devyn, came up with what’s become my favorite way to grill chicken. It’s simple and virtually effortless. See what I mean….
Read MoreHappy Monday, everybody. I’m welcoming you to my backyard today with one of my all-time Primal (and keto) favorites: grilled steak. It doesn’t get much better than a juicy New York strip hot off the grill. Throw in a generous side of broccolini and some steak sauce (I happen to know a good one), and that’s dinner for me.
Grilling a steak isn’t hard work, but a few things can make a big difference for the end result. Check out the video below to see how I do it.
Read MoreLindsay and I are back today with another video in our new Primal + Keto Made Easy Cooking Series. (Check out past videos here. There will be many more to come over the next several weeks.)
This week we’ve got another great Primal + keto snack, and this time it’s a sweet treat anybody (Primal or not) will gravitate to. I’m cooking with two of my personal favorites: dark chocolate and macadamia nuts. Fair warning: be sure to make a good size batch.
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Ⓒ 2023 Mark's Daily Apple
