I want to explain my stance on limiting the use of squats and deadlifts. I don't believe they are terrible exercises. I think they have a place in the routines for some people, depending upon their goals. Do I believe that either of these should be labeled the "king of exercise" that so many people claim them to be? Not by a mile.

[Here’s a fit couple walking down the beach. Both of them could probably add quite a bit of mass to their legs with a routine based around squats…but should they?]
Squats: The Best Exercise to Add Mass to Your Lower Body

Want to add a lot of mass to your legs, hips, and butt? Squats are the answer. Want to increase the weight on the scale? Squats will do that too. No doubt about it…squats will definitely add a lot of muscle to your body quickly. Although they do work […]

Original post by admin

pimg class=”alignright” title=”Cashews” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202011/cashews.jpg” alt=”cashews” width=”320″ height=”212″ /Last week, I scrutinized the a title=”Is It Primal? – 8 More Foods Scrutinized” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/is-it-primal-10-foods-scrutinized/”#8220;Primality#8221; of ten commonly wondered-about foods/a. It garnered a lot of follow-up comments and emails, so I figured I#8217;d do another round. This time I only covered eight, but I hope you#8217;ll forgive me. If you#8217;ve ever wanted to know about cashews, wheatgrass, sprouts, fermented soy, vinegar, almond milk, hummus, royal jelly, or green coffee bean extract (and let#8217;s face it, who hasn#8217;t?), this is the perfect post for you./p
pLet#8217;s dig in, shall we?/p
pspan id=”more-29196″/span/p
h3Cashews/h3
pIn all my years doing this stuff, I#8217;ve never really properly addressed the suitability of cashews. Today that ends. Cashews are the seeds of the cashew apple, a delicacy of Brazil, and the interior of their shells are lined with a poisonous resin called cashew balm. Cashew balm is used in insecticides, so don#8217;t […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

This Saturday, May 12th , we’ll be having an OBX jiu jitsu seminar taught by Matt Smith. This seminar is open to everyone from 10AM to 2PM. 
Taught By The Best
Matt is a Modern Army Combatives instructor, IFBJJ World CHAMPION SILVER MEDALIST currently training to win the Worlds this year. He will be training at Knuckle Up for the Worlds from Thursday, May 10th through Saturday, May 12th. He is also an MMA veteran and instructor at UFC training school Easton BJJ in Colorado.
Matt will also be teaching a women’s intro to self-defense and JUDO which is invitation only. Please see signup sheet for more details.
Morrison says Matt “is the toughest, smartest submission grappling competitor I have ever trained with!”
Matt’s Accomplishes
Matt has many, many credentials to his name, and has competed, and won, more competitions than most. Here is a short list of accomplishments:

2nd place IBJJF No Gi Worlds Brown […]

Original post by knuckleup

pimg class=”alignright” title=”Sprint” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202011/sprint4.jpg” alt=”sprint4″ width=”319″ height=”198″ /Last week, I covered a glaring deficit in the lives of most modern people: the a title=”Why We Don’t Walk Anymore (plus a Primal Health Challenge) Read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/why-we-dont-walk-anymore/#ixzz1uEhMT9Q7″ href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/why-we-dont-walk-anymore/#axzz1uDtFyBvA” target=”_blank”lack of walking/a. And it#8217;s not just the #8220;normal#8221; people who aren#8217;t walking enough; two thirds of those readers who took the poll get fewer than five hours of a title=”The Definitive Guide to Walking” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-definitive-guide-to-walking/”slow easy movement/a each week. Since everyone walks at least a few hundred steps a day, people are generally aware #8211; among even the general population #8211; that people just don#8217;t walk anymore. They might not think that#8217;s a true problem, but they#8217;re definitely aware of it. Today, I want to discuss another glaring (in my eyes) deficit in our modern lives: the lack of sprinting./p
pAt first glance, this might seem ludicrous. Sprinting? Sure, it#8217;s a […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

pimg class=”alignright” title=”Night Eating” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202011/nighteating2.jpg” alt=”nighteating2″ width=”319″ height=”239″ /There#8217;s nothing quite so powerful as the urge to eat. Being living organisms that require sustenance and nutrition, we find it difficult to resist. It#8217;s not like smoking, or sex, or drugs, which you can technically avoid and still live, because they aren#8217;t really required for an individual#8217;s survival. No, food is an absolute necessity. So what happens when that basic human requirement for life #8211; the need to eat something #8211; conflicts with another important factor in health #8211; the need to sleep? Today#8217;s edition of a title=”Dear Mark” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/category/dear-mark/”Dear Mark/a deals with exactly that: night-eating syndrome, a real and extremely frustrating eating disorder in which the afflicted awaken during the night, compelled to eat everything and anything. As you#8217;ll see from the following question, when you wake up at 3 AM with a raw, preternatural hunger gnawing at your very […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

pimg class=”alignright” title=”Lemon-Parsley Brisket” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202011/brisket2.jpg” alt=”brisket2″ width=”320″ height=”212″ /There’s no shortage of a title=”Tender Braised Brisket with Carmelized Onions and Tomatoes” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/tender-braised-brisket-with-carmelized-onions-and-tomatoes/”braised brisket recipes/a out there, each claiming to be the tastiest way to coax a tough piece of meat into a tender, melt-in-your-mouth meal. Most of these recipes are very good, but they also tend to be very similar. The meat cooks in some blend of wine/tomatoes/broth (and often, a sweet sauce of some sort from a jar) and then emerges hours later smothered in a thick, rich coating./p
pThis recipe for emLemon-Parsley Brisket/em gives brisket a makeover, changing the flavor entirely. Lemon is so often used with fish and poultry that it might seem like an odd choice for a big chunk of red meat. It turns out to be the perfect accent though, adding a light, zesty flavor to every bite. Combine the lemon – both its […]

Original post by Worker Bee

div class=”breakout”
pIt’s Friday, everyone! And that means another a title=”Success Stories” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/category/success-story-summaries/”Primal Blueprint Real Life Story/a from a Mark#8217;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 a title=”Contact Me!” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-book/share-success-story/” target=”_self”here/a. I’ll continue to publish these each Friday as long as they keep coming in. Thank you for reading!/p
/div
pimg class=”alignright” title=”Primal Blueprint Real Life Story” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA2009/real_life_stories_stories-1-2.jpg” alt=”real life stories stories 1 2″ width=”320″ height=”240″ /For most of my adult life I’ve been called many things, but “skinny” has taken some getting use to./p
pFor years I repeatedly followed the conventional ritual of low-fat, low-calorie dieting paired with exercise to lose weight. With each attempt I would lose weight, sometimes as much as a few dozen pounds at a time. However, constant hunger eventually won out over my best efforts to eat […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

If my future telling software is accurate then the on-line community is going to be BUZZING about one particular new study coming out.
After all, the subjects in the study are practically celebrities.
This particular study is on a group of people in “A nationally televised weight loss reality TV show where participants are voted off weekly”
Gee — I have no idea what show that could be
Anyways, here is what I want you to look for in the coming months as a result of this study’s publication:
Really distorted scaremongering.
Here’s why:
In this study, after 30 weeks of dieting and exercise, the average Basal Metabolic Rate of the subjects decreased. And, it decreased to significant degree.
Bad study design? No, this was a well designed study, with excellent methods.
So…metabolic slow down? Probably not.
I took the data of all the participants and then used predictive equations to figure what we think their metabolic rates […]

Original post by Brad Pilon