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Yes, you read that title correctly. And no, this isn’t just the most recent fitness craze that is going to go the way of the ab wheel and shaker weights. It is, in fact, a return to the instinctual movements of childhood and an effective way to loosen tight muscles and strengthen your core, glutes, […]
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This is the time of year where we audit what we can change, improve, and do away with in our lives.
What goals can we crush this year?
If there was a phrase that could be done away with it, this would be it for me: “CRUSH YOUR GOALS.” It sounds exhausting, and a little angry.
Here, instead, are a few nice promises that you can make for yourself. These five promises are all about loving kindness—the gentleness you need to thrive and survive in a world gone mad with goal-crushing.
5 Promises to Keep:
We are what we surround ourselves with, and if you’re trying to make any improvement in your life, you’ll be more successful if your environment is set up to support you.
Trying to stick to a budget, diet, or fitness routine? Keep near you things that support those endeavors, and ruthlessly purge anything that gets in the way.
Let’s say you’re trying to curtail your alcohol consumption this year. Simply not bringing adult beverages into the home is the obvious first step to setting up your environment for success.
But go deeper than that. Rearrange your cupboards so the wine glasses or highball glasses are hidden away. Acknowledge what other rituals go alongside your cocktail routine. For example, is it how you wind down in front of the TV each night? If so, consider treating yourself to a great book, a true crime podcast series, or an indulgent epsom salt bath, so you have something to do besides TV, the activity in which your alcohol habit is tethered.
If your friends, loved ones, or life partners seem to influence whether or not you have a drink, speak up: Let it be known that you are changing your habits, and that a friendly internet stranger told you that setting up your environment is the first step. If they love you, they’ll be on board and won’t pressure you. If they do pressure you… it might be time to have a meaningful conversation about how you need your loved one to show up for you with support and love.
This is why many diet programs—including Mark’s 21-Day Primal Reset—begin with the Pantry Purge as step one. The willpower required to stick to a lifestyle change works better in the context of an environment that’s set up to remove the struggles and barriers. It’s a nice thing to do for yourself when you’re trying to change, grow, and improve.
You will not knock your goals out of the park on the first try. I repeat: YOU WILL NOT.
Simply acknowledging this already takes the pressure off.
In the world of coaching, we use a body of knowledge called the Transtheoretical Model, or the Stages of Change (which is much easier to remember, and to spell). Developed by behavioral psychologists, the Transtheoretical Model factors in six different stages of change:
Think of a staircase with your ultimate goal at the top, and every necessary micro-step in between, leading you deliberately up to your final destination. At this stage, you’ve begun to take those tentative first steps.
This is the stage where folks tend to feel as though they’re falling off the wagon; failing at achieving their goals, just because their forward momentum up the staircase has slowed, stopped, or temporarily regressed backward. You aren’t failing. It’s impossible to leap from the bottom step to the top one in a single bound. You may take a step back down on the staircase, but the steps are small, so no harm is done. And that next upward step is always within your reach.
In the interest of closing the loop, the final three stages of the Transtheoretical Model include: Action (you’ve officially changed a behavior and are confident and comfortable moving forward with it); Maintenance (the change no longer feels like a “change;” it has integrated into your life!); and, Termination (you’ve effectively exited the change interstate, and are now a different person).
It’s the earliest first few steps of change where we’re hardest on ourselves, though. Understand that steps backward are allowed, and be kind to yourself when they inevitably occur.
Speaking of which…
This is why I don’t like language around sacrifice or deprivation when one is embarking on a change, and it’s why the phrase “crush your goals” feels like nails down a chalkboard for me. This hard language forgets one important thing: Your inner and outer worlds are unpredictable, and if you hang your hat on drive and discipline, what happens when you’re inevitably thrown a curve ball that you can’t program your way out of?
Often I’ll work with people who identify, proudly, as: “being very black and white.”
“I need to be absolutely ON, otherwise I’m OFF,” they’ll say.
While I admire the boldness of this statement, it simply can’t and won’t work for most people, for a lifetime.
Life is not black and white. And the sooner you can get comfortable hanging out in the grey between Winning and Losing, the more at peace you’ll be as you navigate the inevitable ups and downs of personal growth. Heck, of life.
So be kind to yourself. Feel proud when goals are “crushed,” absolutely. And when they aren’t? That’s okay too. Sit with it; observe it, journal it, declare out loud why you experienced your struggle or slip up. Recognize it. Give it a face, a name. Take the power back. And then dust off and move on.
I want you to achieve your goals. And I want the entire process of that journey to feel good in your heart and mind, even the screw-ups.
When you can flip the switch from driven discipline to loving kindness, the process of navigating change feels friendlier.
This is one of those ideas that I thought I had invented… and then I heard Mark describe it perfectly on a podcast.
His example was cheesecake, a dessert he loves… and one that is not particularly Primal!
When he orders the cheesecake, the very act of that decision comes from a place of excitement and happiness. He wants the cheesecake, and doesn’t hesitate to order it. The entire experience of ordering the cheesecake is considered: how exciting it is to see it on the menu, to make the decision to order it, ask the waiter to bring it, patiently await its arrival while chatting and laughing with loved ones at an amazing restaurant.
When the cheesecake arrives, how does it look? How does it smell? How does your body respond when it’s put down in front of you: Joy, delight? Anxiety, disappointment? There is never a wrong answer, only a necessary observation.
Take the first bite. On a scale of 1-10, it’s a 10. Second bite: about an eight. Third bite: solid five. Fourth bite… four…
And so on and so forth, stopping when the awesomeness of the cheesecake experience has been fully enjoyed, and before you’re just still eating it for the sake of eating it. Once the joy has faded, it’s time to put the fork down, and bask in the memories of those first few epic bites.
With my clients, I take it further. What happens after the cheesecake? How does your body feel: Tired? Foggy? Do you have a stomach ache? Or do you feel fine?
And then we keep going: the “after” after. The next day, has the cheesecake awakened the sugar monkey that lives on your back? Are your sugar and refined carb cravings awake and alive? How do you feel having indulged your cheesecake craving: satisfied and happy? Or have you descended into guilt and shame? Were you able to return to your regularly scheduled programming with no hiccups?
Was it, ultimately, worth it?
This is an incredible teaching moment.
You may know this as “mindfulness.” I wanted to give it a more descriptive title since I think the concept of mindfulness has been too vague for too long, and though folks think they know they “need to be more mindful,” not too many can put their arms around what it really means.
So have the full experience any time you make a choice that supports your goals—or doesn’t. If it was worth it, hooray! If it wasn’t, what can you learn from it?
This is a hard one for anyone who prides themselves as being proud, stoic, or strong. Whether we don’t want to bother people with our struggles and strife, or we don’t feel comfortable declaring our goals and challenges out loud, one of the best promises you can keep to yourself is to ask unapologetically for help when you need it.
I can tell you from experience that big change and growth only happens when you stretch yourself out of your comfort zone. So get comfortable with discomfort, and don’t be shy to seek a mentor who specializes in what you want help with. Finances? Hire a money coach. Health? Hire a health coach. Love? Get thee a relationship coach. Confidence? Yes, there are even confidence coaches out there.
If you knew that there was a trusted expert out there who could help solve your specific problem, imagine how liberating and transformational it would be to form a partnership with that coach. I promise you, it’s a life-changer.
Let’s make this the year we kindly and lovingly make and keep promises to ourselves.
I’m Erin, the coaching director for Mark’s Primal Health Coach Institute. And if this little missive can help you start this year off feeling extremely pumped up, optimistic, happy, and empowered about the exciting opportunity for change ahead of you, then I’ve done my job.
If you need any help along the way, we have thousands of Primal Health Coaches with vast specialities who are trained to help you mentor you toward your health and happiness goals for 2020 and beyond.
Erin Power is the coaching and curriculum director for Primal Health Coach Institute. She also helps her clients regain a loving and trusting relationship with their bodies—while restoring their metabolic health, so they can lose fat and gain energy—via her own private health coaching practice, eat.simple.
The post 5 Easy Promises to Make and Keep This Year appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.
Originally Posted At: https://breakingmuscle.com/feed/rss
No better way to kick of 2020’s podcasts than with one a coach who has gained worldwide respect because of the effort he has shown in pursuing and realizing the best in strength and conditioning training.
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If you and your partner have resolved to have more sex in 2020, you may be wondering just how often you should engage in a romp in the sheets. Is your sex life normal compared to other couples? What is the ideal amount of sex for optimal health and happiness? What role does it actually […]
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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:
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.
I’ve written over the years about ideas for moving frequently—walking, hiking, and various ways to keep your walking routines interesting. But it’s not just about walking. Moving frequently can mean a lot of things after all.
Today I’m sharing a whole host of video how-tos and routines that touch on all of those three Primal Fitness Laws—but especially #4 and #5. Sit back, watch the ones that speak to you, and see how they’ll shake up how you’re working out….
First off, let’s review the Primal Essential Movements:
For those who have these moves down and want to step up the effort, variations are one tool.
Now let’s move on to resistance training workouts.
That brings us to Primal Law #5: Sprint Once In a While….
Now that you’ve got the basics, let’s move on to quick workouts you can do anywhere.
Thanks for stopping in, everybody. Have thoughts or questions about any of the above moves or routines—or anything fitness related? Shoot me a line below. Have a great week.
The post Video Roundup: The Moves, Routines and Know-How You Need For Ultimate Primal Fitness appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.
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For today’s edition of Dear Mark, I’m answering a question about taking ketones for overtraining from a reader.
Hi Mark,
I just saw this article the other day and I’m wondering what you think of it. Should high-carb athletes (or regular carb athletes) be taking ketone supplements? Is there any reason why they shouldn’t? It’d be awesome to get the “best of both worlds,” but is it safe?
Thanks,
Bill
I saw that one too. Very interesting. Here’s the full study they reference.
Okay, so what’s this all about?
Most ketone ester studies have looked at the benefits to performance. An athlete takes ketones prior to training, then they measure the effect it has on subsequent performance. It’s useful in that situation, improving performance by a few percentage points. I’ve noticed the same thing. Whenever I use ketones—which is rarely—I’ve usually taken them before an Ultimate Frisbee session.
Other studies have looked at post-training ketone supplementation, but only acutely. They’d have trainees work out or compete and then take ketones, with the effects including increased protein synthesis and glycogen repletion. Good to know, but what about long-term post-training supplementation? Would those acute effects translate to long-term effects?
This recent study aimed to find out. Instead of having the athletes take the ketones before or during training, or after but only in the short-term, they had them take them post-training consistently over a period of several weeks to see if they’d aid in recovery. They did.
All the athletes in the study trained twice a day. In the morning, they did either HIIT—high intensity interval training, 30 second all out cycle sprints with 4.5 minutes rest—or IMT—intermittent endurance training, 5 × 6 min with 8 min recovery or 5 × 8 min with 6 min recovery. Evenings, they did steady state endurance training. This was a heavy schedule designed to promote overtraining. There was a lot to recover from.
Both groups showed evidence of overtraining:
The group who drank ketones had better numbers, though.
And when they tested both groups with a two-hour endurance session at the end of each week, the ketone-takers had better performance: more power output during the last 30 minutes.
In the past, I’ve expressed skepticism over high-carb eaters adding exogenous ketones to their diets. It just seemed physiologically “wrong” and unnatural to mix ketones and high-carb intakes, since the normal prerequisite for ketosis was a low-carbohydrate intake.
But this study, and some other research I’ve since explored, makes me wonder if adding ketones to a high-carb training schedule might make physiological sense. There are instances where exercise alone is sufficient to get someone into ketosis. For instance, in multistage ultra-marathoners—men and women running 240 km/150 miles over five days, no amount of dietary carbohydrate was able to keep them out of ketosis. They ate over 300 grams a day and they were still deep into ketosis. They even tried eating over 600 grams a day, and they still couldn’t keep themselves out of ketosis. That tells me that ketone production during protracted training is a feature, not a flaw, of human physiology. The two can naturally co-exist even in the presence of carbs.
The key is “glycogen stripping.” As far back as the 1980s, researchers knew that depleting glycogen stores was a prerequisite for ketosis. Now, back then, most researchers saw ketosis as a negative side effect of glycogen depletion, as something to be avoided and mitigated with “proper” carbohydrate intake. They were unaware of the potential benefits ketone bodies can deliver to athletes.
Ketones are anti-inflammatory. I even know a few high-level athletes who are experimenting with extended fasting during de-load periods to reduce the effects of overtraining and speed up healthy recovery. I make the distinction between healthy and unhealthy recovery. Healthy recovery is true recovery; it speeds up the process without inhibiting healing or training adaptations. Unhealthy recovery can get you back out there quicker but you might miss out on some of the benefits of training. One example of this is using ice baths to recover from intense performances. Doing so will blunt pain and help you get training/competing, but it may inhibit some of the benefits of training, like hypertrophy. Useful when you have to get back out there (it’s the playoffs). Not so useful if you’re trying to adapt to the training (it’s the off-season).
Ketones are protein-sparing. When ketones are present in the body, you are less likely to break down muscle tissue and organs for amino acids to convert into glucose. This makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? As an alternative source of fuel for the vast majority of your body’s tissues, ketones reduce the amount of protein you need to break down to provide glucose.
Thus, contrary to my earlier assessment, what was unnatural about the study wasn’t the combination of ketones and carbohydrates. That can clearly occur in natural settings where glycogen is depleted and elevated levels of physical activity are maintained. The unnatural aspect of this study was the insane level of training these subjects were doing.
Humans are built for high volumes of low-intensity work and movement—walking, hiking, gathering, low-level labor.
Humans are built for low volumes of high-intensity work and movement—fighting, killing and field dressing large mammals, carrying heavy objects.
Humans are not built for high volumes of high-intensity work and movement—”two a days,” sprinting in the morning and going for long bike rides in the afternoon. We can do it, but there are consequences.
So what the ketone esters are doing is restoring the natural balance. They are physiological tricks to restore order in a highly-stressed body asked to perform supranatural feats of endurance.
If you try them out for this reason, I have a few suggestions:
Taking ketones after a training session clearly works. But you can get there just as easily, with likely downstream benefits, by going low-carb. I’m reminded of the study from a few years ago where athletes “slept low“: after similarly grueling training, they’d eat a low-carb meal (rather than refuel their glycogen) and go to sleep.
They rapidly reached the very-low carb/ketogenic state for a good portion of the day by depleting glycogen and failing to replace it, from the afternoon snack to the post-workout breakfast. They weren’t just “high-carb.” They were smart carb, filling the glycogen, depleting it, and forcing their bodies to run on fat for a while.
To me, that’s a better (cheaper, too—ketone esters are expensive!) way to get similar results.
But whatever route you take, it’s a good way to spend time in the ketogenic state. The presence of ketones, especially paired with training, is a good thing for anyone.
What’s your experience taking ketones? How do you incorporate ketogenic states into your training schedule?
Thanks for reading, everyone. Take care!
The post Dear Mark: Ketones for Overtraining? appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.
http://www.thealternativedaily.com/
Food is either your friend or your enemy. Especially when it comes to digestive health. Regularly eating unhealthy foods that harm your digestive system can lead to severe long term consequences. If you aren’t prioritizing your gut health, you will most likely come to regret it when you have to spend an hour in the […]
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On occasion, a reliable and tasty basic cookie recipe that’s remade to be keto-friendly can be useful when you need to bake something for the kids’ class but don’t want to pump the already energetic kids full of refined sugar, when you’re having guests over that might expect or appreciate dessert, or when you want a nostalgic rainy- or snowy-day activity that perfumes the kitchen with melted butter and toasted sugar. Let the kids help by imprinting the dough with their favorite cookie cutters, icing with melted coconut butter, and decorating the cookies with dark chocolate chips or trimmed pieces of fresh or dried fruit. If you aren’t able to use the sweeteners suggested in this recipe, you can swap in coconut or cane sugar (the carbs will change if you do so, of course).
Servings: 8
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Chill Time: 1 hour
Cream the butter, sweetener, and vanilla extract together in a bowl. Mix in the almond flour and coconut flour. Crack the egg white into the bowl and mix until a dough forms.
Let the dough rest for 1-2 minutes, then form it into a ball and wrap the ball in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for at least one hour.
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Roll the dough out between two pieces of parchment paper until the dough is a little thicker than 1/8”. Remove the top piece of parchment paper and put the bottom piece with the dough on a baking sheet.
Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes and carefully peel away excess dough. Roll out the remaining dough and repeat until all of the dough is cut into shapes. The dough should make 8 good-sized cookies.
Bake the cookies at 325 degrees for about 7 minutes, or until the undersides and edges of the cookies begin to brown. Allow the cookies to fully cool before removing them from the pan.
Is using icing: Melt the coconut butter by pouring warm water from a recently boiled kettle into a bowl (fill about halfway up the sides of the bowl). Place the coconut butter jar in the warm water. The water should go about halfway up the outside of the jar. Allow the jar to sit in the warm water for a bit, then stir the coconut butter until it becomes runny and spreadable.
Ice the cookies with coconut butter, if desired, and top with any other little toppings you’d like.
Makes 8 cookies.
Calories: 157
Total Carbs: 3 grams
Net Carbs: 2 grams
Fat: 12 grams
Protein: 4 grams
The post Keto Sugar Cookies appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.
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Living a plastic-free life in this day and age is not impossible, but it’s not easy either. If you have decided to make an effort to reduce plastic consumption this year, keep in mind that baby steps are everything. You are not going to go from living a life filled with plastic products to not […]
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