Many carnivores have begun adding fruit into their animal-based diets, transitioning from a carnivore diet to a meat and fruit diet. This is one of the most common diets I get asked about, in fact—is the meat and fruit diet a good idea? Does it make sense to add fruit to your meat? Is there anything absent from the strict carnivore diet that adding some fruit can help?
I actually think it’s a good idea for a lot of people. Here’s why adding the meat and fruit diet might make sense for you:
Fruit “wants” to be eaten.
The most common reason why people switch to carnivore is to avoid chemical anti-nutrients that plants expressly produce to dissuade animals and insects from eating and digesting them. Seeds and grains employ lectins and other allergenic proteins that impair digestion and cause gastric distress and mineral imbalances so that the herbivore that eats them is less likely to actually digest it or come back for more. They can’t run or fight back with claws and teeth so they go the chemical warfare route.
Animals can run, hide, fight, bite, and struggle. They don’t need the chemical defenses. Once you get past those claws, teeth, hide, and foot speed they’re incredibly nutritious and easy to digest. Meat doesn’t “want” to be eaten, but it’s neutral on the matter once the presiding central nervous system has been nullified and silenced.
Fruit, meanwhile, wants to be eaten. If an animal eats fruit to get the sugar and nutrients and tosses or poops out the seeds, the fruit wins. The seeds have a chance to germinate and grow into another plant—to keep the genes flowing through time. There’s no reason for the flesh of the fruit to have a robust arsenal of anti-nutrient compounds. And sure enough, fruit is quite low in these compounds.
Fruit is easy to digest. Some of the more fibrous varieties can cause issues if you have preexisting issue with fiber. Some of the FODMAPs found in certain fruits can also mess with digestion in susceptible FODMAP-sensitive people.
Fruit has polyphenols
One of my biggest criticisms of pure carnivore has always been the lack of polyphenols—of the plant compounds found in fruits, vegetables, coffee, wine, chocolate, and pretty much every plant on earth. Polyphenols are defense chemicals that plants employ to ward off disease, fungal infections, and other microbes. For instance, when a plant is stressed, it will often produce more polyphenols. Cut a purple sweet potato on the vine and it will up regulate anthocyanin content. This is a common feature and it’s meant to fight against pathogens that could invade.
But when an animal like a human eats these polyphenols, good things happen. They are minor stressors that induce a hormetic response—we adapt to the stressor and get stronger, healthier, fitter, and more robust in the process. On the cellular level, a polyphenol like blueberry anthocyanin can appear stressful in the acute time frame. It “damages” the cell, but then the cell recovers. On the organism level, blueberries create a rebound effect that leaves us healthier. The organism and all the cells within grow more robust. Pure carnivore diets almost never contain these compounds and thus suffer from their lack.
Some of these compounds, like quercetin (found in apples and onions) may even show efficacy against many of the autoimmune issues that bring people to carnivore in the first place.1 Berries and pomegranates also show potential against rheumatoid arthritis.2
Fruit may improve digestive health
Now, many people get into carnivore because they have issues with fiber. Either it constipates them, gives them diarrhea, or both. It can even exacerbate certain patients with digestive disorders like IBS. But fruit fiber may be different than grain fiber. Now, some people will have different reactions, but by and large fruit fiber is easier to digest than grain or vegetable fiber. Some of the more fibrous varieties can cause issues if you have preexisting issue with fiber. Some of the FODMAPs found in certain fruits can also mess with digestion in susceptible FODMAP-sensitive people.
Take constipation. Carnivore often fixes constipation, but in a sizable minority it seems to worsen or even cause it. Some would say that you’re not actually constipated, that there’s just “less waste.” Very possible. But what if you truly are constipated on carnivore?
Kiwis may help. Two kiwis a day have been shown to reduce constipation.3 A review of kiwis for gastric disorders found that kiwifruits have the potential to improve GI function via many different mechanisms.4
Studies in large populations find that fruit fiber is even linked to lower levels of diverticulitis, while vegetable fiber is linked to higher levels.5 This suggests that fruit fiber may be gentler on the gut. The bulk of the evidence suggests that fruit is more helpful than not for constipation.6
It’s true that none of these studies are looking at people on carnivore diets. They’re using regular people on standard diets—results may not apply. But if carnivore doesn’t seem to helping your gut issues, or they could at least be better, you might consider incorporating some fruit.
Fruit may reduce carcinogen formation and inflammation when eaten with meat
We’ve known for awhile that consuming polyphenol-rich plants—like cruciferous vegetables, leafy greens, and red wine—with your meals reduces the inflammatory response upon eating, even lowering postprandial lipid oxidation and the formation of carcinogenic compounds in the gut. That’s true for fruits, too. One found that adding fruit solids to meat sausages reduced the oxidation of lipids in the meal upon consumption and during storage.7 I don’t recommend blending fruits into your meat, but eating an orange with your steak will have much the same effect.
Speaking of oranges, concentrated sources of orange—orange juice—reduce the inflammatory effects of a junk food meal. They reduce lipid oxidation and make an otherwise unhealthy meal healthier.8 Imagine if you added an orange to your healthy steak dinner.
Fruit may provide nutrients your carnivore diet is missing
If you’re not eating many shellfish, your carnivore diet could be a little low in manganese. Eating blueberries or pineapple will top you off.
If you’re not eating your meat rare with all the juices, your carnivore diet might be low in potassium. Eating almost any fruit will provide ample amounts of potassium.
Fruits also provide vitamin C, which is often lacking on carnivore diets. The vitamin C requirements are also lower when you’re carnivore, but just in case it wouldn’t hurt to have a bit more.
Fruits are rich in carbohydrates, which can be useful if you’re engaged in a ton of intense physical activity that burns through glycogen. Fruit is a great way to top off your glycogen stores.
Fruit provides variety to your meat-based diet
Fruit is more than you think. Tomatoes are a fruit. Squash are fruits. Avocados are fruits. Anything with a seed surrounded by edible flesh is a fruit, even if we normally treat it more like a vegetable.
That means you can have tomato and avocado salad. You can have mashed butternut squash or roasted kabocha squash. You can eat pickles or fresh cucumbers. You can grill zucchini. You can have peppers of all kinds.
Allowing fruit into your carnivore diet provides the opportunity for far more variety than you’d think. It’s not just eating mangos and pineapples and berries. If you find the carnivore diet boring or difficult to maintain despite health benefits, incorporating a little fruit may be just the thing you need to make it more sustainable.
Let’s go through a definitive comprehensive list of fruits that qualify for the meat and fruit diet:
Stone fruits—nectarines, peaches, cherries, apricots
The meat and fruit diet is anything but restrictive. You can really diversify your diet by including fruit. And if you’re worried about the sugar content, you can eat low sugar fruits like berries, avocado, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and squash.
Do you eat the meat and fruit diet? If so, what fruits do you include? If you don’t, what fruits do you miss (if any)?
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About Primal Kitchen
Mark Sisson started the Primal Kitchen® brand with a simple mission: to change the way the world eats. As a New York Times bestselling author, media personality, ex-endurance athlete (5th place USA Marathon Championship, 4th place Hawaii Ironman finish), he has been educating the world on nutrition and the benefits of fat for over a decade via his pioneering blog, MarksDailyApple.com. Our life and our overall wellness are defined by the thousands of choices we make for ourselves and for our families every day, and choosing real food and investing in your health can lead to a more empowered you. Primal Kitchen condiments and sauces are crafted with purposeful, high-quality ingredients that make mealtime easy and delicious, so you can get the most out of life.
One of the biggest questions we get from everyone is “How do I work my legs at home?”
After all, challenging the legs with barbells, dumbbells, and machines at the gym is easy. We can just continue to add weight to our exercises until our legs look like tree trunks. But if we want to build strength but we’re unable to get to the gym, don’t have a gym membership, or are traveling – then what do we do?
Enter the NERD FITNESS LEG DAY WORKOUT.
Our 20-minute routine can be scaled for someone just getting started (beginner), or someone looking to get their legs blasted (advanced).
To get started with our Leg Day Workout, warm up with 1-2 minutes of leg swings and marching in place.
Continue the warm-up with 1-2 sets of the first exercise at an easier variation (or less weight/reps) then move on to your work sets. For the remaining exercises, perform 1-2 additional warm-up sets at the start, if needed. (A bit more on the warm-up later!)
Alternate between Workout A and Workout B on non-consecutive days to properly recover. Meaning, give yourself a “rest day” before doing a leg workout again.
If you’re new to dedicated leg days (or just getting back into things), then choose the lower end of the prescribed sets and reps, while picking easier variations. If you’re a seasoned pro, then start increasing the number of sets or reps you do each workout, while pushing for harder and harder variations.
Rest 1-2 minutes between sets (or longer, if needed).
Now, let’s give you some specifics.
Home Leg Day Workout A
Phase 1
Warm up for a few minutes.
Phase 2
Do 2 or 4 sets of the following:
Squat Variation: 5-8 reps
Deadlift Variation: 8-12 reps
Phase 3
Do 2 or 3 sets of the following:
Lunge Variation: 5-8 per side
Calf Raise Variation: 8-12 reps
Home Leg Day Workout B
Phase 1
Warm up for a few minutes.
Phase 2
Do 2 or 4 sets of the following:
Deadlift Variation: 8-12 reps
Squat Variation: 5-8 reps
Phase 3
Do 2 or 3 sets of the following:
Step-up Variation: 5-8/side
Shin Raise Variation: 8-12 reps
There are a lot of variations you can choose from for these exercises, so let’s break these down for you.
Real quick, before we do, I’d like to highlight that crafting effective routines, much like the one above, is a significant aspect of NF Coaching. Our team of coaches understands the hustle, so we tailor quick workouts that optimize available resources—be it equipment, time, or energy.
And that’s not all! A coach can also help with your nutrition and stress management, two vital components of the fitness adventure.
In fact, there’s a whole lot more to explore. If you’re intrigued, take a closer look at our online one-on-one program here:
The 6 Best Leg Day Exercises for Home
Let’s go over some categories of leg day exercises that you can do at home, plus some variations you can choose to get started with.
#1) Squat Variations:
No leg workout would be complete without the squat.
It uses all the muscles of the lower body in a very natural pattern – ever see a baby squat?
However, as we age and adopt unnatural sitting postures, our squat form tends to suffer.
So let’s work to get back to basics, baby!
Squat variations to choose from:
1) Assisted Squats
Working up to an unassisted squat in your workout, or just need a good option for your warm-up? Enter the assisted squat! Hold onto anything safe and stable (a countertop, a chair, the wall) to put some of the work off your legs and into your arms.
2) Bodyweight Squat
In the video above, we cover five common mistakes folks often make when performing a squat.
Give it a watch so you don’t make them too!
3) Pause Squat
Is the regular squat feeling too easy? Pause for a couple of seconds at the bottom. This will work the muscles a bit more as well as help improve your mobility for the exercise.
4) Goblet Squat
Have you become a master of the bodyweight squat? Then add some weight to it! Hold a weight with two hands in front of your chest, like a big goblet that you don’t want to spill. This means keeping the chest and weight up!
If you don’t have a dumbbell, then this is the perfect time to hold a suitcase or backpack up for improvised weight as we describe here.
5) Banded Squat
Weighted squats are great, until you have to travel! For a much lighter, but still powerful option, hold a band in your hands and stand on it. If your band is a continuous loop, you can also stand on it and drape the band over the front of your shoulders while crossing and lifting the arms up.
6) Jumping Squat
No weights? No bands? No problem! Add some explosion to the movement and jump off the ground for each rep. You don’t have to jump sky high, or honestly even leave the ground. Even just a slight weight reduction should prove more challenging than a regular bodyweight squat.
7) One-Legged Squat (do 5-8 per side)
Ready for the ultimate challenge? Build up enough strength to do a squat with just one leg! This is an amazing variation when you find yourself with no gym and no equipment. Just like the regular bodyweight squat, you can work this assisted first by holding onto a chair or doorframe.
We cover a lot of the finer points in our YouTube video – getting your first one-legged squat:
Well, not only will a deadlift challenge our legs. But really, it’s an EVERYTHING exercise, as we engage every muscle in our body throughout the movement:
Posterior chain and legs? They’re the powerhouse, working like a lever to hoist that weight up.
Back and core? Engaged throughout the movement as we keep our whole body tight and steady.
Shoulders and traps? They’re working hard to keep the weight secure as we lift.
So any solid leg day workout should aim to include deadlifts in it.
Deadlift variations to choose from:
1) Bodyweight Deadlift (Good Morning)
While we’re not “lifting” anything in this variation, it’s still the same movement of hinging at the hips and leaning forward. You can keep your hands in front of you holding imaginary weights, or placed up behind your head for an exercise that is often called the “good morning”.
2) Weighted Deadlift
We can pick up dumbbells, kettlebells, or barbells. At home, we might be picking up luggage, backpacks, or sandbags. In any of these examples, the form remains the same! Push your hips back and lean forward, like you did for the good morning.
Once you’ve leaned forward a bit, then bend your knees slightly to be able to reach your weight. Grab strong and stand up tall. Put the weight back down by reversing the process. Hips back, lean forward, and bend the knees slightly.
3) Banded Deadlift
No weights? Again, no problems. You can stand on a band and work the deadlift.
If you have a close-looped band, another option is to loop the band around one foot, then under the second foot, and then back around the first foot. This will give you a cat’s cradle of bands between your feet where you can grab one to four bands to deadlift for a variety of difficulties.
Check the gif for further explanation:
4) Kettlebell or Dumbbell Swing
Just as we added some speed and explosion to the squats, we can do the same thing to the deadlift movement too. This is called ‘the swing’ and can be done with a dumbbell, kettlebell, or even a compact backpack.
The biggest focus is to make sure the power is coming from your hips and they pop open, and not from your arms lifting the weight.
5) One-Legged Deadlift (do 8-12 per side)
As with the squat, if we don’t have bands or equipment, then one of the best go-to’s is to perform the exercise on one leg. This puts more work on that single leg, as well as makes it more challenging for our balance as we go through the reps.
6) Weighted One-Legged-Deadlift
Have some weights to use, but a two-legged deadlift is too easy – then do it on one leg! Take your time, and continue to focus on pushing those hips back at the start of the exercise.
When done correctly, lunges target the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves, enhancing lower body strength and stability. Additionally, because they are iso-lateral (your feet aren’t in line with each other), lunges help stress the lower body in a different way that can help reduce imbalances from left to right.
When you add it all up: lunges are perfect for leg day!
Lunge variations to choose from:
1) Assisted Lunges
Just like with the assisted squats, for assisted lunges, we can hold onto something stable like a countertop, chair, or wall. The idea again is to put some of the work into your arms and off your legs, as well as provide more stability.
2) Split Squats
The split squat is another great variation to work on the way to a regular bodyweight lunge. While it looks very similar to a lunge, the biggest difference is that we’ll set our feet once, and then keep them in place and we move up and down. By keeping the feet stationary, the exercise can be a bit easier to balance.
3) Bodyweight Lunges
The lunge puts stress on the legs greater than just a bodyweight squat, while also challenging our balance. Step out far enough to be able to sink down so that your back knee comes close to the ground (it can lightly touch, but don’t slam it down).
If stepping forward feels a little achy for the knee, you can work on stepping backward into position (aka the reverse lunge).
4) Pause Lunges
If the regular lunge is feeling strong, then add a pause! We’ll pause at the bottom of each rep for a couple of seconds before returning to standing. Get as low as you can, while still keeping the back knee off the ground.
5) Lateral Lunges
Lateral lunges are a deceptively challenging lunge variation. While many of our movements in the gym have us moving forward and backward (the sagittal plane, for you anatomy nerds). The lateral lunge has us moving sideways (the frontal plane), so it may feel new and unfamiliar.
Take your time, use an assist if needed, and look to sink down as low on your leading leg as you would in a squat. The other leg can remain straight, with the foot on the ground.
6) Weighted Lunges
Are all of these lunges too easy so far? Then add some weight! You can hold weight up at your chest, like the goblet squat, or in your hands. If you have some weight in a backpack, you can even wear it to make the exercise more difficult.
7) Jumping Split Squats
When you’re working out, but don’t have any extra weight to add to your lunges, this dynamic variation will get the job done. Get set just like a regular split squat – stepping out with one foot and sinking down. But now, instead of just split squatting up and down with the feet in place, you want to explode off the ground and switch feet in mid-air.
No surprise here that calf raises target our calf muscles…it’s right in the name.
But the exercise also promotes foot and ankle strength, contributing to overall body balance. That makes it a great exercise for leg day.
Calf Raise variations to choose from:
1) Seated Calf Raises
If this is your first time doing dedicated calf work, I’d highly suggest starting with seated calf raises. The extra focused work on this muscle can make them sore very easily, so this a good option to dip your toes in.
2) Standing Calf Raises (Floor)
If seated calf raises are feeling strong, then stand up to add a bit of weight to the movement. Press your toes through the ground and get up as high as you can. Hold onto a wall, chair, or countertop to assist with your balance, but look to keep most of the weight still in the legs.
3) Standing Calf Raises (Step)
Adding a step to your standing calf raises allows you to drop your heels lower and increase the range of motion. This also increases the likelihood that it’ll be a little tough to walk normally the next day!
Get a good stretch at the bottom, and then really extend up to the top.
4) One-Leg Calf Raises (Floor)
Once two-legged calf raises are no problem, then it’s easy to increase the intensity by working one leg at a time. As before, we can start on the ground to get more weight into the movement while working in a smaller range of motion.
5) One-Leg Calf Raises (Step)
Ready to turn those calves into cows? Then let’s get up on the step and work the one-legged calf raise. All the previous cues still apply – look to drop your heel below the step and get a good stretch before pushing through and really extending at the top.
If this continues to feel easy, then your free hand can hold a weight to increase the intensity further.
#5) Step-Up Variation
Step-ups, a versatile leg exercise, amp up strength in crucial muscle groups—quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and adductors.
Moreover, being a unilateral leg exercise (since we’re doing one leg at a time), step-ups play a vital role in balancing strength between both sides. This can help us improve imbalances. As we strive to create a killer leg day routine (which is the plan), step-ups definitely deserve a spot in the spotlight.
Step-up variations to choose from:
1) Assisted Step-Ups
As with the previous assisted variations, use something stable to help you step up onto the object. You may step onto a stepstool, a step or two on a flight of stairs, or any stable box.
The higher the object, the harder the step-up, but looking for a height that puts your front thigh about horizontal is a good average to work towards.
2) Bodyweight Step-Ups
When the legs feel strong enough, then remove any assist and step up strong. Look to keep the chest up as you stand up tall at the top. Alternate back and forth with which leg you step with, to give the legs an equal amount of work.
3) Weighted Step-Ups
As we continue to get stronger with the step-ups, then adding weight is the next natural progression. As with the lunges, you can hold weight up at your chest, like the goblet squat, or in your hands. If you have some weight in a backpack, you can even wear it to make the exercise more difficult.
4) Bulgarian Split Squats
While the Bulgarian Split Squat looks like a lunge, we’ll keep it in the Step-Up Variations as A) we should be putting more emphasis on the front leg than both legs and B) you’ll likely be performing this exercise with the same set-up as your step-ups – on a flight of stairs or with a box.
Step out in front of whatever object you’re using, and then place the top of your foot up on the object. If this is too uncomfortable, then you can place a towel or other similar padding to help.
Sink down until your front thigh gets horizontal, and then stand back up. If you feel too “cramped” when trying to descend, then step a little further away from the object.
#6) Shin Raises
Shin raises are great. They make the front shin muscle, called the tibialis anterior, stronger. This muscle helps protect your knees by reducing the force on them when you run or jump. They are also fantastic if you’ve ever suffered from shin splints. So, shin raises are like a shield for your knees during active stuff!
They are also much less frequently worked, so take your time and don’t get frustrated if they feel challenged!
Shin raise variations to choose from:
1) Shin Raise – Feet Close to Wall
The first and relatively easiest variation is to perform shin raises with your feet closer to the wall and your back leaning up against the wall. Feet should be naturally hip-width apart, and then lift your feet as high as you are able to go. Again, take your time and go for quality reps.
2) Shin Raise – Feet Far from Wall
As the shin raise gets easier, you can increase the range of motion and difficulty by moving your feet farther from the wall. Continue with the same cues – putting your feet hip-width apart, and lifting your feet as high as you can go.
3) Shin Raise – Heels on Edge of a Step
Some people prefer standing on the edge of a step and lowering their feet down, as opposed to moving their feet out away from the wall, to make the shin raise more difficult.
Care should be taken here to set up a safe position. Look to pick a very low step where your toes can touch the ground lightly at the bottom. This will help minimize the risk of slipping off the front. Your heels should be firmly on the step, and then reach back to the wall for balance.
What’s a Good Leg Day Warm-Up?
Warming up before tackling leg day is crucial because it’ll help you move better and feel stronger through your workout.
As your body temperature rises during a warm-up, blood flow to muscles increases. This enhances oxygen delivery and nutrient supply, optimizing muscle function.
Additionally, warm-ups promote the release of synovial fluid – this is a thick liquid between your joints that reduces friction. This helps the exercises feel more effortless.
So, in a nutshell, warming up is like priming your engine before pushing the pedal.
Here’s a warm-up you can do to prepare for leg day:
#1) Leg Swings for 20-30 seconds per side
The objective for this movement is to lightly move the hip joint through a big range of motion. Only swing as high as you feel comfortable, and keep the body in a strong upright posture.
#2) Marching in Place for 30-60 seconds
You can march in place or march straight ahead. The marching should increase our heart rate a bit, but not be strenuous. The objective here is to introduce some movement in the knee joint and continue to warm the whole body up.
#3) One to Two Sets of an Easier Variation of Your First Chosen Exercise
These are not part of the prescribed sets that are in the workout. These are additional sets! Adding in a few warm-up sets is one of the best things to do to specifically prepare the body for the exercise.
So if you’re first exercise is a bodyweight squat:
Start off with an assisted squat:
Or if you’re doing a goblet squat, then start off with a lighter weight (or a bodyweight squat).
Adjust the movement for these warm-up sets so that they feel good and you feel more prepared for the tougher sets ahead.
#4) Include Additional Warm-up Sets, as Necessary, as You Continue Through Your Workout
After the first exercise, you may feel good enough to step right into the main sets of your next exercises. If you don’t feel ready, then continue performing 1-2 easier sets as a warm-up for any additional exercise.
If you’re going to be lifting heavy weights, or just challenging yourself in general, it’s still a good idea to do warm-up sets before you get to the main event.
So if you plan on doing a kettlebell deadlift:
Deadlifts at a lighter weight, or a bodyweight good morning would help.
Listen to your body as you go, and don’t be afraid to add a warm-up set or two before every new exercise.
3 Ways to Challenge Your Legs Without Using Weights
If you’re at home, you might have some weights around for your leg day workout.
Great!
But if you’re away from home, like at an Airbnb, you might not.
Don’t fret.
Here are three ways to challenge your legs without weights:
Pause variation: this will make the movement tougher as we pause for a couple of seconds at a certain point in the exercise, usually at the bottom where the muscles are doing the most work.
Banded version: this will make the movement tougher as we use bands to add resistance to the exercise. There are different exercise bands you can purchase, but we tend to like the thicker, closed-loop bands. They are much easier to pack for a road trip than a set of weights. You can learn more about resistance bands here.
Dynamic version: this will make the movement tougher as we add some speed to the exercise. This generally involves a jumping variation of a regular exercise, such as jumping squats or jumping split squats.
Now, sometimes we need to make exercises EASIER.
This is generally done by performing an assisted variation.
With an assisted variation, we make the movement easier and generally involve holding onto something solid nearby – whether that’s a countertop, chair, or wall.
Assisted variations are also handy (hehe) for doing warm-ups. See above.
Now, obviously, a simple way to make an exercise tougher is to add some weight to it. Let’s talk about that next.
How to Use Weights at Home for Leg Day (Including Household Objects)
Adding any weight to an exercise will naturally make the movement tougher, as we have to move our bodyweight and this additional weight. You might have a small collection of weights and dumbbells at home that you can use, but we can also grab anything safe and stable for additional weight. We’ll go over a few ideas below and it’s something we bring up in this video:
As highlighted by Coach Matt in the video above, various household items can be repurposed for your home gym!
Picture yourself as a fitness MacGyver, but instead of building a helicopter with a crazy straw, a can of hairspray, and some bubble gum…
You’re crafting a home gym!
Consider these alternative fitness equipment ideas using everyday items:
#1) Household Containers (Milk, Laundry)
If it has a handle and can hold water, it can serve as a makeshift free weight.
Another idea is to use an empty laundry detergent bottle, refilled with water. To make it lighter, adjust the water level.
Want it even heavier? Use sand instead.
#2) Buckets
What’s designed to hold water and be lifted and carried?
A bucket!
With a bucket and your legs, you can perform a Romanian deadlift:
Like a jug, fill it with enough water (or sand) to match your strength. Take your time if you’re using water, as it’ll be likely to slosh out otherwise!
#3) Luggage and Backpacks
Your luggage might just be sitting in a closet right now. Or you might have a ton of extra bags or backpacks lying around.
So why not turn these into weights? Fill them with anything that can add a bit of heft.
Need some ideas? How about:
Books
Canned goods
Laundry!
Take a stroll around your house; you’ll find plenty to add to make things challenging. (Just remember to keep it safe!)
Now that you have heavy luggage, deadlifts are a great option. You may find it a bit more challenging to lift than a traditional dumbbell or barbell too!
Most exercises with a sandbag can be replicated with a suitcase filled with weight too. You could even just dive into the deep end and make a few sandbags yourself.
And finally, a heavy backpack is great to wear for weighted squats, lunges, or step-ups.
What Exactly Is Leg Day?
So what is this “leg day”, and why does everyone always seem to be skipping it?
Leg day isn’t any more complex than dedicating an entire workout to the lower body. This allows you to focus much more time and attention on it, than if you were working your leg exercises during a total body routine. (Like something we outline here.)
Leg day also tends to be really, really HARD. Not only because we’re recruiting the biggest muscles of the body to move around the most amount of weight, but the rest of the body usually also has to work and stabilize everything in the process.
Lots more working than just the legs here!
Now there’s nothing right or wrong about having a dedicated leg day. This may or may not work with your current goals and situation.
But whether you have an entire dedicated leg workout, or work total body with each session, training your legs is a must.
That’s because…
5 Reasons to Never Skip Leg Day
You may wondered:
“Are training legs really that important? I mean, I walk a lot.
Isn’t that good enough?”
My answer: no. Now go do some squats!
Kidding (but seriously do some squats).
Here are the benefits of doing leg day:
Build a Beastly Base: Your legs are the powerhouse of your body, literally. Strong legs = better balance, improved athleticism, and a boost in everyday activities like climbing stairs or carrying groceries like a champ. Think of them as the foundation of your fitness empire!
Calorie Crushing: Leg workouts engage multiple muscle groups, making them calorie-burning machines. Squats, lunges, deadlifts – they all send your metabolism into overdrive, helping you sculpt a leaner, fitter you. Plus, the extra muscle mass you build burns more calories even at rest, meaning more calories burned while playing video games.[1]
Total Body Gains: Forget the myth of isolated muscle groups. Leg workouts trigger a hormonal cascade throughout the whole body that benefits the rest of your muscles, leading to gains in upper body strength as well. Biceps? Triceps? They’ll be thanking you for those squats!
Brain Booster: Exercise isn’t just about the body, it’s a friend to the brain too. Leg workouts increase blood flow to your head, delivering oxygen and nutrients that boost cognitive function and memory. So, next time you need to ace that presentation or remember where you parked the car (again), hit the gym and give your legs some love.[2]
Pain Prevention Powerhouse: Strong leg muscles are your body’s shock absorbers, protecting your joints and spine from injuries. So embrace the leg day life – your future self will thank you for it![3]
Now, to answer your question:
Can You Get Strong Legs Just by Walking?
While a brisk walk (or a run) is a fantastic way to stay active, improve your cardiovascular health, and boost your mood, it’s not quite the muscle-building superhero you might be hoping for. Think of it like a gentle tap on the shoulder compared to the full-on boot camp of squats and lunges. Challenging strength exercises, like the ones you see in this article, have a host of benefits you won’t get walking and running.
First off, they take the joints through a much bigger range of motion. The amount of movement in the knees and hips during a squat is significantly more than a walk. It’s important to move our joints through these ranges of motion, so we can continue moving them well for years to come!
Next, this bigger range of motion means we’re building strength in the muscles much more effectively than with a walk or a run. More strength will serve us well in anything we do – from sports to life.
Lastly, this strength-building also puts enough stress on the body to build (or maintain) muscle and bone. The same can’t be said for walking and running. Maintaining muscle and bone is vital as we age (and also pretty darn important when we’re younger too!).
So, while walking is excellent for the heart and a great foundation for a healthy lifestyle, don’t underestimate the power of adding some targeted strength training to unlock those hidden gains. Trust me, your legs will thank you for it!
Soreness is a natural consequence of challenging your muscles – especially if you’re coming back from a long break or trying something new. It’s like your body throwing a tiny temper tantrum because you dared to ask it to get outside its comfort zone.
So maybe reframe this as your muscles whispering, “Hey, we just leveled up!”
Now, that doesn’t mean we gotta roll around in agony the day after. We can outsmart the soreness a bit with some clever strategies.
Step 1) Pre-Workout Prep
Warm up like nobody’s watching: Get your blood pumping with some easy movements like leg swings or marching. Think of it as waking up your muscles before they get thrown into the gladiator arena. We covered a warm-up at the top of this article (found here), but we also have a complete guide that covers different warm-up routines.
Hydrate!: Water is your post-workout soreness BFF. Hydrating properly can lessen discomfort and safeguard your joints and muscles. It works by maintaining the flexibility of the cartilage, kind of like giving them a regular dose of TLC. Fill up before, during, and after your leg day adventure. Think of it as internal lubrication for those tired warriors.
Step 2) During Your Workout
Form is your fortress: Don’t ego-lift, my friend. Use proper form to target the right muscles and avoid injury. If you find an exercise too challenging, then adjust to another variation. We’re trying to slowly build a castle here, and proper form is how we make sure all the rocks go in the right places.
Progressive overload, not extreme overload: Push yourself, but listen to your body. Don’t go from “I never work out” to “squat champion” in a day. Your muscles need time to adapt and build strength. Increasing the amount of work you do too drastically is a surefire way to have some debilitating soreness from your workout.
Variety is the spice of leg life: Different exercises target different muscle fibers within your legs. Squats primarily engage quads, while lunges hit hamstrings and glutes more prominently. By mixing things up, you ensure all muscle groups get challenged, and one area isn’t beaten up relentlessly (and incredibly sore the next day). Working different exercises also leads to more balanced and overall leg development.
Now, Step 3 is going to get us into “active recovery.” Basically, what to do AFTER your leg day workout.
But let’s dive into a new section for that.
What Workout to Do AFTER Leg Day? (5 Ideas)
To recover from an intense leg day workout, there are a few things we can do. Some of these things can be done right after our workout, while others can be prioritized the next day.
Here are some ideas:
#1) Cool Down
Avoid the post-workout slump with a gentle cooldown. Light activity like walking or jogging helps pump blood through your working muscles, preventing them from feeling like overinflated balloons. This can reduce lactic acid buildup, a major contributor to muscle soreness.
#2) Foam Rolling
Foam rolling is your secret weapon for releasing tension and improving blood flow in those tired legs, especially in your quads, hamstrings, and glutes. Think of it as giving your muscles a mini massage after a workout. Studies show that foam rolling can help increase blood flow to the treated area, potentially aiding in faster recovery and reducing muscle soreness.[4]
Remember, it’s not a battle – listen to your body and apply gentle pressure. We’re trying to relax the muscles a bit, not beat them down into submission.
Here’s a routine you can run through if you have a roller handy:
Soon after your workout, replenish your energy stores with a delicious blend of protein and carbs.
Think of meals like:
Protein smoothie with banana
Greek yogurt with berries and granola
Whole-wheat wrap with turkey and avocado
Studies show that consuming protein and carbs soon after a workout optimizes muscle recovery and growth.[5]
#4) Motion is Lotion!
This is a favorite saying we have around here. It means to move around nice and easy, anyway that you can! This might mean a light walk, or a yoga session, or even a set or two of yesterday’s exercises at an easy level. Look to get the joints and muscles through as big a range of motion as you can.
This is often the exact opposite of what many people do the day after leg day – which is to sit around for days and wait for the soreness to subside. You’ll feel much better and be able to tackle your next workout a lot sooner if you remember to keep moving around!
#5) Sleep
Don’t underestimate the power of sleep! Aim for 7-8 hours of quality shut-eye to allow your muscles to repair and rebuild. As we cover in our Guide to a Goodnight’s Rest, sleep is like magic for your body – it’s when the real growth and progress happen.
What’s the Best Day for Leg Day? (When to Schedule Leg Day)
When it comes to scheduling your leg day, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. It’s all about finding what works best for your schedule.
With that being said, here are some things to consider when scheduling Leg Day:
When you have the most time. Working legs is tough and takes time to warm up and go heavy in your sets, as compared to the upper body. While we still recommend getting in your leg workouts even if you have a busy schedule, IF you have a choice then look to line up your leg day with the day of the week that gives you the most available time.
Post rest day for a fresh attack. To maximize muscle engagement, potentially schedule your leg day workout after a rest day. That way you’re feeling recovered and ready to put in the hard work.
Avoid pulling exercises the day before. Often when someone is doing a dedicated leg day, they’ll work their upper body on the other days of the week. With these upper body workouts, it’s also common for people to break up the exercises into pushing and pulling workouts. Because we often have to grab and hold weights or bands for our leg day workouts, it’s better to avoid scheduling leg day the day after your pulling workouts. The grip will be tired and it may affect what you can lift.
So there you have it, my friend! The leg day gauntlet has been laid, but how you choose to conquer it is entirely yours.
You may find a dedicated leg day to work best for you – allowing you to really focus on each exercise and push really hard. Or you may find that a total body workout – hitting legs and upper body in the same session – works much better for your schedule and your goals. There are no right and wrong answers here.
Remember, the Nerd Fitness Rebellion isn’t about rigid rules, it’s about experimenting, finding what lights your training fire, and making progress toward your goals while having fun.
And if you’re looking for even more help in building your workout, don’t forget to check out our guide on crafting the perfect personalized workout plan: How to Build a Workout Routine.
It’ll help you incorporate your new leg day routine into a complete workout.
Now go forth, nerdy warriors! Conquer leg day, conquer your workouts, and conquer the world, one step, squat, and lunge at a time!
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Originally Posted At: https://breakingmuscle.com/feed/rss
Your gym bag is probably packed with some of the best supplements for building muscle, including protein powder, creatine, and pre-workout. Crucial for boosting energy and strength during a gym session and reducing muscle soreness afterward, you wouldn’t dare train without them. But imagine a single supplement that combines the benefits of all three.
Enter XWERKS Motion — an innovative supplement formulated to enhance endurance during intense exercise and support a quick post-workout recovery. Sounds too good to be true? We’ll find out in this XWERKS Motion review.
Our team of personal trainers, CrossFit coaches, nutrition experts, and competitive weightlifters shared their feedback on the formulation, price, taste, and solubility of this one-of-a-kind product. As a registered dietitian nutritionist, I’ll do a deep dive into the ingredients and potential health benefits of XWERKS Motion, so you know if it’s worth adding to your supplement stack.
Medical disclaimer: This article is intended for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended as a substitute for medical advice. For health advice, contact a licensed healthcare provider.
Key Takeaways
XWERKS Motion contains 25 grams of cluster dextrin carbohydrates, which can help you exercise for longer before exhaustion.
This formula includes three grams of BCAAs to help promote muscle growth and recovery.
Made with electrolytes, XWERKS Motion can also support fluid balance and proper muscle function.
XWERKS Motion contains a 2:1:1 BCAA ratio, meaning the amount of leucine is double the amount of isoleucine and valine. This ratio is shown to be the most effective for enhanced exercise performance.
This BCAA supplement provides a quick energy source from cluster dextrin carbohydrates, which are easy to digest and absorbed rapidly pre-workout.
Dairy and gluten-free, XWERKS Motion is ideal for those with a sensitive digestive system who want to avoid uncomfortable bloating, gas, and stomach cramps.
XWERKS Motion Cons
One serving contains 110 calories solely from carbs, which isn’t ideal for those already consuming adequate carbs who don’t want to increase their intake.
It includes sucralose, an artificial sweetener that may disrupt healthy gut bacteria and inflammation when consumed on an ongoing basis.
Only one flavor is available (Raspberry Lemonade), which could get old quickly if you’re taking this supplement several days a week.
Our Breaking Muscle product testing team has tried nearly 20 of the best BCAA supplements, gaining a thorough understanding of what meets customer standards and what falls short. Here’s how our expert testers rated the following categories after trying XWERKS Motion themselves.
Factor
Rating (out of 5)
Price per serving
3.5
Formulation
4.
Available flavors
3
Taste
5
Solubility
5
Side effects
4
Third-party testing
1
XWERKS Motion Review
In this XWERKS Motion review, we’ll explore the product’s cost, formula, flavors, taste, and more. We’ll include honest, reliable feedback straight from our Breaking Muscle expert testers, so you’ll know exactly what to expect from this supplement. With transparency in mind, we include the good and not-so-good aspects of XWERKS Motion to give you the full picture.
Price Per Serving
A single bag of XWERKS Motion costs $59 for a one-time purchase. Each bag contains 30 one-scoop servings, and a serving costs $1.96. XWERKS offers the option to subscribe to a 30, 45, or 60-day delivery option for a five percent discount on each bag. With that discount, each order costs $56.05, and the price per serving comes down slightly to $1.87.
In comparison, Transparent Labs BCAA Glutamine costs $1.33 per serving, while Jacked Factory BCAA Powder is available at $0.67 per serving at the time of this writing. XWERKS Motion is on the pricier side, earning this category a 3.5 out of 5, but also contains ingredients not found in most other BCAA supplements.
Formulation
XWERKS Motion is thoughtfully and originally formulated, earning it a 4 out of 5. It is unlike other BCAA supplements in that it contains 25 grams of cluster dextrin carbohydrates, also known as highly branched cyclic dextrin (HBCD). Cluster dextrin passes through the stomach into the intestines rapidly, where it can be absorbed into the bloodstream and taken up into muscle cells to replenish glycogen content and provide a quick energy source. (1)
Breaking Muscle editorial member Kate pouring XWERKS Motion into a shaker bottle
Human studies suggest that when used before or during a workout, cluster dextrin carbs may decrease perceived exertion and enhance endurance when compared to maltodextrin and glucose, especially when prior carb intake is low. (1) However, those who eat plenty of carbs may not experience any added benefits when supplementing cluster dextrin.
In addition to carbs, each serving offers three grams of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs). The product contains the BCAA ratio 2:1:1 of leucine, isoleucine, and valine. BCAAs are essential amino acids (EAAs), meaning you must consume them because the body doesn’t synthesize them on its own. Leucine is often thought of as the king of BCAAs because it activates muscle protein synthesis, which is necessary for muscle growth and recovery. (2)
Other active ingredients include calcium, magnesium, and sodium. During exercise, you lose electrolytes through sweat that need to be replenished. The electrolytes in XWERKS Motion help prevent dehydration and maintain proper muscle function during a workout.
Enhanced with natural flavors, sucralose, and citric acid, this product contains ingredients that add sour and sweet notes.
Sucralose is an artificial sweetener considered safe when consumed in moderation. Unlike table sugar, most research shows sucralose has little to no effects on blood sugar levels or insulin. (3) However, some animal studies suggest it could disrupt healthy gut bacteria and increase inflammation when consumed long-term, but more human studies are needed. (4)
Breaking Muscle team member Kate Meier holding a scoop of XWERKS Motion
Available Flavors
You won’t have any difficulty picking a flavor if you choose to try XWERKS Motion, considering there is only one option available — Raspberry Lemonade. Obviously, if you prefer to stick with one flavor on repeat this won’t be a problem. For those who like to switch things up, the lack of variety may leave you feeling bored, hence the middle-of-the-road rating on flavor.
Taste
Luckily, the Raspberry Lemonade flavor delivers. Our expert tester was more than pleased with the taste of the raspberry lemonade supplement, rating it an impressive 5 out of 5. She noticed hints of the tart lemonade with a more robust berry flavor overall. The supplement wasn’t too sweet and had a very refreshing taste to it. Our tester even went as far as to say that she could happily sip on this drink all day.
Solubility
Another winning category of XWERKS Motion is solubility, which our tester rated a perfect 5 out of 5. She didn’t experience any clumping, grittiness, floaties, or difficulty mixing — a feature you’ll want when drinking it at the gym or on the go. Because the cluster dextrin in this product is highly soluble in water, it dissolves easily and forms a smooth, uniform mixture. Several customer reviews on the XWERKS website rave about the product’s superior solubility, mentioning it “blends so smooth” and is “easy to mix.”
Side Effects
Cluster dextrin is believed to be safe for consumption, with no apparent safety concerns. (5) Our product tester didn’t experience any adverse side effects during her use of this product. As for beneficial effects, she didn’t notice any superhuman strength or noticeable bursts of energy, but she did feel good during longer lifting sessions.
Switching gears, BCAAs are considered safe when consumed in appropriate dosages. It’s best to adhere to the suggested dosage instructions on the product label for optimal safety and effectiveness.
Nevertheless, always consult with your healthcare provider before adding a new dietary supplement to your routine, particularly if you have pre-existing medical conditions or are currently taking prescribed medications. This precaution ensures that the supplement aligns with your individual health needs and won’t pose any risks or interactions.
All of the above considered, XWERKS Motion gets a 4 out of 5 rating for the lack of side effects from its formulation.
Third-Party Testing
Unfortunately, there’s no mention of third-party testing on the XWERKS Motion product page, which is why we gave it a 1 out of 5.
We always encourage consumers to consider supplements that are third-party tested, because it serves as a quality control measure, ensuring that products are safe, effective, and meet certain regulatory requirements. Third-party testing enhances transparency and builds consumer trust by verifying that high-quality products contain what’s on the label and don’t include harmful levels of heavy metals or contaminants.
The nutrition facts and potential benefits of XWERKS Motion
XWERKS Motion vs. XTEND Original BCAA Powder
XWERKS Motion and XTEND Original BCAA powder have both commonalities and differences. To start, both products contain BCAAs and electrolytes to enhance muscle recovery, reduce muscle soreness, and maintain hydration.
However, that’s where their similarities end. While XTEND Original BCAA powder doesn’t contain any carbohydrates, XWERKS Motion contains 25 grams of cluster dextrin carbs for extra energy and prolonged endurance.
XTEND Original BCAA powder also has a much higher BCAA content of seven grams, compared to the three grams in XWERKS Motion. The Original BCAA powder even contains a whopping three and a half grams of leucine, exceeding the recommended two to three grams per day to maximize muscle-gaining capabilities. (2) The same can’t be said for the leucine content of XWERKS Motion.
Customers on the XWERKS website give Motion a 4.4 out of 5-star rating. There are only 35 reviews on the product page. Motion is not available on Amazon at the time of writing.
One happy customer says, “Great taste! No issues with digestion, gives you the fuel needed during most intense workouts.” Another customer says, “It mixes well, I like the flavor, and have no digestive or other issues. Performance-wise I feel great. I feel more energetic during my workouts and that I’m getting more out of them.”
Reviews from customers who were less pleased with the product were written over a year ago, and the formulation and flavors may have changed. One customer says, “I’m not sold on this product. I don’t really notice any difference on the days I take this. Also, it takes a blender to get this stuff mixed! That’s a deal breaker for me.” Other customers complain of the grape flavor, which is no longer available.
Final Verdict: Is XWERKS Motion Worth It?
XWERKS Motion provides a synergistic blend of cluster dextrin carbs, BCAAs, and electrolytes to support endurance and recovery during and after a workout. Those who enjoy leisurely activity and consume enough carbs to sustain their energy levels may not benefit from this product.
However, it might be worth it for endurance athletes and bodybuilders with high training loads. Taking XWERKS before, during, or after intense physical activity may reduce perceived effort, extend the time to exhaustion, and decrease muscle soreness.
FAQs
Do you drink BCAA before or after a workout?
You can consume BCAAs pre, post, or intra-workout depending on your fitness goals. Some prefer to take BCAAs before or during a workout to provide their muscles with amino acids to help prevent muscle protein breakdown. Others like to take BCAAs post-workout to support muscle repair and recovery.
Do BCAA supplements work?
If you eat a whole-food diet high in protein, then you likely consume enough amino acids and may not experience further benefits by supplementing them. If you struggle to eat enough protein, BCAAs may support endurance, helping you train at a higher intensity for longer. Additionally, BCAAs may reduce muscle damage and DOMS post-workout.
What are branched-chain amino acids?
BCAAs are a group of three EEAs—leucine, isoleucine, and valine— that must be consumed through the diet. They get their name from their unique molecular structure. While all EAAs are important, BCAAs are thought to play an important role in protein synthesis, muscle recovery, and preventing loss of lean mass.
What are the benefits of BCAA?
BCAAs may provide an extended feeling of energy and delay the onset of muscle fatigue, enabling you to work out longer. Moreover, BCAAs might diminish muscle damage, inflammation, and DOMS post-workout. Lastly, BCAAs may aid in preserving lean muscle mass during periods of fat loss, contributing to weight loss efforts.
How much BCAA should you take?
There are no official recommended daily requirements for BCAAs. The suggested sweet spot for leucine intake is often cited as two to three grams per day to optimize muscle building. (2) Avoid exceeding the recommended serving size on the product label. If you take protein powder or eat a high-protein diet, BCAA supplements likely won’t provide added benefits.
Research
Wilburn, D., Machek, S., & Ismaeel, A. (2021). Highly Branched Cyclic Dextrin and its Ergogenic Effects in Athletes: A Brief Review. Journal of Exercise and Nutrition, 4(3). https://doi.org/10.53520/jen2021.103100
Plotkin, D. L., Delcastillo, K., Van Every, D. W., Tipton, K. D., Aragon, A. A., & Schoenfeld, B. J. (2021). Isolated Leucine and Branched-Chain Amino Acid Supplementation for Enhancing Muscular Strength and Hypertrophy: A Narrative Review. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 31(3), 292-301. Retrieved Nov 24, 2023, from https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsnem.2020-0356
Ahmad SY, Friel JK, Mackay DS. Effect of sucralose and aspartame on glucose metabolism and gut hormones. Nutr Rev. 2020;78(9):725-746. doi:10.1093/nutrit/nuz099
Bian X, Chi L, Gao B, Tu P, Ru H, Lu K. Gut Microbiome Response to Sucralose and Its Potential Role in Inducing Liver Inflammation in Mice. Front Physiol. 2017;8:487. Published 2017 Jul 24. doi:10.3389/fphys.2017.00487
Choi SS, Danielewska-Nikiel B, Ohdan K, Kojima I, Takata H, Kuriki T. Safety evaluation of highly-branched cyclic dextrin and a 1,4-alpha-glucan branching enzyme from Bacillus stearothermophilus. Regul Toxicol Pharmacol. 2009;55(3):281-290. doi:10.1016/j.yrtph.2009.07.011
“Basic technologies such as bicycles, clean burning wood stoves and even the humble apple corer seem to provide much benefit with fewer downsides. The more sophisticated world changing technologies not only have the most downsides but they tend to create their own need. Consider cars as an example. They allowed us initially to get places faster but the end result was that the places people needed to go tended to get further apart. Now we can’t live without them.
Some technologies deliver the opposite of what they promise. Social media for example is supposed to bring us together yet loneliness has become pervasive in our society. A recent survey reveals that 61 percent of Americans, 3 out of 5 describe themselves as lonely. The Plains Indians of the 19th century likely suffered little from loneliness. They lived in tribes of 300 or so and the lines between family and community were quite blurred. Basically the entire tribe was one’s family.
Choose your technologies wisely. I live in Maine where snow is plentiful. My neighbor’s snowblower needs gas, maintenance and sometimes clogs or breaks down. My snow shovel has never broken down and helps me maintain 6 pack abs at age 65!”
In a busy world, efficiency is king. Everyone wants the most payoff for their efforts in the least amount of time—especially when it comes to fitness. That’s one of the reasons that high-intensity interval training, or HIIT, has become so popular. Workouts lasting just 20 or 30 minutes can deliver tremendous cardiovascular benefits, help you burn fat and lose weight, build stronger muscles and bones, lead to better blood sugar control and insulin sensitivity, and make you stronger.
But what if you didn’t need to devote 30, 20, or even 10 minutes to your workout? What if you could achieve the same results, maybe even better results, in just 4 minutes? Enter Tabata.
Tabata is a specific type of very-high-intensity interval training. When done correctly, the entire workout takes just 4 minutes. The rub here is that doing it “correctly” means taking yourself to the limit in just 160 seconds of work. Tabata is tough. It’s also, according to research, incredibly effective.
If you’ve been hanging around the blog for a while, you probably know that I’m a big proponent of workouts that are short and sweet—or rather, short and intense. This former marathoner has seen the errors of his ways, and I’ve spent years trying to convince my readers that the typical fitness paradigm has people engaging in workouts that are too long and that exist in the so-called “black hole.” They’re too hard to be aerobic but not hard enough to yield max anaerobic benefits. In other words, workouts that break you down at least as much, if not more, than they build you up in the long run.
But Tabata isn’t your typical HIIT protocol. It’s not your typical sprint protocol (my preferred type of high-intensity exercise). It’s not your typical microworkout (despite being bite-sized). Tabata is its own beast altogether.
The questions at hand today are: Should you be incorporating Tabata into your workout routine? If yes, how? If no, why not?
The Tabata Workout Protocol
Tabata workouts are named after Dr. Izumi Tabata, researcher and former fitness coach for the Japanese National Speed Skating Team. Dr. Tabata was the first person to systematically measure and publish the results of the training protocol that now bears his name, although he, apparently, did not actually come up with the idea. (That was 1980s speed skating coach Kouichi Irisawa.)
A true Tabata training protocol, according to Dr. Tabata himself, involves 7 to 8 “exhaustive sets” of exercise performed at 170 percent of VO2max for 20 seconds, with 10 seconds rest in between.1 If you quit after 6 reps, that’s not really Tabata. Nor is it Tabata if you can eke out a 9th round, if you do 30-second work intervals, or if you rest for more than 10 seconds.
Dr. Tabata conducted his studies using a stationary bike, which allows you to crank up the resistance and quickly get to that hard effort. Now I don’t know if you’ve ever pedaled a bike at 170 percent of VO2max (which equates to the intensity you are able to maintain for just 50 seconds of hard pedaling before you fall off the bike in a pool of sweat), but let me tell you, a 4-minute workout will feel like plenty. Even though you’re only going hard for 20 seconds at a time, the 10-second rest intervals aren’t enough for you to truly recover, so you start each new interval already in a deficit. After 8 rounds, you’ll be spent.
That’s what Tabata is. What is it not?
Tabata Versus HIIT
Tabata is not HIIT. Or HIIT is not Tabata? One of the two.
In any case, Tabata differs from HIIT in several key ways.
HIIT workouts generally last 20 or 30 minutes, perhaps up to an hour. Tabata workouts last exactly 4. No more.
With HIIT training, recovery periods last anywhere from 30 seconds to a few minutes, and they can involve either total rest or lower-intensity activity—pedaling at a lighter resistance, for example. Tabata workouts involve 10 seconds of total rest, period.
True Tabata, as described by the eponymous doctor, must be conducted at the prescribed intensity. HIIT workouts, though challenging when done correctly, aren’t nearly that intense.
That last point is where a lot of people get confused. There’s simply no way to keep going for 20 minutes, much less an hour, at the intensity the Dr. Tabata prescribes. Even the world’s fittest elite athletes would struggle to complete multiple rounds with proper form and at the right intensity, much less your average bloke hitting an hour-long “Tabata class” at the local gym. To go for that long, you’ll be forced to decrease your output. These so-called Tabata workouts that stack together multiple rounds of 20-second on/10-second off exercises are not Tabata in the truest sense. Tabata-style, maybe. HIIT, definitely.
Which is fine. There are plenty of demonstrated benefits to HIIT—but it’s not Tabata.
Tabata Versus Sprinting
Tabata and sprinting have a lot in common: Very brief, very intense work intervals. Relatively short. Leave you feeling more invigorated than wiped out for the rest of the day.
But Tabata isn’t sprinting.
The two biggest differences are that with sprinting, you take longer rest intervals so that you start each sprint fairly fresh, and you might conduct up to 8 or 10 repetitions.
Benefits
For my money, the biggest benefit of Tabata, compared to other types of HIIT training especially, is its efficiency. My biggest gripe with HIIT training in general is that it’s easy to overdo it, in exactly the way that Primal Blueprint Fitness discourages. The line between HIIT and chronic cardio is often blurry. An hour-long HIIT class is almost assuredly going to keep you pegged at a black hole heart rate. Tabata won’t.
In that way, Tabata is much more similar to the sprint workouts I advocate. And all the things I love about sprinting—short, all-out efforts that boost growth hormone, upregulate fat burning, promote insulin sensitivity, and deliver full-body fitness benefits—should likewise be true with Tabata.
The other thing to note about Tabata is that, compared to other types of exercise, it seems to uniquely maximize gains to both the aerobic and anaerobic energy systems. According to research out of Dr. Tabata’s lab, 2 the 20-second intervals at 170 percent VO2max hit a sweet spot for targeting both.3 Most types of exercise preferentially benefit one or the other.
Tabata Workout How-to
You’re familiar by now with the basics: Do a proper warm-up, hop on a stationary bike, crank up the resistance, and start doing your 20-second work/10-second rest intervals. Do eight reps, cool down, hydrate, call it a day. Maybe go for a walk.
Tabata really is that simple. You’ll know you’re hitting the right intensity if you have to dig deep to complete those seventh and eighth reps.
What if you don’t have access to a stationary bike? Dr. Tabata cautions that we don’t know whether the benefits extend to other modalities beyond the bike,4 but I see no reason to think they’d be bike-specific. Any exercise that allows you to achieve high work outputs in 20 seconds should be similarly effective. The beauty of the bike is that you can go from total rest to pedaling hard with a quick turn of the resistance dial. You could probably replicate that with a Versaclimber, battle ropes, sled push, or even an elliptical.
I see lots of Tabata workouts that involve four or five 4-minute circuits of exercises like burpees, kettlebell swings, Russian twists, jumping jacks, mountain climbers, and the like. They utilize the same 20/10 splits, but the fact that they involve 16 or 20 total work intervals tells you that the intensity just isn’t the same—which you can feel. There’s no way 20 seconds of planking is as hard as 20 seconds of pedaling a bike at high resistance. Hence, they aren’t really Tabata.
That’s not a dig on those types of workouts. They’re still HIIT, and you will reap the benefits accordingly. For beginners, this type of lower-intensity (but still challenging) Tabata-style HIIT workout is a safer starting place. That said, since you aren’t doing a strict Tabata workout anyway, there’s no reason to strictly limit yourself to the 20/10 intervals either.
The Bottom Line
Although I think Tabata is great, I wouldn’t only do Tabata workouts. Plenty of research shows that intervals of other lengths and intensities are also worthwhile. Just as I don’t always do the same types of deadlifts or squats, and I change up the surfaces I sprint on, it makes sense to do different types of interval training. Mixing it up probably gives you the best bang for your buck over the long term.
If you do want to do a Tabata session, I’d recommend doing it in place of your weekly sprint. Or you can do it in addition; just watch your recovery and make sure you’re not overdoing it. Remember, true Tabata workouts are hard. Very hard. Not for the faint of heart. (Literally. If you have heart problems, talk to your doctor before undertaking a workout this strenuous.)
How about you? Have you worked Tabata into your training routine? Notice any benefits?
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The Assault Bike ProX is one of the best cardio machines currently offered, as it provides a full-body, low-impact workout that can still be high-intensity. Popular in the CrossFit community, this fan bike consists of a belt-driven system and a heavy-duty steel frame, making it a great tool to build both endurance and strength.
Here at Breaking Muscle, our experts include athletes, strength and conditioning coaches, and certified personal trainers who are intimately familiar with this fan bike. We put it through hours of strenuous cardio workouts to see if it could take on the challenge. In this Assault Fitness AssaultBike Pro X review, we’ll highlight our results, how well the bike ranked in testing, and how it compares to other fan bikes.
Key Takeaways
The Assault Bike ProX is a great choice of cardio equipment for those who want a total-body workout. This fan bike, also termed an air bike, requires you to engage in full-body exercise using both the handlebars and bike pedals to generate movement through a belt-driven system.
The LCD monitor tracks stats such as calories, distance, speed, watts, and RPM, all of which can help you understand energy output.
The Assault Fitness App, which you can access through your phone and connect to the bike’s Bluetooth-enabled console, allows you to take part in virtual and instructor-led programming.
The AssaultBike Pro X features a smooth belt-driven system to keep the workout efficient and quieter than chain-driven fan bikes. This makes it a great piece of equipment for a home gym, where limiting noise can ensure your workouts aren’t a nuisance to your roommates or family members.
With 11 height settings and six front-to-back settings for adjustments, the seat can move upward, downward, forward, and backward to help accommodate your body proportions.
Made of a heavy-duty steel frame that makes it pretty stable for exercise, the AssaultBike ProX has a weight capacity of 330 pounds, so even heavier athletes can safely use it.
Assault Fitness AssaultBike ProX Cons
Running at $899 at the time of this writing, it’s relatively expensive and may be out of reach for those with tight budgets. In comparison, the AssaultBike Classic and the Titan Fan Bike are both around $699.
The Assault Fitness App, although interactive and a step up from other brands, has been termed “glitchy” through the many reviews at the Apple store. As such, it only has a a 2.1 out of 5 star rating.
The ProX has a large footprint, especially compared to the AssaultBike Elite. The ProX is 51.73 inches long, 24.52 inches wide, and 52.51 inches high, while the Elite is 50.95 inches long, 23.34 inches wide, and 50 inches high. Depending on your home gym setup, the Pro X may take up too much room and prevent you from doing workouts off the bike safely.
Assault Fitness AssaultBike ProX Rating
At Breaking Muscle, we know exercise equipment. We have a product testing team that has put hundreds of machines through the wringer, using them for everything from gentle warm-ups to high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts. Many of our staff members are home gym owners themselves and use these products nearly every day.
With the knowledge we’ve gained over the years, we created a proprietary scoring system that we used to rank the AssaultBike ProX in various categories. Not only did we evaluate how the bike performed on its own, but we also compared it with nearly 30 other exercise bikes to see how it stacked up against the competition.
Factor
Rating (out of 5)
Price
4
Materials, build, and construction
5
Delivery and asssembly
5
Performance
4
Included workouts
3
Heart rate monitor
4
Display and stats tracking
5
Conveniences
4
Workout app and subscriptions
4
Bluetooth connectivity
5
Noise level
4
Portability
4
Warranty
5
Assault Fitness AssaultBike ProX Overview
From the founders of the AssaultRunner (one of the best treadmills to train with), the Assault Bike ProX is made with a heavy-duty steel frame finished in a black powder coat that helps keep it corrosion-resistant and capable of standing the test of time. It is a top-tier fan bike that can provide a brutal workout for any athlete.
The AssaultBike Pro X at the Breaking Muscle testing facility
In addition to its tough and durable frame, it incorporates a belt-driven system for a quiet, smooth training experience. It also requires less upkeep than chain-driven systems, which should come as a relief to busy individuals who can’t be bothered with complicated maintenance protocols.
Assault Fitness AssaultBike ProX In-Depth Review
Price
At the time of writing, the Assault Bike ProX costs $899. Fortunately, there is also an option to finance it at around $82 a month through Affirm. For comparison, the Assault Bike ProX is more expensive than the AssaultBike Classic at $699 but cheaper than the Concept2 BikeErg, which costs around $1,100.
The Assault Bike ProX also provides free shipping, which is a big deal for equipment this size. Buying an air bike from another brand could set you back another $100 in shipping costs.
All of the above considered, we’ve rated this bike 4 out of 5 stars for its shipping rate, finance options, and value.
Materials, Build, and Construction Quality
The Assault Bike ProX weighs 125 pounds, has a max user weight of 330 pounds, and boasts a heavy-duty steel frame with a corrosion-resistant black powder coating finish. We love this type of frame and finish because it means less maintenance over time.
It’s also similar to what you would see with the Rogue Echo Bike, which has a black powder coating and almost looks like it was built from scraps of a heavy-duty squat rack! But the Assault Bike ProX isn’t as bulky as the Rogue Echo Bike, making it more compatible with small spaces, which our product testers enjoyed. For comparison, the ProX is 51.73 inches long, 24.52 inches wide, and 52.51 inches high, while the Echo Bike is 55 inches long, 29.5 inches wide, and 52.25 inches high.
The Assault Bike ProX provides a wide padded seat that can adjust to 11 different heights and six different directions either forward or backward. These adjustments were the same on the Assault Bike Pro, which the ProX replaces. The rubber handles on the ProX help you maintain your grip and keep your hands comfortable throughout the workout as well.
This fan bike also comes with footpegs at the base of the handlebars for you to place your feet. This gives you the option to do an upper body-only workout, which is great for injury recovery or arm day.
Based on the quality and construction of the Assault Bike ProX, we rated it 5 out of 5 stars.
The AssaultBike Pro X comes with foot pegs where you can rest your feet if you only want to use the handlebars.
Delivery and Assembly
We gave the AssaultBike Pro X 5 out of 5 stars for delivery and assembly because of how straightforward it was to build. The bikes arrived at our testing facility 75 percent built, so all we had to do was attach the LCD console, pedals, handlebars, seat post, and saddle. Assault Fitness provides all the tools needed to build your air bike, and it should take roughly 35 to 45 minutes.
Performance
When testing the Assault Bike ProX, we noticed a smoother and quieter ride than what we’ve experienced with other air bikes, like the Titan Fan Bike or the AssaultBike Classic. This is predominantly thanks to the belt-driven system. A belt-driven system requires less maintenance than a chain-driven system, but it is also harder to use. When you pedal, the steel fan wheel generates resistance based on your effort. The harder you pedal, the more resistance is applied.
Working out on the AssaultBike Pro X
However, once you stop pedaling, the fan wheel will stop moving, requiring more effort to get it started again. This might be tough if you’re not prepared for a high-intensity workout. Due to this, we gave the Assault Bike ProX a 4 out of 5-star rating for performance.
Included Workouts
The Assault Bike ProX’s LCD monitor provides seven built-in training programs and a competition mode for those ready to take on the challenge. Through the Assault Fitness App, which we’ll review below, there is also an option to follow instructor-led programs or create customized workouts.
All in all, we give it a 3 out of 5 star rating in this category. The included workouts aren’t as robust as what you’d see in a more interactive bike like the Peloton. However, we do appreciate having them and think they can be valuable for people who may not know where to start.
Heart Rate Monitoring
While the AssaultBike Classic was only compatible with the Polar T34 heart rate chest strap, the Assault Bike ProX is compatible with other brands, like Garmin. You can link a heart rate monitor through the bike’s Bluetooth features. However, you need to purchase a compatible one separately, which is why we only rated it 4 out of 5 stars here (though to be fair, this is common for most exercise bikes).
Display and Stat Tracking
The Assault Bike ProX comes with a five-inch by eight-inch monitor, which is a common size amongst other fan bikes. This high-quality LCD monitor is powered by four AA batteries, which Assault includes with your purchase. The console is great for tracking stats such as calories, distance, heart rate, speed, watts, and RPM. It also connects to the Assault Fitness App.
An over-the-shoulder look at the console on the AssaultBike ProX
Our product testers loved that it could track power output in addition to distance and speed, which is a great measure of energy expenditure to quantify workout intensity. The Rogue Echo Bike monitor doesn’t provide feedback such as watts and RPM on its monitor, which gives the Assault Bike ProX the edge.
All things considered, we’ve given this bike 5 out of 5 stars for its display and tracking capabilities.
Conveniences
When testing the Assault Bike ProX, we noticed a ton of conveniences. First, the air bike requires no electric outlet, and we loved being able to use it anywhere. This feature is also a welcome benefit for commercial CrossFit gym owners, as you don’t have to worry about your members tripping over power cords.
Other conveniences include a device holder and a water bottle holder. Some fan bikes like the Titan Fan Bike also include these conveniences. Others, like the Rogue Echo Bike, don’t (though they are available to purchase separately). We always appreciate it when a brand throws in little extras like this. They allow you to have all your workout essentials within reach. Plus, you don’t have to worry about potentially placing multiple orders or paying extra shipping fees to get them.
Overall, our product testers rated the conveniences 4 out of 5 stars. The only reason we docked a point is that we wish the bike came with a wind guard to prevent cold air from blowing in our faces when training in a cold garage. There is one available on the Assault Fitness website, but you have to buy it separately for an additional $39.
Workout Apps and Subscription Options
The Assault Bike ProX is a part of the Assault Fitness line of exercise machines that operate using the Assault Fitness app. The app was one of our product testers’ favorite features.
Free to download from the App Store and Google Play, the Assault Fitness App provides you with a multitude of instructor-driven workouts. You can do these workouts on your own or compete against other athletes virtually. Many of the workouts also integrate other types of equipment, such as dumbbells and kettlebells, to help you get more well-rounded programming.
While we enjoyed the app, we only gave it 4 out of 5 stars. As of this writing, it’s not available on the most recent version of Android. Athletes with newer Android phones may not be able to use it.
Bluetooth Connectivity
The Assault Bike ProX is Bluetooth-enabled. We don’t necessarily consider Bluetooth connectivity a standout feature, as dozens of cardio machines we’ve tested now come with it. But we’ve also tried inexpensive cardio equipment that doesn’t have this feature, and even Assault Fitness’s classic AssaultBike lacks Bluetooth capabilities. As such, we rated the ProX 5 out of 5 stars here.
Noise Level
When comparing other fan bikes we tested, the Assault Bike ProX generated less noise due to its belt-driven system. The belt-driven system operates more smoothly than chain-drive systems such as those on the Schwinn Airdyne. A noisier system can make it tough to perform workouts at home, especially if you train early in the morning or late at night when others are sleeping.
That said, no fan bike will be completely silent, so you should still expect some noise as air travels through the flywheel. Due to this, we give the noise level of the Assault Bike ProX 4 out of 5 stars.
Portability
The Assault Bike ProX offers some portability, thanks to two small transport wheels at the front. To move it, all you need to do is tilt it onto its wheels to help glide it across the floor. However, although it might be easy for some athletes to move this fan bike, others might struggle to relocate it because it weighs 125 pounds. Based on these findings, we give the portability of the Assault Bike ProX 4 out of 5 stars.
Warranty
The Assault Bike ProX has a three-year non-wear parts warranty and a seven-year frame warranty. The three-year non-wear parts warranty doesn’t cover normal wear and tear on parts like the seat, pedals, and handle grips. This may seem like a drawback, but in our experience, this is common in warranties on other brands’ fan bikes. But the length of Assault’s warranty is longer compared to Rogue, who only offers a two-year warranty on their Echo Bike, and Titan, who only offers a one-year warranty on their fan bike. We gave the warranty of the Assault Bike ProX 5 out of 5 stars for this reason.
Assault Fitness AssaultBike ProX Specs
Overall Dimensions
The Assault Bike ProX is 51.73 inches long, 24.52 inches wide, and 52.51 inches high. Compared to the classic AssaultBike, these dimensions are one to two inches bigger in each category. If you’re between the two, we definitely recommend measuring carefully to ensure you choose the one that will best fit your space.
Resistance
The Assault Bike ProX is a fan bike, meaning it builds resistance based on how much air you recruit in the fan wheel as you work. The harder you pedal, the more air resistance is applied, making your workout more challenging.
In addition to air resistance, the ProX uses a belt-driven system, meaning it only operates when you begin to pedal. If you stop pedaling, the machine stops moving. This makes it harder to operate compared to a chair-driven system, like what you’d see with the AssaultBike Classic.
Weight Capacity
The weight capacity of the Assault Bike ProX is 330 pounds. This is more than the Classic bike, which holds 300 pounds, but less than the Elite, which holds up to 350 pounds.
Seat and Handlebar Adjustments
The Assault Bike ProX can accommodate most body sizes with 11 different height settings and six front-to-back settings. These adjustment levels are relatively standard based on what we’ve seen on other fan bikes. However, some competitors like the Rogue Echo Bike only have five front-to-back seat settings.
Adjusting the seat on the AssaultBike Pro X
Electrical Requirements
Because the Assault Bike ProX does not require an electrical outlet, you can transport it wherever you want to go —outdoors or indoors. The monitor, however, does require AA batteries to operate.
Assault Fitness AssaultBike ProX vs. Echo Bike
At first glance, it seems the Assault Bike ProX and Rogue Echo Bike have many similarities. When you analyze them more closely, you’ll find that there are several key differences between the two.
Below are the dimensions of both fan bikes:
Assault Fitness AssaultBike Pro X
Rogue Echo Bike
Length
51.73 inches
55 inches
Width
24.52 inches
29.5 inches
Height
52.52 inches
52.25 inches
Weight
125 pounds
123 pounds
Materials
Black powder-coated, heavy-duty steel
Textured black powder coat, 2×3″, 1.2 x 3″, and 1.625 x 3.125″ steel
Even though the Rogue Echo Bike is bulkier in material and dimensions, it has the same 330-pound weight capacity as the AssaultBike ProX. Both of these fan bikes are also powered by movement, so no electrical outlet is needed. Further, weighing in at 123 and 125 pounds, respectively, the Rogue Echo Bike and the Assault Bike ProX are equally portable, especially given they both have wheels.
Finally, both products use belt-driven mechanics, providing a smooth and quiet riding experience. But the Assault Bike ProX gives more metrics on the monitor, such as watts and RPM. This feature alone could make or break your decision, depending on how important tracking is to your training.
The Assault Bike ProX comes in with a strong 4.6 out of 5-star rating on the Assault Fitness website. Many users claim that it is super easy to set up, requires low maintenance, and is a favorite piece of equipment in their home gyms. Customers also praise its sturdiness and its ability to handle a tough workout.
One user mentioned that the left peg became loose during their workout. Another buyer mentioned that the Assault Bike ProX was very noisy and didn’t think it was as stable as other reviews might suggest — note, however, that complaints like this are in the minority.
Final Verdict: Is the Assault Fitness AssaultBike ProX Worth It?
After extensive research and testing of the Assault Bike ProX, we can say that this air bike is worth it. Made with a heavy-duty steel frame finished in a black powder coat, it can take on the toughest workouts. It’s ideal for anyone looking for a full-body, high-intensity interval training machine for improving both endurance and strength.
The smoother and quieter experience you get with the Assault Bike ProX is thanks to the belt-driven system integrated into the design. Although this system might require more effort to operate, this bike can still be a great purchase for everyone from CrossFitters to health and fitness enthusiasts.
FAQs
Is the AssaultBike a good workout?
The Assault Bike provides a great workout, combining air resistance and a belt-driven system for a tough cardio and muscular endurance workout. You can use both the foot pedals and the arm handles to get a full-body workout. Or you can just use the arm handles to work out your upper body exclusively.
Is the AssaultBike Pro X belt driven?
The Assault Bike Pro X is a belt-driven system. The fan bike only works when you operate the pedals and/or handlebars. The belt-driven system also offers a smoother and quieter workout.
Is the AssaultBike good for fat loss?
The AssaultBike alone may not aid fat loss if you’re eating too many calories. However, it can provide a strong enough stimulus for an intense enough workout to help you burn more calories and hit multiple health and fitness goals.
Is the AssaultBike good for muscle building?
Because the AssaultBike Pro X requires a full-body effort and utilizes a belt-driven system, you could potentially build a small amount of muscle by using it consistently. However, resistance training with implements like dumbbells or barbells (and following a diet that supports muscle growth) will be your best bet if you want to pack on as much muscle as possible.
There are certain fundamental inputs every person needs to be healthy: nutritious food, plenty of sleep, social connection, and the one we’re talking about today, movement.
Movement is an essential part of the Primal Blueprint master plan for crafting your strongest, fittest, most dynamic, most enjoyable life. That’s what I want for all my readers—a long life well lived until the end. To reach that goal, you need a strong foundation of physical health and mobility, starting as young as possible to stave off the inevitable physical decline that comes with age.
Everyone knows how to move. We’ve all heard that exercise is important, that we should be aiming for 10,000 steps a day, building core strength, and actually using our gym memberships. Yet many, nay most, people don’t do the right amount, either moving too little or too much (the former being far more common). Nor do they move in diverse enough ways to achieve their optimal fitness and longevity potential. In short, they don’t move in accordance with the Primal Blueprint.
What Does It Mean to Move Primally?
Humans are designed to move through the world. To be active. To physically manipulate our environments.
Our ancestors, of course, had no choice in the matter. They didn’t worry about becoming strong or physically competent. Their fitness was a natural result of living in an unforgiving environment that required them to work for everything—food, shelter, water, transportation, socializing, defense, and every other aspect of survival. But life is easy now, at least when it comes to physical demands. We modern folks do need to work at being fit.
When I was devising the Primal Blueprint, I considered how our ancestors moved, what qualities they embodied, and what, therefore, our genes need and expect for optimum health. Here’s what I came up with:
Humans are designed to move a lot—mostly slowly, sometimes very fast.
The human body is meant to move through all planes of motion: to push, pull, lift, jump, spring, sprint, throw, and balance.
Our ancestors had to be physically strong, powerful, and quick on their feet, with a good strength-to-body weight ratio and plenty of endurance.
With this in mind, I came up with the following Primal Blueprint movement laws.
The Primal Blueprint Movement Laws
Four of the ten Primal Blueprint Laws speak to how you should be moving. It’s that important.
Primal Law #3: Move frequently.
We know that our ancestors spent, on average, several hours each day moving about at what today’s exercise physiologists might describe as a “low-level aerobic pace.” They hunted, gathered, foraged, wandered, scouted, migrated, climbed, and crawled. This low level of activity prompted their genes to build strong muscles, bones, and joints; to build a robust cardiovascular system; and to burn fat for fuel.
Today’s sedentary-dominant lifestyle is about as far from this as we could possibly get. Yet, our genes still expect us to move frequently, mostly at a slow pace. From a chronic health perspective, this is arguably one of the most detrimental discrepancies between Primal and modern life.
By the same token, until relatively recently, there was simply no way to get by without moving heavy things like wood, stone, water, animals killed many miles from home, and one’s own body weight. Moving heavy things, what we’d now call “resistance training” when done in an exercise setting, makes you strong.
Strength isn’t just about having an attractive physique or succeeding in sport, although those are perfectly good reasons to want to be strong. Muscle is metabolically active tissue and a major repository for blood glucose (glycogen). Too little muscle means a greater risk for insulin resistance and metabolic dysfunction. A weak musculoskeletal system equals frailty, and frailty is strongly associated with mortality as we age.
Going all-out delivers a powerful signal to your genes, telling them, “Hey, we need to be ready to perform at maximum capacity at a moment’s notice.” For Primal humans, this would have been a matter of life and death. The resultant hormonal cascade and adaptation make the body fitter and more resilient to future challenges.
(Yes, I skipped Law #6. It’s covered in the Primal Lifestyle Laws post.)
Hunter-gatherers generally worked fewer hours and had more leisure time than the average 40-hour-plus American worker. Once the day’s catch was complete, and the roots, shoots, nuts, and berries had been gathered, our ancestors spent hours involved in various forms of social interaction that we might categorize today as “play.”
The net effect was to solidify social bonds and sort out the social hierarchy, stimulate creative thinking and problem solving, practice important skills like climbing or spear throwing in a low-stakes environment, and pass on wisdom. Play was also important to prompt the release of endorphins (feel-good brain chemicals) and to mitigate any lingering stress effects of life-threatening situations.
You might not need to be adept at spear throwing in your daily life, but the other benefits of play remain as relevant today as ever for kids and adults alike.
The Primal Blueprint Fitness Pyramid provides a handy visual reference for how I think the average person should move in a week’s time (more or less).
Within this general framework, there’s plenty of room for you to find ways to move that you enjoy. I think of the Primal Blueprint as endlessly malleable, eternally scalable. Maybe your goal is to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. Maybe it’s to be able to spend the whole day on your feet at Disney World with your family. Maybe you love CrossFit or you want to run your first 5k. Maybe your job requires that you meet certain physical fitness standards. Perhaps you just want to live a long, healthy life, but you never want to see the inside of a gym. These are all valid. As I’ve said before, the best exercise is the one you will do consistently.
Whatever your goals, the Primal Blueprint Movement Laws provide a springboard to build a broad base of fitness. Crucially, the Primal Blueprint will also help you avoid the pitfalls of chronic cardio and other overly stressful exercise patterns.
These movement laws provide the right formula for getting lean and functionally fit for life with minimal time commitment, pain, suffering, and sacrifice—and, more importantly, with as much fun, enjoyment and ease as possible. It’s not the only way to get fit, but it might just be the most efficient, effective, and pleasurable way.
The Primal Blueprint, and the book of the same name, offers a framework for achieving your personal best health, vitality, and longevity. It is organized into 10 Primal Laws derived from anthropology, sociology, biology, psychology, and common sense. These laws describe the diet, movement, and lifestyle practices that lead to optimal gene expression—the practices that have allowed humans to thrive for hundreds of thousands of years, but which many people struggle to achieve in the modern world.
Pre-workouts are supplements or combinations of supplements, often in powder form, that you take before a workout session in order to improve your performance and boost training adaptations. As fitness culture has exploded and grown by leaps and bounds, so have the available pre-workout products that promise to boost your workout performance.
Some of the things that pre-workouts claim to do:
Improve energy utilization
Increase muscle protein synthesis
Boost the anabolic response
Provide fuel for muscles
Improve performance
But does pre-workout work? Let’s go through some of the most popular and common pre-workout ingredients and see if they actually help as advertised.
Creatine
Creatine helps us store more phosphocreatine in the muscles, which is one of the most potent fast-acting energy systems for high-intensity rapid movement like weight lifting. Taking creatine:
Improves performance in every lift that’s been studied, particularly more complex multi-jointed compound lifts like squats and deadlifts.
Improves strength and muscle gains, even in elderly.
Improves sprint performance.
Creatine works. It improves strength training performance, and it’s one of the few remaining supplements I still take on a daily basis. Creatine is especially important for vegans and vegetarians who aren’t getting any dietary creatine from meat and fish.
L-citrulline
L-citrulline is an amino acid that increases nitric oxide synthesis and improves endothelial function. In short, it improves blood flow. This enhanced blood flow to your heart and muscles:
Improves the “pump,” that feeling of your muscles being engorged with fluid and blood. Important subjective feedback that makes lifting more pelasurable. Arnold Schwarzenegger famously compared the feeling of the pump to the feeling of sex. Exercise scientists generally discount the importance of the pump, but I find it correlates strongly with a better workout and improved adaptations.
L-citrulline works. Enhancing blood flow to all areas of your body is great for performance—in all areas, not just the weight room.
Beta-alanine
Beta-alanine is most effective in longer sessions. In bouts of exercise lasting under 60 seconds, it doesn’t seem to help. In bouts of exercise lasting over 60 seconds, beta-alanine begins to show beneficial effects on performance and capacity.2
You know beta-alanine is working when you get the “tingly” feeling in your muscles. It’s not necessarily a pleasant feeling, but it does mean you’re ready to start training and if you have a great session, you’ll learn to appreciate the tingles. Given the overall modest effects of beta-alanine in the literature, I’d wager that the tingles act as a placebo of sorts and provide a psychological signal to your muscles that they’re ready to work hard. That isn’t to discount them.
Caffeine
Caffeine might be the most effective pre-workout supplement in the world. It’s certainly the most ubiquitous. I wrote an entire post about using caffeine before a workout, but here’s the gist of what it can do for you as a pre workout:
A funny illustration of just how effective a pre-workout caffeine is lies in one study where a combo of ketones/taurine/leucine had no effect on performance unless you added caffeine. Sounded great on paper but boring old caffeine was needed to make it work.5
Sodium
Salt is the most important electrolyte in our bodies, and exercise increases our requirements. When you sweat, you’re losing salt. When you’re losing salt, your muscles can’t contract effectively. When your muscles can’t contract, you lose strength and performance.
Instead of waiting for you to sweat all the salt out, get a head start by adding a pinch or two (or three) of salt to your water as a “pre-workout.”
Exogenous ketones
Ketone supplements are a way of having your cake and eating it too. The idea is that you can be on any diet you want, take ketone esters or salts, and get the benefits of ketones without having to follow a strict diet. There is some mixed evidence that exogenous ketones can help top-end endurance training performance, but it’s not clear how helpful they are to the average exerciser. They still have utility for many different health conditions. For more info, read my post on exogenous ketones.
Be careful, though. Some ketone supplements when taken in excess will have you running to the bathroom. It’s hard to perform in the gym when you have to take a bathroom break every half hour.
BCAAs
Branch chain amino acids—leucine, isoleucine, and valine—are potent stimulators of mTOR, the pathway of growth, of anabolic recovery, of muscle gain. Most people don’t need BCAA supplements, before a workout or ever, but they can help certain people.
BCAAs are most useful for people engaging in fasted training, because they preserve muscle, stave off muscle loss, and improve mTOR signaling post-workout.67
BCAAs are also helpful for people abstaining from animal products, as meat, eggs, and dairy are the best sources of them.
Baking soda
Baking soda reduces lactate accumulation and acidity in the muscles, allowing you to train longer and harder without getting as fatigued. Reducing muscle acidity also allows energy transfer to improve and muscles to contract harder. Take it about a half hour before your training or competition and you will enjoy several interesting effects:
Improved time to exhaustion. You can work out longer and harder. One study found that baking soda increased time to exhaustion while cycling by 20-30 seconds.8
Improved recovery. Lowering muscle acidity allows your muscles to recover quicker.
Increases rep count. Baking soda has been shown to improve the number of reps a lifter can complete.9
For all you runners out there, baking soda may reduce runner’s high by suppressing endorphin release. Those endorphins, it turns out, are a response to acidity.10
Baking soda definitely works. To minimize GI upset, take in smaller doses throughout the day totaling up to 1-2 teaspoons and avoid taking it close to meals.
Collagen
Though not a classic pre-workout that increases performance acutely, collagen when taken before a workout with 60 mg of vitamin C does improve collagen deposition in connective tissue. It’s more of a pre-workout with a long term goal of building tissue resilience and strength.
Is there a Primal pre-workout?
If I were putting together a pre-workout, here’s what I would do. Actually, here’s what I do:
Fill my bottle with 32 ounces of water. I usually use Mountain Valley Spring water and a stainless steel bottle.
Add a packet of LMNT. This is a great electrolyte supplement providing a gram of sodium plus magnesium malate (which has ergogenic effects) and potassium. Tastes great, works great. Essential for Miami heat.
Give it a good shake and sip on that in the minutes leading up to the workout and right on through it.
Baking soda would be a good addition here if you can tolerate it. You could add a source of caffeine, but I prefer to just drink coffee. I’ll occasionally add 20 grams of whey isolate powder if I’m doing a particularly hard, energy-intense session and I haven’t eaten. This is a quick and dirty way to supplement BCAAs (which taste horrible).
That’s about it. I don’t like to get into crazy pills and powders—those days are long gone. What about you? Do you take a pre-workout?
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The first day of Tabata, I wondered WHAT AM I DOING - I AM 56 !! Five weeks later I knew that it was what I needed. I learned that I could push myself well beyond my comfort zone and feel good later. I have a marked improvement in physical as well as emotional endurance. - Lyn C.
When I was first told about Tabata I was very excited from the word go, however that excitement stemmed from the fact that I had no clue what it meant. I missed the first week of class b/c I was traveling for work so when I came in during the 2nd week I had some making it up to do.
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Warriors Fit Audio
Warrior Fit uses High Intensity Music to get ya Moooovin' So we can all "Get Our Sweat On"
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There are certain fundamental inputs every person needs to be healthy: nutritious food, plenty of sleep, social connection, and the one we’re talking about today, movement.
For now classes are 6pm and 640pm at 2840 Wildwood st in the Boise Cloggers studio.
Book your class NOW!
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