pimg class=”alignright” title=”Yoga” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202011/yoga.jpg” alt=”yoga” width=”320″ height=”212″ /I#8217;m going to keep today#8217;s question and answer session rather brief. I#8217;ll be covering three topics: flexibility and mobility; carotenoderma, or the orange-ing of the skin following ingestion of carotenoid-containing foods; and whether matcha green tea from Japan poses any threat due to radioactive contamination. For the first, I discuss whether it#8217;s flexibility or mobility we want. Second, I explore whether getting orange skin from eating lots of carrots, a title=”A Visual Guide to Yams and Sweet Potatoes (plus How They Fit Into a Primal Eating Plan) Read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/difference-yams-sweet-potatoes/#ixzz1lAiXX6Jg” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/difference-yams-sweet-potatoes/#axzz1lAiSbYg9″sweet potatoes/a, and a title=”Smart Fuel: Acorn Squash” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/acorn-squash-health-benefits/#axzz1lAiaMMja”squash/a is something to worry about. And finally, I talk about drinking matcha from Japan in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear event./p
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blockquotepDear Mark,/p
pHow important is flexibility in achieving real fitness? Most of the yoga teachers I#8217;ve seen are flexible, lean and strong. They#8217;re […]

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pimg class=”alignright” title=”Greens 2 Ways” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202011/greens2ways.jpg” alt=”greens2ways” width=”320″ height=”212″ /The world of greens is vast and sometimes overwhelming, including everything from the easily recognizable (spinach and lettuce) to the less well-known (tat soi and a title=”Purslane” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/purslane/”purslane/a). Somewhere in the middle are greens like kale, Swiss Chard, mustard, collard and dandelion that share not only rising popularity but also a similar flavor and texture. The great thing about these dark leafy greens, and also what can take some getting used to, is that they taste as if they were ripped from the earth only minutes before you bought them. Theses greens are deliciously earthy, wild, pungent and sturdy. The studies proving their a title=”Why You Should Eat Leafy Greens” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/why-you-should-eat-leafy-greens/”health benefits/a only confirm what your palate intuitively tells you when you’re chewing a mouthful of kale – this stuff is healthy./p
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pAs bold as they are, dark leafy greens are […]

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by Craig BallantyneI am traveling to Vegas this week and one of the first things I typically do is check out the gym of wherever I’m staying at.  I can know within seconds my workout plans.  But before I even decide on how I want to dominate the evils of the Whitfield genes (in other words, us Whitfields have genes that literally enjoy belly fat), I like to jack with the people at the gym’s front desk.You see, I still have my old driver’s license from when I was 300 lbs.  So when they ask for my ID, I hand it to them and wait for a response.   If I get a second look, I’m in.  The games will ensue.  Sometimes, I’ll just say something like, “Yep.  Boom.”, or if I’m in a playful mood, I’ll just tell them, “I ate a lot of salt yesterday.”  Ohhhh man, it’s good times.Anyway, back to the workout decision.  If I go through the doors and see a few machines and no free weights or at least a chin-up or pull-up bar, I know that my exercise plans will be bodyweight workouts.  If there is a bar but no free weights, I can hang around the gym and incorporate chin-ups, pull-ups and body squats, among other good-time moves.  It will still be a bodyweight workout, but I like the chin-up and pull-up options.  It will also allow me to perform a metabolic resistance training program. Is Bodyweight MRT Possible? Here’s the thing though – how do you incorporate metabolic resistance training using just bodyweight, and can you have a solid MRT workout using just your own body?  The cool, hip answer is “yeah mang”.  Don’t think I added a “g” at the end by mistake.  That’s slang for “yeah man”.  It’s a new trend I’m trying.  Anyway…There is a lot of debate of what exactly is MRT, but by now you know that it incorporates non-competing supersets or circuits with short rest periods.  That’s the overall theme.  A MRT program can involve:Non-competing strength training (chin-ups supersetted with Bulgarian squats for example) Metabolic conditioning exercises (mountain climbers, jumping  jacks, Spiderman climbs) Shorter rest periods  (like 20 secs) Longer rest periods (but still challenging enough to not allow full recovery – like 1 minute) So do you take all of these components, toss them in a blender and then get to work?  No, mang.  Ha-ha, who started that slang?  I like it.  Anyway, of course you wouldn’t just throw these things together and hope for a solid MRT workout.  When I put together a bodyweight MRT workout program, I do like to use everything above, but there’s typically a template I put together and it looks like this:Warm-up2-3 Supersets of strength exercises using 1 minute of rest between supersets1 Metabolic conditioning circuit using 3-5 conditioning exercises using 30 seconds to 1 minute of rest (depending on my mood)Metabolic Workout Finisher (this really varies, but the principles remain the same – high intensity and short rest periodsA basic bodyweight program is great – for example, a circuit of pull-ups, squats and planks.  But I also think that protein shakes are great.  But if you incorporate strength exercises, metabolic conditioning and a metabolic finisher, then it’s fantastic… like a protein shake blended with peanut butter, almond milk and cinnamon.  Analogies are fun.The art behind the program design is important.  You should perform the strength exercises at the beginning of the program when you are fresh and your muscles haven’t been fatigued.  That way, you will give each strength exercise your best effort, allowing you the maximum benefits… like smoking belly fat.  Then, you follow that with metabolic conditioning and/or a metabolic finisher.Putting a Bodyweight MRT Workout TogetherAlright, let’s do this.Warm-upDo the following circuit twice, resting for 30 seconds between circuits: Jumping Jacks (15) Arm Crosses (15) Prisoner Squats (15) Pushups (10) Plank (30 secs) Leg Swings (15 ea) Close Grip Pushups (8) Superset 11A) Pull-ups or Wide Overhand Grip Inverted Rows (1 rep short of failure)1B) Split Squat or Bulgarian Squat (1-1/2 rep style) (8 ea) (1-1/2 rep style is done when you go down, come halfway back up, back down and finally all the way up (that’s one rep)Rest 1 minute and repeat 2 more timesSuperset 22A) 1-Legged Deadlift (12 ea leg)2B) Decline Pushups (1 rep short of failure)Rest 1 minute and repeat 2 more timesMetabolic Conditioning CircuitDo the following circuit 3 times, resting for 45 seconds between circuits3A) Jump Squats (5)3B) Cross-Body Mountain Climbers (8 ea)3C) Total Body Extensions (15)3D) Spiderman Climb (10 ea)FinisherDo the following circuit resting only when needed.  In the first circuit, you will perform 6 reps of each exercise.  In the next circuit, you will perform 5 reps.  Continue in this fashion until you complete 1 rep of each exercise.  Time yourself.  The next time you perform this finisher, see if you can beat your previous time.  Remember, form takes precedence.4A) Burpees (6, 5, etc., down to 1)4B) Lunge Jumps (6 ea leg, 5 ea leg, etc.

Continued – 

How to Use Your Bodyweight with Metabolic Resistance Training

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pIt’s Friday, everyone! And that means another a title=”Success Stories” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/category/success-story-summaries/”Primal Blueprint Real Life Story/a from a Mark#8217;s Daily Apple reader. If you have your own success story and would like to share it with me and the Mark’s Daily Apple community please contact me a title=”Contact Me!” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-book/share-success-story/” target=”_self”here/a. I’ll continue to publish these each Friday as long as they keep coming in. Thank you for reading!/p
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pimg class=”alignright” title=”Primal Blueprint Real Life Story” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA2009/real_life_stories_stories-1-2.jpg” alt=”real life stories stories 1 2″ width=”320″ height=”240″ //p
pOn Primal I#8217;ve gained about 10 pounds #8211; 10 pounds of muscle that is./p
pOver the two past years, I#8217;ve been trying to increase my strength and add muscle mass./p
pThe first year, even though I was lifting heavy weights, I didn#8217;t add much, if any, muscle. I was eating a low-fat, low carb diet (which was extremely flavorless and hard to maintain) and just got plain old […]

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pimg class=”alignright” title=”Ginger Tea” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202011/gingertea.jpg” alt=”gingertea” width=”320″ height=”212″ /Maybe it was a raucous night out with too much to drink or an oddly tasting (now you know why) meat dish at a new restaurant. Perhaps you succumbed to the latest stomach bug #8211; care of your jamhanded preschooler. Or maybe you’re making your way through several weeks of intense morning sickness (nature’s rather cruel joke, isn’t it?). Whatever the case, you’ve been bent over the porcelain throne for the better part of the last few hours #8211; or stuck sitting on it. Alternatively, you’re in agony and wish to any and all forms of Providence that you could simply throw up already to get some relief. When the worst of the drama is over or you realize it’s probably not going to hit a crescendo, so to speak, you realize you feel weak and maybe a little shaky. It’s a […]

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Massive Online Success Story: How John Romaniello Took His Fitness Expertise and Turned It into a Six-Figure Online BusinessShare this! Today On The Rise To The Top: The #1 Non-Boring Business Show: When I first went to today’s guest, John “Roman” Romaniello’s, blog I knew right away I had to have him on the show. A few of the reasons? 1

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Massive Online Success Story: How John Romaniello Took His …

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pimg class=”alignright” title=”Eating Rice” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202011/eatingrice.jpg” alt=”eatingrice” width=”319″ height=”281″ /How the Primal community loves the concept of a dietary paradox. How we eagerly point to its various manifestations as supportive evidence for our way of eating, living, and moving. You know the a title=”French Paradox” href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_paradox” target=”_blank”French Paradox/a and how it confounds the experts. To mention all those smug a title=”Cheese-eating surrender monkeys” href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese-eating_surrender_monkeys” target=”_blank”surrender monkeys/a with their brie and their butter and their duck confit and their Gauloises and their seeming imperviousness to heart attacks is to make Dean Ornish binge on bran and pull out tuft after tuft of frizzy hair. And then there#8217;s the lesser-known a title=”Diet and disease–the Israeli paradox: possible dangers of a high omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid diet.” href=”http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8960090″ target=”_blank”Israeli Paradox/a, which attempts to answer why Israelis have skyrocketing rates of heart disease despite a skyrocketing intake of #8220;healthy#8221; omega-6 fatty acids. In its wake, Walter […]

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pimg class=”alignright” title=”Arugula” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202011/arugula.jpg” alt=”arugula” width=”320″ height=”212″ /By now, you#8217;ve probably seen the a title=”Managing Your Mitochondria” href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjgBLwH3Wc” target=”_blank”TedX video from Dr. Terry Wahls/a, a former Tae Kwon Do champ and current MD diagnosed with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (the kind that degenerates your brain and has you relying on a wheelchair to get around) who describes her transformative experience with a a title=”The Definitive Guide to Dairy” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/dairy-intolerance/”dairy/a-free a title=”What’s the Difference Between Primal and Paleo?” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/whats-the-difference-between-primal-and-paleo/”Paleo/a diet rich in a title=”Dear Mark: Best Fruit Choices” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/best-fruit-choices/#axzz1kyj4oyOx” target=”_blank”fruits/a, a title=”Top Ten Spring Vegetables” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/spring-vegetables/#axzz1kyjM2Gkl”vegetables/a, a title=”The Differences Between Grass-Fed Beef and Grain-Fed Beef Read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-differences-between-grass-fed-beef-and-grain-fed-beef/#ixzz1kyjVoiFF” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-differences-between-grass-fed-beef-and-grain-fed-beef/”grass-fed meat/a and a title=”It’s Not So Offal” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/organ-meats/”organs/a, and a title=”A Visual Guide to Sea Vegetables” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/a-visual-guide-to-sea-vegetables/”seaweed/a. Relegated to and totally dependent on a wheelchair in 2007, by 2008 Wahls had adopted the diet and was commuting to work on […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

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pimg class=”alignright” title=”Mmm….” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202011/butter.jpg” alt=”butter” width=”320″ height=”212″ /Today#8217;s installment of a title=”Dear Marks” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/category/dear-mark/”Dear Mark/a covers two questions. In the first, a reader wonders whether or not all those mysterious omegas popping up lately are worth taking. Are omega-3s enough, or should we be supplementing with omega-5s, omega-7s, and omega-9s as well? Read on to find out. Then, I take on a question about exercise for a mostly sedentary 40-something whose only source of activity is a weekly jog. I give him a few pointers and direct him to some relevant literature. I expect if he follows my advice he#8217;ll start putting on significant amounts of lean mass./p
pLet#8217;s go./p
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blockquotepI#8217;ve read all your articles on fish oil and the importance of balancing one#8217;s intake of omega-3s with omega-6s. Lately I#8217;ve been seeing fish oil supplements that claim they contain all omegas (3,5,6,7,9). Is this more, less, or equally beneficial […]

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pimg class=”alignright” title=”Pickles” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202011/pickles2.jpg” alt=”pickles2″ width=”320″ height=”228″ /Of all the food transformations that occur in a kitchen, few are as exciting as that of a cucumber into a pickle. Not because the process is so complicated, but because it’s so simple. a title=”Pepper and Salt: Not So Basic After All” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/pepper-and-salt-varieties/”Salt/a, water and a little time in a jar are all it takes to transform a cucumber into an entirely different food. What’s truly amazing is that so many people love pickles even if they’ve never tasted a really good one. A great pickle makes your eyes widen in surprise and your tongue tingle with pleasure. The sourness should make you salivate for more, rather than pucker and wince, and the texture should have a noticeable crunch when bitten into./p
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pIf it’s so easy to transform a cucumber into a pickle, though, then why are grocery store shelves filled with […]

Original post by Worker Bee

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