Artichokes are not the most welcoming food in the produce department. With their odd shape, dull green color and layers of prickly armor it’s a wonder humans started eating them at all. Luckily, some poor soul a long time ago was hungry enough to try them and since Roman times the artichoke has not only been embraced, it has had a reputation of being a gourmet delicacy.
There is something oddly decadent about artichokes, even though they descend from the lowly thistle family, the flavor is quite mild and there isn’t an ounce of fat to be found. Maybe it’s because artichokes seem so difficult to cook (and eat, for that matter) that people save them for special occasions. But don’t be intimidated and definitely don’t relegate artichokes to the “special occasion” category. First of all, they’re not that hard to cook. Secondly, artichokes contain almost as many antioxidants as berries […]

Original post by Worker Bee

 
So the recent push of emails for the Shape Shifter Workout Program has re-kindled my interest in body weight exercises.
On the one hand, I love body weight training because it just feels right. On the other, I do not think you can build as much mass with body weight training as you can with traditional weight training – but of course this is just my opinion.
I’ve done a quick lit review and was unable to find any direct comparisons between body weight exercises and weighted exercises, so we’re really left to ‘logic’ are way though this process.
So logically – I see no reason why a muscle would react differently to different sources of resistance.
Acceleration is Acceleration, Force is Force and Work is Work, these classic definitions don’t change just because we’ve changed the source of the resistance.
So based on this it seems fair to say that the only thing limiting […]

Original post by Brad Pilon

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about fasted state exercise lately. Specifically, people want to know if it’s OK to exercise while they are doing their Eat Stop Eat fasts.
I’m still of the school of thought that it doesn’t matter WHEN you train, as long as you’re training consistently, but for the sake of argument I’d like to explore this concept.
The general idea is that by performing exercise at the end of a fast, you are burning more fat (This is the main idea behind fasted state morning cardio).
From this the general premise we seem to get the following idea – Use your fasts to optimize the fat burning of your exercise.
Based on this I would suggest that we have the entire concept backwards.
As a conservative estimate an hour long cardio session may burn an additional 500 Calories..so fasting to optimize this calorie burn seems a little silly considering […]

Original post by Brad Pilon

You count the days. You spend weeks planning and hours packing. Your friends, family, and every citizen within a 20 mile radius knows you’re leaving and exactly where you’re going. Are you looking that forward to the destination or to leaving behind all the – well, you know? Maybe it’s the sheer novelty more than anything else. You’ve needed something new. You’re ready to check out, break out, get away, forge ahead, and dig in. Just how long has it been since you up and left last time? How long has it been since your last great vacation?

Too often (especially in the United States), we forgo vacation. Although Americans tend to get fewer days off than many in other parts of the world, we’re infamous for passing on the vacation days we do get. Recent statistics show a mere 57% of us actually take advantage of our full vacation allotment. […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

A couple of days ago I made the statement on Facebook that I thought fitness E-books were dead..or at least dying.
My reason was simple – with no barriers to entry pretty much ANYONE can whip together an E-book and start selling it.
Now, I’m not saying that e-information is dead, and I’m a big fan of the written word, my thought was/is more along the lines that the on-line fitness industry will soon be ready for a brand new medium.
Books like Eat Stop Eat will always be a book, because it’s content based…but workouts – they could be so much more than a PDF and some youtube videos…so sooner or later, someone was going to raise the bar
Turns out I was right…or at least I could be.
I want you to take a look at this site ==>
(Sorry for the Bad Screen Capture, click the pic to see the site)

This is a […]

Original post by Brad Pilon

At first glance, this title probably threw you off. I mean, a guide to walking? Are we moderns really that dysfunctional that we can’t even walk correctly? C’mon, Sisson – you must be out of ideas.
Bear with me, here.
It may seem silly to need a definitive guide to walking, but I think we do. First off, walking is no longer necessary for basic everyday survival. There are exceptions, of course, but for the most part, the average person reading this blog can get by just fine without walking more than a couple hundred yards each day. Whether via buses, trains, cars, bikes, or delivery services, you’re not going to starve or die of thirst just because you don’t or can’t walk. I’ll argue that walking is an essential human activity that we ignore to our ultimate detriment, but millions of people do exactly that and think nothing of it. Progress? […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

I'm going to do something I haven't ever done before on this blog. I'm basically going to do half a post, then send you over to another site to get the rest of the info. I'm not an expert on this subject and just want to guide you in the right direction. If you think "4 X 7" means 4 sets of 7 reps, then you would be mistaken. It is referring to something quite a bit different than that.

[I learned about 4 X 7 periodization from my buddy Ryan. I had a beer with him earlier this year in Seattle and he told me of his plans to move to Malta. I thought he was crazy until I saw some of his photos. This place is amazing!]
Read more on The "4 X 7" Model of Periodization Using Body Weight Training…

Original post by admin

Have you defeated the fearsome sleep beast that plagues so many of your countrymen?
You might think you have – after all, you installed blackout curtains in the bedroom, disconnected every LED-light before hitting the sack, peer through slitted eyes at a F.lux-altered computer screen, get seven to nine hours a night, and make getting to bed early a priority – but if you’re still waking up groggy, foggy-headed, and in desperate, immediate need of a caffeine infusion… is the beast really slain or has it merely assumed another form? You could even be displaying zero outward signs of sleep deprivation, like insulin resistance, fat gain, or a zombie-like disposition at midday, instead continuing to lean out and enjoy steady energy throughout the workday (once you snap out of the morning doldrums), but that waking grogginess cannot be ignored. It’s annoying and it’s ruining what should be a serene moment of […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

Hi again, everyone. Thanks for the comments and emails in response to my last post on menopause and hot flashes. I’m working on getting through your questions and hope to do several posts throughout the summer that speak specifically to issues that matter to women. Now that summer is here for most of the country, it seems like a good time to share a frequent reader issue this time of year.
Dear Carrie,
I’m 35 and have been Primal for almost two years now. I’ve always been fairly thin, but going Primal in my eating and exercise has helped me get in better shape and build muscle. Unfortunately, I’m still plagued with some cellulite on the backs of thighs and hips. (Can I mention that I hate swimsuit season?) Why is cellulite so stubborn? Every “miracle cure” I’ve ever tried did next to nothing. Tell it to me straight – will this […]

Original post by Worker Bee

Complete four cycles:
15 Around the Heads (both directions)
15 Stakhanov Shovels (both sides)
15 Spear Lunges (both sides)

How-to:
Warmup: 30 second Grok Squat, 1 minute Grok Hang.
Before I describe the workout, I have to give credit to its inspiration. Long time reader and commenter Timothy has been perfecting the art of sledgehammer swinging for a couple years now. You may already visited his website, Urban Primalist, but if you haven’t, check it out. He provides extensive detailed instruction on all the various ways to swing a sledgehammer and repurpose the common workman’s tool for the purposes of physical fitness.
At PrimalCon, Timothy showed up with a bevy of hammers and he put on several impromptu clinics for fellow guests. His enthusiasm for the hammers really shined through. I think the clinic participants felt the same way. So Timothy, this one’s for you.
What I like about Timothy’s approach is that it’s more than just bashing […]

Original post by Mark Sisson