pimg class=”alignright” title=”Tug of War” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA2010/tugofwar.jpg” alt=”tugofwar” width=”320″ height=”212″ /Gym class was not a great time for me./p
pTo understand exactly how painful grade school PE was back in my day, you must experience #8220;Go, You Chicken Fat, Go.#8221; Back in early 1960s, PE was all about preparing for and passing the Presidential Fitness Test, which was JFK#8217;s youth fitness standards. a title=”Go You Chicken Fat Go” href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af2j59zzX3Q” target=”_blank”#8220;Go, You Chicken Fat, Go#8221;/a was a ridiculous song written expressly for the Presidential challenge and sung by a guy named Robert Preston. Every single day during PE class, we did calisthenics as it blasted over the PA system on repeat. We#8217;d do pushups, jumping jacks, squat thrusts, chinups, all while listening to this masterpiece #8211; I think I#8217;m finally realizing why I hated strength training and gravitated toward long distance endurance events for the bulk of my youth! We occasionally got […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

pimg class=”alignright” title=”30 Day Challenge” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA2009/primal_30day_challenge-1.gif” alt=”primal 30day challenge 1″ width=”320″ height=”240″ /Well, it#8217;s been 30 days, and the a title=”The 2011 Primal Blueprint 30-Day Challenge Begins Now” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-2011-primal-blueprint-30-day-challenge-begins-now/” target=”_self”Primal Blueprint Challenge/a is now over. I don#8217;t know about you, but I#8217;m completely exhausted./p
pThis happens every single time we do a challenge. I figure, since we#8217;ll be running contests and awarding prizes and using lots of reader-created content, that I#8217;ll have a month #8220;off#8221; to relax. Maybe get some stand-up paddling in, maybe take two weekly hikes instead of my usual one, maybe finally work on banishing excess stress from my life#8230; but no. The contest rolls around and I find myself immersed in it. My actual workload is lighter and what work I have is easier, but I can#8217;t tear myself away from the contest. I#8217;m up late reading comments, thinking up new contests, tracking people#8217;s progress, working on […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

pI’d like to thank the 13 groups who participated in the a title=”The 2011 Grokfeast Challenge” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/have-a-picnic-win-a-cow-the-2011-grokfeast-challenge/” target=”_self”Grokfeast Challenge/a this year. Your level of creativity, commitment, and enthusiasm serves as a hallmark for Primal living at its best. It’s been an immense pleasure reading and publishing your experiences on Mark’s Daily Apple./p
pAs good as they all were, only one group can win the cow. One more shout out to a title=”US Wellness” href=”http://www.grasslandbeef.com/StoreFront.bok” target=”_blank”US Wellness/a, who is donating all the grass-fed beef. If you ever want to take your beef eating to the next level, hit up their a title=”US Wellness Newsletter” href=”http://blog.grasslandbeef.com/newsletter-sign-up” target=”_self”newsletter/a and join the grass-fed revolution./p
pOK, now on to business. Below are the three finalists. I’ve posted the finalists’ videos, but please click through to the individual posts before voting. Check out the recipes and read their stories. Then vote on the […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

div class=”breakout”On September 13th I asked Mark#8217;s Daily apple readers to host a Grokfeast (a picnic/party celebrating the Primal lifestyle) and to send me the results. The following is one of 13 amazing submissions, the best of which will a title=”Win a Cow” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/have-a-picnic-win-a-cow-the-2011-grokfeast-challenge/” target=”_self”win an entire cow/a courtesy of a title=”US Wellness” href=”http://www.grasslandbeef.com/StoreFront.bok” target=”_blank”US Wellness/a./div
pimg class=”alignnone” title=”Feet” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA2010/feet.jpg” alt=”feet” width=”540″ height=”405″ //p
pMy 11-year-old son, Charlie, begged us to enter this year#8217;s Grokfeast challenge. Sure, sure, we said, nodding and then promptly forgetting after telling him he was in charge of all the planning./p
pspan id=”more-24001″/span/p
pFast forward to yesterday morning when Charlie reminded us of the impending deadline: Oh, crap. Grocery budget for the week was already shot so the entire feast had to be from what we had on-hand. Hubby barely beat the sun home from work so I had to do some pretty quick amp; dirty […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

div class=”breakout”On September 13th I asked Mark#8217;s Daily apple readers to host a Grokfeast (a picnic/party celebrating the Primal lifestyle) and to send me the results. The following is one of 13 amazing submissions, the best of which will a title=”Win a Cow” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/have-a-picnic-win-a-cow-the-2011-grokfeast-challenge/” target=”_self”win an entire cow/a courtesy of a title=”US Wellness” href=”http://www.grasslandbeef.com/StoreFront.bok” target=”_blank”US Wellness/a./div
pWhat a great Primal Sunday!!! I started this morning by going to my garden in the rain and picking the vegetables that I would be using for my 2 salads. After preparing those, I finished the morning by rubbing a pig#8217;s butt with a seasoned rub. I cooked it all day long, and my house smelled awesome!!! Whomever says pigs stink has never rubbed their butt with such a delicious rub!/p
pAfter our guests arrived, we primed ourselves for supper with some good old fashioned potato sack […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

div class=”breakout”On September 13th I asked Mark#8217;s Daily apple readers to host a Grokfeast (a picnic/party celebrating the Primal lifestyle) and to send me the results. The following is one of 13 amazing submissions, the best of which will a title=”Win a Cow” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/have-a-picnic-win-a-cow-the-2011-grokfeast-challenge/” target=”_self”win an entire cow/a courtesy of a title=”US Wellness” href=”http://www.grasslandbeef.com/StoreFront.bok” target=”_blank”US Wellness/a./div
pAlright, well we got to the park at around 1:00pm and immediately started to set up the grills and get those going so that the food that needed to be cooked could get started. The kids started playing tag with their dad and doing handstands and cartwheels. I put out the zucchini chips and the pico de gallo to stave off the starvation. Everyone liked that. I was surprised that the kids were eating it so well. Apparently so was Josie. She kept saying how she […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

div class=”breakout”On September 13th I asked Mark#8217;s Daily apple readers to host a Grokfeast (a picnic/party celebrating the Primal lifestyle) and to send me the results. The following is one of 13 amazing submissions, the best of which will a title=”Win a Cow” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/have-a-picnic-win-a-cow-the-2011-grokfeast-challenge/” target=”_self”win an entire cow/a courtesy of a title=”US Wellness” href=”http://www.grasslandbeef.com/StoreFront.bok” target=”_blank”US Wellness/a./div
pobject classid=”clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000″ width=”540″ height=”405″ codebase=”http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0″param name=”allowfullscreen” value=”true” /param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always” /param name=”src” value=”http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=29934911amp;server=vimeo.comamp;show_title=0amp;show_byline=0amp;show_portrait=0amp;color=00adefamp;fullscreen=1amp;autoplay=0amp;loop=0″ /embed type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” width=”540″ height=”405″ src=”http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=29934911amp;server=vimeo.comamp;show_title=0amp;show_byline=0amp;show_portrait=0amp;color=00adefamp;fullscreen=1amp;autoplay=0amp;loop=0″ allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true”/embed/object/p
pSault Ste. Marie (or as we refer to it#8230;the Soo) is a small town in size but we definitely have a mighty spirit! What we also have, is a large community of crossfitters and with it comes a lot of paleo and primal eaters. When the Mark’s Daily Apple blog issued the 30 day primal challenge in early September, our friend Joe quickly facebooked everyone to see if any would commit. With the […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

div class=”breakout”On September 13th I asked Mark#8217;s Daily apple readers to host a Grokfeast (a picnic/party celebrating the Primal lifestyle) and to send me the results. The following is one of 13 amazing submissions, the best of which will a title=”Win a Cow” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/have-a-picnic-win-a-cow-the-2011-grokfeast-challenge/” target=”_self”win an entire cow/a courtesy of a title=”US Wellness” href=”http://www.grasslandbeef.com/StoreFront.bok” target=”_blank”US Wellness/a./div
pGrokfeast Bloomington/Normal @ CrossFit Bloomington-Normal, IL,  September 24, 2011/p
pThe day started with a partner WoD. It was the gym#8217;s 2nd birthday along with one of our coaches birthday. The partner workout was 4 separate workouts with 4 minutes of work and 2 minutes of rest to be able to switch to next workout, and you had to switch partners each time. Worked out pretty well. One partner worked on one exercise while the other worked the second exercise and you couldn#8217;t switch until the partner was […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

div class=”breakout”On September 13th I asked Mark#8217;s Daily apple readers to host a Grokfeast (a picnic/party celebrating the Primal lifestyle) and to send me the results. The following is one of 13 amazing submissions, the best of which will a title=”Win a Cow” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/have-a-picnic-win-a-cow-the-2011-grokfeast-challenge/” target=”_self”win an entire cow/a courtesy of a title=”US Wellness” href=”http://www.grasslandbeef.com/StoreFront.bok” target=”_blank”US Wellness/a./div
pOur Grokfeast technically started a couple of weeks ago. There we were, surrounding the lake in hopes that we had outnumbered them. And then it happened. Mom fought the battle and won. Unfortunately, that was it. Not another bite. When we finally gave up, we walked up the path to Grandma#8217;s, picked some apples for our pie, and gutted the fish. A couple of weeks later we tried again. This time the 3-year old veteran fisherman was […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

div class=”breakout”On September 13th I asked Mark#8217;s Daily apple readers to host a Grokfeast (a picnic/party celebrating the Primal lifestyle) and to send me the results. The following is one of 13 amazing submissions, the best of which will a title=”Win a Cow” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/have-a-picnic-win-a-cow-the-2011-grokfeast-challenge/” target=”_self”win an entire cow/a courtesy of a title=”US Wellness” href=”http://www.grasslandbeef.com/StoreFront.bok” target=”_blank”US Wellness/a./div
pThis year we had a Grokfeast in and around in our own backyard. Though we had some grandiose plans for a Grokfeast at a local state park, the weather looked bad for this weekend, so we stayed close to home in case of rain./p
pThe participants were two families #8211; each with two young girls, including one exclusively breastfed (so primal!) infant and two still-nursing toddlers. There were: Craig, Audrey, Annika, and Natalie, and Matt, Adrienne, Joelle, and Rose. There was also an enthusiastic labradoodle, Otis./p
pOur Grokfeast was a wonderful family date #8211; […]

Original post by Mark Sisson