Eating a healthy balanced diet accompanied by regular exercise is essential in maintaining physical and mental health and well-being. In the last article, we talked about the Primal diet (link) and in this one, we are going to tackle how and why to exercise.
Do It The Right Way
Humans have been squatting, horizontal pressing, vertical pressing, climbing, and using their torsos to resist pushing and pulling forces for millions of years. We’ve been running quickly for that long too. And we’ve been walking long distances at slow paces.
Nowadays movement has changed. We have chairs, so we don’t need to squat. We rarely need to climb anything. We don’t do a lot of physical labor that might require pressing things overhead, and we tend to avoid physical conflicts that involve pushing and pulling. Exercising in the right way is the bridge between our inactive modern lifestyles and our evolutionary propensity for movement and physical prowess.
Lift Heavy Things
Weight lifting isn’t just about bulking up and building muscle mass, the experts say. Its benefits include improved posture, better sleep, gaining bone density, maintaining weight loss, boosting metabolism, lowering inflammation, and staving off chronic disease, among a laundry list of positives. Do two to three resistance training workouts a week. For this type of exercise, you can also use your own body to do 4 essential movements that humans are evolutionarily used to doing.
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Pushups
From a plank position (straight, rigid line from feet to head), hands flat on the ground and shoulder-width apart, arms extended and fingers pointed forward, lower your body until your chest (or nose) touches the ground. Keep your core and glutes tight and your spine and neck neutral.
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Pullups
Keep your elbows tight, tuck your chin, and retract your shoulder blades (to protect your shoulders). Without flailing or using your lower body, lead with your chest and pull your body up using an overhand grip until your chin passes the bar. When lowering, never fully protract your shoulder blades. Don’t lead with your chin; keep it tucked throughout.
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Squats
With feet at or around shoulder width (whatever’s most natural) and toes either forward or pointing slightly outward, lower by pushing your butt back and out until your thighs reach at least parallel. Keep the weight on the heels and a tight, neutral spine throughout the movement.
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Planks
Your body is a plank, as the name suggests. You are a single cohesive unbroken body, a straight line from head to foot. Elbows/forearms and toes are your only contact points with the ground.
Run Fast Every Once in Awhile
Incorporating sprints into your exercise routine is an efficient and effective way to train your anaerobic system, burn calories, and improve the lean muscle mass in your legs. Since these types of workouts are very demanding, in the beginning, you can incorporate them once a week.
- Always start with a warmup. Start with dynamic stretches, speed walking, or a light jog to prepare your muscles for the work that is about to happen.
- Grow your workout. Start with shorter sprint segments, followed by double the duration in recovery, or more if needed. For example, sprint 30 seconds at 80 percent of your max effort followed by 60 to 120 seconds of recovery, which could include complete rest, brisk walk, or light jog.
- Allow time for recovery. Don’t just pull the plug after a tough workout — or any workout. Take time to jog or walk and stretch while your heart rate is coming down.
Move Frequently at a Slow Pace
Slow movement is the foundation of fitness. Walking, hiking, gentle cycling—these activities aren’t just about burning calories; they’re about maintaining the movement and the ability to move. Slow long movement improves fitness, and cardiac health, alleviates depression and fatigue, improves mood, creates less stress on joints and reduces pain, can prevent weight gain, reduce the risk for cancer and chronic disease, and improve endurance, circulation, and posture, and the list goes on. Three to five hours of slow-paced movement a week is recommended.
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