This is the area where I will be providing information on the health-related topics that I am investigating or thinking about at the moment. At the moment I am learning about the paleolithic or primal nutrition and fitness movement. There is a lot of interesting information here. The basic premise that I am taking away from the information coming from the individuals involved in the paleo/primal movement is that our current (especially North American/Western) lifestyle causes a lot of interference with the ability of the body to function in an ideal fashion. From the foods we often eat that are filled with refined ingredients that promote inflammation to the jobs that we often perform and involve little to no physical activity, we are not behaving in ways that promote our physiological functions.
I have read through the Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf and have stumbled across Mark Sisson’s site – Mark’s Daily Apple. I have to say that I am extremely impressed with the thoughtfulness and insight presented by both of these men. All of the information they present matches what I have learned through school and, more importantly, through experience. The majority of what is presented by these two gentlemen, in my reading of what I have taken in, is that: simplicity and fun are important in our physical activity, nutrition that supports our physiology as based on empirical proof and what our ancestors would have had available is vital to our health (no non-human foods such as grains and legumes), and rest is extremely important to our physical well-being. I was introduced to these principles in a different fashion when learning about sprint training. I had the pleasure to be able to stumble across the writings of Charlie Francis and then the forums he had started to help foster discussions on intelligent
sprint training. Without knowing that I had ever seen Charlie in person I ended up being informed by my training partner that I had seen him numerous times at the Toronto Track and Field Centre when I was attending York University. I had the opportunity to have a few conversations with Charlie and I have always taken a few important messages from him: use what works for an individual athlete and throw away the rest, high intensity work is the most important part of a sprint training program but it must be supported with low intensity work and adequate rest and recovery, and most importantly keep it simple.
The main reason I am highlighting what I have learned from Charlie when talking about the paleo/primal movement is that the message seems to be the same – lots of low intensity work as well as intermittent high intensity work allows for good results (Charlie and Mark Sisson agree on this), rest is extremely important (Charlie, Mark Sisson, and Robb Wolf agree on this), and simplicity is key (if we think about it, we all can agree on this). While I am only presenting a small amount of information the individuals I am speaking about will provide you with quite a bit more. If you check out their websites (click on their names in the above paragraphs) you will find quite a bit of extremely important information that will lead you to research or anecdotal proof of the statements they make.
I think it is important for me to state that I work with the principles all of these gentlemen support. I avoid complex and gimmicky routines at all costs. I do not see the need for unstable surfaces in every day training. I truly do operate on the idea of keeping things simple.
