'Forget everything you thought you knew about diet,
fitness, and health! It's time to go back to the beginning...'
These
are the words emblazoned on the cover of Mark Sisson's masterpiece, 'The Primal
Blueprint,' which most definitely will change your outlook on fitness and
dietary practices.
Sisson
does an exceptional job of explaining the flaws in the modern day approach to
getting fit and losing weight in an easy to read and humorous manner. Each
chapter begins with a pre “In This Chapter” and post “Chapter
Summary” giving the reader a basic understanding of what was covered by
highlighting the most important points in a brief form.
After
an athletic career including a 2:18 marathon and a 4th place finish at the
Hawaii Ironman, Sisson was yet another burned-out athlete recovering from
recurring injury and illness. Sound familiar? With a background in biology and
pre-medical studies, he forged a career path in personal training, exercising
with his moderate to unfit clients. This resulted in his “training” at a
greatly reduced intensity (<50% effort) for a large part of his working day
and occasionally sprinting around the track time permitting. Coupled with a
diet consisting of progressively less carbohydrates and more protein, he was
fit AND healthy within a year, and resolved to bring awareness to his almost
accidental eureka. Thus the Primal Blueprint was born.
This
principle is built around the ten “Primal Blueprint Laws,” which are described
in detail in the book and on his www.marksdailyapple.com website. These are
effectively ten points that are the key to healthy lifestyle and are based
around how our hunter-gatherer ancestors lived a thousand years ago. While all
ten laws are equally important, the three that pertain specifically to fitness
deserve a mention, namely:
Law #3: Move Frequently at a Slow Pace – large amounts of
activity at a low to moderate effort as opposed to the common practice of
medium to vigorous intensity on a regular basis. The more sedate effort taps
into our ability to use fat as fuel, resulting in natural weight loss and a
strong aerobic base.
Law #4: Lift Heavy Things – bodyweight and
postural exercises where functional strength and agility is enhanced as opposed
to the plethora of one dimensional gym routines performed on rigid machines.
Law #5: Sprint Occasionally – brief and intense
sessions (every 7-10 days/<20 minutes) of all-out effort with proper
recovery. Because these workouts are few and far between, a higher level of
performance is achieved as opposed to a three-time weekly regimen of intense
spinning classes for example.
These
exercise laws can be applied to a person of any athletic ability.
Sisson's
innate writing ability and sheer understanding of the human body makes this
book a must read. He methodically dissects a biology textbook and medical
journal into nearly 300 pages that the layman can actually UNDERSTAND. I must
warn you though that his views are initially hard to accept, BUT... if there is
one thing the “The Primal Blueprint” will make you do, it will make you think.
Which
is incidentally Primal Blueprint Law #10, ie. Use Your Brain.
