What the Primal Blueprint means to me. Law# 4 Lift heavy things

Last time we covered moving frequently at a slow pace and the benefits of such exercise. I also discussed how prolonged cardio-based exercise isn't particularly functional or useful (if health or fat-loss are your goals, if you're a dedicated marathon runner then power to you). This time I want to discuss lifting heavy things as a mode of exercise that stimulates muscle growth and strength building.

Our ancestors walked a lot, and this should be a given when thinking about hunter-gatherer societies. Also, they lifted heavy things, not for exercise per se, but to drag the kill home, climb a tree to avoid danger, or haul something heavy across a campsite. For any parent readers, there were no carriers or places to leave your young ones for a few hours, babies would be carried almost non-stop through the days travels. This was an every day event, and as such our ancestors (including the children, and the women) were strong and lean. We may not be able to emulate these brief, yet regular exposures to lifting heavy things in modern society due to 9-5 working weeks and hectic lifestyles. But, the importance of lifting heavy is integral to health. Oh and for type 1 diabetics, increasing muscle mass (especially combined with reduced excess body-fat) increases insulin sensitivity and therefore less insulin is needed. Sound good?

The closest we can get to regular heavy lifting in modern society is planned exercise. There are loads of options out there, but a few key rules should be followed. Firstly, sessions should not exceed around 45 minutes (maybe an hour with breaks, not counting warm-ups and cool downs). Secondly, watch the intensity, you should be working hard, but not at full speed/capacity - that's what law#5 - sprint occasionally is all about. If you rated your excursion on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being maximum effort, I would say around a 6-8 rating would be ideal. Third, the sessions should focus on full body exercises where possible and not focus on isolating individual muscles. But I like the bicep curl machine, or the ab machine or the bench-press machine at the gym some will say. I could argue at length about this, but to keep it short I will only point out that our bodies are designed to work as an entire unit. Take the bench press as an example. You are missing out on the stabilizing tension the core and legs must perform during push ups. This is why gym muscle builders are so injury-prone, because their bodies are imbalanced and their musculature is out of whack. Personally, I would rather be fully-recovered, balanced, and have the ability to perform full body movements, rather than under-recovered, injury prone, but with the ability to boast defined biceps. So, in short lifting heavy things sessions should be brief, intense and full body events. See Marks post on the exercise action items here. What counts as a heavy thing? Firstly, we are heavy things - I weigh about 155 pounds, I would say that that's a heavy thing to lift. Of course weights, kettlebells and so on all count, but I argue that body-weight exercises should form the center of any exercise regime.

Push-ups are good

If you're feeling adventurous.

I plan on writing a series on different full body exercises and routines for beginners with progressions etc. But as I currently utilize TACFIT almost exclusively, I would feel like too much of a thief of Scott Sonnon's work just now. For a series of awesome body weight, dumbbell, and clubbell routines, amongst others - check out the TACFIT programs offered here.
Here's an overview of my medium and high intensity sessions. The exercises stay the same, but I vary reps to increase intensity. Medium intensity should be 6-8 on our exertion scale, and High intensity should be 8-10 (this is where it gets into sprint-like sessions).
Part 1- After warm-up - TACFIT Commando. Six exercises, each performed for 8 rounds of 20 seconds exertion folllowed by 10 seconds rest with a 60 second break between exercises. Totaling 30 minutes exercise. There are three 'missions' each with three progressions. Each runs for 28 days.
Part 2- Clubbell exercises. I'll post a full video on clubbell exercises soon, but for now lets agree that they're awesome. For the uninitiated, the clubbell is like a baseball bat, made of steel, weighing between 2-20kg. It doesn't sound heavy, but the swinging motions work the whole rotational movement. True caveman exercise :-) I am currently working on achieving a century in the double swipes from Trial by Fire to build up.
End with full body compensation yoga, and I am done in around an hour. I know this pushes the boundary of the prescribed 'lift heavy things' mantra. However, I have higher goals than average and ensure that I keep the sessions within safe limits and most importantly know my own limits.

Get a clubbell (or two), use it, love it.

I'll be writing a future post about the benefits of the TACFIT and CST health and recovery first exercise because it is the way forward. It functions perfectly with the primal/paleo lifestyle and most importantly for me, works amazingly to maintain my health living with type 1 diabetes. So, there we have it. Exercise 1-3 times a week for a brief, intense session with full body exercises to improve overall health, and build muscle mass. See you next time for Law#5 Sprint occasionally.

Respectfully,
Sam