Chapter 8 - Maximum Fitness Gains Can Be Made In Minimal Time Flashcards
The overarching goal is to adhere to the Primal Blueprint philosophy of:
Conducting brief, intense workouts balanced with low-level movement, balancing stress and rest, and avoiding chronic patterns at all costs
Power-to-Weight Ratio
Has a strong functional component
Puts raw power in context with your body weight instead of emphasizing absolute measurements
- goes beyond strength, incorporating disparate skills such as movement mastery and muscular and cardiovascular strength endurance
- examples: counting the number of pull-ups someone can do at one time, or timing how long it takes to climb a rope or scale a hill on a bicycle
Warm-up
A deliberate of mindful drills and stretches ensures:
- optimal focus
- boosts confidence
- heightens motivation and arousal
*however, the Primal program deemphasizes the importance of prolonged, elaborate warm-up periods before workouts…
Checklist of sensations associated with a proper warm-up:
- temperature elevated
- fluid = creaky joints become lubricated…
- focused
- dynamic
Don’t Start Your Workout Without Running Through The Checklist:
- temperature elevated (literally feeling warmer)
- respiration and heart rate increased
- body feels loose and limber
- joints feel fluid, not stiff and creaky
- mentally focused on the task ahead
*if you haven’t checked the boxes, don’t start the workout!
High-intensity workouts should never be undertaken unless:
Body and mind are feeling well rested and highly motivated.
- sore muscles
- lack of motivation
- feelings of fatigue at rest
—> are all signs that the body is not well suited for an intense workout
*month to month may look very different for training. Less intense workouts may be conducted for reasons such as:
- extensive jet lag
- nagging injury
- illness
- elevated life stress
…and so forth…
The Primal Blueprint Pyramid sets parameters for each type of exercise
- 2-5 hours per week of low-level aerobic activities
- 2 strength training sessions per week, each lasting 10-30min
- 1 sprint session every 7-10 days
*however, these are general averages, sampled over an extended period of time and allowing for plenty of room for flexibility…
Dr. David Costill popularized the concept that tapering and resting
Actually support fitness and peak performance
- his work suggests that even extreme reductions in normal training volume (e.g. cutting total volume in half for up to two months) not only preserves fitness levels but also improves peak performance… (he studies with collegiate swimmers)
The most important principle to respect form optimal strength workouts is that:
They should be brief and intense
Choose exercises that
Engage a variety of muscle groups with sweeping, real-life, functional movements, and you will promote optimal gene expression, regardless of particulars
Sweeping, full-body, functional movements are preferred over
Exercises that isolate specific body parts… (as happens with many machines)
A chronic strength training pattern involves:
Workouts that are too long in duration and conducted too frequently with insufficient rest between sessions
Occasional maximum-efforts sprints trigger a cascade of positive expressions events in:
- neuroendocrine
- hormonal
- gene
That promote:
- muscle development
- fat loss (accelerated fat metabolism)
- increased energy
- increased alertness
- delayed aging
- enhances insulin sensitivity
- improves lipid profiles
- boosts levels of adaptogen hormones (such as testosterone and human growth hormone)
- promotes mitochondrial biogenesis
- increases mitochondrial size
- improves cognitive function
- elevated mood by decreasing inflammation in, and improving oxygen to, the brain
- increase bone density
- strengthens bones and connective tissue
*in many ways it’s benefits surpass the benefits of cardiovascular workouts that last several times longer… this is because, though it’s entirely anaerobic, nevertheless it helps: - increase fat-burning potential of muscles
- enhances oxygen utilization
- enhances maximal oxygen uptake in the lungs
- improves the ability to store and preserve glycogen
- improves muscle buffering capacity (better lactate clearance and less acidosis during exercise)
- extends the “time to fatigue” marker at all levels of intensity
- allows you to perform better in both high-intensity and longer-duration, lower intensity exercises
- also enhances protein synthesis by as much as 230%!
*often lauded as the ultimate Primal workout
A sprint workout is comprised of:
(Every 7-10 days)
4-6 sprints
Lasting between 8-30sec
*duration, recovery intervals, and number of repetitions vary according to the activity you choose, as well as you ability and experience level
Sprints of 8sec or less are fueled by:
Pure ATP in the muscle cell
*American football
Sprints of 8-30sec are fueled by:
Lactate
*shortest track or swimming events
Maximum efforts lasting over 30sec to a couple mins are fueled by:
Glucose
*cannot accurately be described as “sprinting” since its impossible to deliver an all-out effort for more than 30sec. Instead, it is considered an anaerobic peak performance effort
Peak performance efforts that extend beyond a couple of minutes use:
A mixture of glucose and fatty acids, burned based on the intensity of the effort as a percentage of maximum HR
*an all-out effort lasting 75sec is considered to require equal contributions from aerobic and anaerobic energy systems
-10sec all-out = 94% anaerobic
-6min = 79% aerobic and 21% anaerobic
Effective sprint routine
Varied routine that features short, medium, and longer sprints can be highly effective
*dependent on goals
Longer sprints with relatively brief rest periods
Develop your anaerobic lactic acid buffering system
- desirable for sustained, intense efforts (1mile race, basketball, soccer…)
Shorter sprints with a longer rest period
Develops your pure speed and explosiveness
Philosophical guidelines for sprinting
*although, exercisers may vary the number of reps and duration of rest intervals to stimulate certain fitness adaptations
- Duration of the recovery interval should be sufficient enough for respiration to return to near normal and for you to feel mentally refreshed enough to tackle another effort
- Each sprint should be similar in both measured performance (the time it takes to cover a certain distance) and in perceived effort level…
Sprinting places incredible demands on the central nervous system. Consequently:
In addition to physical markers, such as respiration and fatigue, a sprinter should be vigilant about mental fatigue
- if you have difficulty focusing, concentrating, or even just keeping your balance during a walk recovery interval, this is an indication that the central nervous system is fried and that further sprint efforts are not advisable
To continue sprinting when perceived effort increases/measured performance decreases is not advised because it:
- can result in exhaustion
- extended recovery time
- overstimulation of stress hormones
- increased risk of injury
*when effort level is maintained but performance drops off markedly, that’s a sure sign to end the workout and thereby preserve its quality and intended training effect
The foremost goal of your sprint sessions:
Consistent quality
As fitness progresses, sprinters should aspire to:
Increase speed rather than add more repetitions
*going for quantity instead of quality will increase the risk of entering a chronic pattern and compromise the intended purpose of these types of workouts…
Demanding that the body use stored energy instead of ingested calories can promote:
- insulin sensitivity
- up-regulation of fat and ketone burning
*due to the stimulus of the intense workout, this stored energy can be burned at an accelerated rate after exercise, speeding body fat reduction goals
A fat- and keto- adapted athlete will experience a diminished need for:
Glucose during exercise and in the hours after exercise
- making aggressive and immediate refueling of far less importance
Refueling with carbohydrates immediately after exercise :
Will, indeed, replenish glycogen stores… but, this refueling prompts the release of insulin, which quickly removes adaptive hormones and fatty acids from the bloodstream and may shut off ketone burning…
A pattern of immediate and complete refueling after exercise can perpetuate
The cycle of dependency upon dietary carbohydrates for energy and recovery
Those with excess body fat may experience difficulty losing fat with this habitual refueling practice, because they never create the demand to access stored body fat use as energy
While individual requirements vary, the more intense and more frequent one’s workout:
The greater their requirement for ample dietary carbohydrates to recover
*there are no exact guidelines for what optimal carb intake entails, but folks can experiment with consuming an additional 100 grams of carbohydrate for every hour of vigorous exercise conducted on a particular day
Peak Performance
*athletes who wish to optimize diet can monitor assorted performance and recovery markers in conjunction with changes in dietary habits…
For example:
An athlete might track their performance on a time trial, or gym exercise (bicycle hill climb/max number of pull-ups), while systematically experimenting
- with carb intake
- protein intake
- meal timing
- fueling strategies (eating before, during, after workouts)
They might also track how
- energy levels
- hunger levels
- sleeping habits
are affected by dietary changes
*in this way, they can arrive at their own personal optimal diet and fueling strategy based on how their body responds a
Enjoyment
A devoted fitness enthusiast and disciplined eater must not lose sight of the importance of enjoying his or her diet and exercise efforts…
*it’s important to take a big-picture view and realize that life’s too short to let perfect be the enemy of good
Intermittent is effective
The body is extremely receptive to a sporadic pattern of eating
- individuals may vary their meal timing and eating windows to align with daily fluctuations in hunger
- with exercise, there are a myriad of benefits in a periodized training schedule that promotes a balance between stress and rest and focuses on different training priorities at different periods
Organ Reserve
The functional capacity of vital organs to support life
- it is closely correlated with the amount of functional lean muscle mass you have (because functional muscle mass supports optimal organ function and minimizes organ stress)
The essence of delaying the aging process
Having optimal muscle mass and strong organ reserve is
*you are working organs when challenging the muscles; both adhere to the “use it or lose it” principle
*body systems work synergistically…
Scientifically and practically speaking, the aging process as we know it today should really be called the
“Process of physical decline largely due to inactivity and/or adverse lifestyle practices”
Mitochondrial Biogenesis in high-intensity workouts
- increase the size and number of mitochondria
- increase number of oxidative enzymes found in mitochondria
Oxidative Enzymes
- citrate synthase
- malate dehydrogenase
- succinate dehydrogenase
- improves metabolic function of skeletal muscles
- boosting fat and carbohydrate breakdown for fuel
- speeding energy formation from ATP
Having abundant oxidative enzymes
- improves exercise performance at both high and low intensities
- provides greater protection against oxidative stress - a key marker of aging
High-intensity exercise increases mitochondrial density and oxidative enzymes by:
Constructing completely different message signaling pathways than those formed by traditional endurance training
These pathways turn on the “master switch” called the PGC-1a (PGC-one-alpha) that causes a favorable rise in mitochondria density and oxidative enzyme activity
Mitochondrial benefits of intense training are probably maximized when:
Combined with aerobic exercise
Play
Loosely defined as activity that is:
- fun
- perhaps has an element of spontaneity (but can also be structured and competitive)
- deemphasizes the formal structure and tangible measurements of accomplishment
- gets you out of the focused, rational mindset that you exist in for most of the day
*has you completely absorbed in the moment and the pure joy of the experience
The free-flowing, risk-free nature of play allows us to:
- test out skills and scenarios that prepare us for real-life challenges
The spontaneity and exploration that characterize play: - helps form mold new neural circuits
- improve connections
- improve behavior patterns
Also a:
- stress reliever, particularly from life-or-death rigors of primal life, but also from the unrelenting stress and tight structure of hectic modern life
When humans are deprived of play they suffer from multiple dysfunctional symptoms, including:
- lack of curiosity
- diminished social competency
- uncontrolled emotions
Net result
= a narrowing of social, emotional, and cognitive intelligence
*this “narrowing” of perspective is also a profound marker of accelerated aging
Okay promotes the development and maintenance of a
“Cognitively fluid mind”
*a wonderful attribute with which to navigate the extremely complex and high-tech nature of modern life
Static stretching (passive muscle stretching) weakens muscles for
Up to 30min after the session
*the neuromuscular inhibitory response
Post-workout stretches (often static) can:
- assist in the transition from an active state to an inactive state
- possibly prevent injury
- speed recovery
- alleviate post-exercise soreness
Dynamic stretches
Are done in the course of deliberate movements designed to produce a stretch
Often mimic or exaggerate the desired range of motion in the impending exercise
- example: runner doing high-knee skips or lunges…
Two functional, full-body stretches recommended by the Primal Health Coach program
- Grok Hang
- Grok Squat
*stretches that recruit a variety of muscle groups and allow gravity to be the main - and really only - source of resistance
*effective and safe because they use gravity and the leverage of body weight to achieve a stretch, instead of a deliberate counterforce
Grok Hang
Entails hanging from a bar or branch for as long as you can support your body weight
Provides a comprehensive upper body stretch and even a traction effect along the spinal column as the discs gently elongate after a few moments
Grok Squat
Involves squaring down to the ground and lowering your torso between your bent knees
Provides a comprehensive stretch for:
- feet
- calves
- Achilles tendons
- hamstrings
- quadriceps
- buttocks
- lower back
- upper back
-shoulders
A sore (painful) muscle is the body’s way of telling us to:
- slow down
- rest
- allow the healing process to run its course
Muscle Tightness
A protective mechanism to avoid further trauma and damage to the surrounding area
Expected from a devoted exercise routine:
Minor aches, pains, stiffness and soreness
*first thing in the morning you might feel stiff, but you should easily be able to work out the kinks and feel supple and fluid after a short and sensible warm-up session
—> if pain, stiffness, and soreness linger after a warm-up period and compromises workout performance, then the overall exercise program needs to be adjusted to minimize stress
Acute muscle soreness
Manifests when muscles become sore and stiff immediately following an intense workout
The pain is caused by an accumulation of waste products such as:
- lactic acid in muscles
- swelling of tissues due to increased blood flow caused by aggressive contractions
- the exhaustion of muscles unable to perform requested work
Subsides an hour or so after the workout is complete and the body has returned to a resting state
Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS)
A common phenomenon in which stiffness, soreness, and tenderness are felt, often with significant delay, in the aftermath of challenging workouts
Timeframe symptoms of DOMS
Are strongest between 24 hours & 72 hours after exercise, with the worst soreness typically 48 hours after the session
Cause of DOMS
Micro-trauma to muscle fibers due to eccentric muscle contractions, where a muscle is asked to lengthen against resistant force
May be caused by enzyme efflux, or leaking, as a result of eccentric contractions
- calcium leaks out of storage areas in the cells and accumulates in the traumatized muscle tissues
- this prompts an inflammatory response that helps transport calcium back to its proper location in the muscle sarcoplasm, where it helps regulate contractions
*soreness is delayed because it takes a while after the muscle sustains it’s initial trauma for the healing process to play out…
- after an intense workout, stress hormone levels are elevated and muscles are engorged with blood, both of which mask initial pain and soreness
The accumulation of lactic acid in the muscle during intense work efforts
Does not cause delayed onset muscle soreness
DOMS is not necessarily
An indication of a workout’s effectiveness
And the lack of DOMS is not an indication that a workout was ineffective
Or correlated with the level of damage to the muscle…
*it’s mostly a function of how familiar the workout was…
Experiencing DOMS is a great message from your body that:
It’s time to rest and avoid anything close to maximum effort until soreness completely dissipates
Repeat-bout effect
Muscles become more resilient when the exercise that caused DOMS is repeated
Necessary components for the inflammatory process to work effectively
- Begins with vasodilation (widening of the blood vessels to increase blood flow to the injured site
- The immune system sends leukocytes and macrophages (types of white blood cells) to clean out waste products and allow healing to begin
- This causes more fluid retention and swelling at the site, more sensitivity to pain, and restricted movement
*while the circulatory system works to clear waste products, the lymphatic system removes excess fluid buildup caused by the immune response
The practice of icing
Potentially delays the healing process by inhibiting the lymphatic system from clearing toxins out of the injured area…
- it actually promotes additional fluid buildup with a “backflow” effect - whereby waste is contained in the injured area instead of being swept away
- does relieve pain, but that’s not necessarily a good thing…
The effect of taking NSAIDs for inflammation of muscles
Even more disruptive to the healing process than ice
- they short-circuit the natural inflammatory process by blocking prostaglandin production, relieving pain, reducing swelling
ECM - Elevate, Compress, Move
An alternative to the long standing RICE protocol
Move = move safely, in a manner that does not introduce additional pain to the area
- increases flow
- improves range of motion
- assists the lymphatic system in its duties
Compression = assists the lymphatic system in its duties
Can be achieve through
- bands
- contractions
- specially designed compressive clothing
Elevate = elevate the injured area above the heart will regulate the inflammatory process naturally and prevent excessive fluid from pooling in the injured area
Pain, inflammation, and diminished mobility
Are welcome elements of the homeostatic drive of the body
- effective governors to regulate the balance of stress and rest in pursuit of fitness and peak performance
No matter your fitness level, conducting high-intensity workouts - adapted to your current fitness level and physical capabilities
Is extremely important for your fitness, body composition, and overall health goals
Sprinting is considered the best exercise for
Burning fat
- because it accelerates fat metabolism and improves insulin sensitivity
It also:
- enhances oxygen uptake & utilization
- improves glycogen regulation
- supports the body’s ability to process and eliminate lactic acid and other waste byproducts in the bloodstream
-
Orthorexia
An unhealthy obsession with eating a “correct,” highly regimented diet, and avoiding any foods perceived to be unhealthful, to the extent that the practice becomes psychologically stressful
A good measure of functional fitness =
Power-to-Weight Ratio
Play is characterized by not being attached to
Outcome
