If we were to imagine life as a paleolithic hunter-gatherer, we would guess having to move heavy objects featured prominently in the lifestyle. Turning over stones and logs to get to the fauna underneath, or picking up stones overhead to threaten, ward off adversaries. There’s more, Carrying a fresh kill or a scavenged carcass to safety, also climbing a tree to get to food, or at worst avoid becoming food, numerous possibilities that we needn’t envision in our relatively sheltered lives in a metro. Strength training is key to a paleo lifestyle.
Now there are two things to note – such strength training must have been infrequent, and possibly intense. And I’m sure none of it involved jogging at a constant pace. I can imagine a mad dash to escape predators or catch prey. So that pretty much rules out cardio in a paleolithic lifestyle, a fact I’m sure very few people will complain about. In my opinion, cardio is for rodents. In cages.
How strength training works is you perform exercises that target muscle groups, not just individual muscle – for example, favour compound movements such as barbell squats, shoulder and bench presses, pull ups and chin ups, even the standard push-up. The trick is to work out at an intensity that creates an adaptive response in your body, which ensures you get stronger every time. Two differing but equally effective techniques can be found in Mark Rippetoe’s ‘Starting Strength’ series, and Doug McGuff’s Body by science. I would recommend either of these books over any trainer at most of the gyms here. I work out at Golds, and I’m personally more comfortable with the instructions I’ve got in these books than with the trainers there.
Ideally you should pick both these up, and create a schedule that works best for you. My workout incorporates a bit of Doug McGuff’s technique over a primarily starting strength workout. Personally, i feel Starting Strength has more pure paleo elements in it. It’s also far harder to follow, and i really recommend you get Mark Rippetoe’s training videos as well.
My workouts are once a week, or maybe twice, depends on my recovery period of the response. Not more than an hour each session, I always perform squats and vary the upper body exercises each session. Rather than bulk up, I’ve gained only two kilos since i began, and funnily enough, dropped two inches around the waist. For those who are interested in the science behind the workouts, Dr, Doug McGuff is the person to go to. He clearly explains why a paleo diet is the one that makes the most sense metabolically.
While these two workouts may seem incompatible, I don’t think they are, as I’ve found a way to bring them together, and with a little more research, I’m sure you can too.
And in case you’re still leery of lifting weights, you can make do entirely with body-weight exercises – Push-ups (numerous variations), free squats (repeated to failure), lunges, pull ups and planks. Oh and it’s essential you sprint, at least once a week – a flat out 20 – 30 second sprint, like if you didn’t – you would get eaten.