Hail to the Dinosaurs!
This morning I was reading NEANDERTHIN
by Ray Audette -- one of the first books
on what is now known as the Paleo Diet --
and the following jumped out at me.
Audette was discussing the modern-day,
mechanistic approach to health and
nutrition, which typiclaly involves
massive reliance on synthetic vitamins,
synthetic foods (e.g., margerine),
and synthetic drugs combined with a
program of what could be labeled as
synthetic exercise -- such as the typical
"workout" followed by the typical member
of any typical gym anywhere in the world.
He contrasted that approach with what he
termed "chaotic nutrition."
Audette stated:
"A chaotic nutrition and fitness program
doesn't add new variables [such as
synthetic supplements, synthetic foods or
drugs] to the equation.
Instead, a chaotic approach stresses the
REMOVAL of variables (agricultural diet,
sedentary lifestyle) that aren't part of
the body's initial conditions -- naked with
a sharp stick on the African savanna."
Now, I'm not going to debate the merits of
a Paleo Diet -- but I want to explore the
concept of REMOVING variables from your
training rather than adding them.
In a very real sense, that's what Dinosaur
Training is all about.
Do you want to get big and strong?
Start by getting rid of the chrome plated
exercise machines that force you to move in
artificial and non-functional ways.
Drop the muscle pumping. It's the epitome of an
artificial training method.
Stop trying to get bigger and stronger by doing
longer and longer and more and more frequent
workouts. That's not how the human body was
designed to grow bigger and stronger.
Think about how early humans lived.
They were wanderers. Nomads. They followed the
game trails, and they lived by hunting and
killing some really enormous (and now extinct)
animals: mammoths, mastodons, huge bears, huge
wild pigs, deer the size of a moose, and birds
the size of a small truck.
The pattern of days was something like this --
a day or two of hiking and hunting and
tracking.
A day or two of stalking.
And when the moment was right -- the attack.
A ferocious fight -- a life and death struggle
which pitted the muscles of the early humans
against the muscles of their prey. It involved
sprinting, jumping, dodging, lifting rocks and
logs, throwing rocks, logs, clubs and spears --
and often a final, all or nothing struggle.
Picture early humans armed with simple spears
going head to head with a mastodon -- or with
a cave bear.
It was a heck of a workout. Had to be. No way
around it.
Then there was the skinning and the
butchering -- more hard, heavy work.
Picture how you would skin and butcher
a mastodon with a stone knife. What kind
of workout would that be? (Picture the
grip it would build!)
Then, the small tribe stayed by the kill
until the meat was gone -- and rested --
and then the entire sequence started all
over again.
It was exactly the same as the Irregular
Training concept that Bob Hoffman taught
(which we covered in last week's emails --
see the Dinosaur Training Blog if you missed
them).
Dinosaur Training takes you back to training
methods that work the way the human body was
designed to work: short, hard, infrequent and
diverse workouts followed by enough time for
rest and recuperation.
To get there, you need to REDUCE what you are
doing, not add to it. Cut out the fluff. Get
rid of the modern day stuff you see in the
magazines. Stick to the basics. Train for
STRENGTH -- not for any sort of modern-day
"look" pushed by the muscle media and its
munchkin armed ad-men.
Remember, being strong is a survival skill.
It's how your ancestors managed to stay alive.
And training for strength is the ultimate
all-Natural way to train. It's what your body
was built to do.
As always, thanks for reading, and have a great
day. If you train today, make it a good one!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. You can learn more about back to basics
strength training in any of my books and courses:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
