The Primal Challenge is all about living on a primal diet and doing activities that minic our hunter gatherer ancestors. Of course it sounds like a novelty, and I guess it is, but the simple principles of living that we can observe from our primal ancestors can help to build a stronger, fitter, faster and leaner body.
Our core principle consist of:
eating lean meat
lifting heavy arse weights
moving fast like hunter
Practically this means lots of functional exercises, focusing on compound weight lifting exercises and human movement (rather than individual body parts). We would not advocate a standard run of the mill split-routine you see most wanna be bodybuilders performing at a local "globo gym". And we are primarily concern with ticking all the boxes when it comes to working out, that means - increased strength, speed, power, endurance, fitness and improved body composition.
Our core exercises consist of:
Squats
Deadlifts
Bench Press
Weighted pull-ups and bodyweight pull-ups
Olympic weightlifting:
Cleans
C&J
Snatch
Jerk and Pressing
Track running:
Various distances
Lifting heavy weights:
We tend to use these as our 'benchmark' exercises and will keep a record of how much weight we can lift/ times we hit with these exercises. We will always try to progress in these exercises by adding more weight or reps each time we lift. We may from time to time include 'isolated' movements such as bicep curls, but this is more to help improve strength in other areas, or to acheive a certain goal, e.g. a hypertrophy stage of training.
Moving fast:
This refers to focusing a lot around high intensity interval training (HIIT), this could be in the form of a metabolic conditioning circuit (a circuit that could consist of weightlifting, bodyweight calathetics and cardiovascular exercises designed to tax all the human energy systems). I am also big on running, biking and swimming but prefer to complete shorter distances quickly with a short rest period between efforts.
Eating lean meat:
Of course this refers to the diet we recommend that is largely a low carb - high protein diet. Although we do support a Paleo or Primal diet, we also understand that different training goals will require a different approach to the diet. For example, someone looking to lose weight will want to reduce their carb intake and maintain a higher protein and fat (healthy fats) intake, whereas a marathon runner would be better off consuming a higher number of carbohydrates.
If you choose to get involved in the Primal Challenge I first want to state that we do not preach that our method is the best or the most complete, but it is a method that has worked well for us to achieve our own training goals.
Train hard and have fun!
Blog posted by - JimC
Showing posts with label nutrition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nutrition. Show all posts
Saturday, 25 May 2013
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
Recipe: Tuna steak with a salsa and sweet potato
People think that having a clean diet = spending ££££. But the truth is healthy eating can be achieved on a budget.
Frozen tuna steaks from Aldis for £2.99 for a whole pack. Pack of sweet potatoes can be found for less that £2 in most supermarkets.
Here is what I russled up for dinner on Monday night...
Tuna steak with a salsa and sweet potato
Recipe:
2 tuna steaks
2 Medium sized sweet potatoes
Broccoli or side salad
Salsa:
1 spring onion
Half a red onion
1 avocado
Half a red pepper
1 green or red chilli (optional)
Half a lemon
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to season
Serves 2
Chop all the ingredients for your salsa and add them to a medium sized bowl. Stir thoroughly and add the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
I microwaved the sweet potatoes for convenice. Set at full power (900 wat) for 6-8 mins.
As these were frozen tuna steaks I fried them for a good 5 mins each side on a low-medium heat.
Plates up and job done!
Here is what I russled up for dinner on Monday night...
Recipe:
2 tuna steaks
2 Medium sized sweet potatoes
Broccoli or side salad
Salsa:
1 spring onion
Half a red onion
1 avocado
Half a red pepper
1 green or red chilli (optional)
Half a lemon
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to season
Serves 2
Chop all the ingredients for your salsa and add them to a medium sized bowl. Stir thoroughly and add the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
I microwaved the sweet potatoes for convenice. Set at full power (900 wat) for 6-8 mins.
As these were frozen tuna steaks I fried them for a good 5 mins each side on a low-medium heat.
Plates up and job done!
Why follow a Primal Diet?
We support the belief that an excessive consumption of carbohydrates - especially processed and refined carbs, are heavily linked to medical conditions such as, obesity, heart disease and diabetes. It was the popular belief that dietary fats were the main cause of increased body fat, however recent evidence has pretty much shut this belief out.
What foods should I eat and avoid?
Most low-carb diets bang on about the dangers of consuming too many "simple carbohydrates" and too few "complex carbohydrates". The theories goes as so: simple carbs such as table sugar found in chocolate and cake, also white bread, pasta and white rice are largely comprised of one or two sugars, glucose and fructose. These are digested too quickly for our body to efficiently use it all as energy, they are therefore often stored as fat. Additionally, these foods tend to leave us feeling hungry soon afterwards.
A complex carb such as brown rice, sweet potatoes or porridge oats takes longer to digest, thus they are less likely to be stored as fat as they can be more efficiently converted into energy. This is not to say that all fast carbs should be avoided like the plauge, but they should be your staple, especially if your goals include fat loss.
There is a singular measure of carbohydrates that tells you which are the healthier sources of carbohydrates —“Glycemic Index.” Glycemic index is simply a measure of a food’s propensity to raise blood sugar. Avoid high glycemic foods and you’ll avoid many, if not most, of the ills associated with diet.
The Glycemic Index (GI) rates foods with a score of 1-100. Low GI carbs are consider to have a score of less than 55, medium GI have a score of 55-69 and high GI carbs have a score more than 70.
I personally would never do something as convulsive as measuring quantities of foods or calculating calories for every meal. Simply stick to eating the right foods:
Lean meat
Oily fish
Nuts
Vegetables
Fruit
Low GI carbs
Few starchy carbs (to be consumed after working out)
Avoid sugar
What foods should I eat and avoid?
Most low-carb diets bang on about the dangers of consuming too many "simple carbohydrates" and too few "complex carbohydrates". The theories goes as so: simple carbs such as table sugar found in chocolate and cake, also white bread, pasta and white rice are largely comprised of one or two sugars, glucose and fructose. These are digested too quickly for our body to efficiently use it all as energy, they are therefore often stored as fat. Additionally, these foods tend to leave us feeling hungry soon afterwards.
A complex carb such as brown rice, sweet potatoes or porridge oats takes longer to digest, thus they are less likely to be stored as fat as they can be more efficiently converted into energy. This is not to say that all fast carbs should be avoided like the plauge, but they should be your staple, especially if your goals include fat loss.
There is a singular measure of carbohydrates that tells you which are the healthier sources of carbohydrates —“Glycemic Index.” Glycemic index is simply a measure of a food’s propensity to raise blood sugar. Avoid high glycemic foods and you’ll avoid many, if not most, of the ills associated with diet.
The Glycemic Index (GI) rates foods with a score of 1-100. Low GI carbs are consider to have a score of less than 55, medium GI have a score of 55-69 and high GI carbs have a score more than 70.
I personally would never do something as convulsive as measuring quantities of foods or calculating calories for every meal. Simply stick to eating the right foods:
Lean meat
Oily fish
Nuts
Vegetables
Fruit
Low GI carbs
Few starchy carbs (to be consumed after working out)
Avoid sugar
Tuesday, 14 May 2013
What is the Primal Diet?
The 'Primal' or 'Caveman diet' is a culture of low carb, low calorie and high protein diet with the broad aim to improve health. It is fair to say that the concept of low carb diets took a bit of a media pummelling during the 90s, largely due to the dim view of the Atkin' Diet. However the trigger word "low carb" is about as far as the similarities go between Atkin's and the Primal Diet.
A summary of the Primal Diet
In a nutshell the Primal diet mimics the nutrition of our 'hunter gatherer' ancestors, based around lean protein, healthy fats and lots of vitamins and minerals. The menu typically consists of meat, fish, nuts, eggs, roots and vegetables.
Fats vs carbohydrates
Many low fat diets promoting low fat, low protein, high carb diets were commonly found in health magazines but a new age of nutrition has emerge with the understanding that fat is not the primary health concern but the excessive intake of carbohydrates - particularly processed and 'hi-GI-carbs' that have been linked to illnesses such as obesity, diebetes and coronary heart disease.
Paleo or our own method of madness?
Robb Wolf's: The Paleo Solution is certainly the most popular low carb or 'Caveman diets' and Mark Sisson's: The Primal Blueprint also contains some great information. Our take on nutrition does not differ greatly from these two approaches, but with the emphasis on making the lifestyle more accessible and more applicable to your average person constrained by money, convenience and of course a degree of want of indulgence.
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