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…
