Fitness
Being fit and exercising should be fun. In general, we do not take enough time out of each day to just play. Watch kids, they are the best at having fun just playing (what us adults now call exercising). Our prehistoric ancestors got plenty of exercise: walking/hiking everywhere, lifting and moving heavy things, chasing down animals for food, and even running for their lives. But it was not exercising, it was a way of life.
Our ancestors probably faced many more fight or flight situations than an opportunity to go play. In fact, most critics of the primal lifestyle say something similar to "We don't have tigers chasing us, so why should we run/train/exercise like they did ages ago?"
True, most of us are not chased by wild animals. Yet our bodies are still primed to use the good fuel we are consuming to better our bodies and minds. We need exercise to stay healthy and strong, to do the things we want to do and enjoy them. Luckily today our exercise can come in the form of play.
We should play each day by doing something we enjoy – lift weights, ride a bike, go for a run or hike, sprint with the dogs or the kids. Be active!
Cavemen did not have couches, TVs, and boxes of donuts. That is also why they had six pack abs and were lean, mean, running machines. Don't worry about tigers chasing you, but do worry about letting your body go to waste and not being able to enjoy the fun things in life!
Many primal members believe that fitness exercises should be short and intense spurts of energy, like cavemen would have to do in the wild. These bursts include squats, jumps, sprints, leaps, etc. These are all great ways to stay fit!
Another school of thought includes endurance exercises – long distance running (marathons, ultras), swimming, biking (triathlons), etc. For endurance athletes, recovery after long durations of exercising is important, so sometimes your fuel intake has to be adjusted. Yet this adjustment does not include processed carb loading! It is still based on natural foods and replacing the nutrients lost during endurance exercises.
A great example of endurance fitness in tribes that are still present today are the Tarahumara, the indigenous people in northwestern Mexico that will run down animals for food. For them, running is just part of their lives.
We at Live Primal believe in the individual and your own personal goals. So no matter if you run long distance or lift heavy weights and sprint, the important thing is that you're using your body the way it was meant to be used and that you are not letting it rot in front of a TV tube.
Let's go play!