It has become an article of faith among, well, basically everyone, that our ancestors lived short, brutal lives. What are they touting as the average lifespan these days – 35 years old or so? I’ve heard anything between 25 and 40 years. The common counter is that infant mortality rates were higher than they are today, thus skewing the average. It’s also often pointed out that a relatively benign accident or illness by today’s standards — a broken arm, a rolled ankle, or a minor infection — could have prematurely ended Grok’s life. And that these cases say nothing about Grok’s potential to live 70+ years. The “short and brutal” meme has wedged itself in the public psyche, and it’s going to take a lot to extract it from its seemingly intractable position.
I’m going to riff a bit on something I’ve been thinking about regarding ancient human bones. This isn’t [...]

Original post by Mark Sisson

Hey get over to GROUPON today for an outrageously great deal on our boot camp fitness classes. Of course it is for new clients only so don’t get crazy.. ha haaa.
Remember to use the Refer a friend, get $10 in the upper right hand corner of the Groupon page.
See you in class!!!

I made a big mistake. 
Actually I’ve been making a big mistake these last two months.
I decided to follow the workout program of my favorite bodybuilder.
(Yes, I have a favorite body builder…nothing wrong with that)
Here’s the deal…
I’m a big Serge Nubret fan.
So when I saw that Serge was a big fan of high volume, short rest, long workouts, I thought…’hey…if it’s good enough for Serge!’
BIG MISTAKE
Following the workout of your favorite Actor / Body Builder / Fitness Celebrity makes about as much sense as going out and buying a Ferrari 575M Maranello because that’s the car Will Smith Drives (well, he drove it in Bad Boys II).
You probably can’t afford it, and it’s not going to miraculously turn you into Will Smith.
Same thing goes for work outs.
Workouts can improve the body you have, but they can’t magically change your body into somebody else’s body.
(I hope that makes sense)
So here’s the [...]

Original post by Brad Pilon

Last week, I made the case that potatoes aren’t nearly as bad as some people make them out to be. They’re carby, sure, but lean, active people who can tolerate carbs are way better off eating potatoes than grains, and even for low-carbers, a potato makes for a good, gluten-free cheat meal. Their place in your diet depends on the metabolic context. In my so-called “final word,” I said there isn’t one, at least not ordained from above. You have to figure out for yourself whether or not they fit into your diet. You might even say you have to go with your gut on this one (in more ways than one, as you’ll see).

So: potatoes. Just what are we to make of them? They are lumpy, white things that appear mostly harmless. They are, some would say, non-toxic sources of essentially pure starch. But actually, there’s more to the [...]

Original post by Mark Sisson

Danger! Danger! It’s a trap. 
Honestly, this may come across as a little ‘conspiracy theory’ but I beleive it to be true.
The double-edged wrath of food.
Yep…Wrath.
OK, I guess it’s more “Over-eating” the simply food..but you get the idea
Let me paint the picture for you…
Coffee shop at lunch time (Coffee Culture on Appleby for anyone in the Burlington, Ontario area)
Random bearded guy sitting in the corner, eavesdropping (that’s me)
You know what the bearded guy hears on any given lunch hour?
Complaining.
Complaining about two things:
Money and body fat.
Now here’s the trap, the part that drives me crazy…
It costs money to build and maintain that body fat.
At the risk of being redundant this needs to be stated again ==>
It costs money to build and maintain that body fat

This is the result of our food-economic and food-marketing environment.
You’re allowed to try and eat healthier, but you’re not allowed to try and eat less.
And because of [...]

Original post by Brad Pilon

Dairy, as I’ve discussed, is a somewhat hazy matter in the Primal Blueprint. With adequate reasons from solid thinkers both for and against, I’ve relegated dairy to the provisional, the peripheral, the speculative even as I choose to modestly indulge in it. As with most Primal gray areas, some forms appear less controversial than others. Raw, fermented, full fat dairy offers much more health benefit with fewer reservations than processed, low fat renderings. (Isn’t that always the case?) From a Primal perspective, however, dairy still remains somewhat of an enigma. Hardly one of the original, universal foods in human evolution, milk entered the scene at a surprisingly late date – only some 9,000 years ago with the advent of animal domestication. Researchers have long traced the “progression” of Grok’s dairy intake from the Middle East into Europe, where milk actually became an unusually significant dietary staple. New research into the [...]

Original post by Mark Sisson

[The body is only an extension of the mind - and without the mind, it is only a shell.]
When I first started working out, I was surprised how I would always feel a workout in a completely different place than I was supposed to. I would try to work my chest with a bench press and feel it almost exclusively in my shoulders. Or I would feel leg lifts done for my abs on my legs and not my abs.
I found this incredibly discouraging. I was convinced that either every workout book, personal trainer and the entire internet was playing some kind of practical joke on me, or something was really wrong with my body. That was until I found out about something that would completely change how I approached working out…
Why You Need to Know About the Mind Muscle Connection…

The mind muscle connection is probably the most [...]

Original post by rafael@thefitnessadviser.com (Rafi Bar-Lev)

Clipped from: zenhabits.net (share this clip)

via s.tt
Focus — It’s a free e-book from ZenHabits Author Leo Babauta.
Since almost everyone who reads this blog with any regularity could probably benefit from a break from reading about health and nutrition (myself included) I’m recommending you pick this up and give it a read.
BP

//

Original post by Brad Pilon

5 Minute Crawl
Variations on this WOW are encouraged. See the “How-to” and “Variations” sections below.

How-to:
Warmup: None required

Time to complete: 5 minutes
No, this is not a recipe post, and I didn’t misspell “stock.”
Time wasn’t always of the essence in the Paleolithic. Sometimes, one had to exercise caution and proceed unseen and unheard. Take the hunt, for example. Crashing through the brush with a high-speed Grok crawl sprint is a terrible way to sneak up on prey. Stalking an animal with hypersensitive ears and nose precludes raw (human quality) speed and surprise from being effective. If Grok wanted to get in range to make the kill, he had to crawl slowly.
This week, you’re going to be performing a painfully slow and drawn-out five-minute crawl. Crawl-sprinting is tough enough, but at least it’s over quickly; going as slowly and quietly as you can takes serious strength and stamina, and it [...]

Original post by Mark Sisson

Beauty isn’t everything and celery root is living proof. There is nothing about its knobby, gnarled, beige appearance that would entice you to put it in your shopping cart. You’ve probably passed by it a hundred times nestled between the turnips and rutabagas, not even realizing what an amazing root vegetable you’re passing over.
The flavor of celery root strongly resembles celery but there is also something potato-like about it both taste and texture. It is often eaten as a salad, grated then left raw or quickly blanched and mixed with mayonnaises, lemon and mustard. This time of year we prefer to cook celery root a little longer before serving. Peeled and cut into pieces, this vegetable can be braised, boiled, baked or sautéed. If you’re tired of using cauliflower as a mashed potato stand-in, give mashed celery root a try.  Even better, gently simmer celery root then puree it into [...]

Original post by Worker Bee