Pillar 5: Training
The Heart of Health
Training is at the heart of health; it has provided adaptation that has allowed the human species to survive.
Strangely enough, the definition of health has been put through its paces, and our current society has ended up over-trained and under-nourished.
Training for Total Fitness
Imagine 2 individuals: call them person A and person B. Person A "keeps up with the Joneses" and has recently hired a personal trainer. Around 4 days a week, this trainer puts person A through a grueling 60-minute resistance workout. Overall, person A has spent a total of 4 hours training per week, not accounting for gym travel time, set up and financial cost. Also, given that personal trainers are paid on an hourly basis, time truly equals money.
Person B, on the other hand, has done his research. Around 4-6 times per week, person B engages in a high-intensity resistance workout, with each workout lasting as little as 40-90 seconds. With this, person B has spent no more than 9 minutes of training per week. Additionally, person B could perform this workout at home with no equipment, thereby cutting gym travel time, setup and cost down to zero.
If you are thinking that person A is far healthier than person B, you would be mistaken. In fact, new research suggests that person B would not only be as healthy as person A, but can achieve greater health.
Don’t Forget Your Cardio!
Of course, the above descriptions are simply talking about resistance exercise. But what about the cardiovascular system? Let's return to our analogy. Person A decides that on one of his rest days he will perform steady state cardio for 45 minutes. A high intensity interval training (HIIT) session will also be performed for 15 minutes on Saturday to keep in the exercise "groove."
So, what does person B do? The answer: Nothing different, since his cardio is strategically built into his resistance exercise.
Tallying up the times spent by each person, person A has spent 5 hours exercising per week, not including travel time, setup and cost of both the personal trainer and gym membership. Person B has still spent less than 9 minutes for the entire week, done at home and with zero financial cost. Person B can invest this time and money into other pursuits, like spending quality time with family and friends, or saving up for a home.
A Primal Perspective to Health
From an evolutionary standpoint, stressors from predators were an intense, yet brief event. If they happened, they happened quickly, and provided such a significant stimulus, that failure to adapt could mean the end of life. This is how our bodies were designed to change.
My question to you is this: how does that description fit with the current model of exercise? The answer: it is diametrically
opposed. We believe more work is better than less. In reality, the right dose of exercise implemented strategically is the ultimate solution.
The “Short and Sweet” Workout: A Key To Fat Loss, Muscle Building and Longevity
Training in the way described for person B will bring about several merits. First, if fat loss is your goal, this exercise will liberate fat stores and ramp up your metabolism for hours after the workout. This is one way short exercise can produce astounding results.
Secondly, it is an ideal way to build muscle. And since muscle tissue is metabolically expensive, with every pound of muscle you acquire, you will burn up to a hundred calories per day, by doing nothing!
Lastly, this exercise trains your body to become resilient. Life will always involve stress, but what is in our control is the response and tolerance of that stress.
This training will help you achieve this, and much more, in far less time than conventional methods.
