Primitive Stimulus

This one posted last week on Everyday Paleo.

Intensity is subjective, difficult to measure, and often elusive.  Without a frame of reference, I think most people will never experience high levels of intensity in their workouts.  Group environments can often provide excellent examples for new people in need of intensity, but many of you don’t have access to a well-coached group, so I will try to offer some guidance.

First, you have to shut off your brain and listen to your body.  I know it sounds crazy, but you will be blown away by what you are capable of doing when you inner voice quits whining and your muscles take the reigns.  I recently posted on a short workout clip of Deb on my Facebook page and I think it was an eye-opening experience for some who saw it.  I believe it is worthy of discussion here.

The following video is a short, explosive workout of the type that I impose on Deb about once per week.  I’m sharing this with you because this type of training is appropriate for nearly all of you sometimes, regardless of your fitness level and goals, as long as your movements are performed correctly and weights and exercises used are well matched to your abilities.  In other words, this exact workout might not be right for you, but Deb’s perceived effort is recommended.  I would like to make it clear that this not how Deb trains everyday, nor do I train anyone with only workouts like this.  Our focus is evenly distributed between heavy lifting, metabolic conditioning, and mobility.  My intention for this post is merely to give you a better understanding of intensity through one aspect of healthy training.  Please do not create an entire program based on workouts that resemble this video.

My commentary explains the workout.

Deb completed that set 5 times over the course of one hour, with as much rest between sets as she desired, and that was all she did that day.  Her total work time was well under 10 minutes, but her intensity was far beyond what most people her age (or any age) would ever dare to attempt. Workouts like this allow Deb to use up her muscle glycogen stores without causing a bunch of excess cortisol production, and because she eats a low-ish carb paleo diet she uses more of her stored body fat for energy throughout the rest of her day.  This same concept helps her stay insulin sensitive even if she cheats on her diet, which is almost never.  With workouts like this, plus plenty of heavy lifting, Deb is able to get all the benefits that traditional cardio is intended for but never really achieves, while avoiding all that nasty cortisol production and oxidative stress that would keep her squishy, age her prematurely, and challenge her insulin sensitivity.

Don’t let this intimidate you – instead, get motivated by it.  When Deb first walked into my gym, if I would have told her she would be working out like this in her near future she would have laughed at me and walked out.  She just had to recognize her inner voice as the liar that it is.  This isn’t an overnight process.  It requires pushing yourself outside your comfort zone in every workout until intensity is normal.

Please note that more intensity is great, but don’t confuse this with more total work performed.  In my experience, more is rarely better when it comes to exercise as long as intensity is sufficient.  You are not doing better by working out at high intensity, or medium intensity for that matter, for 30 minutes straight.  Also, keep in mind that nutrition, not exercise, is the primary factor in fat loss.  As I have said in the past, no amount of exercise will negate poor nutrition.

Be safe, but try ratcheting up the intensity in your next workout.  You might surprise yourself.  And keep us posted on the results.  You can post here in the comments or contact me on my Facebook page.  Go forth and be awesome!