Well said, Wally. I sometimes refer to 'iatrogenic training' - things done
as training that induce injuries.

Having witnessed a lot of functional training, I'm inclined to agree with
Charles Poloquin's recent blog. JC Santana, a leading figure in functional,
has said that many functional trainers seem to be training clients for
circus acts.

I've learned a lot from Santana's hybrid training, although the primary
learning came from Scott Abel's MET (metabolic enhancement training) which
brings a functional training method of sets of complexes (1 to 4 movements
done as a set) for EPOC benefit. For example, one day one you might do a set
of incline db presses followed immediately by 25+ reps speed bodyweight
squats on a BOSU then a set of sit ups over a Swiss ball. He also has things
like one arm incline presses done on a swiss ball. One set complex? Dumbbell
overhead snatches for 6-10 reps. Scott has over 700 movements, many like
sand bag lifting, picking up your training partner to carry them 30 feet,
walking barbell curls. Hardest training I've ever done - and real life
tasks. Scott generally stresses movements over exercises. His "from the
dungeon" series of dvds are shot in a tiny home gym, one bench, sets of
bodylastic and JC Predator tubing (very high resistance), adjustable
dumbbells and not much else - with such training, his student Kevin Weiss
has won physique titles - like the old timers from Muscle Beach and York,
embodiments of athleticism.

Sandbag lifting is another powerful option, as are kettlebells.

I'm old enough to have learned old school muscle beach type lifting from old
timers, yet rarely pass it on because people are too stuffed with theories
instead of biofeedback.

Layoffs over another benefit - from resistance training. A lot of those IIa
cells revert back to IIb but in great numbers, meaning when you resume
training you have more to convert to IIa with hypertrophy. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Paleolithic Eating Support List [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Day, Wally
Sent: Monday, January 04, 2010 4:23 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Art DeVany's book: "The New Evolution Diet"

I justa hve to chime in here...

>Ideal training mimicking life in nature must include:

>Twisting
>Reaching
>Stepping
>Squatting
>Pushing
>Pulling

I agree with this completely. Which is why the majority of my training is an
attempt to mimic "normal" activities. Some call it functional fitness or
functional trianing. I do spend brief amounts of time in the gym with a
somewhat planned set of exercises, but more often I intentionally make real
activities and chores harder (like carrying heavy, awkward loads rather than
using a handtruck or wheelbarrow). It's easy to do considering I live on a
large property and there's always something that needs to be relocated from
one spot to another 500 feet away. My neighbors, however, think I'm
absolutely nuts :)

>Strapped into a damned machine isolating certain muscles robs accessing
most
>of the more than 600 muscles we're composed of.

My experience with machines - last year I tore my biceps trying out an
overhead curl machine in the gym. I was adjusting myself in the seat and I
allowed my left (stupid) arm to overextend under resistance. The tearing
sound was just like fabric tearing. I'm a very active 52 year old, so there
was no question I would have the surgery to reattach the tendon. I'm still
rehabilitating myself, and plan to avoid anything other than free weights
and cables in the future.

>By today's standards, I'd guess the far more demanding paleo lifestyle
>resulted in levels of conditioning we'd associate with athleticism. That's
>an area I've yet to see HIT folks discuss, rather finding it in the works
of
>Scott Abel, Vern Gambetta, and other coaching and exercise physiology
>experts.

Jones did address athleticism in a rather roundabout way. His contention was
that exercise improves the muscle, and practice improves the skills. He
wasn't a functional fitness kind of guy at all. I think his followers like
Darden have eased up a bit in that regard (though I'm inclined to think he
would label Darden as a heretic nowadays).

>It always saddens me when I think of the hours of wasted time people
>spend in the gym or out on the road.

Careful there, Jim  - some of us profess to enjoy being out on the road. I'm
into my winter layoff right now, but I'm expecting to be cycling 20-30 miles
per day again around Valentine's day. 

>After HIT, I
>just have a difficult time finding an activity that winds me.  And
>that includes pounding up steep hills on a bicycle for hours on end.

As we've discuseed in the past, I find that hard to believe. I've done HIT
in the past and never found that it could sustain the leve of cardiovascular
fitness I required for cycling. Not even HIT done in a circuit-training
fashion.

>I hope I don't need to say that I am far from a genetic abnormality

I think you are :)