In this episode Debbie is joined with a fellow podcaster - Brad Kearns from the Primal Endurance Podcast.

Brad and Debbie work towards talking about the Primal Endurance way of training but we obviously have more to talk about!

We have to admit the fact that it feels really good when we come to know that there is another door open for us we can walk through after getting stucked. It only becomes possible, when one has got trust in his abilities and strength. When any person is aiming for or focusing at some big competition, then that person shouldn't get himself/herself involved in some kind of distractive small competitions just for the sake of money or any other attractive prize. Because, that thing will break your focus from a big goal and one can lose the big thing. So, one should step back from those distractions.

So what's Primal Endurance Program about staying healthy? The program advisors say that they emphasize on the development of aerobic system and making human body a fat burning beast instead of utilizing carbohydrates, so escaping dependence on the carbohydrates. People take a lot of sugars and then they force themselves to do strenuous exercises which eventually leads to oxidative damage to the cells resulting in their accelerated ageing process. Doing excessive and physically exhausting exercises is never recommended with one's good health as recently it's been proven by the science that human's genes and hormones and other chemicals in human body respond very well even by doing low level movements without putting one in a state of stress. Also, it's not recommended to sit all the time on your desk neither one should burn more glucose than fat burning or keeping yourself busy in exhausting exercises.

One should stay in the middle of both extremes but then a question arises that, how can it be done? It's a proven fact that there's chronic production of fight and flight hormones after doing stressful exercises every time which is never beneficial as it keeps person in hyperactive state even in a normal environment. So, one needs to build a proper aerobic pace to become good at burning fats which is the essence of success. And it also requires person's heart rate down or at maximum aerobic level or little below. So, that's the time when one is burning fats instead of carbohydrates and eventually no stress hormones are stimulated. When heart rate is increased, there's increased hormonal release.

People have to slowly get ready for any endurance sport by keeping their pace within aerobic pace limits so that, day after day they can build without any interruption of high stress impact of chronic type workouts. It's more beneficial than doing high intensity workout in a gym than going for a slow jog. Shorter duration workout doesn't keep a person's stress hormonal level in blood for a longer period of time. These kind of brief stressful events are much more nurturing to a person's body and health. Like a 20 minutes workout can give you an incredible fitness boost.

These days’ people have got shortcut mentality like training for hours and hours and running for miles and miles. High intensity strength training for a brief period of time is way better than over stressful training. To move around a lot with a very gentle pace is essence to make one ready for some kind of a high level competition like a marathon. Secondly, one should introduce brief occasions of high intensity maximum effort sprinting and strength training and put this altogether to become complete, totally fit and a healthy athlete i.e. The WHOLESTIC Athlete.

Now a question arises that for how many times these high intensity exercises or workouts should be done? The only simple answer to this question is the longer periods of time dedication to just aerobically paced training as it's not a matter of days. And the other important thing is, it all depends upon the nature of competition for which one is getting ready for. Sometimes it can take one or two years as some people are much damaged by excessive or chronic prolonged tiring workouts so, they'll take longer. Gentle pace aerobic training is a key to getting ready for a big event.

It's also recommended to do periodization in which people take periods of the year and then they focus on aerobically paced training for some defined period of time. And then they throw these periods of intensity where do couple of strength training sessions week and they dramatically tone down the volume of exercise.

Proper endurance athletes spend 15 minutes of every training hour doing flexibility and mobility work like running drills, high knees, butt kicks etc. It seems way better doing slow and steady training than doing practice like keeping a narrow approach in which one just simulate a real race experience and every single time that person has to work out properly which seems to be really exhausting.

Now, the last but not the least thing is, the nutritional needs of an athlete are extreme as compared to general population. So, when taking calories which have got no nutritional values, it's a checkpoint.

• Athletes should never take overly processed foods.
• They should take more quantity of fresh fruits and vegetables.

This diet plan will help them in recovering quickly from the injuries and it'll fuel up their athletic performances as well. Also, processed grains, artificial sugars, sweets and all sort of beverages including refines oils should be eliminated from the diet charts of an athlete.

See Brad's Blog about his training style... http://bradkearns.blogspot.com/2015/09/brads-primal-style-anti-aging-tips.html

Brad's Primal Style Anti-Aging Tips

"Following are details of my personal diet, exercise, and lifestyle habits, and an overview of the principles of the Primal Blueprint and the evolutionary health movement. In 2008, I started working on The Primal Blueprint book and movement with Mark Sisson. I immediately transitioned away from the Standard American Diet (SAD) high in complex carbs to a Primal eating pattern that is comparatively very low carb and high in healthy fats. Emphasis is on natural, wholesome plant and animal foods that fueled human evolution: meat, fish, fowl, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds. Concurrently, I ditched my lifelong emphasis on endurance training to pursue more broad and health-promoting fitness goals.   OVERVIEW of primal lifestyle tips (details follow): 

1. Eat primally: Ditch processed carbs in favor of nutritious primal foods, especially healthy fats.
2. Move around more: Walk places, take frequent breaks, do structured cardio workouts at a comfortable pace of ~75% of max heart rate or less. 
3. Use it or lose it: Include brief, high-intensity strength workouts 2x/week and all-out sprints 1x per 7-10 days. Preserve muscle mass, reduce body fat, and delay aging.
4. Sleep/relax: Align your sleep habits with your circadian rhythm. Dark, mellow evenings; natural, energetic mornings. Alert: minimize digital screen use after dark! Find times during the day&week to relax instead of go go go.

  DIET

1. Ditch grains and sugars: Pro-inflammatory, accelerate aging, promote fat storage. This will minimize insulin production, the #1 health risk of the Standard American Diet. 
2. Ditch vegetable oils and processed boxed/packaged/frozen foods: Pro-inflammatory, causing free radical reactions, accelerated aging, and cancer.
3. Emphasize primal foods: Meat, fish, fowl, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts & seeds. Very low carb (no sugars or grains) and high in healthy fats (by comparison to SAD).
4. Flexible: When you become fat adapted instead of carb dependent, your meal habits can become more sporadic. Intermittent Fasting optimizes fat metabolism, enhances cellular repair, and delays aging. 

  Primal Blueprint philosophy counters the "diet" concept of prescribed meals and regimented schedule. Caloric intake and meal choices can vary wildly each day. Meals are predominantly fat and stimulate minimal insulin response, keeping my energy, blood sugar, and appetite stable all day, even when meals are skipped/missed.   My eating routine: Morning smoothie w/ coconut milk, protein powder, avocado, fresh produce, frozen fruit - macronutrient balanced, high antioxidant. Sometimes a late breakfast of eggs and bacon or just dark chocolate macadamia nut bark busted out around midday. Afternoon or evening large salads with vegetables, meat, nuts and olive oil dressing. General effort to find grassfed or organic animals, wild caught fish, locally grown or organic produce. Total elimination of all grains (wheat, rice, pasta, corn, and all derivatives), sugars/sweets and sweetened beverages. Beverage of choice is water or Kombucha sparkling probiotic drink. Snacks of coconut or macadamia nut butter and dark chocolate.
My macronutrient profile:
~66% fat (grassfed meat/fish/fowl/eggs, coconut products, macadamia nuts&nut butter, olive oil, avocados, dark chocolate)
~20% protein (1g/lb of lean body mass is the goal. Easily accomplished when animal products are emphasized)
~14% carb (under 150 grams/600 calories per day is the critical Primal goal. Easily accomplished when all grains and sugars are eliminated. This amounts to heaping servings of vegetables and moderate intake of fruit, only when in season)   If you wonder if you are eating too many carbs, chart what you eat on a notepad for a day or two, trying to measure or estimate quantities as best you can, then visit fitday.com and input your data. It will generate a nice report with macronutrient and caloric breakdowns.   EXERCISE For the past 10 years, I have modified my fitness regimen away from narrow endurance focus (including the extremely health-destructive chronic cardio training regimen that I followed as an elite competitor for 15 years) to a more balanced regimen featuring comfortable aerobic workouts (i.e., jogging daily with dogs), regular brief, intense strength training sessions , and occasional all-out sprints:   My fitness routine: 1. Daily very comfortable jogging (HR 130 bpm max) of ~:30 min with dogs 2. Brief strength training sessions lasting from 5-20 minutes, 2-3 days/week. Extremely high intensity full-body exercises (Schlepmo type-stuff—go hard or go home!) in gym or outdoors. 3. Occasional all-out sprints (Schlepmo style). ~3x/month and usually just 4 x 100 meters on grass, along with 10 minutes of quite challenging technique drills.   Lifestyle Insufficient sleep ranks right up there with crappy diet as the #1 modern lifestyle health offense. Avoid excess artificial light and digital stimulation in the evenings. Using f.lux (download at stereopsis.com if you insist on working on computer after dark), yellow lens sunglasses, and orange "bug" light bulbs (home depot or lowes). Goal is to create as dark and mellow an environment as possible in the hours leading up to bed. This will trigger Dim Light Melatonin Onset, a genetically programmed response where we become sleepy soon after dark in alignment with our circadian rhythms.    Introducing excess artificial light and digital stimulation after dark suppresses melatonin, elevates stress hormones, increases sugar cravings, and compromises optimal cycling through all phases of sleep. This in turn compromises immune function (healthy intestinal flora flourishes at night, while you sleep; as does cell repair and recovery from stress of daily life). Lights Out - Sleep, Sugar, and Survival, a fantastic book on the subject, recommends we all sleep 9.5 hours per night in the winter, and can get away with 8 hours per night in the summer.   My goal in sharing this information is to garner awe from my fan base as well as inspire and hopefully assist you with achieving personal health and fitness goals. Please contact me if you have any questions or further interest! -by Brad Kearns   

Learn more about Brad Kearns and the Primal Endurance method...

http://bradkearns.com/

https://www.primalblueprint.com/primal-endurance-2/

ancestral health community by way of his award-winning blog, Mark’s Daily Apple.