Paleo Diet for Beginners

The paleo diet is, in essence, the diet that hominids, going all the way back to Australopithecus Afarensis, have evolved to eat.  That's a period stretching back to around 4 million years ago.  These beings are our great, great, great, great, great... grandparents and the foods they ate allowed us to evolve as a species and, especially, increase the size of our brains.  This led to higher level thinking and planning and, well, the rest is history.  Our ancestors were not farmers but hunter-gatherers, which meant their food could normally run/swim/fly away from them.  They were able to walk huge distances every day in search of food.  They sprinted, jumped, carried heavy objects (like wildebeest, which weighed up to 600lbs), climbed and swam.  This wasn't just the men either, but the women in numerous tribes also hunted and had to be as physically fit as the men.

Wow, I hear you say, they must've had a great supplement range or heaps of carbs like today's elite athletes to do all that every day!

I hate to disappoint you but, no.  Our ancestors ate a huge variety of foods depending on their location and what was available but it can be basically summarized in a few words.

They ate:  Lean meat, seafood, nuts, berries, fats, vegetables, fruits... and that's about it.

Lean meat:  This includes anything with a face that could run or fly away from you.  Why lean meats?  The meat we get today is vastly different to the meat that was hunted 100,000 years ago.  That meat was free to wander around, ate nothing but what it was meant to eat and wasn't pumped full of chemicals to make it grow faster.  The closest thing to that sort of meat is Kangaroo or other game meats.

Seafood:  We're beginning to see the importance of seafood in our diet again.  The fatty acids (FA's) found in seafood are essential FA's, which means that our body can't produce them.  Without them, your body doesn't work properly, you feel crap, you then eat crap and end up as a contestant on the fattest loser.  They make you feel good, both physically and mentally, as they are essential for brain growth and development as well as a whole range of physiological processes.

Nuts:  Tree nuts.  This doesn't include peanuts as they are a legume grown on a vine and hence have no place in the paleo diet or for proper health.  tree nuts are ones that could be gathered, shelled and eaten without the need to cooking or fermenting, like legumes.

Berries:  In short, berries are awesome!  They are powerhouses of nutritional value and contain less fructose (a type of sugar) than normal fruit.  They are also seasonal and so weren't eaten all that often.

Fats:  The taboo topic.  Our ancestors ate different sorts of fats.  They ate nuts, oily fish and seafood and animal fat, like organ and marrow fats.  Animal fat in particular is a hugely rich source of nutrients like vitamins A, D, E, and K (fat soluble so they're not found elsewhere).  This was an important part of our ancestors diet as it gave them the energy they needed to chase down or gather the next day's meal.  Saturated fat, that has been successfully daemonised by our 'public health' advocates is not bad for you, eat away.

Vegetables:  Remember the green leafy things that grow in the ground?  Lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus just to name a few.  There is evidence that our ancestors ate some roots and tubers like carrots and sweet potatoes (not normal potatoes) when they were able but this wasn't an everyday thing.

Fruits:  Fruits are a seasonal plant and so weren't eaten all the time.  When they were it was in small quantities as the fruit we get now is vastly different to the fruit from 100,000 years ago.  Again this is to be used sparingly.

And that about covers it.  They ate real foods, unprocessed and as fresh as you can get.  These are the foods that are good for you and are the reason we are here today.

If you'd like any more information, don't forget about our nutritional counselling.  If you really want to geek out on this stuff we can certainly do that too!

Trigger Points

Trigger points occur when paired muscles become hypersensitive and irritated and form a 'knot' in a tight band of muscle. There are approximately 200 paired muscles that can form trigger points, the trapezius of the upper back being a common example. These muscles form a tight rope like structure, ofter very painful and tender to touch and can cause referred pain in neighbouring areas.

Another example of a trigger point is the gluteus minimus of the hip girdle which can cause shooting pain down the leg to the ankle. This can be mistaken for sciatic nerve pain. As a lot of trigger points have referred pain a long distance from the actual trigger point they are often mis-diagnosed as local irritation or nerve compression syndromes, such as sciatica, carpel tunnel and pinched spinal nerves. Headaches, neck and upper back pain and plantar fasciitis are other common examples of discomfort that can be caused by untreated trigger points.

What causes trigger points? A number of factors can all contribute to the formation of a trigger point. Acute actions such as a muscle strain, or whiplash can cause a trigger point by causing the muscles to tighten and spasm. Chronic overload of the posture muscles used to maintain incorrect posture during work or sleep can also cause trigger points, as can low impact repetitive muscle movements over a sustained period. Muscular imbalances caused by this incorrect posture or incorrect sequence of muscle contraction is also a major factor in the formation of trigger points.

So what can be done to avoid these trigger points? Self myofascial release is the easiest (albeit very painful) way to relieve the effects of trigger points. The muscle fibres must be broken apart and allowed to glide over one another to be able to move correctly. This can be done with a foam roller, massage or small hard balls to increase pressure and blood flow to the area. That's all well and good but where are the trigger points? As part of our new restoration sessions we'll show you the most effective trigger points to relieve the most common pain from trigger points and explain exactly how this trigger point will impact you if it flares up again.

Call or email now to book a session with Alex and get you on the road to recovery.

Restoration Sessions are now available!

Do you have a tight lower back?

Sore knees or shoulders?

Just want to improve your squat?

Chances are that you have some mobility and muscular imbalance issues that are killing your potential.

Shire Strength and Conditioning are now offering Restoration Sessions to compliment your training and keep you injury free. We can work on specific areas or your whole body using a combination of trigger point, massage and band therapy to get you moving well and feeling great.

Single sessions are $40 for 30 mins, or buy 4 and get the 5th session free, we'll even throw in a foam roller.

Call or email now to book your sessions with Alex

Don't forget about our nutritional counselling as well.

Restoration Classes coming soon!

How many of you have been at the peak of your training only have a niggly injury stop you from doing some of the most basic exercises? I certainly have. Going too hard too early or going too long without a break can do some serious damage to your body that will build up over time and stop you doing the things you love.

Training hard and eating well are only part of the equation. If your body can only take so much before it will start to break down. That annoying pain in the shoulder or lower back are a sign that your body either needs to take a break or get some maintenance, quick!

The restoration classes I will be offering will only take 30 mins of your time and take methods from massage, trigger point and band therapy to keep your body in top notch condition all the time.

There will be more information coming in the next couple of days.

I also offer nutrition information. 2 x 30-40 min sessions over 2 weeks for $80 to take your diet to the next level. For the Crossfitter's out there, the sectionals are coming up and this is the perfect time to dial in your diet.

Injury and recovery

I found out on Monday the other problem with taking a break from training and trying to go back into a max effort day, injury. Whilst attempting my CFT I pulled my TFL and hamstring. I didn't notice it at the time but tuesday it was killing me!

I have found the value of trigger point therapy for injury recovery as well. TP is fantastic at keeping your body working properly but for injury recovery it has helped beyond my expectation, it hurt like hell but 3 days later my hip is almost fully recovered.

Workout:

3 x 15 hip ext

3 x 15 abmat situps

3 x 6 weighted pullups

5 x 2 power cleans @ 75% of 1 RM

Ok, it's been a while since I've been on, exams, holidays and more holidays will do that to you.

It was my first day back at the gym today after around 3 weeks of inconsistant training (if you can call it that) and a lot of food during the festive season and on holidays around NZ. At the end of last year I needed a break, I was tired and run down and it was fantastic to get away from the gym for a while. Today showed me however, what happens after 3 weeks off. You lose your edge.

The end of last year bought great strength gains for me and I thought that after a bit of a refresher I would still be back where I was. This was not to be however. Imagine my disgust when I lost 20kg off my squat and 30 off my deadlift. My press stayed the same though (?). This was the first of my test days before I start another strength cycle and I was not impressed. On Wed I'm testing front squat, bench press and sumo deadlift and friday will be snatch and clean and jerk. It will be interesting to see what those numbers are.

Workout:

"Crossfit total"

3 attempts at each lift to find you 1 rep max

Back squat, strict press, deadlift

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