Primal FAQ
Why do you recommend training barefoot/in thin, flat soled trainers?
What is the Primal Fitness Mission Statement?
What are the Primal Fitness Top 10 Rules of Nutrition?
I’m totally out of shape and have never been to a gym, is Primal Fitness right for me?
I’m a woman, won’t I get big muscles from lifting weights?
I want to build muscle, is Primal Fitness right for me?
I play a lot of sport, do I still need to go to the gym?
Why do you recommend training barefoot/in thin, flat soled trainers?
The soles of your feet contain more nerve endings than anywhere else in your body. These nerves are intended to relay messages to your Central Nervous System to coordinate your movements. When lifting weights, wearing spongy soled gym shoes numbs these messages, thereby decreasing your proprioceptive feedback from the floor which in turn produces inferior movement patterns. In addition to this, much of the force you exert against the floor to lift the weight is dissipated by the sole which causes a loss of performance.
When you run, the shoes are intended to absorb the impact from a heel strike. Human beings are not intended to run with a heel strike however, so running in cushioned shoes actually causes you more joint damage. A better option is to run in a more ergonomic manner such as with the pose technique thus using your body's natural bio-mechanics to absorb the impact.
Shoes can be useful, they keep your feet warm, dry and protect from sharp objects, but they can also lead do decreased ankle mobility, increased incidence of ankle sprain and knock on postural problems up the body.
Aim to go barefoot whenever possible, and wear the thinnest, flattest soled shoes wherever possible.
Keep those stilettos to special occasions Fernando!
[ top ]What is the Primal Fitness Mission Statement?
The following are the 5 E's of Primal Fitness:
Enjoyable:
All our workouts are designed to be challenging but fun. With a carefully designed mix of structure and variety, we keep you progressing, but stop you from ever being bored.
Effective:
We only do that which works. We don't offer gimmicks or quick fixes. Our workouts are all based around "functional movements". Picking things up, carrying them, dragging, pushing, pulling, climbing, jumping, throwing, etc, all movements the human body is meant to do. The workouts will not be easy, but they will give you real world strength and fitness.
Economical:
At Primal Fitness we strive to deliver top class fitness coaching at a reasonable cost all can afford. Our classes are kept small so that you get all the benefits of personal training without the cost.
Ethical:
At Primal Fitness treat all our members and staff fairly with the respect that they deserve.
We do not tie our members into contracts or charge fees for anything other than the time you spend at the gym.
Environment:
Primal Fitness is Carbon Neutral - We waste no electricity on ineffective fitness equipment, heating or air conditioning.
Primal Fitness is committed to reducing, re-using and recycling.
Primal Fitness encourages its members to walk, cycle or use public transport to get to the gym, and allows cyclists to safely store their bikes inside the premises.
[ top ]What is Primal Fitness?
Primal Fitness is the antidote to modern life.
We are living in what has been termed an "obesogenic environment".
For every conceivable physical task, modern technology has provided some form of labour saving device: cars, escalators, washing machines, electric tin openers, to name but a few. All are designed to make our lives easier. Physical activity has been reduced to moving from the house to the car, the car to the office, then back again, perhaps pushing a few buttons along the way.
In addition to removing physical activity from our lives, modern technology has tampered with our food, to the extent that it no longer bears any resemblance to that of our ancestors. Processing and preservation techniques have removed all the vitamins, minerals and fibre from our food leaving us with calorie dense, nutritionally sparse, chemically laden meals.
The combination of these two factors has resulted in a society of individuals that are suffering both physically and mentally. Obesity, heart disease, diabetes, depression and back pain are just a few of the symptoms of modern living. Primal Fitness aims to combat this situation through the use of Functional Exer cise and the eating of Real Food.
Functional Exercise involves training movements rather than individual muscles. In a Primal Fitness workout you will Run, Jump, Carry, Push, Pull, Bend, Twist and Throw. You will not do bicep curls or ab crunches. By performing Functional Exercises you will not only look good, but you will gain real world strength and fitness that will carry over into everyday tasks and sporting endeavours.
You will train with Kettlebells, Gymnastic Rings, Barrels, Tyres, Ropes and many other unusual training tools. This is not a gimmick, but to ensure that as well as having strong legs, arms and back you develop a grip of steel, excellent hand-eye co-ordination, balance, flexibility and explosive power.
Real Food is that which is as natural and unmodified as possible. Organic Free Range Meat and eggs, Wild Fish and Seafood, and Fresh Fruit and Vegetables should form the basis of a healthy diet. These are the foods that Homo sapiens have evolved to eat. By sticking predominantly to these foods you will have a diet rich in protein, healthy low GI carbohydrates, essential Omega oils, vitamins, minerals and fibre, and just enough calories to sustain an active lifestyle without unwanted weight gain.
By following the Primal Fitness training and nutrition philosophy you will not only look great, but will become fitter, stronger, faster, agile, flexible, and more co-ordinated.
[ top ]What are the Primal Fitness Top 10 Rules of Nutrition?
1) Eat when you are hungry, stop when you are full.
When supplied with the foods it is meant to consume, the body is high efficient at regulating appetite.
2) Eat meat, fish, or eggs at every meal.
Where possible choose free range/organic/wild. Frozen fish is often much better value than fresh and just as nutritious. If limited by time or budget, a high quality whey protein supplement can be substituted for 1 or 2 meals per day.
3) Eat a dark green vegetable with every meal.
Spinach, Kale, Broccoli, Cabbage etc are all packed with essential vitamins and minerals.
4) Eat plenty of multi-coloured fibrous fruits and veg.
All types of Berries, Tomatoes, Carrots, etc – Red, Yellow, Blue and Purple colours all indicate high concentrations of anti-oxidants.
5) Remember Fat does not make you Fat – Most fats are very good for you!
The fats in good quality meat, fish and eggs are great for your health. In addition to these include some more healthy fats by cooking with olive oil or coconut oil, dressing salads with extra virgin olive oil and walnut oils and eating nuts such as walnuts, almonds, cashews and macadamias.
6) Avoid starchy and sugary foods.
Foods such as bread, pasta, potatoes, cakes, biscuits, breakfast cereals and pastries are devoid of any nutritional value, and cause an overproduction of insulin. Excessive insulin causes fat gain, and chronically elevated levels lead to diabetes, heart disease and promote the growth of cancer cells. Limit starchy and sugary foods to one or two cheat days per week.
7) Avoid vegetable oils - especially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
Hydrogenated vegetable oils are chemically manufactured and wreak havoc with your health. Avoid them at all costs, even on cheat days. Normal vegetable oils are not much better – Avoid any products with vegetable oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil or canola/rapeseed oil.
8) Avoid manufactured/pre-packaged foods.
If it comes in a box or a packet, chances are its not real food. Most manufactured foods are a combination of wheat flour, sugar and vegetable oil/hydrogenated vegetable oil – All the things that are bad for you. The occasional product may be ok, but be sure to scrutinise the label as food manufactures can be crafty, and often supposed “health foods” are the worst of the bunch!
9) Only drink calorie free drinks. Drink plenty of water, and keep any other drinks calorie free. Green tea, black tea and coffee and herbal teas are all great.
Avoid fizzy drinks altogether, even on cheat days. The sugar free ones are possibly even worse than the normal ones!
Use sports drinks only during competition, never during training.
10) Keep a food diary.
If you are trying to make significant changes to your diet, keep a food diary. Whether you want to loose fat, build muscle or improve performance, diet is critical to your success. Write down everything you eat, as you eat it, no matter how insignificant it seems.
[ top ]What are Kettlebells?
The Kettlebell or Gyra is a traditional Russian training tool that resembles a cannon ball with a handle. Kettlebells have been used in Russia for hundreds of years, with Kettlebell lifting being one of Russia's national sports.
The use of Kettlebells in the West was popularised by the legendary strength and conditioning coach Pavel Tsatsouline, a Russian Master of Sports and fitness trainer to champion athletes and the Russian Special Forces.
Kettlebells are famed for their grip enhancing effects, but this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to their benefits. The traditional kettlebell lifts are all based around functional, athletic movements and are performed standing or moving. During a kettlebell workout you will be constantly squatting, deadlifting, swinging and snatching the kettlebell while passing it from hand to hand. All of these movements improve strength, work capacity, hand-eye coordination and balance.
The core kettlebell movements all strengthen the posterior chain (the hamstrings, glutes and lower back). A strong posterior chain is crucial for both athletic performance (sprinting, jumping, pushing and lifting are all dependent upon the posterior chain) and also for health - Most back and joint problems stem from a weak posterior chain stemming from sitting at a desk all day.
The Kettlebell versions of the Olympic lifts (the clean and jerk and the snatch) are much easier to learn and master than their barbell counterparts. This means you can start to get the benefits of explosive power development in the hips much faster than with barbell training alone. For those training for health rather than athletics, training explosively leads to a boosted metabolism - Increased fat loss from shorter, more intense workouts.
Finally, the kettlebell is such a versatile training tool you will never get bored. In addition to every exercise you can do with a dumbbell, kettlebells can be swung, juggled and thrown, and used for Turkish get-ups, windmills and bear walks. The exercises can be put together in endless combinations using one or two kettlebells of varying sizes, and mixed in with bodyweight exercises and other equipment. Never suffer the indignation, boredom and ineffectiveness of trudging away on a cross-trainer again!
[ top ]I’m totally out of shape and have never been to a gym, is Primal Fitness right for me?
Yes.
All Primal Fitness workouts and exercises are designed to be infinitely scalable to the needs and abilities of the individual.
For example, the swing is one of the core exercises of kettlebell training. It is a full body exercise that will strengthen the posterior chain (lower back, glutes and thighs).
The swing is great for athletes as it will improve their performance, but also for the average person that sits at a desk all day as it will help burn fat, improve their posture, and reduce risk of back problems.
In a Primal Fitness workout, both an athlete and a beginner would perform kettlebell swings, but they would use different sizes of kettlebell, and perform different numbers of swings with different rest periods in between. For example, a workout might call for 21 kettlebell swings as part of a circuit. The athlete might perform all 21 swings in one go with a 32kg kettlebell, a beginner on the other hand might perform 3 sets of 7 with 30 seconds of rest in between using an 8kg kettlebell.
By scaling workouts in this way we ensure that everyone gets maximum benefit from their training – No one is pushed beyond their capabilities, but no one finds the workouts too easy either.
Male/Female, Old/Young, Experienced/Beginner – All can workout together, support, inspire and encourage one another. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you’ll progress from 3x7 swings with 8kg, to 11 + 10 swings with 16kg and ultimately to 21 swings with 24 or 32kg!
[ top ]I’m a woman, won’t I get big muscles from lifting weights?
No.
Body building is a strange and complex science. Body builders must do large volumes of training, with very specific rep and set schemes and rest periods.
Rather than using really heavy weights, body builders gain more size from using higher reps and more sets – The aim is to get the body to produce more of the anabolic hormones such as Testosterone and human growth hormone.
In addition to precision training, body builders must eat vast amounts of food, consuming food every couple of hours to get the 4000+ calories per day they need to sustain their muscle.
The ability of an individual to gain muscle is largely genetic – While all men can build muscle, for some it will take much longer and they will never reach the proportions of a pro bodybuilder.
For women things are even harder – Because women’s testosterone levels are much lower, their capacity for hypertrophy (muscle building) is much less. If you actually look at most women bodybuilders closely, they actually appear to have bigger muscles than they really do because their body fat is so low. Those that really do have huge muscles have had some chemical assistance!
The fact that women don’t tend to build muscle doesn’t mean that women can’t get stronger. On the contrary, women can see tremendous gains in strength through weight training. The fact that they don’t tend to increase in muscle size simply means that their relative strength becomes greater than that of men.
For example, Xiexia Chen took Gold for China at the 2008 Olympics in the Women’s 48kg category, by lifting a combined weight of 212kg in the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk. Matthias Steiner took Gold for Germany in the Men’s >145kg category, with a combined total of 461kg. Although it is true that the male athlete lifted just over twice the weight that the female athlete did, consider the fact that his body weight is just over three times that of Chen’s! If you were to scale both the athletes to 100kg, their totals would be 442kg and 317kg respectively, in other words Chen would have kicked Steiner’s butt. (NB Before you can say “but Chen is rather bulky” bear in mind she can lift the equivalent of an 18 stone man over her head, this is considerably more than I would be recommending to the average woman!).
[ top ]I want to build muscle, is Primal Fitness right for me?
The main focus of Primal Fitness is Performance and Health, having said this, if your goal is to build size we certainly have the equipment, knowledge and expertise to help you do this.
Not only can we help you pack on large amounts of muscle, however, we will also keep you healthy. Many people still follow outdated body building routines comprised of isolation exercises and focused purely on "mirror muscles". Come to Primal Fitness and we will not only get you big and strong, but we will ensure you are free from pain and muscle imbalances that plague many body builders that train hard, but not smart.
[ top ]I play a lot of sport, do I still need to go to the gym?
Playing a sport is a fantastic way to stay fir and healthy, here at Primal Fitness we recommend everyone take up some form of sport or active pursuit.
If you are serious about your sport and want to excel, however, then you need to seriously consider doing some supplemental training to enhance your performance.
At Primal Fitness we have all the necessary knowledge, expertise and equipment to increase your power, strength, endurance, agility, balance, coordination, accuracy, core stability and grip.
As well as improving your performance, we can also reduce your risk of injury - Increase the stability of joints to minimise risks of sprains, ACL and Hamstring tears etc, and iron out muscle imbalances/postural problems brought about by repetitive movements/odd positions required by your sport.
Come in and speak to Simon to find out how we can help you stay on top of your game and free from pain.
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