I came across an excellent and in-depth article exploring the science and reasoning behind the Paleo Diet. Interestingly enough, CrossFit got a mention in the article as well.
Have a look at the original 2-page article, posted this past February in Maclean’s Magazine. Although it’s a lot to browse through, there is valid exploration into several different viewpoints, with some good research thrown in there, to boot.
If you’ve been toying around with the idea of eating Paleo, are currently living the Paleo lifestyle, or are simply wondering what the heck the fuss is all about, this article is a must-read.
Here is an excerpt from the article, entitled “Cavemen Who Walk Among Us”:
We’re used to seeing the potato as a focal point of conflict and discord, the clichéd casualty of the carbohydrate wars. But hoopla over green beans, that healthiest of vegetables? There are lots of reasons why Loren Cordain wouldn’t touch a green bean. If you ask him, he might talk about how legumes can render a healthy gut “leaky.” Or he might rant about their “anti-nutrient” properties. But it would come down to this: green beans weren’t around tens of thousands of years ago, when our prehistoric ancestors ushered in the Paleolithic era with the first tools made of stone. And so we shouldn’t eat them today.
“It’s not rocket science,” Cordain insists. His book, The Paleo Diet: Lose Weight and Get Healthy by Eating the Food You Were Designed to Eat, now a bible to a small but growing subculture, is built around a simple premise: humans evolved over millions of years. Modern agriculture has been around for just 10,000, a blip on the evolutionary timeline. Because of this, humans are healthiest when eating as they did before agriculture came along-in other words, like cavemen.
Today’s Workout:
Buy-in – 3 rounds of: 5 goblet squats, 5 inchworms (straight legs, no pushup), 2 laps sidewalk run (from gym to sidewalk at edge of parking lot and back is one lap).
WOD – Ring of Fire
This is a two-part WOD that consists of a strength and a metcon. Do your best at each component to get the best score!
1. Front Squat – 5 x 5 reps, all 5 sets must be above 70% of your 1RM (if you don’t know your 1RM, ramp up over the sets).
2. Tabata Mashup – rotate through air squats, double unders, and pushups for 4 rounds each. Example – 1 round of each would be: 20 sec squats, 10 sec rest, 20 sec double unders, 10 sec rest, 20 sec pushups, 10 sec rest. Cycle through the exercises three more times to complete the workout. Total reps is your score (total up all completed reps from all exercises)
Add your top weight in the squat to the total reps in the metcon for your overall score.
Cash-out – partner stretches – hamstrings, quads, chest
Wednesday 7:30pm Aug 25th
Skills:
- Glide Swings + kips
- Shoulder Stands +Press to Shoulder stand
- CartWheels
