Fitness for the Carnivore

First and foremost, physical fitness is a vital component of health that is often overlooked or even dismissed by some self-appointed nutrition gurus. Its importance must be considered, and indeed, health seekers would do well to establish some sort of a sport or exercise program in their lives, if and when they are able.

Throughout our evolutionary history as a species, we humans engaged in hunting big game as nomads. The activity level required for survival in such an environment was quite high on a fairly consistent basis. Grocery stores, environmental controls and transportation were all lacking in the past. Training the body for strength, stamina, speed and agility only brings a higher quality of life to the carnivore. Plus, it is a lot of fun.

Benefits to general exercise indclude increased muscle and bone mass, improved insulin sensitivity, mood, sleep and cognition.

Strength Training

Training for strength has tremendous benefits to quality of life. Using compound joint movements and explosive reps are highly recommended to get you strong. Exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench press and pullups should form the basis of your strength training program. It's never too late to embark on a strength training program. It only takes once or twice a week, making it very convenient to fit into your life.

full squats

This compound movement is the most important weight training exercise for promoting muscle strength, power, and core strength. The squat serves as the basis of a well-rounded weight training program. If you only had time for one exercise during the week, this would be the one to choose.

core training

Lean, defined abs can come without directly working the core muscles, low body fat alone would be enough. Also you can have a strong core and defined abs without working them directly through low body fat and doing other lifting or bodyweight exercises. That said, working the core separately is certainly an option, since to get it really strong, it like any other muscle group requires strength work. Now the core isnt just the superficial rectus abdominis (the 6 pack muslce) thats just one muscle of the core, the core is made up of internal and external obliques, the multifidus, the erector spinae, the qudratus lumborum, and the iliopsoas. The core's primary function is to stabilize the spine, not flex the trunk as most people think.

Steady State Cardio vs. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

HIIT, which is high intensity short interval all out activity followed by a brief rest and then repeated has been shown to increase fat loss, regardless of whether any dietary changes are made. By contrast, chronic enduance training, such as marathon running can make your skeletal muscles age by stressing them continually. Interval training might mean running sprints, practicing martial arts, swimming, you name it.