Yearly Archives: 2014

Episode #18: Examining Performance Enhancing Drugs in Professional Sports with Mark Sisson

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Description: Mark extends the thread from the previous week’s show about human performance by discussing the role of doping in professional and Olympic sports today. Far from a black and white issue, Mark explains that inconsistencies in the testing procedures and random demarcation lines for what constitutes a performance enhancing substance (e.g., Gatorade enhances performance when you are thirsty!). Also discussed is how the public perception that certain athletes cheat to gain an advantage is actually a more complex cultural issue than a true morality weakness. For example, in pro cycling, recent controversies have affirmed that an athlete was virtually compelled to boost blood with doping products to have a chance at being competitive. Furthermore, the highly selective and competitive nature of elite sports compels athletes to search for every possible recovery advantage, including those that cross the line into doping offenses.

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Episode #16: Listener Questions & Answers with Mark Sisson

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Description: Mark tackles an interesting assortment of questions, including some extensive discussion about sprinting. For example, the difference between sprints on foot and stationary bike sprints with respect to work and rest intervals; the importance of sprint workouts with consistent perceived exertion and intuitive alignment with energy and motivation; implementing the Tabata interval method; and how sprinting can turbocharge fat metabolism and promote weight loss breakthroughs better than any other workout, because of its extreme impact on genetic signaling and metabolic function. Mark also provides a helpful overview of resistant starches and how they act in the body; offers tips on how to successfully introduce primal eating to vegetarians; and the considerations when eating CAFO meat if you can’t afford grass-fed.

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Episode #15: Listener Questions & Answers with Mark Sisson

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Description: Mark Sisson starts out tackling a “very interesting question full of nuances” from Karl Bendy (PB Seminar presenter) – about the balance between low-carb, fat adapted living and the need to refuel with acceptable carbohydrates to replenish muscle glycogen when performing high intensity glycolytic exercises. Mark’s detailed take on this oft-pondered continuum is to avoid chronic training patterns first and foremost; evaluate your carb intake decisions based on whether you carry excess body fat; adopt an intuitive approach where your intake might fluctuate based on your workout regimens, and finish workouts refreshed and energized instead of craving sugar intensely. Other questions include how food is treated as information by the genes and hormones; how autophagy (programmed cell death) is enhanced by fasting – promoting optimal health and longevity; and how to optimize the use ketones for fuel by the brain and body. Questioners came from disparate locations as far away as Austria, Hawaii, and Thailand!

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Episode #14: On All Things Sleep with Mark Sisson

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Description: Mark discusses one of the most important – and most neglected – elements of primal living: getting adequate sleep. The discussion covers why we are genetically aligned to sync rest and wake cycles with the rising and setting of the sun, and how our health and energy levels are compromised by high tech modern life hampering the efficient cycling through all phases of sleep. In particular, how hormones like cortisol, melatonin, and serotonin become imbalanced when we introduce artificial light and digital stimulation after dark. Mark describes how to create an optimal sleeping environment (calm, quiet, dark and cool); how to minimize exposure to the blue light spectrum that disturbs melatonin release; how fat reduction goals are compromised by insufficient sleep; how napping can help rebalance your circadian rhythm and refresh brain synapses; how to adjust your sleeping habits based on time of year and your latitude; and how to awaken naturally near sunrise refreshed and energized!

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Episode #13: Developing the Ideal Mindset and Disposition for Peak Performance with Brad Kearns

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Description: Brad’s message emphasizes three themes that counter the narrowly-focused rat race mentality that equates dogged hard work with success without considering the big picture. In the presentation, Brad gives examples from his nine-year career as a professional triathlete (coached by Mark Sisson!), where he learned the lessons of success and failure in an intense and dramatic manner. In the athletic arena, personal frailties and flawed perspectives are exposed for all to see with sub-par performances or difficulty functioning in real life despite material success. Brad explains that to truly experience peak performance, you must:

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Episode #12: Listener Questions & Answers with Mark Sisson

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Description: Join Mark Sisson as he comments extensively on many of the most common challenges and confusions of living Primally. Topics covered include how to drop those final five or ten pounds of excess body fat when you have stalled at a certain level – through dialing in your appetite and sensible, intuitive eating, optimizing your carb intake level through personal experimentation, and adding sprint workouts to aggressively stimulate accelerated fat burning; eating in a compressed time window and how morning coffee intake affects that; experiencing nausea when eating high fat primal foods without anything else; the best way to read at night to not disturb your circadian rhythm. Mark also gives an overview of the forthcoming Primal Blueprint Expert Certification program, soon available online at PrimalBlueprint.com – a great resource for health/fitness professionals or devoted primal enthusiasts to deepen their education on primal principles and motivate others to live primally.

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Episode #11: Listener Questions & Answers with Mark Sisson

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Description: Mark recaps the incredible PrimalCon Vacation Tulum event, which took place March 1st-6th at the Dreams Tulum resort in Mexico. He mentions the many excellent presenters as well as some interesting guests who attended. He then gets into some interesting questions from listeners. Topics covered include: how to stay motivated with diet/health/fitness goals when life throws you some curves; the importance of a sustainable approach as reflected in the Primal Blueprint 80/20 rule; the importance of an intuitive approach to balance workout stress with ample rest, so listeners never do a crazy workout like Mark’s 16 x 800m in 2:24-2:28!; the benefits of standup work environments; carb intake strategies for weight management and adrenal fatigue; where potatoes stand in the Primal camp; and the pros and cons of alcohol consumption.

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Episode #10: On All Things Play with Darryl Edwards

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Description: Darryl Edwards joins host Brad Kearns broadcasting from PrimalCon Vacation Tulum to talk about his favorite subject: Play! Darryl has made a big splash at the last several PrimalCons, taking guests out of their comfort zones to rediscover their playful, childlike spirits. Darryl is the author of Paleo Fitness, and founder of Fitness Explorer Training & Nutrition based in London, England. Darryl discusses how to make your ordinary workouts become more fun and inspiring, not just with practical suggestions but also in the cultivation of a playful attitude.

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Episode #9: Guest Steve Levine Discusses Everyday Primal Blueprint Success Principles

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Description: Steve Levine is an ordinary guy with an extraordinary passion for primal living. A voracious consumer of all available written and audio material in the primal/paleo/ancestral health community, Steve joins the Primal Blueprint podcast to discuss his personal journey and success with transitioning out of the Standard American Diet into a primal lifestyle. Steve, an attorney by trade, has a refreshing and passionate perspective that will be helpful for both newcomers to primal living and reaffirming and enlightening to hard-core primal folks. He has taken a methodical, critical thinking approach to all aspects of the movement to create a personal success formula that he has followed for nearly a decade. Give it a listen and hang on for a fun ride with Primal Blueprint enthusiast Steve Levine!

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