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have you adopted the Primal Blueprint for your workouts either all or in part? If so how is it going?

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/definitive-guide-primal-blueprint/#axzz1nWOv0A6G

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-workout-plan-basics/#axzz1nWOv0A6G

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I use a combination of Primal Blueprint and ideas found on sites like WildMovement.com

For me it is going pretty well. I'm in grad school in New York, so I walk every day, some days quite a bit. Some days I need to lug a lot of books. I only go to the gym once or twice a week typically, to get on a rowing machine.

In short, it works for me, especially so that I don't need to really focus on "getting to the gym" or "working out". I just do what works, following the basic guidelines. That said, I think incorporating more regular body weight exercises would be good for me. I don't do it often enough. Weeks I do those consistently I notice more progress.

Exercise shouldn't dominate my life. I just focus on living and being healthy. In the words of Ayn Rand, "rejoice in the strength of one's own body".

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Very cool. Thanks Caleb!!! – Eric Feb 26 2012 at 20:44
no problem. I'm glad you started this thread. – Caleb the Hobbit Feb 26 2012 at 20:46
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I did his for a while, but it just became so much more of an endurance session than strength session. I still do some body weight stuff, but would recommend a weight vest if you really want to get more out of it. I've modified to make the movements harder, but at some point it just becomes a technical skill more than an actual strength gain.

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Thanks JayJay!!! – Eric Feb 26 2012 at 21:01
JayJay, have you heard of hillfit.com? You might like what you find in his ebook. – Caleb the Hobbit Feb 26 2012 at 22:06
I have heard of it...I have the book Congruent Exercise and think I ran across that book in relation. May look into that one. Thanks! – JayJay Feb 26 2012 at 22:31
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FYI Caleb, for now I've adopted the Body By Science approach for strength, which is working out very well. I like the one HIT session a week and interspersing the rest of the week with random body weight ala primal exercise and play. – JayJay Feb 26 2012 at 22:51
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I love the Primal Blueprint fitness plan! Not having to go to a gym is a huge plus. So is being able to fit the workouts into short bursts of time. I'm a Ph.D. student and a single mother of twin 3 year-olds, so any workout you can fit in while watching kids is a huge plus. I'm seeing good gains in my strength and toning. I enjoy my walks more now that I'm not trying to get my heart rate up. I do my sprints in the pool then "play" with the boys for an hour afterward once a week. So far it's really working great for me.

One thing I imagine will make a big difference for you is how fit or strong you are. I don't have to add a weight vest or do a lot of reps. to get to failure. I'm what Rob Wolf calls a healthy beginner--some one who's always been active and toned from swimming, but not someone who's very strong. I think the PB fitness plan is fabulous for people like me, especially since Mark has those great videos where he shows the progression for each body weight exercise. I'm really jazzed that I might be able to do a "real" pull-up for the first time in my life by this summer -- maybe sooner!

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Very Cool! Thanks Heidi! – Eric Feb 27 2012 at 3:27
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I don't follow the specifics of the plan, but I love the framework conceptually. Lots of low and slow, some heavy lifting, and periodic sprinting. I cut back on the BBS (my heavy lifting) after wrecking my back last fall (unrelated to working out). So now, my heavy lifting is a doing styrofoam weight work in the pool and some very minimal bodyweight exercises to strengthen my back.

For my sprinting, I just started experimenting with an HIIT variation on Sprint 8 that Matt Metzgar recently wrote about. I used to do 6x30s in the pool 2x a week; I'm now going to try 3x20s 3x a week. The fitter I get, the more I'll probably adjust, but for now, I'm going to see how this works!

BTW, for me, the low and slow is water walking (aka aqua jogging). It's a little boring to go back and forth for an hour, but I kinda think of it as walking meditation: exercise and stress relief at the same time!

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Thanks for sharing Beth!!! – Eric Feb 27 2012 at 3:28
I'm wondering how you measure 30s or 20s in the pool. Is your pool a 50 meter pool with easy "landmarks" for measuring (my university's pool is like this but I don't use it for my sprints). Or is it a 25 meter pool and you just guess a little more or less on than a length. I use swimming for my sprints -- crawl stroke-- and have just always done one length (25 yards in my current pool) for the distance. Never thought of reducing or adding to the distance a little bit. I just thought I'd add sprints as I got in better shape. – Heidi Feb 27 2012 at 14:19
One of the advantages of water walking is your head is up and out of the water. So I can use the big timer on the wall of the high school pool where I swim. I'll defer to someone with more expertise than I, but I don't think whether it's 20s or 30s makes a big difference ... it's really just doing a sufficient anaerobic hit. Your one lap may be fine for that. – Beth-WeightMaven Feb 27 2012 at 14:39
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I've been in lazy hibernation mode this winter, but I am moving back into my twice weekly PB routine, which I did for over a year, starting at the same time I went Primal. I've been keeping up with the moving slowly, but the sprints and LHT part have been on the backburner.

Love it! Was making steady progress and know that I will back in my groove very quickly.

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Very Cool Dragonfly!!! – Eric Feb 26 2012 at 21:01

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