Saturday, April 3, 2010

UGH! GUH!..."Primal Is Good"...

I say as I beat my chest in triumph! KIDDING...but seriously tho, I am loving this so much. The idea that I can DO real hard work instead of a typical 'workout' of some type is awesome. Sure I knew it was beneficial before, but now, I'm thinking more in terms of what actual 'benefit' I am getting, and that's largely due to the Primal Blueprint, by Mark Sisson which has inspired many other blogs especially one of my favorites run by my friend Jeff, called Primal Chat.
I love the whole back to basics premise of the Primal life...I believe in the evolution of man, in the sense of how much we have progressed as people, or evolved, and also in the 'devolution' of man, from how far we've fallen with regards to health and fitness. I totally agree with the logic of everything I've read thus far. It just makes plain sense. Logical!

What it's done for me, is it's made me more aware of my movements, of being purposeful with everything I do. The awareness is freeing. Yes, I have weight to lose, but right now I am actually enjoying myself. I can almost not believe it. It's such a far departure from last year, you have no idea. Today, I split wood. At first it was laughable. Seriously. I actually laughed at myself. It was soooo funny. I raised that ax and well, missed the wood. Then I nicked the wood. Pathetic. You know what it was? Fear. I have power, I am powerful and I was afraid of that power, of using my abilities, and also of looking stupid. Well, stupid looking I was. But I laughed at it, and then because I'm a competitive person, I had a challenge now before me. I was going to split that wood or die trying...not literally, since I was holding an ax, and as much as that was a real possibility if I didn't trust my power, I obviously mean I wasn't giving up. And I didn't. You know what? I got into the swing of things, and I split that wood. I got a real good rhythm going. I got a good swing. I used my power. At first I realised that I was holding my breath when the ax met the wood. And then it dawned on me...in working out, when you're strength training, you exhale on the exertion. So, as the ax met the wood, I exhaled, and I had more power. Now instead of taking a few whacks at one piece of wood, I was able to split the wood in one swing. Of course some wood pieces are spongey and require more attempts. But for the most part, this primal girl killed that wood. And I couldn't feel more proud. I even got a little foot trick going...kind of like hackey sack. Once the wood was split, I held it with one hand, tipped it up, put my foot under it, and tossed it with my foot to the pile. I am woman, baby, hear my primal roar!

AAAAAND...The Primal Blueprint talks about playing....I bounced on the trampoline today...even doing a couple flips (for which I was rewarded by giving myself rug burn on my elbows) It was so much fun. Ha!

I might pay for it tomorrow, my body might be sore, but I tell you, I had a great day today. And I felt so...back to nature, back to basics, simple enjoyment. Even the breeze gave me a thrill.

One happy girl tonight.
:o)

3 comments:

Jeff Pickett said...

I love the "natural" feel you expressed. There are ways to work out all around us and it doesn't always involve a trip to the gym or smacking in a DVD. "Workouts" can be fun - as in jumping on a trampoline in amongst heavy lifting or sprinting. If you want to see some beautiful "workouts" search for Erwan LeCorre or MovNat on YouTube. He's got some cool "workouts" that show the natural movements we've forgotten we can do.

Keep swinging that axe!

Pitbull said...

You are amazing! Good for you! I know how hard that work is! When I lived in B.C., we did that every Sunday (during spring, summer, and fall),! It sure is a great workout,, but you feel great doing it too! After that we would go target shooting...just for fun! When I lived there...I truly was "primal" without knowing it! I'm so proud of you! Keep it up baby...keep it up!!

Pam90X said...

Wow...you truly amaze me!!! I think I need to read this primal thing :) Keep it going!