How else did humans hunt thousands of years ago?
Well, I’ll tell you, it’s called persistant running. The human body, the most amazing and intricate machine in “the known universe”,was designed to run long distances!
Don’t believe me? Consider this, the way we sweat is perfectly designed to chase animals down over long distances. See animals that pant, can’t cool down if they are galloping. So they have to stop to cool down, and then POW, slow and steady wins the race (the turtle was onto something). As you know, we sweat to cool down, and can do this while moving. Now, think about a dog running, they are way faster than us over short distances, but when you take them out on a walk, they are pooped and then lie on the bed panting for like an hour in an effort to cool down.
Long slow boring running is how we’re designed. (I’m not saying that this is the best way to change your body either). There are some tribes that still live this lifestyle, the way of our ancestors… Just running and hunting their food for miles, and just waiting for that deer to overheat and rest. Some tribes in Mexico can even run distances of 435 miles in 48 hours. (That’s 17 marathons in a row!)
Why?
Because of their lifestyle, they still continue what we used to and were born to do.
Why aren’t the rest of us doing this?
Well we don’t need to for one. We seemingly have devolved out of necessity. We don’t need to hunt for food in the bush when we live in a concrete jungle and can swipe for gripe.
With abundant food resources and meat packaged nicely in our local supermarkets, it’s clear how and why we have drifted from our roots. We as a North American society have just deconditioned ourselves to a point that we have issues living up to our own physical capabilities.
If a shoeless remote tribe can do it, so can you! So next time you are running for 5-10-15 minutes just think, you are human (genus: homo species: sapien) and you were born to run!
Born to run bonus fact: When we run in shoes there is more impact on our body. The support in our shoes allows our muscles to not work the way they are supposed to work. So if you wear arched shoes when training, I would consider getting rid of them and try something like these
Vibram fingers- crazy I know. But so would the idea, of internet on phones 15 years ago.
Get out there and live up to your potential,
Josh Saunders
The Bootcamp Effect, Langley’s premier boot camp
