Kettlebell Training and The Paleo Diet

I’ve been working with some form of a Paleo or Paleolithic diet for over 6 years now. I’ve written a lot about the diet and I’ve even summed up the basics in a Paleo Primer and my Free eBook download. I’ve also been part of the Kettlebell community since 2007 and the CrossFit community since 2008.

As I said in my post “Welcome to My Gym,” I’ve been training a lot more Kettlebells lately – particularly the basics. So, I’ve sort of made my way “back” to the Kettlebell community after spending a ton of time with CrossFitters.

Every Community has Its Own World View and Preferences

I tend to look at the post-internet fitness communities as having a lot more similarities than differences. “Post-internet” being things like Kettlebells, CrossFit, Paleo diet and lifestyle and some of the more progressive martial arts and functional strength groups. CrossFit has done a great job of both uniting a TON of different disciplines and bringing together a bunch of seemingly “unrelated” communities” and – at the very same time – it’s managed to galvanize a certain world view and collection of methods that’s accepting to SOME new input but not to others.

I’ve always been the CrossFit guy with the Kettlebell bias. When I ran my CrossFit affiliate I always had a lot more Kettlebell stuff going on than most others. At the same time, I’m the Kettlebell guy that REALLY likes CrossFit methods and loves to play with the Olympic lifts and crazy-ass Met Con WODs that scare some of my Kettlebell friends. Add to this my LONG history in Martial Arts and traditional weight lifting and things get really eclectic. (I’m actually working on a concept I call Transdisciplinary Fitness. More to come on that…)

The Paleo Diet is THE Diet – End of Story

Bold statement, right? Particularly with all the “this diet vs. that diet” bullshit floating around. It’s out of control actually. My friend Robb Wolf has a book coming out September 2010 called “The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet.” And that pretty much sums it up. The Paleo Diet IS the original human diet – the diet we evolved on over the course of over 2,000,000 years. And, if you want some science to back that up there is more than enough to keep you reading for a long, long time. You can start with Loren Cordain’s Page. Cordain is a researcher at Colorado State University and he’s published a ton in real peer-reviewed scientific journals. In other words – real science.

Science aside, there’s the whole “empirical” thing that CrossFit and Coach Glassman took to an outstanding level. If it works, use it. The Paleo Diet works. It’s worked for me and many, many others.

Kettlebell Training and Paleo Nutrition

I guess the weird thing about being involved in a bunch of different training communities is that you don’t always have a sense of where one ends and the other begins. Ask me about diet and my response is: “Paleo. Duh.” Followed by a few hours of enthusiastic knowledge-spilling.

What I sometimes forget is that:

1. Not everyone has been exposed to and steeped in the Paleo Diet culture
2. If you’re not “in on” the whole Paleo Diet movement, it can look like just another “diet of the week” from the outside – It isn’t

I was finding this more and more with my Kettlebell friends. I’m not sure why, but there hasn’t been a real “unified” nutrition movement within the Kettlebell communities. In a way this is good, because you avoid the freak show that happened between CrossFit and Robb Wolf. On the other hand, it’s bad because Kettlebell enthusiasts are sort of left to fend for themselves in the sea of diet bullshit and information that the rest of the world has to contend with. As athletes, we really don’t have the luxury of stumbling around the diet issue in the dark for years. Too much wasted time and lost progress.

Why is the Paleo Diet a Perfect Fit for Kettlebell Training?

A good Paleo Diet addresses food quality – Food quality is something I think a lot of people are confused on because of all the marketing influences we get exposed to. In particular, the marketing influences we DON’T know about. When I think of the GARBAGE I used to eat and think I was eating healthy… Paleo will steer you AWAY from anything that comes in a package or has a label and TOWARD natural things that have been around for a very, very long time. Some Paleo dieters – like me – will also insist on as much organic food as possible.

The Paleo Diet is an anti-inflammation diet – If you’re training hard, you’re going to be dealing with inflammation. Because it emphasizes foods low in Omega-6 fats and high in Omega-3s, Paleo is an anti-inflammatory diet. AND, Paleo removes two of the WORST offenders when it comes to promoting and prolonging inflammation – grains (particularly wheat) and cow dairy. Add to this a focus on good sources of EPA and DHA from fish oil and you have a home run as far as fighting inflammation! Check out a great article Robb Wolf did on fish oil, EPA, DHA and Vitamins A, D and K. Also, check out this blog post by Mark Sisson on inflammation.

The Paleo Diet is full of good fats and low in bad ones – This kind of goes along with both of the above points. Good fats – Omega 3s – help fight inflammation. Bad fats – Omega 6s – can bring on inflammation and a ton of other health issues. Check out Kurt Harris, MD’s blog for a primer on fats.

The Paleo Diet controls insulin levels – When you drop grains, sugar and processed foods while increasing your intake of vegetables and meat you automatically make a big advance in lowering the amount of insulin you produce in a 24-hour period. This helps burn fat, keeps blood sugar more stable and can have some BIG health benefits later on in life.

The Paleo Diet is high in protein – What can I say. Protein is KING for building muscle. Everyone knows that.

The Paleo Diet incorporates short fasts – Since many people in the Kettlebell community are familiar with Ori Hofmekler’s Warrior Diet, the idea of short fasts won’t be too new. The Paleo Diet looks at intermittent fasting from an evolutionary perspective. And, my personal opinion is that a Warrior-style diet with Paleo foods will work out a lot better – particularly because Paleo excludes beans, legumes and grains.

Where to go from here?

Here are some resources you can check out to see if a Paleo-style diet might work for you:

My Paleo Primer

My Free eBook “Making a Paleolithic Diet Work for You”

Robb Wolf’s site – be sure to check out his AWESOME series of podcasts “The Paleolithic Solution” on the site or iTunes.

Mark Sisson’s Blog – Mark’s Daily Apple

This lecture by Paleo Diet author Loren Cordain

Nikki Young’s interview with me on her blog, Living Paleo

A two part interview I did on the Paleo Diet with the Hartford Examiner

That should be enough to get you “started” 😛

Let me know if you have any questions and be sure to check out – and “like” – my new page on Facebook: Kettlebells + Paleo

ttys

Adam

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