Primal Cardio Exercises

by Monica

The 3 primal cardio exercises you need to burn more fat and calories and improve function. This is so simple you won't believe it.

According to Paul Chek there are 7 primal pattern movements that are essential to our survival including the squat, bend, lunge, push, pull, twist, and gait. Of all these gait, (which includes walking, jogging, and sprinting) is probably the most abused and misused movement pattern of all.

Just think of all the people who spend hours doing mindless jogging on treadmills (that was me once) or people who only walk or run but never explore sprinting or worst think of all those crazy ultra marathoners out there who log thousands of miles every year even though their bodies are ill equipped to handle the pounding because of imbalance they refuse to address (not smart).

Below are 3 simple primal cardio exercises that will help you burn fat and calories while you improve balance coordination and core stability. You only need to work on this for 15 minutes 2-3 times a week. After a circuit workout is ideal.

Primal cardio exercise 1:

Practice the walk jog sprint cycle. Set your Gymboss Interval Timer for 3 rounds of two intervals of 15 seconds and 5 seconds. Push the timer and start walking at a moderate to fast pace. When you hear the 5 second beep start to speed up. When you hear the next 15 second beep start jogging and then when you hear the next 5 second beep start speeding up. when you hear the last 15 second beep sprint until you hear the last 5 second beep and then slow down and recover for 1 minute. Repeat this 15 times.


Primal cardio exercise 2:

Practice sprinting on sand or grass. Set your gymboss for 10 rounds of two intervals of 30 seconds and 90 seconds. Push the timer and sprint your first 30 seconds as fast as you can then walk back to where you started to recover and repeat this 10 times. Watch the video below by Mark Sisson author of The Primal Blueprint: Reprogram your genes for effortless weight loss, vibrant health, and boundless energy to learn how. We don't have a beach here in the desert but we have plenty of dry creek beds full of sand that feel just like sprinting on sand. I'm sure you can find something near your home that works too.



Primal cardio exercise 3:

Practice playing in a more natural environment for 15-30 minutes. No timers, no rounds, no instructions just walking, sprinting, climbing, jumping, hopping, etc. Watch the video below to see how. If you've never done this before you will be amazed at how much fun this is and how much fat you can burn. This was my preferred method of cardio for years and I'm going back to it this week.



Got your own primal cardio workout? Please feel free to share it below.