Mark Sisson's Blog

Getting enough protein is imperative. Protein is also the most satiating macronutrient, and some people struggle to hit their daily targets. Ask anyone on a GLP-1 drug.

Intermittent fasting is beneficial and for many people, myself included, it’s the most natural eating pattern. But a compressed eating window adds another layer of complexity when you’re trying to get 100 or more grams of protein a day. Not everyone wants to eat 40-50 grams of protein in a single meal.

If you have a hard time doing both, which wins? Is it better to eat slightly less protein or expand your eating window, giving up some of the benefits of intermittent fasting?

Mark’s Daily Apple is back!

If you’re new here, a little backstory is probably in order: I started the Mark’s Daily Apple blog way back in 2006 as a way of sharing the information I was learning and synthesizing as a part of my personal health transformation. That whole story is here if you’re interested.

For many years, I wrote just about every day on anything and everything related to how to be a healthy, happy, productive, fulfilled, and long-lived human. Along the way, I wrote books, developed digital programs, started an institute to train health coaches, and founded a company dedicated to making the best sauces, condiments, and pantry staples with the real ingredients I believed in.

At the end of 2023, we took down the Mark’s Daily Apple blog. The idea was to do some updates behind the scenes and get it back online in a matter of weeks. What’s that saying about the best laid plans? Yeah, ours went awry.

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But now we’re back with a new home on Substack. MDA will live on as an archive of the two decades of work we did at Mark’s Daily Apple and as a place to post some new content as well. For long-time members of the Mark’s Daily Apple community, this is a day we’ve all been waiting for and a cause for celebration.

I’m sure you also have some questions, which I’ll do my best to answer below. This has been a long time coming. I hope you’re as pleased as I am to see MDA revived.

Now on to your questions.

Where has MDA been?

The short answer is that after we took the blog down, we discovered that it wasn’t feasible to simply restore the blog on the scaffolding we’d built previously. A 20-year-old blog is downright elderly in technology years, not to mention that blogging as a creative and educational outlet changed dramatically during that time.

Given that, we started looking at alternatives from rebuilding from scratch to relaunching on a different platform. Each plan had pros and cons, but we are very happy where we landed here on Substack. This allows us to restore the archives and, hopefully, to also reach new people who can benefit from learning about all things Primal.

Where’s my favorite post on ______?

As I said, we thought a lot about the best way to bring MDA back online. Ultimately we decided to start with the core content and most popular and most recent posts, then work back through the archives.

Fun fact: MDA comprises more than 6,000 posts and pages all told, and we are reviewing every one.

Check the Archive tab and use the search function to see everything that’s here. If there’s a particular post you’d like to see republished, you can let me know here. My team and I will do our best to restore the most requested posts in a timely manner.

Are the recipes coming back?

Yes, just like the posts, we will be rolling (at least some of) them back out. You can request your favorites at that same link.

Am I going to have to pay for MDA now that it’s on Substack?

No! MDA is going to stay free and accessible to everyone as always.

Are you going to keep writing? Will we be getting new posts?

I definitely still have a lot of thoughts to share — whether that’s here, on my social media, or via newsletter — so make sure you’re subscribed.

I still send my (mostly) weekly Sunday with Sisson emails with my observations and musings, reactions to recent scientific studies, and the like. That’s a great way to stay up-to-date in addition to reading here. Join the list here.

Let me reiterate my thanks for your patience as we figured this all out. I hope this is the beginning of a great new chapter for Mark’s Daily Apple.

And now an ask: I need your help getting the word out.

Follow Mark’s Daily Apple on Instagram or Facebook and share our posts so people know where to find us on our new home here on Substack.

Subscribe and comment on the posts.

Share them on Notes.

And join the newsletter list to become and MDA insider stay up on all things Primal.

Thanks, everyone. Glad to be back.

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NEW TO MARK’S DAILY APPLE? NEED A REFRESH ON THE KEY PRINCIPLES OF PRIMAL LIVING? START HERE.

Definitive Guide: The Primal Blueprint

What Is a Primal Diet?

How to Move and Get Fit the Primal Way

How to Embody a Primal Lifestyle

Thank you for reading!

Mark’s Daily Apple is still under construction. My team and I are actively working to repost the archives. Check back regularly to find posts that are new to you and revisit old favorites. Looking for a specific post? Let us know here.

You can help more people find us by spreading the word:

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* This blog reflects my personal views and opinions and isn’t intended as medical advice, but I hope it will be informative and inspiring as you pursue a healthy, fulfilling life.

Build the Healthiest Possible Body with the Primal Blueprint

I get emails every day from people who are changing their lives for the better by following the guidelines I outline on Mark’s Daily Apple. Many are looking for more of what the Primal Blueprint has to offer. That is to say, they want a comprehensive breakdown of the elements that make up the Blueprint—a Primal primer, if you will.

In this extended article, you will find the basic building blocks needed to discover the Primal side of your life.

What does this mean?

It means learning and understanding what it means to be human.

It means using this knowledge to help you make important lifestyle choices.

It means modeling your life after your ancestors in order to promote optimal health and wellness.

And, most importantly, it means taking control of your body and mind.

It is my hope that you will use this information as a jumping-off point to build the healthiest possible body with the Primal Blueprint. Then share it with friends and loved ones who have yet to discover how they can use the Primal Blueprint to live awesome.

What Is the Primal Blueprint?

My basic premise is this:

The Primal Blueprint is a set of simple instructions that allows you to control how your genes express themselves in order to build the strongest, healthiest body possible, taking clues from evolutionary biology.

Sometimes we get so lost in the science of human biology that we just can’t see the forest for the trees. We overlook the simplicity and ease with which we could all be achieving exceptional health and fitness.

Living in modern society is extremely complex. With daily mind-boggling achievements in science, technology, and medicine, it’s no wonder that we often look for complicated scientific solutions to problems that really only require simple answers.

Of course, we should all be profoundly grateful for the advances that allow us to recover and heal from treatable infectious disease and trauma. Yet the fact remains that most of life is really much simpler than modern medicine and science would like to have you believe.

You can have a tremendous impact on how your genes express themselves simply by providing your cells with the right environments.

All you need is:

A basic understanding of how your body works

A simple philosophical roadmap to guide your health and fitness decisions

Primal Blueprint Origins and the Rules of Living Today

You may already have a fair understanding of how the human genome evolved to where it is today based on the environmental and behavioral factors that shaped our ancestors’ lives.

Anthropologists, evolutionary biologists, paleontologists, geneticists, and others have worked for over 100 years to piece together a detailed picture of the elements that influenced our development as a species.

Ironically, when we examine all these influences, we arrive at a very simple list of general behaviors our early ancestors followed.

This list is essentially the original Primal Blueprint—the behaviors that enabled them to become healthy, robust, and resilient human beings, and to pass those traits down to us.

The 10 Primal Blueprint Laws

The goal of the modern Primal Blueprint is not to revert to a caveman lifestyle.

Instead, it asks:

How can we learn from our past to shape a healthier future?

These 10 laws form the foundation of optimal health and longevity.

1. Eat lots of animals, insects, and plants

Focus on:

Quality protein (meat, poultry, fish)

Colorful vegetables

Some fruits (mostly berries)

Healthy fats (avocado, olive oil, nuts, full-fat dairy if tolerated)

Observe portion control over time rather than meal by meal.

2. Avoid poisonous things

Limit exposure to:

Chemical toxins (pesticides, herbicides, fungicides)

Processed foods

Sugar and grains

Trans and hydrogenated fats

Mercury in certain fish

3. Move around a lot (mostly at a slow pace)

Walk as much as possible every day.

Aim for 2 to 5 hours per week of low-level aerobic activity:

Walking

Hiking

Easy cycling

Swimming

4. Lift heavy things

Spend 30–45 minutes, 2–3 times per week lifting weights or resistance.

Focus on full-body movements:

Pushing

Pulling

Carrying

Climbing

5. Run really fast every once in a while

Do occasional high-intensity sprint bursts, such as:

Short hill sprints

Beach sprints

Intense cycling intervals

6. Get lots of sleep

Sleep is critical for:

Energy

Immune function

Overall health

Prioritize it.

7. Play

Engage in active play regularly.

Play helps:

Reduce stress

Improve creativity

Apply fitness in real life

8. Get some sunlight every day

Moderate sun exposure helps:

Produce vitamin D

Improve mood

Avoid burning, but don’t avoid the sun completely.

9. Avoid stupid mistakes

Eliminate obvious risks:

Wear seat belts

Avoid drugs and smoking

Stay aware of your surroundings

10. Use your mind

Keep your brain active:

Read

Write

Create

Socialize

Why Follow the Primal Blueprint?

Let’s simplify the goal.

We all want to be:

Healthy — free from illness

Energetic — able to enjoy life fully

Happy — motivated and positive

Lean — metabolically balanced

Strong — physically capable

Bright — mentally sharp

Productive — contributing to life and society

Our ancestors naturally embodied these traits—not as goals, but as a result of how they lived.

Now, understanding that everything we do affects our biology, we can apply these principles to modern life and create the same outcomes.

Thank you for reading!

Mark’s Daily Apple is still under construction. My team and I are actively working to repost the archives. Check back regularly to find posts that are new to you and revisit old favorites. Looking for a specific post? Let us know here.

You can help more people find us by spreading the word:

Share Mark's Daily Apple

And make sure you’re subscribed!

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* This blog reflects my personal views and opinions and isn’t intended as medical advice, but I hope it will be informative and inspiring as you pursue a healthy, fulfilling life.

The foundation of a Primal diet is choosing the healthiest, most nutritious, freshest, highest-quality foods possible—the meat, fish, fowl, eggs, produce, nuts, seeds, and optional dairy that are the basis of a species-appropriate human diet. Then, because we are sensory creatures with a bit of a hedonistic streak, we add sensible indulgences like coffee and dark chocolate, good wine if that’s your thing, and the occasional non-Primal splurge.

What you eat takes precedence over everything else. If that’s all you ever focused on, you’d be doing better than most of the population.

Once you broke free of carb dependency and developed metabolic flexibility, you could trust your body to tell you what it needs. Over time, you would naturally fall into a pattern of eating that suited your lifestyle. 

However, I find that most people, when they make a commitment to following the Primal Blueprint, want to see how far they can take it. Once they discover how good they feel just from choosing Primal foods, it’s natural to ask whether there are additional levels of health and vitality waiting to be unlocked. This is where practices like intermittent fasting and experimenting with macronutrients come in. 

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Although the Primal Blueprint doesn’t prescribe specific macronutrient ratios, there are some best practices to consider here. Let’s dive in.

What Are Macronutrients? 

First, some basic terminology. Macronutrients, or “macros,” are the protein, carbohydrates, and fats in the foods you eat. These are the building blocks and energy substrates, separate from the water, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other compounds, including artificial ingredients, present in food. 

The calories in your food come from the macronutrients, with protein and carbohydrates each providing 4 calories per gram and fat providing 9 calories per gram.

Now I have a real problem with this. The body wants to burn fat and glucose (from carbs) for energy, but protein will always go first towards muscle protein synthesis and repair, or building cells, hormones, and enzymes. In that context, it hardly seems fair to assign it a “burn rate” of 4 calories per gram. It’s like saying the 2×4 studs that support the walls of your house can burn nicely if you run out of firewood. They will, but that’s hardly the point. 

Nevertheless, that’s how the math is done.

So let’s say you’re interested in conducting some sort of n=1 nutritional experiment. Maybe you want to up your protein intake during a hypertrophy cycle or drop your carbs to go keto. To determine how many grams of protein, carbs, and fat you’re consuming—and, therefore, how many calories you’re taking in—you’ll need to input all of your food into a tracker like Cronometer or My Fitness Pal. Tracking your food is tedious if you do it right, but the data can be eye opening. Most people don’t have a clue how much they’re actually eating. 

Once you’ve established a baseline, you can proceed to adjust your intake of certain macros up or down. As I said, the Primal Blueprint doesn’t specify exact macros to aim for, but here are some things to consider. 

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Macronutrients in the Primal Diet1. Start with protein

Of the three macronutrients, protein takes priority in my book. So much of the work I do comes down to one goal: maximizing healthspan. In other words, staying fit, healthy, and cognitively sharp for as long as possible. A cornerstone of that is maintaining mobility and strength and staving off age-related muscle loss and frailty. To do that, you need two things: building blocks (amino acids from protein) and stimuli that tell your body to invest in bone and muscle (exercise). 

For the average person, 0.7-1.0 grams of protein per pound of body weight (1.6-2.2 g/kg) is a good target.

You can go higher than that if you want, and there may be some benefit, but this is a good starting point. Taking in a lot more than that isn’t dangerous, but you’ll soon start to see diminishing returns. 

Whenever I write about protein, I always get a bunch of follow-up questions: Should I use current body weight, lean body mass, or ideal body weight? How do age and gender factor in? 

I’ve written extensively in other posts about how much protein you should be eating if you’re an athlete or a person trying to lose weight, for example. The numbers vary somewhat, but if you’re in the range of 1 gram per pound of body weight, you’ll be fine. Likewise, if you do your calculations based on lean body mass instead of total body mass, you’ll fall in a similar range, especially if you’re already on the leaner side. Take a 180-pound individual who carries 20 percent body fat. The math works out to 126-180 grams per day based on total body weight or 100-144 grams per day based on lean body mass. Not terribly different. 

Also, don’t stress about getting the exact same amount of protein every day. Look at your protein intake across the past three to five days. Are you averaging around 1 gram per pound per day? Then you’re in good shape. 

What about collagen?

I’ve said many times that collagen should be classified as a macronutrient all its own. Collagen is a protein, being composed of amino acids, but it’s not a complete protein since it lacks tryptophan. As a general rule, you’re not supposed to count collagen toward your total protein intake when tracking your food, but I don’t fully agree with that. Collagen is protein. The amino acids are the same amino acids you’d get from a steak, though in different proportions.

I doubt too many people are using collagen peptides as a primary source of protein in their diets, but it’s probably worth stating: most of your protein needs should be met using complete protein from whole food sources. 

2. Set your carbohydrate intake

The Primal diet falls naturally on the lower-carbohydrate end of the spectrum compared to a typical modern diet. A person consuming a Standard American Diet can easily top 300 or 400 grams of carbs by dinnertime thanks to grains, sugar-sweetened beverages, and processed snack foods. In contrast, it’s tough to exceed 100 grams of carbs eating Primal foods, even with tons of colorful above-ground vegetables. Even if you eat a fair amount of fruit or starchy vegetables, you’ll be hard-pressed to exceed 150 grams of carbs on average per day. 

I’ve found that under 150 grams of carbs per day is most folks’ sweet spot for easily maintaining body composition and having plenty of energy.

However, if you specifically want to get into ketosis, you’ll need to drop below 50 grams per day, and you’ll need to be strict about it. 

On the other hand, endurance athletes who consistently burn a lot of calories and dip into glycogen stores on a regular basis might benefit from eating more carbs from additional fruits, tubers, and root vegetables, perhaps even some rice or oats. This isn’t mandatory, mind you. Plenty of athletes feel and perform great on moderate-carb or ketogenic diets. But super-active folks are also “earning” their carbs and shouldn’t be afraid to experiment with higher intakes, especially around tough workouts and competitions. 

Do you need to concern yourself with net versus total carbs?

I don’t. Net carbs are just the total carbs in your food minus the fiber. The great thing about eating Primally is that you don’t have to fuss about these kinds of details. 

Net carbs are really only relevant within the context of a keto diet, where you might want to distinguish between digestible carbohydrates, which are converted into glucose, and fiber, which does not impact insulin levels. In The Keto Reset Diet, I suggested that you don’t have to count carbs from above-ground non-starchy vegetables and avocados since their glucose/insulin impact is minimal thanks to their fiber content. Even that is optional, though. For tracking purposes, it’s easier to just cap your total daily carb intake at 50 grams per day and be done with it. 

3. Leverage fat

Once you’ve established your protein and carbohydrate intake, fat becomes the macro you leverage to increase or decrease energy (caloric) intake. 

Let’s say you typically eat 150 grams of protein a day and 100 grams of carbs. Each provides 4 calories per gram, so that’s 1,000 calories per day so far from those two macronutrients. The rest will come from fat at 9 calories per gram.

A primary goal of the Primal Blueprint is to turn you into a fat-burning machine, meaning that your cells are highly efficient at using fat for energy instead of relying heavily on glucose. That fat can come from your plate or your own adipose tissue. If you’re a smaller, moderately active woman who is trying to burn through some excess body fat, you might aim for an additional 500-800 calories per day, or 55-90 grams of fat, roughly. But if you’re a larger man who is aiming for a caloric excess during a bulking phase, you might need an additional 2,000 calories. Perhaps you bump your protein up by 50 grams, but that’s only 200 calories, and remember, protein isn’t the most efficient fuel anyway. In any case, this guy will need to consume closer to 200 grams of fat per day to hit his goal.

Putting It All Together

You never have to bother with macros on a Primal diet, particularly not if you are happy with your current body composition, performance in the gym, and general health. But, if you’re struggling to reduce those stubborn fat stores, you’re having a hard time gaining muscle, or you otherwise feel that your health could be better, AND you’re already eating Primally, playing around with the macronutrient composition of your diet could be a worthwhile endeavor. 

That last caveat is important. For folks coming from a standard modern diet, ditching grains, sugars, and sketchy oils is going to move the needle more than ratcheting fat intake up or down by 20 grams or whatever. Now, if your blood sugar is through the roof and you’re on a litany of meds for type 2 diabetes, getting carb intake down is also going to be a top priority. (In that case, make sure your doctor knows that you’re changing your diet, as you’ll likely need to adjust your medications concurrently.) 

In short, you’ll get more bang for your buck by getting the major Primal pillars of nutrition, movement, and lifestyle dialed in first before experimenting with meal timing, fasting, macros, etc. Lay the right foundation first, and then these details can turn your results from great to outstanding. 

Thank you for reading!

Mark’s Daily Apple is still under construction. My team and I are actively working to repost the archives. Check back regularly to find posts that are new to you and revisit old favorites. Looking for a specific post? Let us know here.

You can help more people find us by spreading the word:

Share Mark's Daily Apple

And make sure you’re subscribed!

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* This blog reflects my personal views and opinions and isn’t intended as medical advice, but I hope it will be informative and inspiring as you pursue a healthy, fulfilling life.

If I stopped you on the street today and offered you a million dollars to improve your health or fitness, you’d probably immediately think diet and exercise. Of course you’d be right—but only to a degree. Those two factors are fundamental to health, fitness, vitality, and longevity. However, if you only focused on diet and exercise, you wouldn’t reach your full potential. Not by a long shot.

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As important as food and movement are, they are only two of the inputs that affect gene expression. There is a bigger picture to consider, another pillar encompassed within the Primal Blueprint—one that is often overlooked even by individuals who have made a sincere commitment to building healthy habits and taking care of their bodies for the long haul. These are the Primal Blueprint Lifestyle Laws.

The Primal Blueprint Lifestyle LawsPrimal Law #6: Get Plenty of Sleep

If I had to nominate the Primal Blueprint Law that is most neglected in the modern world—and it would be hard to pick just one—it would probably be sleep. At least with diet and exercise, most people pay lip service to how important they are, recognizing that they should care about them even if their day-to-day choices say otherwise. Yet how many times have you seen uber-successful people boasting about how little sleep they get on a nightly basis?

Too many folks glorify an “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” mentality, ignoring the fact that too sleep is, ironically, pushing them toward an early grave.

Our genes expect and need consistent, restful sleep, and plenty of it. Our ancestors got lots of sleep. Even after the discovery of fire, it wasn’t as if they stayed up all night partying. From sunset to sunrise it was safer to huddle together and rest. Long days of hunting and gathering and otherwise working hard for every bite of food also required sufficient time to repair and recover. Studies of modern hunter-gatherers suggest it wasn’t necessarily always an uninterrupted nine or ten hours, either. It’s likely that they slept together as families or as small tribes, keeping a watch out for predators, breastfeeding the baby or just dozing in and out throughout the night.

Of course, a restorative afternoon nap was also available when the urge hit, with no guilt about what else they really should have been doing. Our modern tendency toward poor quality, insufficient sleep has catastrophic consequences for physical, cognitive, and emotional health. Yet better sleep is almost always within reach with some simple (and sometimes not-so-easy) behavior modifications.

Read more about Primal Law #6.

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Primal Law #8: Get Plenty of Sunlight

(Primal Law #7 is Play. You can read about it in the Primal Movement post.)

Cavemen weren’t really men (or women) who lived their lives in caves all the time. Most of the day, they were in the great outdoors pursuing their various survival tasks. Regular exposure to sun provided lots of vitamin D, an all-important vitamin (really more like a hormone) which they could not easily obtain from food and which their bodies could not manufacture without direct sunlight.

Fast forward to today, and most people spend almost all their time inside—at home, at work, in the car or subway, at the grocery store, mall, movie theaters, bowling alleys, and on and on. Even most of exercise is now done inside gyms, dance studios, or garages. The net result is that an alarming proportion of the population does not get enough sun exposure. Couple that with widespread public health messages about avoiding the sun and using sunscreen every time you go out, and vitamin D deficiency is now widespread.

Not to mention, we are missing out on the other benefits of being in nature. While it’s never a good idea to burn, I think the far greater danger to most people is too little sun, not too much. Respect basic sun safety practices, but embrace the sun as the life-giving force that it is.

Read more about Primal Law #8.

Primal Law #9: Avoid Stupid Mistakes

You’re doing all these other things to live a long, healthy life—eating right, exercising, getting plenty of sleep, nurturing your social relationships—but it can all be cut short in the blink of an eye with one silly, preventable misstep. That’s why Primal Law #9 reminds you to exercise appropriate caution when navigating this dangerous world.

In our ancestors’ time, this mostly meant avoiding trauma that could lead to immediate death or serious injury that would prevent them from being active, participating members of their hunter-gatherer clan. Today it still means essentially the same thing, except the dangers we face are a far cry from the rogue tiger or poisonous mushroom that might have taken out Grok.

This doesn’t mean wrap yourself in bubble wrap and never take any risks whatsoever. Rather, this law exhorts you to use that highly evolved human brain of yours to calculate risk and take wise precautions as needed.

Read more about Primal Law #9.

Primal Law #10: Use Your Brain

Speaking of your big brain, the final Primal Law reminds you to use it. Use it to problem solve. Use it to create. Use it to imagine. Use it to dream big dreams and make them come true. Use it to reminisce about the past. Use it to learn from past mistakes. Use it to create the wild and wonderful life that is your birthright as a human.

Read more about Primal Law #10.      

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Mark’s Daily Apple is still under construction. My team and I are actively working to repost the archives. Check back regularly to find posts that are new to you and revisit old favorites. Looking for a specific post? Let us know here.

You can help more people find us by spreading the word:

Share Mark's Daily Apple

* This blog reflects my personal views and opinions and isn’t intended as medical advice, but I hope it will be informative and inspiring as you pursue a healthy, fulfilling life.

Many carnivores have begun adding fruit into their animal-based diets, transitioning from a carnivore diet to a meat and fruit diet. This is one of the most common diets I get asked about, in fact—is the meat and fruit diet a good idea? Does it make sense to add fruit to your meat? Is there anything absent from the strict carnivore diet that adding some fruit can help?

I actually think it’s a good idea for a lot of people. Here’s why adding the meat and fruit diet might make sense for you:

Fruit “wants” to be eaten.

The most common reason why people switch to carnivore is to avoid chemical anti-nutrients that plants expressly produce to dissuade animals and insects from eating and digesting them. Seeds and grains employ lectins and other allergenic proteins that impair digestion and cause gastric distress and mineral imbalances so that the herbivore that eats them is less likely to actually digest it or come back for more. They can’t run or fight back with claws and teeth so they go the chemical warfare route.

Animals can run, hide, fight, bite, and struggle. They don’t need the chemical defenses. Once you get past those claws, teeth, hide, and foot speed they’re incredibly nutritious and easy to digest. Meat doesn’t “want” to be eaten, but it’s neutral on the matter once the presiding central nervous system has been nullified and silenced.

Fruit, meanwhile, wants to be eaten. If an animal eats fruit to get the sugar and nutrients and tosses or poops out the seeds, the fruit wins. The seeds have a chance to germinate and grow into another plant—to keep the genes flowing through time. There’s no reason for the flesh of the fruit to have a robust arsenal of anti-nutrient compounds. And sure enough, fruit is quite low in these compounds.

Fruit is easy to digest. Some of the more fibrous varieties can cause issues if you have preexisting issue with fiber. Some of the FODMAPs found in certain fruits can also mess with digestion in susceptible FODMAP-sensitive people.

Fruit has polyphenols

One of my biggest criticisms of pure carnivore has always been the lack of polyphenols—of the plant compounds found in fruits, vegetables, coffee, wine, chocolate, and pretty much every plant on earth. Polyphenols are defense chemicals that plants employ to ward off disease, fungal infections, and other microbes. For instance, when a plant is stressed, it will often produce more polyphenols. Cut a purple sweet potato on the vine and it will up regulate anthocyanin content. This is a common feature and it’s meant to fight against pathogens that could invade.

But when an animal like a human eats these polyphenols, good things happen. They are minor stressors that induce a hormetic response—we adapt to the stressor and get stronger, healthier, fitter, and more robust in the process. On the cellular level, a polyphenol like blueberry anthocyanin can appear stressful in the acute time frame. It “damages” the cell, but then the cell recovers. On the organism level, blueberries create a rebound effect that leaves us healthier. The organism and all the cells within grow more robust. Pure carnivore diets almost never contain these compounds and thus suffer from their lack.

Some of these compounds, like quercetin (found in apples and onions) may even show efficacy against many of the autoimmune issues that bring people to carnivore in the first place.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti... Berries and pomegranates also show potential against rheumatoid arthritis.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29227...

Fruit may improve digestive health

Now, many people get into carnivore because they have issues with fiber. Either it constipates them, gives them diarrhea, or both. It can even exacerbate certain patients with digestive disorders like IBS. But fruit fiber may be different than grain fiber. Now, some people will have different reactions, but by and large fruit fiber is easier to digest than grain or vegetable fiber. Some of the more fibrous varieties can cause issues if you have preexisting issue with fiber. Some of the FODMAPs found in certain fruits can also mess with digestion in susceptible FODMAP-sensitive people.

Take constipation. Carnivore often fixes constipation, but in a sizable minority it seems to worsen or even cause it. Some would say that you’re not actually constipated, that there’s just “less waste.” Very possible. But what if you truly are constipated on carnivore?

Kiwis may help. Two kiwis a day have been shown to reduce constipation.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36537... A review of kiwis for gastric disorders found that kiwifruits have the potential to improve GI function via many different mechanisms.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28557...

Studies in large populations find that fruit fiber is even linked to lower levels of diverticulitis, while vegetable fiber is linked to higher levels.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31397... This suggests that fruit fiber may be gentler on the gut. The bulk of the evidence suggests that fruit is more helpful than not for constipation.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...

It’s true that none of these studies are looking at people on carnivore diets. They’re using regular people on standard diets—results may not apply. But if carnivore doesn’t seem to helping your gut issues, or they could at least be better, you might consider incorporating some fruit.

Fruit may reduce carcinogen formation and inflammation when eaten with meat

We’ve known for awhile that consuming polyphenol-rich plants—like cruciferous vegetables, leafy greens, and red wine—with your meals reduces the inflammatory response upon eating, even lowering postprandial lipid oxidation and the formation of carcinogenic compounds in the gut. That’s true for fruits, too. One found that adding fruit solids to meat sausages reduced the oxidation of lipids in the meal upon consumption and during storage.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36890... I don’t recommend blending fruits into your meat, but eating an orange with your steak will have much the same effect.

Speaking of oranges, concentrated sources of orange—orange juice—reduce the inflammatory effects of a junk food meal. They reduce lipid oxidation and make an otherwise unhealthy meal healthier.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29068... Imagine if you added an orange to your healthy steak dinner.

Fruit may provide nutrients your carnivore diet is missing

If you’re not eating many shellfish, your carnivore diet could be a little low in manganese. Eating blueberries or pineapple will top you off.

If you’re not eating your meat rare with all the juices, your carnivore diet might be low in potassium. Eating almost any fruit will provide ample amounts of potassium.

Fruits also provide vitamin C, which is often lacking on carnivore diets. The vitamin C requirements are also lower when you’re carnivore, but just in case it wouldn’t hurt to have a bit more.

Fruits are rich in carbohydrates, which can be useful if you’re engaged in a ton of intense physical activity that burns through glycogen. Fruit is a great way to top off your glycogen stores.

Fruit provides variety to your meat-based diet

Fruit is more than you think. Tomatoes are a fruit. Squash are fruits. Avocados are fruits. Anything with a seed surrounded by edible flesh is a fruit, even if we normally treat it more like a vegetable.

That means you can have tomato and avocado salad. You can have mashed butternut squash or roasted kabocha squash. You can eat pickles or fresh cucumbers. You can grill zucchini. You can have peppers of all kinds.

Allowing fruit into your carnivore diet provides the opportunity for far more variety than you’d think. It’s not just eating mangos and pineapples and berries. If you find the carnivore diet boring or difficult to maintain despite health benefits, incorporating a little fruit may be just the thing you need to make it more sustainable.

Let’s go through a definitive comprehensive list of fruits that qualify for the meat and fruit diet:

Stone fruits—nectarines, peaches, cherries, apricotsTropical fruits—mangos, pineapple, breadfruit, papaya, bananaApplesPearsMelons—cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew, TuscanCitrus—oranges, tangerines, grapefruits, lemons, limesFigs and datesBerries—strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberriesWinter squash—delicata, butternut, kabocha, pumpkin, acorn, honey nutSummer squash, zucchiniCucumbers, picklesAvocadosTomatosPeppers—hot and sweet and in between

The meat and fruit diet is anything but restrictive. You can really diversify your diet by including fruit. And if you’re worried about the sugar content, you can eat low sugar fruits like berries, avocado, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and squash.

Do you eat the meat and fruit diet? If so, what fruits do you include? If you don’t, what fruits do you miss (if any)?

Thanks for reading everyone.

(function($) { $("#dfr9eXt").load("https://www.marksdailyapple.com/wp-ad..." ); })( jQuery ); References https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8260830/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29227497/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36537785/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28557573/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31397679/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9583540/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36890873/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29068453/

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I’ve got a great sweepstakes for you guys leading into the New Year: 6 months worth of Primal Essentials. That’s Primal Probiotics, Primal Omegas, and Primal Sun. These are our most essential supplements.

Primal Probiotics is one of the most potent probiotics on the market. After several iterations, we settled on the four specific strains with the most support in the literature for promoting good digestive health, immune function, and mood benefits. This is a fantastic supplement to deal with all the immune insults this season.

Primal Omegas is a high-potency purified omega-3 fish oil. Not everyone wants to (or has access to) high quality wild-caught fish. Taking Primal Omegas can give you most of the benefits without all the hassle. Plus, they’re just helpful to have around when you need a quick dampening of inflammation.

And finally, Primal Sun is our vitamin D supplement. It’s the only supplement I still take every day, and it’s probably the most important supplementary factor in immune function and bone health. These things only get more important as time goes on.

Here are the details to enter the sweepstakes…

The Sweepstakes

Mark’s Daily Apple is giving away a 6-month supply of Primal Essentials, including Primal Probiotics, Primal Omegas, and Primal Sun to THREE lucky winners. Total value of this prize package is $509.10 per recipient. 

To enter for a chance to win, complete the entry form below, including your full name, email address, and opt-in. Submit your phone number for a double entry. Limit one (1) entry per person per household. Entrants may receive one (1) bonus entry for providing their phone number on the entry form. You will automatically be subscribed to Mark’s Daily Apple newsletter but you can opt out at any time.

NO PURCHASE TO ENTER TO WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING.
All entries must be received between December 19th, 2023 and December 31st, 2023 by 11:59pm PT to be eligible. Promotion is open to residents of the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia, who are at least 18 years of age. CLICK HERE for complete terms and conditions, including all eligibility requirements.

About Primal Kitchen

Mark Sisson started the Primal Kitchen® brand with a simple mission: to change the way the world eats. As a New York Times bestselling author, media personality, ex-endurance athlete (5th place USA Marathon Championship, 4th place Hawaii Ironman finish), he has been educating the world on nutrition and the benefits of fat for over a decade via his pioneering blog, MarksDailyApple.com. Our life and our overall wellness are defined by the thousands of choices we make for ourselves and for our families every day, and choosing real food and investing in your health can lead to a more empowered you. Primal Kitchen condiments and sauces are crafted with purposeful, high-quality ingredients that make mealtime easy and delicious, so you can get the most out of life.

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Mark’s Daily Apple Primal Essentials Sweepstakes Official Rules

NO PURCHASE TO ENTER TO WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING.

MARK’S DAILY APPLE PRIMAL ESSENTIALS SWEEPSTAKES (the “Promotion”) starts on December 19th, 2023 at 1pm Pacific Time (“PT”) and ends on December 31st, 2023 at 11:59pm PT (“Promotion Period”).

ELIGIBILITY: Promotion is open to residents of the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia, who are at least 18 years of age. Employees of Primal Nutrition LLC (“Sponsor”), and their respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, promotion and advertising agencies and members of their immediate family (spouse, parent, sibling or child and their respective spouses, regardless of where they reside) and persons living in the same household of such employees, whether or not related, are not eligible to enter or win. Void where prohibited by law. Promotion is subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws.

HOW TO ENTER: To enter this sweepstakes during the Promotion Period, complete the entry form, including completing your name, email address, and opt-in, on the dedicated Sweepstakes Landing Page, here: https://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-essentials-sweepstakes Limit one (1) entry per person/email/household. Entrants may receive one (1) bonus entry for providing their phone number on the entry form.

All entries must be received between December 19th, 2023, and December 31st, 2023 by 11:59pm PT to be eligible. Use of any robotic, automatic, programmed or similar entry method or more than the stated number of entries will void your entry/entries and result in disqualification.

RANDOM DRAWING: Three (3) winners will be selected in a random drawing on or about January 3, 2024 from among all eligible entries received. Drawing will be administered by Arrowhead. Odds of winning will depend upon the number of eligible entries received.

WINNER NOTIFICATION: Administrator’s decisions are final and binding on all matters relating to this Promotion. The potential winner will receive an email from Arrowhead Promotion and Fulfillment Co., Inc., (“Administrator”), to confirm their acceptance of the prize. Potential winner must respond to notification within three (3) calendar days. If the potential winner confirms, he/she will be asked to submit their full name, date of birth, complete mailing address and confirm email address within a time period specified by Sponsor or prize will be forfeited and Sponsor will have no further obligation to such winner. Potential winners may be required to execute and return an affidavit of eligibility, a liability release and, where lawful, a publicity release, within seven days of date of issuance. If such documents are not returned and signed within the specified time period or if Sponsor is unable to contact a potential winner within such time period, prize or prize notification is returned as undeliverable, or a potential winner is not in compliance with these Official Rules, prize will be forfeited and, at Sponsor’s discretion an alternate may be randomly selected. If any potential winner is an eligible minor in his/her jurisdiction of residence, prize may be awarded in the name of his/her parent or legal guardian, and such parent or legal guardian will be required to fulfill all requirements imposed on winners set forth herein.

PRIZES: Three (3) prize winners will receive a 6-month supply of Primal Essentials which will include:

– Six (6) Primal Probiotics (60 capsules per bottle)

– Six (6) Primal Omegas (120 capsules per bottle)

– Six (6) Primal Sun – Vitamin D (180 capsules per bottle)

(ARV: $509.10).

Total prize value of all prizes awarded: $1,527.30. All prize details are at the sole discretion of the Sponsor. All prizes are awarded “as is” with no warranty or guarantee, either express or implied. No substitution, transfer, or cash equivalent of prize is permitted, except by Sponsor, which reserves the right to substitute a prize (or portion thereof) with one of comparable or greater value, at its sole discretion. Any and all federal, state and local taxes on the prizes, and any other costs, fees, and expenses not explicitly stated herein as being awarded, are the sole responsibility of the winners. Gift Card terms and conditions apply.

GENERAL CONDITIONS: By participating, each entrant (and, if an eligible minor, his/her parent or legal guardian) agrees: (a) to abide by these Official Rules and decisions of Judges; (b) to release, discharge and hold harmless Sponsor, and their respective parents, affiliates, subsidiaries, and advertising and promotion agencies, and the respective officers, directors, shareholders, employees, agents and representatives of the forgoing (collectively, “Released Parties”) from any and all injuries, liability, losses and damages of any kind to persons, including death, or property resulting, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from entrant’s participation in the Promotion or the acceptance, possession, use or misuse of any awarded prize; and (c) to the use of his/her name, voice, performance, photograph/video, image and/or likeness for programming, advertising, publicity and promotional purposes in any and all media, now or hereafter known, worldwide and on the Internet, and in perpetuity by Sponsor and its designees, without compensation (unless prohibited by law) or additional consents from entrant or any third party and without prior notice, approval or inspection, and to execute specific consent to such use if asked to do so.

Released Parties not responsible for any technical problems, malfunctions of any telephone lines, computer systems, servers, providers, hardware/software, lost or unavailable network connections or failed, incomplete, garbled or delayed computer transmission or any combination thereof. Released Parties are not responsible for late, lost, damaged, misdirected, incomplete, undeliverable, destroyed, garbled or stolen entries; or for lost, interrupted or unavailable network, server, Internet Service Provider, website, or other connections, availability or accessibility or miscommunications or failed computer, satellite, telephone or cable transmissions, lines, or technical failure or jumbled, scrambled, delayed, or misdirected transmissions or computer hardware or software malfunctions, failures or difficulties, or other errors or difficulties of any kind whether typographical, human mechanical, electronic, computer, network, printing or otherwise relating to or in connection with the Promotion, including, without limitation, errors or difficulties which may occur in connection with the administration of the Promotion, the posting of questions, the processing of entries, the announcement of the prize or in any Promotion-related materials. Released Parties are also not responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by site users, tampering, hacking, or by any equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Promotion. Released Parties are not responsible for injury or damage to participants’ or to any other person’s computer related to or resulting from participating in this Promotion or downloading materials from or use of the website. Sponsor may disqualify anyone from participating in the Promotion or winning a prize (and void all associated entries) if, in its sole discretion, it determines that such person is attempting to undermine the legitimate operation of the Promotion by cheating, deception or other unfair playing practices. Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to cancel or suspend any portion of the Promotion for any reason, including should any cause corrupt the administration, security or proper play of the Promotion and, in the event of termination, to determine the winner from among all eligible entries received up to such time.

ENTRANT’S PERSONAL INFORMATION: Any personally identifiable information collected during Entrant’s participation in this Sweepstakes will be collected by Sponsor and used by it and its agents for purpose of the proper administration and fulfillment of the Sweepstakes as described in these Official Rules, for any additional opt-in information Entrant agreed to upon participation, and in accordance with Sponsor’s Privacy Policies, posted, respectively at https://www.primalkitchen.com/pages/privacy-policy as allowed by law.

REQUEST FOR WINNERS’ NAMES: For of the name of the winner available after March 1, 2024 send a self-addressed, stamped, envelope to Primal Nutrition LLC (Mark’s Daily Apple Primal Essentials Sweepstakes), 1101 Maulhardt Avenue, Oxnard, CA 93030.

SPONSOR: Primal Nutrition LLC, Oxnard, CA

ADMINISTRATOR: Arrowhead Promotion and Fulfillment Co., Inc., 1105 SE 8th Street, Grand Rapids, MN 55744.

© Copyright 2023 (Primal Nutrition LLC). All Rights Reserved. Primal Nutrition LLC is the trademarks of their respective companies and their use in this promotion is not an endorsement or sponsorship of this promotion. Used with permission.

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Research of the Week

Scythians made leather out of their enemies’ skin.

5 liters of alkaline water a day is too much.

Dialysis patients with lower potassium and magnesium levels have higher mortality.

Neanderthals were morning people.

Caffeine gum increases deadlift.

New Primal Kitchen Podcasts

Primal Kitchen Podcast: Get to Know Your Inner Parts with Richard Schwartz, PhD

Primal Health Coach Radio: Judson Brandeis

Media, Schmedia

Do fertility-enhancing genes lower lifespan?

Interesting Blog Posts

Test scores are down across the globe.

Social Notes

Sign up for Keto Month.

Everything Else

A doctor shortage doesn’t cause a rise in mortality.

Things I’m Up to and Interested In

Interesting: Low-carb might reduce the risk of gestational diabetes.

Of course: Opioid abuse disorder linked to lower cognitive function.

Unpopular but true: BMI is still accurate for most people.

We know: Meat and dairy are good.

Would be cool: Is AI leading to new math discovery?

Question I’m Asking

What are you having for Christmas dinner?

Recipe Corner (sub in avocado oil instead of “neutral oil”).Lamb chops, Greek style.Time Capsule

One year ago (Dec 9 – Dec 15)

10 Natural Health Benefits and Healing Uses of Lavender—How to use it.How to Handle Youth Sports as a Parent—What to do.Comment of the Week

“Basic technologies such as bicycles, clean burning wood stoves and even the humble apple corer seem to provide much benefit with fewer downsides. The more sophisticated world changing technologies not only have the most downsides but they tend to create their own need. Consider cars as an example. They allowed us initially to get places faster but the end result was that the places people needed to go tended to get further apart. Now we can’t live without them.
Some technologies deliver the opposite of what they promise. Social media for example is supposed to bring us together yet loneliness has become pervasive in our society. A recent survey reveals that 61 percent of Americans, 3 out of 5 describe themselves as lonely. The Plains Indians of the 19th century likely suffered little from loneliness. They lived in tribes of 300 or so and the lines between family and community were quite blurred. Basically the entire tribe was one’s family.
Choose your technologies wisely. I live in Maine where snow is plentiful. My neighbor’s snowblower needs gas, maintenance and sometimes clogs or breaks down. My snow shovel has never broken down and helps me maintain 6 pack abs at age 65!”

-Well said.

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In a busy world, efficiency is king. Everyone wants the most payoff for their efforts in the least amount of time—especially when it comes to fitness. That’s one of the reasons that high-intensity interval training, or HIIT, has become so popular. Workouts lasting just 20 or 30 minutes can deliver tremendous cardiovascular benefits, help you burn fat and lose weight, build stronger muscles and bones, lead to better blood sugar control and insulin sensitivity, and make you stronger.

But what if you didn’t need to devote 30, 20, or even 10 minutes to your workout? What if you could achieve the same results, maybe even better results, in just 4 minutes? Enter Tabata. 

Tabata is a specific type of very-high-intensity interval training. When done correctly, the entire workout takes just 4 minutes. The rub here is that doing it “correctly” means taking yourself to the limit in just 160 seconds of work. Tabata is tough. It’s also, according to research, incredibly effective. 

If you’ve been hanging around the blog for a while, you probably know that I’m a big proponent of workouts that are short and sweet—or rather, short and intense. This former marathoner has seen the errors of his ways, and I’ve spent years trying to convince my readers that the typical fitness paradigm has people engaging in workouts that are too long and that exist in the so-called “black hole.” They’re too hard to be aerobic but not hard enough to yield max anaerobic benefits. In other words, workouts that break you down at least as much, if not more, than they build you up in the long run. 

But Tabata isn’t your typical HIIT protocol. It’s not your typical sprint protocol (my preferred type of high-intensity exercise). It’s not your typical microworkout (despite being bite-sized). Tabata is its own beast altogether. 

The questions at hand today are: Should you be incorporating Tabata into your workout routine? If yes, how? If no, why not?

The Tabata Workout Protocol

Tabata workouts are named after Dr. Izumi Tabata, researcher and former fitness coach for the Japanese National Speed Skating Team. Dr. Tabata was the first person to systematically measure and publish the results of the training protocol that now bears his name, although he, apparently, did not actually come up with the idea. (That was 1980s speed skating coach Kouichi Irisawa.)

A true Tabata training protocol, according to Dr. Tabata himself, involves 7 to 8 “exhaustive sets” of exercise performed at 170 percent of VO2max for 20 seconds, with 10 seconds rest in between.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31004287/ ">1 If you quit after 6 reps, that’s not really Tabata. Nor is it Tabata if you can eke out a 9th round, if you do 30-second work intervals, or if you rest for more than 10 seconds. 

Dr. Tabata conducted his studies using a stationary bike, which allows you to crank up the resistance and quickly get to that hard effort. Now I don’t know if you’ve ever pedaled a bike at 170 percent of VO2max (which equates to the intensity you are able to maintain for just 50 seconds of hard pedaling before you fall off the bike in a pool of sweat), but let me tell you, a 4-minute workout will feel like plenty. Even though you’re only going hard for 20 seconds at a time, the 10-second rest intervals aren’t enough for you to truly recover, so you start each new interval already in a deficit. After 8 rounds, you’ll be spent. 

That’s what Tabata is. What is it not? 

Tabata Versus HIIT

Tabata is not HIIT. Or HIIT is not Tabata? One of the two. 

In any case, Tabata differs from HIIT in several key ways.

HIIT workouts generally last 20 or 30 minutes, perhaps up to an hour. Tabata workouts last exactly 4. No more.With HIIT training, recovery periods last anywhere from 30 seconds to a few minutes, and they can involve either total rest or lower-intensity activity—pedaling at a lighter resistance, for example. Tabata workouts involve 10 seconds of total rest, period. True Tabata, as described by the eponymous doctor, must be conducted at the prescribed intensity. HIIT workouts, though challenging when done correctly, aren’t nearly that intense.

That last point is where a lot of people get confused. There’s simply no way to keep going for 20 minutes, much less an hour, at the intensity the Dr. Tabata prescribes. Even the world’s fittest elite athletes would struggle to complete multiple rounds with proper form and at the right intensity, much less your average bloke hitting an hour-long “Tabata class” at the local gym. To go for that long, you’ll be forced to decrease your output. These so-called Tabata workouts that stack together multiple rounds of 20-second on/10-second off exercises are not Tabata in the truest sense. Tabata-style, maybe. HIIT, definitely.

Which is fine. There are plenty of demonstrated benefits to HIIT—but it’s not Tabata. 

Tabata Versus Sprinting

Tabata and sprinting have a lot in common: Very brief, very intense work intervals. Relatively short. Leave you feeling more invigorated than wiped out for the rest of the day.

But Tabata isn’t sprinting. 

The two biggest differences are that with sprinting, you take longer rest intervals so that you start each sprint fairly fresh, and you might conduct up to 8 or 10 repetitions.

Benefits

For my money, the biggest benefit of Tabata, compared to other types of HIIT training especially, is its efficiency. My biggest gripe with HIIT training in general is that it’s easy to overdo it, in exactly the way that Primal Blueprint Fitness discourages. The line between HIIT and chronic cardio is often blurry. An hour-long HIIT class is almost assuredly going to keep you pegged at a black hole heart rate. Tabata won’t. 

In that way, Tabata is much more similar to the sprint workouts I advocate. And all the things I love about sprinting—short, all-out efforts that boost growth hormone, upregulate fat burning, promote insulin sensitivity, and deliver full-body fitness benefits—should likewise be true with Tabata. 

The other thing to note about Tabata is that, compared to other types of exercise, it seems to uniquely maximize gains to both the aerobic and anaerobic energy systems. According to research out of Dr. Tabata’s lab, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9309642/ ">2 the 20-second intervals at 170 percent VO2max hit a sweet spot for targeting both.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9139179/  ">3 Most types of exercise preferentially benefit one or the other.

Tabata Workout How-to

You’re familiar by now with the basics: Do a proper warm-up, hop on a stationary bike, crank up the resistance, and start doing your 20-second work/10-second rest intervals. Do eight reps, cool down, hydrate, call it a day. Maybe go for a walk. 

Tabata really is that simple. You’ll know you’re hitting the right intensity if you have to dig deep to complete those seventh and eighth reps. 

What if you don’t have access to a stationary bike? Dr. Tabata cautions that we don’t know whether the benefits extend to other modalities beyond the bike,https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31004287/ ">4 but I see no reason to think they’d be bike-specific. Any exercise that allows you to achieve high work outputs in 20 seconds should be similarly effective. The beauty of the bike is that you can go from total rest to pedaling hard with a quick turn of the resistance dial. You could probably replicate that with a Versaclimber, battle ropes, sled push, or even an elliptical. 

I see lots of Tabata workouts that involve four or five 4-minute circuits of exercises like burpees, kettlebell swings, Russian twists, jumping jacks, mountain climbers, and the like. They utilize the same 20/10 splits, but the fact that they involve 16 or 20 total work intervals tells you that the intensity just isn’t the same—which you can feel. There’s no way 20 seconds of planking is as hard as 20 seconds of pedaling a bike at high resistance. Hence, they aren’t really Tabata. 

That’s not a dig on those types of workouts. They’re still HIIT, and you will reap the benefits accordingly. For beginners, this type of lower-intensity (but still challenging) Tabata-style HIIT workout is a safer starting place. That said, since you aren’t doing a strict Tabata workout anyway, there’s no reason to strictly limit yourself to the 20/10 intervals either.  

The Bottom Line

Although I think Tabata is great, I wouldn’t only do Tabata workouts. Plenty of research shows that intervals of other lengths and intensities are also worthwhile. Just as I don’t always do the same types of deadlifts or squats, and I change up the surfaces I sprint on, it makes sense to do different types of interval training. Mixing it up probably gives you the best bang for your buck over the long term. 

If you do want to do a Tabata session, I’d recommend doing it in place of your weekly sprint. Or you can do it in addition; just watch your recovery and make sure you’re not overdoing it. Remember, true Tabata workouts are hard. Very hard. Not for the faint of heart. (Literally. If you have heart problems, talk to your doctor before undertaking a workout this strenuous.)  

How about you? Have you worked Tabata into your training routine? Notice any benefits?

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References https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31004287/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9309642/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9139179/  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31004287/

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