Primal Endurance: Escape Chronic Cardio and Carbohydrate Dependency Become a Fat-Burning Beast!

by Mark Sisson

Primal Endurance shakes up the status quo and challenges the overly stressful, ineffective conventional approach to endurance training. While marathons and triathlons are wildly popular and bring much gratification and camaraderie to the participants, the majority of athletes are too slow, continually tired, and carry too much body fat respective to the time they devote to training. The prevailing chronic cardio approach promotes carbohydrate dependency, overly stressful lifestyle patterns, and ultimately burnout.Mark Sisson, author of the 2009 bestseller, The Primal Blueprint, and de-facto leader of the primal/paleo lifestyle movement, expertly applies primal lifestyle principles to the unique challenge of endurance training and racing. Unlike the many instant and self-anointed experts who have descended upon the endurance scene in recent years, Sisson and his co-author/business partner Brad Kearns boast a rich history in endurance sports. Sisson has a 2:18 marathon and 4th place Hawaii Ironman finish to his credit, has spearheaded triathlon s global anti-doping program for the International Triathlon Union, and has coached/advised leading professional athletes, including Olympic triathlon gold and silver medalist Simon Whitfield and Tour de France cyclist Dave Zabriskie. Under Sisson s guidance, Kearns won multiple national championships in duathlon and triathlon, and rose to a #3 world triathlon ranking in 1991.Primal Endurance applies an all-encompassing approach to endurance training that includes primal-aligned eating to escape carbohydrate dependency and enhance fat metabolism, building an aerobic base with comfortably paced workouts, strategically introducing high intensity strength and sprint workouts, emphasizing rest, recovery, and an annual periodization, and finally cultivating an intuitive approach to training instead of the usual robotic approach of fixed weekly workout schedules. When you go Primal as an endurance athlete, you can expect to enjoy these and other benefits in short order: . Easily reduce excess body fat and keep it off permanently, even during periods of reduced training. Perform better by reprogramming your genes to burn fat and spare glycogen during sustained endurance efforts. Avoid overtraining, burnout, illness, and injury by improving your balance of stress and rest, both in training and everyday life. Spend fewer total hours training and get more return on investment with periodized and purposeful workout patterns. Have more fun, be more spontaneous, and break free from the pull of the obsessive/compulsive mindset that is common among highly motivated, goal-oriented endurance athletes. Have more energy and better focus during daily life instead of suffering from the active couch potato syndrome, with cumulative fatigue from incessant heavy training makes you lazy and sluggishPrimal Endurance is about slowing down, balancing out, chilling out, and having more fun with your endurance pursuits. It s about building your health through sensible training patterns, instead of destroying your health through chronic training patterns. While it might be hard to believe at first glance, you can actually get faster by backing off from the overly aggressive and overly regimented Type-A training approach that prevails in today s endurance community. Primal Endurance will show you how, every step of the way."

Genres: Health, Fitness, Nonfiction, Sports, Audiobook, Food, Personal Development

326 pages, Paperback

First published January 4, 2016

Reviews

[Paul King · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too repetitive. Could have been condensed to 1/4 of its size.

[Volodymyr Dehtyarov]

Отличная книга. Авторы, в прошлом триатлет и марафонец мирового уровня, убеждают в новом, интуитивном подходе к планированию тренировок. Основные принципы в питании - диета, близкая к палое-протоколу, то есть низкоуглеводная и избегающая мучного и сладкого, заставляющая организм спрыгнуть с иглы углеводов и перейти на жир как основное топливо. Основные принципы в тренировках - обязательная длительная настройка аэробной базы за счет тренировок на низком пульсе, и лишь потом добавление силовых интервальных тренировок, спринт-сессий и достаточные периоды восстановления. Отдельные главы - про роль восстановления, сна, компрессии, холода. Очень понравились идеи про то, как добавить "игры" в повседневную жизнь.
Как она повлияла на меня - начал рекомендуемый автором 21-дневный primal eating challenge, стал внимательнее относиться к рекомендуемому тренером пульсовому режиму во время тренировок, стал увеличивать повседневную активность на протяжении дня, помимо тренировок (ходить пешком и следить за километражем). Йогу и функциональный тренинг я добавил еще раньше, осталось настроить сон.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this hoping for help in training for a rim to rim Grand Canyon hike. This book really is for endurance athletes. There wasn't too much overly useful for me as an average person who follows a fairly primal lifestyle.

I wish I had bought it sooner because with only 12 weeks until my hike I wasn't willing to spend 8 weeks only in my aerobic zone. That limited me to just walking about 17 minute flat miles to keep my heart rate in the proper range. I believe it makes sense and may try this after my hike is complete. If you are an average athlete who is already living a primal lifestyle this probably isn't the right book. Stick with the other Primal books Mark has written. If you are a serious endurance athlete I believe it is worth the read. Although I found it sometimes a bit drawn out and repetitive.

[Jack Oughton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This made me re-evaluate a few things and has given me a lot of things to test in my own training.

[Candace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recently, I took an interest in low heart rate training and I've been a fan of Mark Sisson's nutritional advice, so I thought I'd give this book a shot. In about 3 weeks, here is what I noticed:
(1) I was overtraining and stressing my body by doing speedwork, hill workouts, tempo runs all season long. I needed to slow down during the off season.
(2) I should have been low heart rate training years ago to prevent injury. I was so injury prone in my 20's - IT band syndrome, plantar fasciitis... you name it. I was pushing too hard. End of story.
(3) Low heart rate training has improved my energy levels. At work, I feel more productive because I'm burning fat instead of sugar. I can skip meals most days if I want to & feel fine... although this is not recommended. I have a history of hypoglycemia and that seemed to disappear.
(4) I don't know yet whether its made me a faster runner, but it has prevented injury. I will ramp up speed work 4 weeks before my race. I'll check back in for an update.
(5) In only 3 weeks, I've actually lost weight and shown more definition! Keep in mind, I was no couch potato... I was working so hard before without visible results. Now, the past effects of working out are now showing up in my body. Its awesome!

Note: I didn't give this 5 stars, because he barely touched on strength training, which I think is an important part of any workout regime. He didn't have particular exercises, schedules, or a training plan. Overall though, good advice!

[Calvin Isch · Rating 3 out of 5]

The primal endurance athletic code—get lots of sleep, separate your aerobic (heart rate < 180 - age) from anaerobic exercise, eat natural foods with fats and not carbs, and always listen to your body. Fairly straightforward, mostly convincing, and full of interesting stories and anecdotes that will inspire any distance athlete!

[Ed Fackler]

Love this. I've read it 4 times.

[Chris Jarred · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would have made a great 50 page pamphlet.

[Brent Ransome · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book, overall it has a good message and is entertaining, but the book is repetitive and could be shortened to half its length.

[Michellerun · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay information presented in a complicated way. Not sure why he trys to use big words and complicated jargon. Makes for a difficult read. He's quite full of himself and comes across arrogant. Plus, this isn't a book for women athletes. It is geared towards men. In my own opinion.....

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a lot of good information. I didn't give it a 5 star review because it gets repetitive and some other things are just common sense, but in general, if you're a person who likes to workout and explore and overcome your limits, then this is a very good book for you.

[Jim Sharp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic. Every endurance athlete should read this and reconsider their approach to training and fueling.

[Grigori Paslari · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm one of those guys trying to lose some weight and gain some muscles from time to time. And although I've read a lot about different diets, the impact of sugar and the importance of movements, all my attempts to change the way I treat food (it's a pleasure, isn't it :)) and the amount of it I consume didn't last more than a week... the effort was not worth the result... and now, I seem to have enough experience in "wrong" triathlon and marathon preparation to be able actually to comprehend what author is saying about workouts which made me more perceptive to what he is saying about food as well.

It's too early to write a proper review of this book. I'm now on my 2nd week on the Primal diet and just started adding slow running workouts below my aerobic threshold. There were a few days I was missing sweets, but that's probably ok after so long time being in love with them. Will see what will be the impact and my feelings after 1 month on this diet.

Although I skipped some chapters of the book as they were too sport oriented, I will get back to first fiew which are about food and general health

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book is in the process of actually changing my life. There is a ton of useful information in it -- and incidentally I had started the 80/20 method a few weeks before starting into this book. This book calls out that book as a bad example of how to do things. Except I'm not sure that the authors actually read the book as it prescribes more or less the same thing that Primal Endurance prescribes. Albeit not so much on the diet side of things.

At any rate, slowing down on my easy days has actually given me a bunch of benefits -- extra energy, lower inflammation, and generally feeling better. Having to run slower kinda sucks, but I can't deny I'm gaining benefit in regular life.

Negatives are likely there, too.. I'm probably not as fast as I would be if I trained harder, but I think I'm much less likely to stop training due to injury now. At any rate, through the week of reading this book, I'm already down 10 pounds and body weight percentage has gone down a full percentage point, so that's nice.

[Karoly Nagy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I listened to it on audible, didn't read.

I'd say it's a must read for everybody even slightly interested in endurance sport. I'd even call it revolutionary if it wasn't talking about an old mantra we keep hearing but somehow the "no pain, no gain" message still echoes louder in many heads. It connects the dots very well between different concept such as intermittent fasting or different types of eating habits (paleo, primal, etc) which is exactly what I was expecting from such a book.

I really like how it was structured from section to section by building on top of the previous learnings. It gives a great overview to the reader in an easy to follow, easy to understand manner. Whenever necessary it dives into the details with sufficient depth to support the interest without becoming dry data crunch.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a lot of info in this book. Like an overwhelming amount. It's definitely not a read once type of book but more of a reference manual. It touches on nearly every aspect of your life so there's a lot to process at once. Having said that, I think there's a lot of great information in here, just expect to implement it over a long period of time and not all at once. And these changes are not meant to be short term fixes but rather long term practices that you carry with you for the rest of your athletic journey.

The book starts off talking about training and how chronic cardio is leading to major injuries, burnout and even heart attacks in otherwise healthy looking elite and amateur endurance athletes. The authors recommend starting by changing your training schedule to their method which is largely based off of the Maffetone method and includes heart rate training, periodization and a strong discouragement of regular weekly training schedules. This is the part of the book I felt most overwhelmed by. It's definitely not beginner or intermediate friendly. They don't want you following a long premade training plan and this approach means you basically have to have some sort of run coach if you don't feel comfortable coming up with your own training schedule. I like the idea of what they are trying to suggest but I really don't think many amateur endurance athletes are going to be able to make it happen. But there are definitely some nuggets I'm going to be adding into my own training like heart rate training and making sure I leave room for fun athletic activities that have nothing to do with my sport.

Next up is nutrition. It should be no surprise that they recommend a primal diet that is (relative to most endurance athlete diets) low carb and sugar and fully of proteins and loads of veggies. I already ate fairly close to the diet described in this book before becoming a long distance runner but I think a lot of runners need to hear this info. There is also a section on being a keto endurance athlete but they also admit that that's not going to work for everyone and that you should see loads of improvements by cutting out processed grains and sugary foods and replacing them with veggies, fruits and healthy starches like sweet potatoes. This is the second step they recommend after switching to a low heart rate training philosophy.

Then the book covers things that a lot of athletes consider extra but are really important like strength training, recovery and lifestyle factors like sleep, stress, hydration, etc. I do wish the strength section of this was a little beefier. I've found that strength training to be really important to my running and injury prevention. For example, one summer I took two months off from doing any core exercises because they just aren't my favorite. Even though I brought them back in the fall when I started my long distance running training back up, I could tell that I had really lost a lot of core strength and it really hurt me the first half of my running season.

This section leads to another complaint that I have about this book. It specifically mentions on the back of the book that this is great for endurance athletes, including those who run Spartan and other obstacle course races. While there are certainly things and OCR athlete could pull out of to use in their training, the overall training program described in this book is not great for OCR athletes. There's just not enough strength training and I don't see many OCR runners taking a minimum of 8 weeks with zero strength training every year for base building. OCR really needs to be treated more like a multisport but instead of balancing three endurance sports, you have to balance endurance running with all sorts of strength and grip work. So, if you are looking for specifically obstacle course training tips, it's still worth a read, just go into it expecting to only take bits and pieces and not the whole plan as written.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating a book about a fitness program right after reading is definitely futile. How can you know if it even works? I rank this 4 stars because (1) it inspires me to start running again, (2) the heart-monitored low level aerobic step 1 is already MUCH more enjoyable and less taxing than any previous attempt to run for fitness, (3) it sounds promising and (4) I already know and have experienced the benefits that come from the rest of the Primal Blueprint program of Mark Sisson. I have faith that this too will be beneficial.

[Stephen Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enthralling insight into using Paleo / Primal techniques to Triathlon / Bike / Run events. As an amateur trail runner much of this was a real gem of information and insight on how most of us have been overtraining for years, but now, a healthy look at taking it slower for better effects. The last chapters dove into the technical, and perhaps would be more suited to true hardcore athletes, but the core of the book remained true, and tidbits and eye-opening factoids were certainly abundant in these more technical sections.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I approached this book with extreme interest as I find the Sissons material engrossing and I'm a long-standing fan of Paleo nutrition, embarking on a challenging 65th year of 12 marathons.

The book does not disappoint, providing a detailed background to the science of endurance training on a low-carb programme and is full of hugely useful information on every other aspect of lifestyle for those of us who refuse to get old!

Cracking book - really enjoyed it and would recommend.

[Hariharan Ragunathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Must read for all those folks training for endurance sports to not kill themselves in over training, or binge on foods that add to the stress. If you follow Marks's dailly apple blog, you pretty much know most of the stuff covered. But he does cover some additional Biking/running/swimming specific recommendations. A good followup book to Phil Mafettone's Big book on endurance training.

[Mike Niebrzydowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some things about their approach bothered me a little bit, but overall an interesting read with some good information. Part of me thinks one should start by reading the chapter summaries and then read any chapters that sound of interest. Sometimes it got a bit repetitive or long-winded and could have been condensed. Not a real quick read, necessarily.

[さやか むらさと · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent read about the clever runner who wins the race by not being the first in anything but by being the last one to slow down. Does not apply to turtles who race rabbits though. However, it turns out that — as far as diet is concerned — humans are multiple levels below turtles or rabbits. We are the only species intelligent enough to produce our own food and stupid enough to eat it.

[Anthony D’Apolito III · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I transition my nutrition and training this book served as a great foundational element.

Mark Sisson is one of the thought leaders in this field that I go to. The tactics in this book were thorough and helpful.

Some things were redundant - but maybe that’s because the primal way is so basic. Nonetheless, those are my takes.

[Michelle Martini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the first half in physical book form and finished with audio format. The co-author’s reading was engaging and conversational. I was already a convert of the “Primal” eating theory and needed to know how to return to endurance training using this eating pattern. The book answered my questions and also answered the question of how/whether to attempt longevity in the sport.

[Matthew Thyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm down more than 10 pounds since the beginning of September. I'm running more and feeling better than I have in a long while and I attribute it much to the massive change in diet this program fostered.

[Maura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful read regarding lifestyle changes a lot of us could make to improve our health. I think there is some missing information regarding the relationship of cancer and some other diseases to high meat consumption, however.

[Boho Beannie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This doesn’t give a lot of specifics and I didn’t see anything new or eye opening. The book has stories on individuals scattered throughout, but the text used for them is in a lighter color and is difficult to read.

[Lisa Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who is not, nor ever will be an endurance athlete, I listened to the first half of this book, gleaning specific diet and exercise principles that I can inject into my personal daily life. I appreciated what I got out of it.

[Cortney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an informative book on attempting primal training. However, he has a podcast that I listen to weekly and I get more out of that than the book, so I'd do that rather than buy his book.

[Will G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ketone based endurance training. Seems like the pendulum is swinging back towards big base miles.