Jim Laird, Robb Wolf and the basics of health and longevity

You know how I am always telling you folks to find a paleo-related podcast or two and really dig in? Well, once again, our fearless leader, our paleo boss, our guardo camino himself, Robb Wolf, has come through big time in the podcast department.

On episode 192 of the Paleo Solution podcast, Robb's manning the controls without the help of Greg Everett. Instead, his Big Strong Dude du jour is Jim Laird, a strength-and-conditioning coach from Lexington, KY, who runs an S&C business with Molly Galbraith.

I'll admit it. I never heard of Jim Laird before, but damn he knows his shit. Sometimes I want my podcast listening to cover weird, amazing, offbeat new topics; other times, like this week, I'd prefer that the smart people casting the pods just reaffirm the Big Stuff. This particular episode hits at least three of those big items:

1. Strength matters. Dan John will tell you that there is, metabolically speaking, nothing more important than having a big engine. And you get there by getting strong. Or, as Jim Laird said on this podcast: "The pyramid is only as strong as the base." Lift heavy. Walk every day. Hell yeah. Sure, CrossFit metcons and HIIT have their place, but they are not the basis of strength.

2. Our young athletes, and some of all ages, are getting too specialized on a year-round basis. When they do that, they end up out of balance and risking severe injury. Laird tells the story of the young pitcher who has already had a couple major arm surgeries because he never established proper core strength and threw the shit out of his elbow making up for his core deficits. Or there's the volleyball player who, in the offseason, keeps working on jumping all the time when she has been jumping all season. She needs to work on full-body strength when the season ends, not blow her legs and hips out.

3. People are killing themselves with shitty sleep, stress, chronic cardio, and overtraining metcons. Hmmm, where have I heard *that* before? Yeah, it's kind of my mantra around here. Jim Laird apparently is such a believer in that philosophy that he tells people to fix things in the order of: stress, then sleep, then food, and only *then* exercise. (And yeah, where have you heard *that* before?) In other words, his clients have to earn the right to work out. He might start someone out with a meditation and sleep protocol, then fix their food, and only start training them after two (or more) months of those other "repairs."

It's all about health and longevity for most of us, folks. And even you sports-specific athletes need to train cyclically so you don't grind your considerable talents into a nub.

If you have any interest in health/longevity-based fitness, you should listen to this episode. It's good stuff, and, unlike me, these guys are actually certified to give you these kinds of tips. Ha. Get on it.


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