Training the Modern Hunter-Gatherer

I've done more Gathering than Hunting

It’s no secret that our caveman ancestors must have done a few things right.  After all, they allowed more than 99% of their genes to be successfully passed along to modern man.  Their lifestyle formed the basis for our current genetic blueprint; one that was  adapted for diet, activities and environmental conditions that existed for hundreds of thousands of years.

If you find yourself pondering all things paleo, it’s because we are perfectly adapted for life as a hunter-gatherer. Social anthropologists and other researchers see a strong link between modern-day ills such as heat disease, diabetes, obesity and cancer, and our current  processed food diet and rat-race lifestyle.  As a result, much has been written about the benefits of following a paleo diet (meat, fish, nuts, seeds, vegetables, roots, limited fruits) and some authors such as Mark Sisson have been blogging about living modern-day primal lifestyles.  It seems our bodies thrive when subjected to the conditions that allowed our genes to successfully reproduce and evolve over the past hundred thousand years or so.

So how can we achieve optimum Pleistocene-era lifestyles in the modern world?  One can certainly avoid eating grains and limit dairy and focus on eating whole natural foods.  It’s not difficult to be active, go for long walks and lift weights.  We can all do some intense, but short workouts to challenge our hearts, muscles and lungs (our ancestors may have had the original life of leisure, but they still had to occasionally run or fight for their very lives).  We can even strive for more sleep and greater social interaction and play.  But it is difficult to completely escape our modern-day ‘zoo’, where people are chained by work environments, financial obligations, and artificial surroundings.

Personally, I’ve decided to see what it’s like to really escape – at least for one whole week.  On August 18th, I will be spending a week with Frenchman Erwan Le Corre in Summersville Lake, West Virginia to learn how to move and train outdoors in a natural setting.  Just as our ancestors had to track and hunt game, gather wild plants, carry children, move camp, run from predators and occasionally fight, Erwan’s techniques involve walking, running, jumping, balancing, moving on all fours, climbing, lifting, carrying, throwing, catching, swimming and defending.  No shoes or socks.  No high-tech “wicking” fabrics.  No pec deck or cable-crossover station.  No Wii-fit or elliptical machine.  Rather, Erwan focuses on natural “prehistoric” movements, in harmony with nature, all with the goal of empowering people to be strong, happy, healthy and free.

Erwan calls his system “MovNat“. I have to admit that I’m both apprehensive about the MovNat challenge facing me, and also hugely excited.  This is Erwan’s first North-American seminar, and I’ve feeling very lucky to be one of the few people who have the opportunity to work with him.

I wonder how hot and humid West Virginia is in mid-August?  No matter – its time to get tough!

Check out Erwan’s inspiring training in the video below:

Tags: Erwan Le Corre, MovNat, paleo, training