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Host Brad Kearns dusts off the age-old dilemma for endurance athletes: the relative benefits and contribution of intense efforts versus a commitment to aerobic base building to deliver best results. Brad reflects on his recent show with Dave Scott, where Dave advocated frequent brief, high intensity bursts during endurance workouts to flush the cardiovascular system and deliver rapid fitness improvements. Brad stacks this insight against Dr. Maffetone’s extensive commentary in the Primal Endurance Mastery Course videos that there is a stress impact of every workout and that pursuing modern endurance goals is generally antithetical to health. Brad mentions his own experimentation with intuitive, very short duration bursts of high intensity effort, such as banging out 100 Decline Spiderman pushups every time he visits a certain dog park, and the idea that keeping things brief can prevent that breakdown and delayed recovery time from a grueling high intensity workout.  

Brad also tackles a few listener questions in this show, relating to tapering (reduce volume, maintain intensity), applying the Primal Endurance principles to team sports, and finally a success story from Suzanne where she improved her ironman time by FOUR hours following Primal Endurance principles. Enjoy!

How to reconcile the emphasis on aerobic base with Dave Scott’s suggestion to include brief bouts of high intensity efforts frequently? [00:01:50] 

Todd from Australia asks about having not much time to workout so when he does, his heart rate it elevated above aerobic maximum. He asks about training volume and time frames. [00:13:23] 

Peter is a marathoner but wonders about tapering: the proper pre-race preparations like nutrition and workouts. [00:18:26] 

A soccer referee asks: How does his situation of running, jogging, sprinting, and running backwards etc. fit with primal endurance framework?  [00:22:07] 

Suzanne is wondering about her recovery after Ironman Nice where simply changing her nutrition and following Primal Endurance improved her time. [00:27:43] 

Links to publish with this show

Dave Scott Episode 119

Primal Endurance Mastery Course

Decline Spiderman pushups

Brad’s Morning Exercise Routine

Check out this episode!