300 Second Interview: Mark Sisson (Primal Blueprint)
Mark Sisson
Primal because it’s based on evolutionary science and recognizes that we are hunter-gatherers in jeans and Nikes; Blueprint because it offers a road map for living the healthiest, leanest, fittest possible life, with the least amount of pain, suffering, deprivation and confusion.
What does fitness mean to you?
If you could pick only ONE of the laws of the Primal Blueprint, to follow what would it be?
Law 2 “Avoid poisonous things”
Activity tends to be under-rated. Why do you think this is?
We have no real reason to move. Cars and planes take us where we need to go, shelter is always available, entertainment is such that we can sit for hours glued to a small screen. We have invented ourselves into a corner; now we need to invent reasons to move.
What is your favourite activity?
Stand-up paddling. I can go for two hours and never really feel like I’m working out.
What is your least favourite activity?
Distance running. And it used to be my job!
What is one of your main concerns in relation to public health?
Hyperglycemia – the presence of higher-than-healthy levels of sugar in the blood. This one condition might be the cause of (or at least may be involved in) most diseases of civilization.
What are you reading at the moment?
“Mean Genes” by Burnham and Phelan, which looks at how some of our modern self-destructive behaviors are actually manifestations of gene-based survival strategies.
What part of history (or pre-history) would you most like to visit?
I’d love to go back to around 10,000 years ago and help a tribe bag a mammoth.
Primal Fitness has gained momentum of late, why do you think this is?
Once people get the basic concept behind the Primal Blueprint, many other aspects of their life seem to fall into place for them. Primal Fitness suggests that we don’t need to be doing tons of cardio to stay fit and that one sprint session and a few short body-weight HIIT workouts a week will provide more than ample strength and cardiovascular fitness.
What has been your biggest U-turn since your days doing "chronic cardio"?
Understanding that all exercise is about movement – not about burning calories. The whole fat-burning thing happens as a result of the diet – not the exercise.
Lesser of two evils - grains or sugars?
It would be a tie, but grains edge sugars out with their anti-nutrients.
What do you think of the term "compression of morbidity"?
It’s how I live my life. Stay healthy for as long as possible and then to die quickly (and without suffering).
Of the 10 laws of the Primal Blueprint what is closest to becoming conventional wisdom in the near future?
Probably “Get adequate sleep.”