The Paleo Manifesto: Ancient Wisdom For Lifelong Health by John Durant

Author:John Durant [Durant, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780307889195
Amazon: B0083DJU7A
Barnesnoble: B0083DJU7A
Goodreads: 13642129
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2013-09-17T05:00:00+00:00

BEYOND MOTIVATION, where is fitness headed? What is the future of the gym?

A hint lies in a seemingly unlikely place: the playground.

There has always been a certain wildness to children at play. Kids don’t run at a steady pace on a treadmill; they sprint, pivot, and dodge during a game of tag. They are born with an instinct to run, wrestle, roughhouse, climb, crawl, and jump. Kids have to be taught how to play sports; they don’t have to be taught how to play.

Humans are not the only species in which the juveniles play. Lion cubs pounce and wrestle, and baby antelope run away from each other and kick. Playtime isn’t a frivolous pursuit at all but actually has an important biological function. It’s an adaptive behavior to prepare juveniles for the challenges of adulthood. Play is a way to practice essential survival skills.

Different species face different survival challenges and, unsurprisingly, there are different types of play. Predatory play (such as pouncing, nipping, or pawing) is found among predator species like felines, canines, and otters. Locomotor play (such as running, leaping, or kicking) is observed in prey species like horses, zebras, and goats. Object play (such as grasping, holding, or throwing) is seen in humans, as well as chimpanzees. Social play (make-believe, mock aggression, or playing at being adults) is also seen in human beings, who have complex social lives and depend heavily on learning local culture.

Play is skill development, and skill development requires neurological wiring—not simply raw aerobic capacity or muscle strength. That takes time, practice, and focus.

Hunting an antelope isn’t easy. Though cheetah cubs will grow up to become the fastest animals on land, they still need to practice for years before they become successful hunters. Biologist Dr. Tim Caro documented how cheetah cubs practice on actual prey. Initially, the mother cheetah will bring back dead hares and gazelles, and the cheetah cubs will pounce on them. Over time, the mother will bring back wounded animals, which the cubs will chase and attempt to kill. When the prey (almost inevitably) gets away, the mother will go catch it and bring it back again. This may continue a few times before the mother finally kills the prey. Occasionally the prey escapes entirely, which underscores the importance of practice—the benefits of play are worth the risk of losing dinner.

Zoos have learned the hard way that skill development is essential to successfully reintroducing animals into the wild. The wild population of golden lion tamarins, a beautiful monkey native to Brazil, had declined to just a few hundred individuals. In the 1980s, conservation efforts at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., led to a re-introduction program: captive-born tamarins would be raised at the zoo, trained for the wild, and then flown to Brazil and released.

At the National Zoo the tamarins were split into two groups. A free-ranging group was given access to zoo grounds. With that came exposure to natural surfaces, aerial predators, and weather conditions. A captive group remained in their

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