After searching for something new the last couple of months, I have decided to try an extended recovery version of Body By Science this summer. I plan on doing a handful of resistance exercises, focusing on the deadlift, on an infrequent basis with metabolic conditioning interspersed between.
I haven't figured out all the details yet. I would also like to incorporate some Paleolithic exercise-type thinking in the routine as well. For example, let's say in a hunter-gatherer environment that a person was subjected to something resembling a high-intensity strength training session every few weeks. What type of other activities were performed during this time interval? It's not like a hunter-gatherer could "make a living" exercising intensely every few weeks.
This leads to the metabolic conditioning that Doug talked about. From other research, we know that hunter-gatherers hunted 1 to 4 nonconsecutive days per week. It is likely that these hunting efforts kept hunters at a high level of metabolic fitness. But what type of modern exercises approximate these hunting efforts (besides walking)? Sprints? Lighter weightlifting? Or both?
Further, if sprints are involved, will the 30-second sprints with long rests work to maintain metabolic fitness? Or is something with short rest periods like Tabata needed? Lots of questions.
