In nature, out in the wild, animals who are overweight (unfit) are not tolerated, and obesity just can’t happen. If an antelope for example, gains a few extra pounds, he gets one step slower and becomes easy prey for Mamma lion. If Mamma lion picks up a few extra pounds, she won’t catch up to the antelope. As the result she’ll naturally miss a few meals, eventually sheds the excess weight, and she’ll be back in the hunt.
Moving a little closer to home, if a squirrel picks up extra weight, he’ll be unable to climb trees or leap from limb to limb with total abandon. He may even miss, fall, and become a tasty treat for the local cat. And if a robin in your backyard picks up a little extra luggage, she’ll have a harder time getting off the ground and into flight. At that point the local cat might just make a meal out of her as well.
I could go on and on here, but I’m sure you see the point that, out in the wild (even the suburban wilderness), where survival depends on an animal’s ability to avoid a predator, or a predator’s ability to catch up to its prey, there’s simply zero tolerance for excess body weight if an animal wants to continue breathing.
The Lone Exception to Mother Nature’s Ironclad Rule
The only instance in with Mother Nature temporarily tolerates excess weight is in animals that hibernate for a certain period of the year. The bear for example, is an animal who, before going into hibernation takes on extra calories, packs on an extra layer of fat, and then he goes to sleep for several months, eating nothing. He’s effectively living off of the stored fat in his system. But when he awakes in the spring, the excess weight will be gone, and he’s back in the position of having to earn his daily meals by catching up with his prey every day, and his excess weight will be gone for the season.
Obesity and Domestication
Other than that, excess weight is found only in domesticated animals. That is to say you’ll find fat pigs, and hefty heifers out on the farm. You’ll see fat dogs and occasionally even fat cats who have become so domesticated and dependent on their human masters that they’ve fattened up to the point of being physically incapable of surviving in the wild. Animals that don’t have to physically earn their daily bread, or physically avoid being turned into someone else’s daily bread, have the option of becoming overweight. But any animal that has to catch his prey, or run from a predator, can ill afford the luxury of being overweight.
And What About Our Closest Ancestor?
Before moving on to the domesticated human species let’s take a quick look at man’s closest cousin, the monkey (or the gorilla). In fact let me ask, can you even imagine seeing a fat monkey or gorilla out in the wild? If a monkey gains much weight, climbing trees with the greatest of ease, and swinging from limb to limb Tarzan style, becomes a physical impossibility. The result? No fat monkeys in the jungle!
What Can We Learn From Mother Nature?
So Mother Nature basically defines fitness (or the lack of it) in functional terms, not in cosmetic terms. That is to say, she wants to know what you can do with your body, not what do you look like? On the other hand it’s also no secret that there’s a definite sense of beauty found in a well developed, fully functioning, and confident human physique, and in many cultures, including the ancient Greeks, they celebrated it.
But in nature it’s function first and beauty second, not the other way around. With all that said, let’s ask what can modern, domesticated man learn from Mother Nature, and how can we apply this knowledge to the childhood obesity epidemic sitting out on our front doorstep? Let’s talk about that right now.
The Peace Corps’ Solution To Obesity
In light of our previous comments about Mother Nature and her intolerance for obesity at almost any level, one solution to the obesity problem would be to chuck the modern lifestyle that encourages poor eating habits and inactivity, and go back into the wild. It’s not as if that has not been done before. Certain kinds of scientists do it on a regular basis in order to study nature in various ways.
I have a good friend who volunteered for the Peace Corps and served a year in Africa (Gambia to be precise) and he confirmed that overeating and lack of physical exercise are non-existent in the Gambian tribal cultures where he lived for a year. This guy, by the way was trim when he left, and even trimmer when he came back. There are also missionaries who represent various church groups who go into the third world, and who actually benefit physically from the lack of junk food and television sets.
Answer This Simple Question
But presuming that you’re not an Indiana Jones kind of scientist, or that you’re not the missionary type, and the Peace Corps just doesn’t fit into the schedule right now, what are your naturalistic options here in domestic captivity? In order to best answer that question let me pose another question. How many activities can you make the following statement about? I CAN’T BE OVERWEIGHT AS LONG AS I CAN STILL DO ____________________! Use your imagination and see what you can come up with.
Three Easy To See Examples…
There are lots of answers to that question. How about running fast or running long? I mean people who are overweight can’t run fast or long right? Let’s test the statement and see if it makes sense? I can’t be overweight as long as I can still run fast or run long. Does that work for you? It sure does for me. Let’s try another one.
How about jumping high or long? I know people who can get way off the floor on a vertical jump test. These same people can jump lengthwise as well. But those who can perform these feats are definitely not overweight. So here we go again…I can’t be overweight as long as I can still jump high or jump long. Another winner, right?
Let’s try one more to make sure we have it straight. How about climbing on climbing walls, or on the sides of mountains? I’ve seen lots of photos of climbers and I’ve never seen one who’s carrying any excess weight. So, I can’t be overweight as long as I can still climb the wall or the mountain. That’s one more in the winner’s circle, right?
So what kinds of conclusions can we draw from these observations that are pertinent to the childhood obesity issue? Would you agree with me if I said “if a child learns to run fast or long, climb a wall or the side of a mountain, or jump high or long, you can safely bet on the fact that they will not be overweight?” It’s really quite simple. Where you have functional ability, whether it’s in the wilds of darkest Africa or in the suburbs of Chicago, you will find no instances of overweight/obesity.
But My Kid’s A Musician Not An Athlete…
But you say “Wait a minute. What if I live in the city and my children don’t have the time, the opportunity, or the desire to learn to run, jump, or climb? What if my kids are more into music or drama or academics? Aren’t there any naturalistic, functional options for them to choose from?” The answer is…there sure are. Let’s have a look.
Dips On The Parallel Or Monkey Bars
Dips are an exercise performed on parallel bars or monkey bars in which the participant starts in the up position (graphic A), lower yourself down into the down position (graphic B), and then push yourself back up again. The exercise works the chest and the triceps primarily, and it’s most often seen in gymnastic oriented activities. Dips are an exercise in which the entire body weight is the resistance factor and if you can do any of them the odds of being overweight are very minimal.
Dips, like all body weight exercises, pay for fat loss and for strength (muscle) gain. That means that if you improve your ability to do dips, you’re either losing fat, gaining muscle, or both. Which is just another way of saying your body composition is improving and your percentage of body fat is going down. So let’s give dips our little test right now. I can’t be overweight if I can still do dips. This one works for me.
Hand Stand Push Ups
Another good example is an exercise known as handstand push ups. As the name indicates, in this exercise you flip upside down and stand on your hands instead of your feet, and balance yourself. Then you lower yourself down, touch your nose to the floor, and push yourself back up into the starting position. (see the graphics)
The one factor that comes into play for this exercise is balance. You can be strong and lean, and have a poor sense of balance which undermines your ability to perform hand stand push ups. But other than that, the scenario works. This exercise pays for any performer to lose fat, gain strength, for body composition improvement, and a reduction in percentage of body fat. Shall we try our test? I can’t be overweight as long as I can still do hand stand push ups. Absolutely true, right? It works once again.
Superman Push Ups
The third example I’d like to talk about is called the Superman Push Up, because when the participant is doing the exercise they look like Superman flying over Metropolis looking for Lex Luthor or some other super villain doing bad things to good people. All that aside, the participant performs this exercise with an exercise wheel in hand, starting in what is the conventional push up position. They roll the wheel out until they’re stretched out (graphics) in the Superman position, and then roll back up into the starting position.
This exercise is very challenging to the core muscles (the abdominals and the lower back) and if done wrong it can cause lower back problems. However it definitely pays the participant to lose fat, gain strength, improve body composition, and reduce your percentage of body fat. As for the test, let’s give it a try. If I can still do Superman Push Ups, I can’t be overweight. Yep, that works again, doesn’t it?
Sissy Squats
Sissy squats are basically leg extensions that use the participant’s own body weight as the resistance. Blocking off the front of the ankles and the back of the knees, you lower yourself backwards until your thighs are parallel with the ground. If you bend at the waist this exercise is much easier than if you remain straight from the knees up…in other words if you avoid bending at the waist.
Sissy squats isolate the quadriceps and they pay for fat loss, strength gain, improved body composition, and reduced percentage of body fat. In other words sissy squats are not really for sissies, and if I can still do the most difficult variety of sissy squats, I can’t be overweight? That’s absolutely true.
Rope Climbing
The fourth example I want to talk about is Rope Climbing. If you’re in school you may have seen this done in the recent past. If you’re out of school you may have to recollect your days in gym class. Either way, if you can start at the bottom, climb to the top, and let yourself back down under control (avoiding a roper burn, which is the potential negative factor with this one), that’s a pretty darn good trick.
The rope pays for fat loss, strength gain, improved body composition, and reduced percentage of body fat. And I can’t be overweight as long as I can still climb a rope. The statement is absolutely true then about rope climbing, sissy squats, Superman push ups, hand stand push ups, and dips. If you can do any one of them, and maintain the ability, you are not now, and you never will be overweight. Now there’s an interesting thought in the midst of an obesity epidemic, wouldn’t you agree?
Any One of These Will Work For Any Body
I’m here to say that any one of these exercises, alone and by themselves, could serve as a functional antidote to childhood obesity, adolescent obesity, and adult obesity without a pill, without a health club membership, without a degree in Physical Education, and with hardly any time or expense to speak of. It’s perfect for students who are into music, debate, art, and drama instead of sports and athletics. And they’re all natural, something that Mother Nature might expect of her own animal population out in the wild.
And Then There Are Pull Ups
Are there any other exercises that would immunize and vaccinate any human being, including all children, against being overweight? You could discover more if you really put your mind to it. But there’s one more in particular that I want to mention because for my money it’s the best example. But you’re going to have to move on to the next chapter to discover everything I want to tell you about a wonderful little exercise called PULL UPS. So simple. So cost effective. So space and time effective that the only explanation they require is…if you can do them you can’t be obese, period.
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