Modern Primal: How the Same Disciplines That Build Your Body Can Build Your Life

🎙️ Episode Overview – “Laying Down the Law” (Primal AF Podcast)

📍 Topic: A raw, no-BS reset on the Primal AF lifestyle—why we exist, where we’re going, and what laws we live by.
🔥 Vibe: If you’ve ever felt flat, restless, or out of sync with what you’re meant for—this one’s for you.
👣 Mission: This isn't just fitness. This is about rebellion. About presence. About leading your tribe with intention.
🎯 Core Message: You were built to protect, hunt, create, adapt. And when you stop doing that—you suffer.

⚔️ The 8 Primal AF Laws (Modern Blueprint Edition)

1. Move with Purpose
   • Every day. Barefoot walks. No phones. Just movement and presence. Dopamine + connection = momentum.
2. Lift Heavy Things—Physically & Emotionally
   • Not about burnout. About discomfort. About preparing for the invisible weight: fatherhood, marriage, leadership.
3. Sprint Occasionally
   • Once a week. Short bursts. Fast twitch. Testosterone spike. And staying faster than your kids—forever.
4. Eat Real Food
   • Ditch processed poison. Stick to the perimeter. Grass-fed, pasture-raised. Get strong from the inside out.
5. Sleep Like It’s Your Job
   • 7+ hours. Deep sleep = testosterone production. Ditch blue light, wind down, and own your morning.
6. Play Without Apology
   • Tag. Pillow fights. Monkey bars. Roam barefoot. Stay wild. Build the reflexes that aging tries to steal.
7. Avoid Stupid Sh*t
   • Bars, drama, seed oils, and self-sabotage. Think like a modern-day hunter. Stay sharp. Stay alive.
8. Get Sunlight Every Damn Day
   • Morning sun on skin = better sleep, more energy. Nature made us. Let her charge you.

Primal AF on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/65yvHgIQThWFTnSIjKVr4U?si=0035234e4a004d86

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Transcript

Jimmy: 0:06

What's up fam? Your boy is back. We're back in it. I had to lay down. I have to lay down the law a little bit. So today what I wanna do is recap, recap almost the purpose of primal a F and where it's heading, why it's important. But thank you. It's been a while. I got some cool things coming up. Uh, racing, having a weekend over in Charlotte at the end of May. And let's see, uh, we got a big one in West Virginia. There's a bunch of Primals coming outta West Virginia. Uh, Matt Roberts is making a showing. He is the one that got me started on the Primal Journey. Let's see you heading over and having a weekend. A pri, another prime of weekend up in Boston with Jack Coats. So I'll post some of that stuff, but let's get into it because where we're at now and where we used to be, it's just different. And depending on where you are in your jour journey, if you just started or you're in it for a while, it's. It's different. Like there's a moment in, I know my life where success, it just started to feel off, uh, lack of alignment. Um, it's just, just flat and it's not because of I was lost. But, you know, we carry a lot. I mean, especially men, is, you know, we've got our house, we got our kids, we're over 30. Um, we have our, our jobs and just like, just kind of feel maybe restless. So I'm like, is this a midlife crisis? I mean, is it kind of, is it kind of early? I'm 42. But I think it's more a psychological reality. It's like our bodies were designed for more and we know it because if you, if you don't keep anybody growing and moving, um, then I. I mean, we're gonna just get depressed if we're just sitting around. We need a purpose. Our bodies were designed primally to, to hunt, move, protect, create, adapt. So when those instincts go silent, I mean, we could lose some skill. And I think this whole movement is just about keeping that, like even Harvard and Stanford. They show what ancient hunters and gatherers and warrior warriors knew intuitively. Its testosterone declines when movement and challenges and risks if they're removed. And here in the modern age, we're full of easy comforts. And I think Gary Breck is, I think he, he at least coined it. On, on saying aging is the constant pursuit of comfort. So what we have here is, yes, there's fitness that is aligned with Primal, but primal AF is not a fitness program. It's not a nutrition program. It is a lifestyle that we embody. Think of it more as a rebellion, and you're seeing it now. They're taking out more and more process things, but the consistency is for primal af. It's more modernized for people who lead families and they just lead other people and they wanna impact others. So if you wanna, you wanna just skip to the end? TLDR you were built for open things, cold plunges, hill sprints, presence with fam. Um, and how about we just build a lifestyle around it? So there's going to be eight primal laws that Mark Sisson came up with. And these are a little bit more modernized, but there's eight, and the first one is movement Moving with purpose. I. Essentially leading with presence. So one is move with purpose, and I'll tell you some of my favorite times in the day is really welcome my boys to school because I'm well one barefoot. I think some people recognize that and. It's, it's a cool, like one-on-one time and it's consistent and it's every day. And sometimes there's silence and sometimes we talk about funny things. Sometimes we talk about a struggle, but there's no phone, there's no plan. It's just movement. Oh, and mostly there's like a dog or two. We got Jacob the juice, and sometimes Jazzy comes along and it's not just about the bonding. I mean, there's neural attunement, so when we move with purpose, our brain flood floods with dopamine and norepinephrine, and sometimes we don't know what it means. And sometimes it feels good, sometimes it feels bad. But these chemicals are tied to connection and learning and leadership, and I think it's just all important for. For us to just have a purpose. I think that's number one. And it starts with movement. So number two is lift something heavy, both physical and emotional. So when we're in the house of Gaines behind me, or we're outside running. Yeah, we're chasing after something hard or we have intuitive built training sessions where you don't just crush it every single day. It's not like a, it's not like a hard ass exercise and training session where you're just leave crawling every day. I mean, that's how, that's how I got injured at first. It's about consistency, but also making yourself uncomfortable. I mean, because we could throw on two plates and lift the visible, but sometimes what you're doing in the training is helping you outside of training and lifting the invisible, like the responsibilities, the partnerships that you have, the fatherhood. I mean, again, having a deep purpose rooted here helps streamline other choices throughout the day. Especially if we're looking for gains and, and getting better, that means we have to say no to a lot. So if I wanted to have a good training session tomorrow, I have to say no to just poisonous foods and alcohol and things that. Wouldn't serve me at the same time, those same disciplines I could carry on into trying to be the best father I can. Trying to be the best husband that I can. Uh, trying to be the best leader in and out of the community at work. Also, cool thing is look a little bit better at the beach with your shirt off. Alright, number three. This is a pretty cool one and it's more in line with. What I love about Primal af, it's like playing. When's the last time you sprinted at anything or from something? Like, think about it. We could go hard, but we also have to have some strategies to know when. So sprinting once a week can help boost metabolism, can drive up testosterone. All of these good things just from a, a quick sprint session, you know, three to five minutes in between, make sure that you're recovering all the way. Um, you rest, you train, recover. So it's just principles in and off, either the woods or Trek. Just know when to go. You have to do it. To be successful, you're gonna have to go fast somewhere. Because I know for me, mooch, who's 11 right now, turning 12 and B two, they're getting fast. I don't want to be 50 years old and having them beat me in a race. No, I'm training so I could still still roll with them when they're 18, but number four, eat real Whole Foods. This is, it's very trendy right now, and it's almost like going back to the basics is, is cool again. Um, I wonder if like, spandex is gonna be cool again. I mean, I don't wear spandex, I wear short shorts and I get made fun of it from it, from my wife, but it's all good. But, um, real food. So the easiest way to do this. Is getting rid of the poisons that are inside of your house, like the seed oils and some of the junk food, the processed stuff. And when you go shopping, uh, it's good to go into a market or a food store at least one time just to see the outside. The outside only. That's where all of the stuff that you're going to get. Um, aim for. Organic pasture, raised, grass fed. Sometimes we gotta make do, but. Having these in your tool bag as, no, I'm not gonna call it a game changer because we shouldn't have changed the game in the first place, but as a tool for high performance and people find different, different variations of where you know your proteins are and your fats and your carbs and what carbs and when all of the timing is great. But the hardest challenge is just making the first step. Okay. Number five. I take sleeping as a training session almost. I do it nightly. I track it. Um. Sleeping and recovery there. I mean, they're two different things. You have your sleep and then you have your recovery. They both pretty much go hand in hand, but to win the next day, this is such an underrated tool and how to go to sleep and when to go to sleep, how long to go to sleep. Um, biologically testosterone is made in deep sleep, so the idea is. Getting rid of the cortisol spikes, which inhibits things like libido, focus, patience. So where cortisol is really good and really helpful, there's times for it, right? And it's not at 10 o'clock at night. I mean, one of the easiest. Hacks I've seen is just getting rid of blue light a an hour, hour and a half before you go to bed. Um, it's hard for me and sometimes I get more than I should. I. And, you know, I'm not perfect in all or any of these, but it's just simple habits and seeing where you are. I fall asleep very easily. Um, Erica actually gets kind of frustrated with me. I, it might take me about six and a half, seven minutes soon as my head hits the pillow and I'm out. Um, but the goal is always, always, always over seven hours. Um, and then listening intuitively to what my body needs. I do track it. I. But also I use that as more validation. I'll go off of what I feel intuitively more than I will off of my whoop. The sixth one is probably my favorite one, and it's all about play. Play without apology. Like when's the last time I have kids? So I use them at all. But when's the last time, like you wrestled around and you know, playfully like ran around, played tag, went to monkey bars. Just like you were just unscripted. Some of these things are, I mean, you guys have seen the row flow that I do. It's, um, motor coordination. It's like bonding with, you know, with nature. It's a form of meditation. It's easy on the joints. Uh, it's a way that I like to go out and quote unquote play, but it's also. Finding something or someone to run around with. Kick a soccer ball, go for a walk, uh, go for a barefoot walk. Um, throw a football. I mean, have a pillow, fight something. Guys, we need this more than anything. And it helps. It helps a lot. It helps release, you know, a cortisol. Yeah, but it's also just like a really easy low key skill building session too. I mean, the harder that we play, the more that we're training our fast twitch muscle fibers, uh, in a reaction period. I mean, the reason that very, very elderly people trip and fall sometimes is because their reaction time is a little bit slower than it used to be, and it's hard to catch up with that. So the more that we could keep running around and playing at a, just like a low level, at least, the more fun that we'll have anyway. All right, number seven, stay away from stupid shit. Um, I talk to, I talk to even younger guys, uh, that I mentor often and. Oftentimes, especially at a, at a younger age, you know, alcohol and bars are, and that kind of a scene is, is very prevalent. And to take it from me, um, I lived this where you could be like the nicest person ever. The more alcohol that you put into the environment, the bigger chance there is for something bad to happen. And number seven is, is really about staying away from environmental, stupid shit back in the day, hunter hunters and gatherers, if you fucked around with a saber tooth line, your ass wasn't gonna make it out. Probably from to see the end of that one. But modernly, this is also things like texting and driving, which I am also guilty of, and I try really hard. To, to do like a hands free or something more physiologically though this also means staying away from stupid shit like seed oils. Uh, these things are the seed oils that are processed and essentially causing cancer because of like how they're made and the things that they have to do when bleaching. Uh, a seed oil. What's, I mean, seed oils aren't bad. I guess initially I haven't done that much research on it, but I just know that nothing on earth is made to withstand 450 degree temperatures, and then being refined and having eaches put in them, like, none of this stuff could be good for you. This also goes in line with. One of the other Blue blueprint laws in just using your brain. So conversely, I mean, as hard as we train or as consistent as we train our body, we also have to train cognitively. And this forges us. Through hard and difficult times, and I'm not saying the more that you train your brain, the easier shit that sucks will be because I don't think that's the case. I think it's more coping skills and frameworks that we could use once we know more about ourselves. I mean, I've probably egotistically said that, well, I wasn't afraid of anything. I could walk that back confidently say, that's not fucking true. Because I'm a recovering people pleaser. I don't like to be left alone because, uh, what that means for me is I get kicked outta the tribe. I'm by myself. Something happens. I won't be able to protect myself, protect myself, and then I die. Now, highly unlikely, highly unreasonable, but that's where the fear comes in. But if I have a framework to help me, I. Get over that. It could make my decisions for the future a little bit more strategic and a little bit more clear, especially if I know where I'm going. The last one is really about getting sunlight on your skin as much as you can. I mean, don't get burnt. I mean, that's probably the, the limit there. Um, when you start getting red, that's probably the limit that you could withhold. Um, I know there's a lot of, um, you know, pharmaceutical companies and there's a lot of research out there saying that the sun is bad and every time you go outside, uh, it'll kill you. But it's also. Everything in moderation, right? I'm not saying go out on a a hundred degree day with a UV index way up there and, um, put yourself in coconut oil like I do. Um, you know, everything in moderation. But I mean, think about it. The sun is, is a living force. And it's there to help us survive. It feeds us. It's, it gives us the vitamin D um, worst case in the scenario, if you could get eight to 10 minutes as much sunlight on your skin as possible. First thing in the morning, it's just one sleep with gratitude. And two, it just helps the circadian rhythm. But that's kind of like a recap of what we stand for, where we're going. I. Um, again, this is, it's not about perfection. It's not even about six packs. It's just showing up intentional and consistent, because the biggest framework behind this thing is how you do one thing is how you do everything. The easiest thing. That I could do when I was in a world of shit is I had one thing I could rely on. I knew I had discipline and I knew that I could do hard things in the gym, but those same disciplines, they travel across disciplines because I had to incorporate all of these laws to lose my fat and to gain strength. And to just look healthier. But these same things help me be empathetic at home, sometimes more empathetic at work, be patient as a father because I've already did something hard. I've already started my discipline. I've already started my day off with a win. But this is also about waking up to what evolution has given us and stopping things that modern life. Is trying to steal from you, like the quick dopamine fixes from YouTube, shorts and scrolling. I mean, we don't need to be harder, we just need to be clear. And that's what we're looking for with Primal af. So I'm gonna throw this across all the avenues. We're on Spotify. I throw it on Instagram usually, and I have a Facebook group. If you could join that. I had appreciate it. Thanks again guys. Prom af motherfuckers.