My Primal Journey

I’ve been passionate about getting an amazing body pretty much since I saw Daniel Craig in Casino Royale. I know it’s pretty cheesy but sometimes we can draw inspiration from the most unusual things.

Since then I’d subscribed to Men’s Health for a while, tried various “muscle building workouts”, trained at a white collar boxing gym, wasted countless amounts of money on supplements that promised the earth but delivered little and read everything that I thought was possible about my diet.

The result? A broken nose, love handles, a chubby belly and no muscle definition!

Role Models

I decided to enlist the help of Keris Marsden and Matt Whitmore, the nutrition and fitness Jedi’s of Fitter London.

I needed experts “who had been there and done it” to help me overcome my major stumbling block... big muscles, or lack of! Keris told me to keep a diary for 2 weeks and here is a sample of what I ate:

6:00 Alpen with All Bran topped with walnuts, Yeo Valley strawberry yoghurt, whole milk, cup of tea (with whole milk).

8:00 Post-workout shake (2 scoops of whey protein with fine oats).

10:45 Banana.

11:00 Coffee (with whole milk).

2:00 Tinned tuna mixed with olive oil, olives, orange pepper, tomato, basil, mushroom, watercress, rocket, spinach in 2 Food Doctor bagels.

14:00 Almond & yoghurt Eat Natural Bar.

16:30 Protein Shake.

18:30 Satsuma.

19:10 Salmon, Greek salad, roasted new potatoes, 250ml fresh orange.

Not bad as standard nutrition advice goes but this wasn’t giving me my desired results. My diet was the same every day and lacked variety. Keris explained that she would use the “BioSignature Modulation method” to help me achieve my goals. The what?! It all sounded very complicated but I had an open mind.

BioSignature Modulation

Keris explained that the world-renowned strength coach Charles Poliquin developed BioSignature Modulation in the last 20 years. His theory is that a persons hormonal profile is indicated by where they store body fat and by modulating hormones through exercise, nutrition and supplementation I could decrease body fat from specific areas. I’d kind of resigned myself to a life of skinny arms and a chubby belly so this was music to my ears.

The Process

Keris took a 12 site skin fold body fat test and analysed the results. These were quite shocking for me. My body fat was 23.7% and the priority sites on my body were the “Umbilical” and “Suprailiac” areas. What did all of this mean?! Well my love handles and chubby belly were an indication of poor blood sugar management, too many carbs and a stressful lifestyle.

I knew where this came from. I’ve always eaten heavy sugary breakfasts such as porridge with honey or muesli. Plus I loved dairy and eating bread (whole wheat of course). Oh and 12 hours a day in the office with unpredictable hours wasn’t helping.

The Paleo Solution

Keris explained that I needed to get my body fat down to 10% to build up muscle definition. Losing weight to build muscle went against everything that I had read BUT the previous way of doing things had not worked.

I was prescribed a basic supplement cycle to start balancing my blood sugar levels and get my diet as clean as possible. The diet was “Paleo” and I had to follow a strict version of it for two weeks.

Paleo is based on a primal or hunter/gatherer lifestyle. Our ancestors did not eat vegetables that were sprayed with chemicals or life stock that was pumped with growth hormones and fed with crap. As Poliquin says, “if it’s not green, or you can’t kill it with a spear, then don’t eat it.”

The rules given to me were:
1. All the non starchy vegetables you can eat.
2. All the lean meat (organic), fish and seafood (wild, not farmed) you can eat.
3. No refined carbohydrates/cereals.
4. No processed food: cereal, crisps, chocolate, biscuits, cakes, etc.
5. No dairy products.
6. No legumes (including peanuts)
7. 2 – 3 litres of water per day.
8. 8-9 hours sleep each night.

I also had to cut out caffeine. This was going to be tough. Caffeine, sugar and carbs are the staple diet for most office jobs!

However these strict rules were vital in making a difference to the effectiveness of the supplements and lean my body down. It would also ensure that I absorbed the maximum nutrients from my food and not waste energy processing grains and dairy like before (which were heavy on the digestive system).

Train Like a Caveman

The exercise regime prescribed by Matt would be intense, short and varied. A bit like how our ancestors used to train when they were hunting for food or escaping from lions and bears.

Train With Me

I’ll be making more posts about my “primal journey” and record how well I keep to the diet, supplements and exercise. I’m writing these posts because I like the idea of having accountability towards Matt, Keris and my Fitter London peers.



I don’t know how long the journey will take, but I’m aiming to torch my belly and love handles within 4 weeks. After that, serious muscle building and getting an amazing body is on the agenda.

In the next post...

I will report on my first two weeks of living like a caveman, let you in on the killer exercise regime prescribed by Matt and reveal my all important measurements after two weeks of eating Paleo.