when an ape laughs...

what happens when we laugh?
new event for all my friends in Trieste and surroundings.
see you there!

predicting the future in the wild...

for all my friends in the trieste area...
is it possible to read natural and environmental signals to predict the future?

tastes like... untamed!

 

 

for all the friends from Trieste:
next sunday i'll hold the fifth and last meeting dedicated to sensorial rewilding.this time we'll focus on the sense of taste.
See you there!

the touch of the monkey...

 

for all the friends in the Trieste area:next sunday i'll hold the fourth meeting dedicated to the sensorial rewilding techniques. this time the main subject will be the sense of touch.

eating with our ancestors...

 

want to share a meal with our ancestors from the pre-agricoltural era and from the ancent Rome?
if you live in the Trieste area, this is for you!

so... a new book!

 

 

my new book is out! it's a sort of ideal sequel of "don't mess with a silverback" but this time the main targets are the mental and behavioral dynamics that unite us with our hairy cousins from the forest. at the moment it's available only in italian, the english version will take some more months of work.

smelling the world!

 

for all the friends in the Trieste area:
next sunday i'll hold the third meeting dedicated to the sensorial rewilding techniques.
this time the main subject will be... smelling the world around us!

foraging anyone?

 

anyone in the trieste area interested in foraging?
next sunday i'll hold a meeting dedicated to edible wild plants.
see you there!

ape hears, ape listens

 

for all the friends in the Trieste area:
next sunday i'll hold the second of five meetings dedicated to the sensorial rewilding techniques.
this time the main subject will be hearing and the way we listen to the sounds of the environment.

through the eyes of an ape

 

for all the friends in the Trieste area:
next sunday i'll hold the first of five meetings dedicated to the sensorial rewilding techniques.
this time the main subject will be our sight and the way we look at the world.

one year of no-soap bathing

 

thirty years ago, a dentist told me that using toothpaste is totally useless for oral hygiene, and that the only benefit it brings is the slight fresh sensation that we feel in the mouth for a handful of minutes. from that day on, i stopped using it.
shortly after that i went a step further and gave up shampoo, bubble bath and deodorant as well, and for years the only product i used to wash myself was marseille soap.
about one ago i a stopped using that too. to wash myself i use just water and a rough towel to rub my skin. from time to time i take also a sand bath (yes, like hens). when you stop using soap the skin needs about three weeks to reestablish its physiological pH levels. the reconstitution of the skin microbiota, which soap destroys just as antibiotics destroy our intestinal microbiota, takes about one month.
without soap the skin feels less dry, perhaps the first week i observed an increase in sebaceous secretion, but then the situation stabilized. as for smelling, i didn't notice any difference even during summer. and i work out hard every day so i sweat a lot, but i don't seem to smell more than before.
happy with the result of this experiment, i can say that the necessity of using soap is another example of universally accepted and never questioned bullshit.

the gorilla and the monk

 

when browsing amazon and looking for books, have you ever noticed that "frequently bought together" box that appears under the details section? well, i noticed that my book #DontMessWithASilverback is frequently bought together with the book of Yun Rou, a daoist monk. so i thought, what the does my book (and my views and my ethics) have in common with the one of a daoist monk? i got curious so i bought the "mad monk manifesto".
to tell you the truth, after reading the first part of the book i was quite surprised by the fact that, despite the big difference in our attitude (Yun Rou's eastern tradition and mysticism and my strictly biologic and agnostic views) the author delivers a message very similar to the one i try to deliver in "don't mess with a silverback". we both advocate veganism as an ethical choice, we both suggest reducing the impact of technology on our life and trying to live according to the laws and the rhythms of nature.
in the second part of the book the discrepancies become easier to spot. the main difference is that monk Yun Rou has an optimistic view on human nature. he exorts developing the traits that are exclusively human like spirituality, creativity and arts. on the contrary, i consider humans as primates with too much spare time but not enough intelligence to use it wisely. there are also a few things that i really don't like in "mad monk manifesto". the author condones buying and owning exotic animals as pets as long as they're born in captivity. he condones even killing feral cats if their presence alters the balance of an ecosystem, but finds unacettable sterilization. he says that during a hike in the wild he noticed an anteater "following him like a dog", but then he shot it dead when the expedition leader directed him to do so saying that he was horrified by that... but what the fuck? was he ordered to shoot it under the menace of being killed himself if he wouldn't obey?
to sum things up, did i enjoy this book? hum, no, not really. would i recommend it to someone that has already read my book? well... no. still, i bought it out of curiousity and i'm actually happy to have read it, so the next time that the "frequently bought together" amazon box pops up, i know what it's about.

pros and cons of unspecific training

 

the sun was high in the sky and a refreshing breeze was gently blowing. it was a wonderful day of late spring and i was happily pedaling uphill in one of the most enjoyable bike paths of my area. i wasn't alone, plenty of people were riding their mountain bikes. i was pushing quite hard on the cranks, but still it seemed that i was one of the slowest cyclists on the path. i looked fitter than most people around but this wasn't enough to prevent an evidently overweight guy from passing me, followed a few minutes later by a man looking like he was in his 70 or even 80.
why was i so slow? i wasn't out of breath and my legs were working properly, at least according to my feelings. the answer is quite simple, and everything became quite clear when i noticed my outfit and the one of the other cyclists: i was the only one wearing a cotton t-shirt, a normal pair of shorts and basket shoes, while all the others were parading with their technical outfit. and no, obviously it's not the difference in the outfit that was making me so slow.
the fact is that i was just a man pedaling his bike, while the others were cyclists. they were training specifically for that. i wasn't. i've always followed a workout regime that is the total opposite of specificity. following an unspecific training routine means working on all aspects of general fitness, which means cardio, strength, resistance, mobility and coordination. this routine is quite popular in the field of martial arts, where all-body functionality is crucial. still, if i wanted to improve my cycling performance i needed to revise my workout regimen, dedicating more time to specific training.
oddly, my endurance was ok, what i actually needed was working on speed and on the pedaling efficiency. i did it and it worked. nowadays i can't call myself a fast cyclist (quite the opposite to be honest), but i'm not the slowest around anymore.
but going back to that day of late summer on the bike path, i suppose that all the cyclists passing me on the bike path weren't able to do the number of pullups i do. and possibly i was quite decent as a  cyclist among the martial artists and the bodyweight athletes that usually train in the local park.
that's it... the pros and cons of unspecific training.

active recovery

 

despite the advice of many fitness experts, i do my workout 7/7 and at the same time of the day, usually starting before 5am. working out every day may seem too stressful for the body but after many years of this routine i'm used to it. what i vary on a daily basis in the intensity of the workout. usually in a week i do two low intensity workouts that often can be considered just as active recovery. they may consist in brisk nordic walking, some stairs work or a light jog, just to relax the muscles, but the most effective forms of active recovery for me are exercising on a foam roller and flowing a battle rope.
rolling on a foam roller means that you're massaging a part of the body while mildly toning another one. typically, massaging your legs rolling on the floor means that you're using your arms in a sort of hindu pushup move, while massaging your back and shoulders against a wall means that you're using your legs in a squat-like movement.
similarly, flowing a battle rope does great for the mobility of shoulders and neck while toning the arms and the core and strengthening the grip. rope-flowing is a relatively new type of fitness activity, it consists in swinging a rope keeping the extremities in your hands and, typically, moving it around your body in different circle-like movements. what you may see if you watch somebody flowing a rope is a series of tricky moves very similar to rope-jumping but without any actual jump (obviously it can be combined with rope-jumping for some added cardio training). it can be performed with a heavy battle rope (like the one in the picture) but it works great for shoulder mobility and fullbody coordination even using a regular rope.
when it comes to active recovery, both foam-rolling and rope-flowing are good choices, as they pack different benefits (in terms of coordination, conditioning and relief for muscle soreness) in the same workout. this means optimizing your time and add variety to your training. obviously these are just examples, i'm pretty sure there's a ton of different ways to combine recovery and toning, just find what works for you and what fits better in your training regimen.

nutriscore anyone?

 

usually i tend to program the posts of this blog but from time to time something new happens so i decide to cover some issues that weren't planned. this is one of these cases.
the nutriscore is not something new, but lately there has been a lot of chitchat (both online and on newspapers) on this matter, and most of the comments are, in my opinion, sorta confusing. the nutriscore is an european system that is supposed to classify foods in a traffic-light fashion according to their level of healthiness. ideally flawless. informing the consumers on the quality of the food they are going to buy with a simple system of ranking and with a clear symbol on the packaging is a great idea, as it gives the information but at the same time leaves the buyer free to decide what to eat and what to avoid. but this supposes that the given info is true and universally admitted by the scientific community.
too bad that in many cases the ranking system seems to be totally misleading. a few examples: red meat is considered dangerous (and that's obvious and universally recognized) while other types of meat and fish are considered healthy (while there are many studies clearly showing that chicken meat is often full of antibiotics and that fish is loaded with particles of plastic and heavy metals). most dairy products are considered unhealthy (and that is obvious and universally acknowledged for all dairy products), while soft drinks with artificial sweeteners are considered safe (while according to many studies they are as bad as those with added sugar). low-fat industrial snacks are considered safe while olive oil is considered unhealthy because of its caloric content (i don't use olive oil as i prefer eating olives so to get also all the other nutrients they're packed with and not only the fat, but honestly i won't say that olive oil is unsafe, especially if compared with industrial snacks). well, just considering these few examples makes clear that the nutriscore ranking system is not that reliable. but all the media coverage and the comments that are appearing almost everywhere (especially in my country) seem even more misleading. the nutriscore is considered as the result of the marketing strategies of the corporate foor industry, generating a global and inexpensive advertising campaign for their products at the expense of small-scale producers.
and i agree, there are good chances that it's true. but the fact that the nutriscore may be a big lie does not make red meat or dairy products healthy. they are still unhealthy, as are unhealthy all soft drinks, chicken meat and fish.
nowadays there is so much info (both online and offline) on the safety and healthiness of a whole food plant-based diet that there's no need and no space for both the nutriscore and the claims of the small-scale producers of meat and dairy.

unshakable awareness

 

do you remember the post on my (quite unsuccessful) experience with mindfulness meditation? well, i still suck at it but i am not a quitter and i don't give up. when something does not work in the way it's supposed to, i do what i can to find another approach to reach my goal. so i decided to have a look at some other method of meditation.
thus, looking for a book on the matter, i came across Richard L. Haigh's “unshakable awareness”. the author is an expert of samurai martial arts and japanese techniques of meditation. the form of meditation explained in this book is called total embodiment method (TEM) and its purpose is to maintain a state of meditative awareness through our daily life, whatever we're doing and wherever we are. a sort of dynamic version of the traditional meditative approach that usually requires a silent place and sitting with your eyes closed and legs crossed in eastern fashion poses. TEM should be something dedicated to active and busy people without any interest in the mystical or spiritual side of things. so i thought that it could fit my needs better and decided to give it a try. at the end of the day when it comes to meditation my main goal is rewilding my mind (making my brain work more in the way a non-human primate brain works) to manage better my mental resources, and not becoming a meditative ascetic.
the book contains a brief explication of what awareness is and of the ways our mind works, plus some examples and exercises on how to train our brain and our senses to maintain a state of constant awareness. the main concept of TEM is quite similar to the one of mindfulness meditation (being more aware of what's going on) but while mindfulness is mainly an introspective practice (focusing on our inner world, be it the rhythm of the breath or the flowing of thoughts and feelings), TEM requires expanding our attention to the outside, focusing our senses on what happens around us. the author explains this state as the condition that allowed samurais to survive all the dangers and the menaces they had to face during their duty. well, i've been surprised by the fact that some of the techniques described in the book are something that i already do and have done since childhood without any teaching... i'm talking about some easy mental games as looking for alternative exits while in a confined space or training all senses (and not only the eyes) to perceive someone approaching you from all directions. if these tricks can be considered meditative activities, then maybe i'm not that bad at them.
all in all i can say that i found this reading quite enjoyable, the biggest downside of the book is its length and its redundancies. i mean, in my opinion the same concepts could be well explained in 50 or 60 pages, and the emphasis with which the author recommends some practices (as cold showers) becomes a bit repetitive and over the top. maybe the book could be condensed in a chapter or two of the other book that Richard L. Haight wrote on a similar subject, “the warrior meditation”. but still, the excessive length and redundancy of some parts don't make it a bad book. on the contrary, i really appreciate the method and the approach proposed by the author, so Richard L. Haight's other book, “the warrior meditation”, is already on my wish list.

darebee.com

 

i'm a big fan of bodyweight exercises and working out at home without specific equipment, as it gives you the freedom of training everywhere and whenever you want. with the covid pandemic and all the fitness facilities closed, having the chance of doing complete workouts at home has became even more important and online there is a lot of info on this matter, with full lessons from personal trainers and workout videos that may inspire every stay-at-home athlete.
just a pair of weeks ago i discovered a website that really defines a new standard in the field of online fitness lessons and workouts. it's called darebee.com and it's probably the largest library on the subject of fitness and general wellness available online. and guess, you can have free access to all of it, no registration required, no fees, even no ads.
ok, we know that's cool, but what can you actually find there? a lot of free stuff, especially complete workouts with all the exercises well illustrated, and everything can be donwloaded in pdf format and printed. there's more: a lot of guides on various subjects always in the field of fitness and general health, from general guidelines to training to plantbased nutrition for athletes, meditation, selfcare. more specific subjects are also covered, like detailed guides to running, training in martial arts at home, establishing a workout routine with your partner and much more. the site contains also some funny and cool files that can be downloaded and printed, like certificates for athletes that completed a determined number of workouts in a given number of days, or gadgets useful to organize some fitness-based games. the site is updated daily, and everyday a different wod is featured together with a miniworkout (usually something that can be done in under one minute).
the best thing of darebee.com in my opinion is its simplicity and straightforwardness. forget the cheesy videos you find on youtube in which oiled machomen guarantee that you'll lose 15kg of bodyfat in one week with a 7 minute daily workout, forget also the usual motivational bs about reaching your goals and become fit, healthy and even rich just following a couple webinars. darebee.com is simple and basic, and this is what makes it great. it contains a video library, but the videos are intended to present the single exercises and nothing more, and that's exactly what you need to get started.
the best part of the whole website in my opinion is the database of workouts. they present a lot of different workouts divided into categories: cardio, strength training, martial arts, etc. the difficulty of the workouts varies a lot too, starting from something easy as some basic moves to do on the sofa while watching tv to intense hiit sessions that will leave out of breath even an experienced athlete. still, even the most basic and apparently easy workouts can be creatively modified and become daunting. for example, i did the katana workouts but using a sledgehammer instead of a sword. believe me, it isn't easy.
my advice is to bookmark the website and visit it frequently or, if you're that kind of person,  download the app in your smartphone. and if you can, consider donating a few bucks to the developers, as the website lives exclusively on donations.

the animal moves deck: office edition

 

i'm not a big fan of table games, usually there are too many rules to learn and to memorize for something that is supposed to be just fun. nonetheless, i know that many card games have expansion kits.
something similar goes with Darryl Edwards' animal moves deck that i reviewed some time ago (here's the post), there are some additional cards that can be purchased through the site primalplay.com. a deck is dedicated to kids and another to desk job workers that want to maintain a minimum level of movement even during the long office hours.
this post is focused on the animal moves deck office edition. i had the chance to have a closer look at it as i bought it as a christmas present for my wife who, although not having a typical desk job, happens to spend many hours sitting. the concept is exactly the same of the original deck (you shuffle the cards, take one randomly and do the exercise that is well explained on the card itself) but in this edition the exercises are conceived to be made in most cases without the need to leave your desk and even without any equipment, and they can be easily performed wearing a regular office suit. the idea itself of breaking the long hours spent sitting with some exercises is backed up by some strong scientific evidences: it is proven that even a little bit of movement every hour or so can make a big difference in terms of general health and fitness. obviously the exercises are not hard and demanding but doing them through the whole day will help keeping your back free from pains and your muscles toned.
exactly as in the animal moves original desk, there are some games that can be done with the cards, but in my opinion going randomly is the best way to use this deck. just pick one or two cards every 20-30 minutes of the time you spend at your desk and do the moves. probably you will not see your muscles growing or you won't loose all the fat you would like to, as it would happen with a regular workout routine, but surely you'll feel a lot better after the long hours spent at your desk and your overall health and fitness level would be much better. plus, you will break your work routine having some fun. and in my opinion the idea itself of something simple as a card deck that can become so precious for so many people is just brilliant.

the apotheosis of lazyness

i know i've already covered this topic (here and here) but every time that i left my little island to reach the nearest town i can't help but notice that there are always more electric kickscooters darting through cars.
now i can understand someone buying an ebike instead of a motorcycle and using it for medium-to-long transportation or cycling tourism, but all this hype about electric kickscooters is still uncanny for me. even more uncanny is a government which transforms them in a symbol of sustainability and respect for the environment, but this is another story. what i really can't understand is the reason why someone has to buy one. it could be understandable if the marketing target for electric kickscooters would be old or disabled people who can hardly walk, but from what i see it's mostly the youngsters using them. why? do they have muscle on their legs to kick or not?
non-electric kickscooters do exactly the same: they make your urban community faster and the required effort on flat roads is really affordable for anyone. plus, they're way cheaper. i've been using a non-electric kickscooter since a lot of years and no way that i would change it for an electric one. our daily life is already full of batteries that needs to be checked and charged, why adding another one when we can just use our muscle power?
kicking around the town is also a lot of fun, and healthier too.

keeping your mind clean

 

do you remember the post about my experience with mindfulness meditation? well, i still suck at it but there are some things that i've learned thanks to this practice.
basically, our brain works as a personal computer. it has some processes going on in background and others that happen consciously under our control, and exactly as a computer it has to manage its resources to optimize its performances, to store efficiently the files for facilitating the access to them later and to save memory. in the last decades we have learned quite well how to use computers and other electronic devices but we aren't equally good with our brain. we need to adjust the operating system to optimize its functioning and to make it work at its best.
our species is privileged with a brain that can work on multiple tasks at the same time, this means that we are able to do something mechanically while our brain is focusing on something else. it's extremely useful but this skill, if not managed properly, can become self-defeating. the risk is to live always focused on the past (considering and reconsidering in an endless loop memories and things that already happened) or on the future (planning and worrying about things that in most cases will never happen). in both cases the result will be a sort of low but exhausting background noise that will constantly distract us from reality, precluding our ability of fully living our present. this means that, under similar circumstances, we become unable to enjoy all the little pleasures of our daily life and that we are permanently involved in a struggle to keep our attention where it needs to be. not being fully aware of the reality around us can even become highly dangerous and put at risk our own life, so every little bit of attention we have at our disposal is extremely precious. luckily there are some tricks that we can learn to avoid mental strain and free up resources, closing all the apps our brain does not need to use in a given moment. i've learned them through practice and tested them all on the long run and i have to say that, till now, they're working.
here they are:
- write down everything that you have to keep in mind. everything. for example, when you notice that something is missing in your fridge don't tell yourself that the next time you go to the grocery store you have to buy it, but add it immediately to your shopping list. you'll free up your mind from some background operation (in this case, keeping in mind that you have to buy something).
- try to do one single thing at a time. going multitasking can be great, but using this resource as the default mode of you mind can become very detrimental. it's like when you have your hands busy and even the most simple task like tying your shoes becomes difficult.
- end every though process arriving, when possible, to some conclusions without leaving anything waiting in the background of your brain, except when you need to leave something rest and wait to re-examine it later.
- never postpone any commitment if you know that it will be thumbing in you brain till you do it. it's much better to do it as soon as possible and get over with it.
- if a doubt on something is occupying our mind for much time, it's better to invest some energy, time or even some money (when appropriate) to solve it.
- tell the truth, always and on everything. lying requires remembering your lies and this will force you to keep in mind more information.
- you don't need to have an opinion on everything (this is a very common attitude in our days). having an opinion requires a lot of mental resources, you need to gather info, elaborate on them and then find your position on the matter. if you are not interested in something and it doesn't have any impact on your life, feel free to not having an opinion on it.
- learn to stay in silence. nowadays we're used to eradicate silence from our life with electronic devices, radio, tv etc. so we're constantly exposed to acoustic stimuli. it's great to have the opportunity to listen something interesting from the radio or to have a good tune pumping from our mp3 player, but too often we leave the radio on even when we don't care at all about the broadcast. this conduct can be very inconvenient, as all the sounds coming to our ears are constantly scanned by our brain (yes, even when we don't notice it) and, once again, this will require some resources in terms of focus and presence of mind. plus, our brain needs some moments of absence of sensory cues to elaborate and store the information gathered during the day and silence is crucial to this process.
well, that's all i've learned till now thanks to the exercises of mindfulness meditation, but i'm sure there's much more. maybe through practice even a lousy meditator like myself will learn.