A Stone Age Approach to Exercise Reading Answers

Jan 21, 2023

A Stone Age Approach to Exercise Reading Answers is a general reading topic. This topic shows how people used to exercise in stone age and its effects on their life. The given IELTS topic has originated from the book named “Cambridge IELTS 10 Student's Book with Answers”. The topic named A Stone Age Approach to Exercise Reading Answers comes with 14 questions in total.

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Section 1

Read the passage to answer the following questions

A Stone Age Approach to Exercise Reading Answers

Forget those long arduous sessions in the gym. If you want to stay fighting fit, try a modern Stone Age workout* instead

Art De Vany is 62, but physical fitness tests three years ago showed he had the body of a 32-year-old. Although De Vany is sceptical of such assessments, he knows he's in good shape. His former career as a professional baseball player may have something to do with it, but he attributes his physical prowess to an exercise regime inspired by the lifestyles of our Palaeolithic ancestors.

De Vany's advice to the modern exercise freak is to cut duration and frequency, and increase intensity. Our muscle fibre composition reveals that we are adapted to extreme intensity of effort,' says De Vany, a professor of economics at the Institute of Mathematical Behavioural Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. His approach to fitness combines Darwinian thinking with his interest in chaos theory and complex systems.

This new science, which De Vany calls evolutionary fitness, is part of growing efforts to understand how the human body has been shaped by evolution, and to use this knowledge to improve our health and fitness. Proponents believe the key lies in the lifestyle of our hunter-gatherer ancestors because, they say, the vast majority of the human genome is still adapted to an ancient rhythm of life which swung between intense periods of activity and long stretches of inertia.

Across the Palaeolithic age which covers the period between 2.6 million and 10,000 years ago - prey animals were large, fast on their feet, or both. For men, this would have meant lots of walking or jogging to find herds, dramatic sprints, jumps and turns, perhaps violent struggles, and long walks home carrying the kill. Women may not have had such intense exercise, but they would have spent many hours walking to sources of water or food, digging up tubers, and carrying children. If modern hunter-gatherers are anything to go by, men may have hunted for up to four days a week and travelled 15 kilometres or more on each trip. Women may have gathered food every two or three days. There would also have been plenty of other regular physical activities for both sexes such as skinning animals and tool making, and probably dancing.

Our ancestors must have evolved cardiovascular, metabolic and thermoregulatory systems capable of sustaining high-level aerobic exertion under the hot African sun, according to Loren Cordain of the Human Performance Laboratory at Colorado State University. And given that the Palaeolithic era ended only an evolutionary blink of an eye ago, we ignore its legacy at our peril. (ordain and his colleagues point out that in today's developed societies, inactivity is associated with disease. Contemporary hunter gatherer societies rarely experience these modern killers, they say.

This is where De Vany's exercise ideas come in. The primary objectives for any exercise and diet programme must be to counter hyper-insulinaemia (chronically elevated insulin) and hypo exertion (wasting of the body's lean mass through inactivity),' he writes in his forthcoming book about evolutionary exercise. Exercise and diet are linked. For example, says De Vany, our appetite control mechanisms work best when our activity mimics that of our ancestors. But he feels that most modern exercise regimes are not hitting the mark.

De Vany views the body as non-linear and dynamic and says exercise should mix order and chaos. 'Chronic aerobic exercise overstrains the heart, reducing the chaotic variation in the heart rate which is essential to health,' he says. Likewise, most weight training is governed too much by routine and is too time consuming. He gives his own workout a chaotic character with ascending weights and descending repetitions. To these brief but intense gym workouts he adds a wide variety of other activities that vary randomly in intensity and duration. These include roller blading, bicycling, walking, sprinting, tennis, basketball, power walking, hitting softballs and trekking with a grandson on his shoulders.

He also argues that most people do not train the right muscles for that ultimately attractive and adaptive quality of symmetry. 'Symmetry is a reliable evolutionary clue to health,' he says. Tumours and pathologies produce gross asymmetries, and our love of symmetry reflects the reproductive success of our ancestors, who were sensitive to these clues.' He strives for the X-look- a symmetrical balance of mass in the shoulder girdle, upper chest and back, the calves and lower quads, two of the four large muscles at the front of the thighs. This also makes men look taller, he adds, another reliable evolutionary clue that women use to find good genes'.

The hunter-gatherer lifestyle indicates that women should exercise only a little less intensely than men, says De Vany. 'Women are opportunistic hunters who go after small game when they come across it. They also climb trees to capture honey and snare birds. And have you ever seen how much work it is to dig out a deep tuber?' Women benefit enormously from strength work, he says. It increases their bone density and they get and stay leaner by building muscle mass. 'Today's women are so weak [compared with their female ancestors].'

Of course, people vary. De Vany acknowledges that our ancestors were adapted to a variety of terrains and climates. Cordain points out that genetic differences between populations lead to different physical strengths. East Africans, for example, seem to be better endurance runners, West Africans better sprinters. But human genetic similarity greatly outweighs the variations. And because our genes have changed so very little since Palaeolithic times, if you want to be a lean, mean, survival machine why not try exercising like a caveman?

Section 2

Solution and Explanation

Questions 27-28

Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 27-28 on your answer sheet.

What do you learn about Art De Vany in the first paragraph?

A) He frequently tests his health.
B) He works as a professional sports player.
C) He is older than he appears to be.
D) He believes he has inherited a strong body.

Answer: C
Supporting Sentence: Art De Vany is 62, but physical fitness tests three years ago showed he had the body of a 32-year-old.
Keyword : 62, 32, body of
Keyword location: 1st paragraph, 1st sentence
Explanation: In the 1st line of the passage, the author states that Art De Vany is 62. However, as per the physical fitness, he seems like 32 years old. This means he looks younger than this age or he is older than he appears to be.

In the second paragraph. De Vany recommends that people should

A) exercise less frequently.
B) exercise harder but for less time.
C) give their muscles more time to recover from exercise.
D) learn more about how the human body reacts to exercise.

Answer: B
Supporting Sentence: De Vany's advice to the modern exercise freak is to cut duration and frequency, and increase intensity.
Keyword : duration, intensity
Keyword location: 2nd paragraph, 1st sentence
Explanation: The author states that De Vany gave advice to modern exercise freaks. He says that they should cut the duration which means that they should give less time. He also says that they should increase the intensity means they should exercise harder but for less time. This makes B the correct answer.

Questions 29 - 31

Choose THREE letters A-G and write them in boxes 29-31 on your answer sheet.

Which THREE of the following docs the writer highlight when discussing the lifestyle of our Palaeolithic ancestors?

A) the difficulties involved in finding food
B) their size compared to that of modem man
C) the sudden movements required during their daily activities
D) the aggressive nature of their negotiations with others
E) the fact that life was equally energetic for both_exes
F) the predictable frequency of physical activity
G) the long distances between neighbours' homes

Question 29

Answer: A
Supporting Sentence: Women may not have had such intense exercise, but they would have spent many hours walking to sources of water or food, digging up tubers, and carrying children.
Keyword : intense, food
Keyword location: Paragraph 4, 3rd sentence
Explanation: The whole 4th paragraph talks about difficulties of finding food. Previously men and women used to depend on hunting. They would walk miles, run and carry the prey. This involved lots of exerciuses. It was hence, difficult for men and women in finding food.

Question 30

Answer: C
Supporting Sentence: For men, this would have meant lots of walking or jogging to find herds, dramatic sprints, jumps and turns, perhaps violent struggles, and long walks home carrying the kill.
Keyword : walking, sprints, jumps, turns
Keyword location: Paragraph 4, 2nd sentence
Explanation: The paragraph talks about movements that men had to do for finding food. They used to do a lot of sudden movements like turns, jumps, violent struggles etc. hence, C is the correct option.

Question 31

Answer: F
Supporting Sentence: If modern hunter-gatherers are anything to go by, men may have hunted for up to four days a week and travelled 15 kilometres or more on each trip.
Keyword : may have, hunted, days, week
Keyword location: Paragraph 4, 4th sentence
Explanation: The supporting sentence and the keywords justifies that one can predict how much hunting men would have done. More hunting means more physical activity. Hence, the predictibility of physical activity is the correct answer.

Question 32

Choose the appropriate letter A-D and write it in box 32 on your answer sheet.

Cordain compares modem hunter-gatherer societies to Palaeolithic societies in terms of their

A) ability to withstand high temperatures.
B) resistance to certain fatal illnesses.
C) healthy mix of work and leisure activities.
D) refusal to change their way of life.

Answer: B
Supporting Sentence: Our ancestors must have evolved cardiovascular, metabolic and thermoregulatory systems capable of sustaining high-level aerobic exertion under the hot African sun, according to Loren Cordain of
the Human Performance Laboratory at Colorado State University.
Keyword : metabolic, cardiovascular
Keyword location: 5th paragraph, 1st sentence
Explanation: Loren Cordain informed that our ancestors had evolved efficient metabolic and thermoregulatory systems. These systems were capable of high level of aerobic exertion under the hot African sun. since they had high physical fitness, they were resistant to certain illnbess.

Questions 33-36

Using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS. answer the/allowing questions.
Write your answers in boxes 33-36 on your answer sheet.

What term does De Vany use to describe his approach to physical exercise?

Answer: evolutionary fitness
Supporting Sentence: This new science, which De Vany calls evolutionary fitness, is part of growing efforts to understand how the human body has been shaped by evolution, and to use this knowledge to improve our
health and fitness.
Keyword : new science, fitness, health
Keyword location: 3rd paragraph, 1st sentence
Explanation: The new approach to physical fitness is described by De Vany as evolutionary fitness. This is directly stated by the author in the opening lines of the 3rd paragraph.

Which TWO opposing factors does De Vany say an exercise programme should include'?

Answer: order and chaos
Supporting Sentence: De Vany views the body as non-linear and dynamic and says exercise should mix order and chaos.
Keyword : De Vany, order, chaos
Keyword location: 7th paragraph, 1st sentence
Explanation: The first sentence of the seventh paragraph shows two opposing factors in an exercise program. They are order and chaos. Hence, order and chaos is the correct answer.

Which type of activity docs de Vany criticise as being harmful?

Answer: (chronic) aerobic exercise
Supporting Sentence: 'Chronic aerobic exercise overstrains the heart, reducing the chaotic variation in the heart rate which is essential to health,' he says.
Keyword : aerobic, overstrains heart, heart rate
Keyword location: 7th paragraph, 2nd sentence
Explanation: As per the author, chronic exercise which are aerobic overstrains the heart. This reduces the variation in heart rate which is essential for the well being. Hence, aerobic exercise is the correct answer.

Which type of exercise does De Vany practise on a regular basis?

Answer: weight training
Supporting Sentence: Likewise, most weight training is governed too much by routine and is too time consuming
Keyword : weight training, routine
Keyword location: 7th paragraph, 3rd sentence
Explanation: The author says that aerobic exercises are bad for heart health. In the next sentence, he states that most weight trainng are goverened and follows a routine. Hence, he suggests doing that. This makes weight training the correct answer.

Questions 37-40

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage? In boxes 37-40 on your answer shat write

TRUE if the statement is true
FALSE if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage

Our Palaeolithic ancestors were constantly active.

Answer: False
Supporting Sentence: If modern hunter-gatherers are anything to go by, men may have hunted for up to four days a week and travelled 15 kilometres or more on each trip.
Keyword : four days
Keyword location: 4th paragraph, 4th sentence
Explanation: As per the author, our Palaeolithic ancestors hunted for upto four days a week. This means that they were not constantl;y active. They were active for four days.

Female exercise programmes should vary according to the shape of the individual.

Answer: Not Given
Explanation: There is no such information provided in the passage.

Geographical features have played a role in human physical development.

Answer: Not Given
Explanation: There is no such information provided in the passage.

The importance of genetic differences in deciding on an exercise programme is minimal.

Answer: True
Supporting Sentence: But human genetic similarity greatly outweighs the variations.
Keyword : genetic, variations
Keyword location: Last paragraph, 4th sentence
Explanation: As per the author, there is more similarity in genes than variations. Hence, the genetic difference creating an effect in an exercise program is very minimal. This makes the statement True.