Welcome to Uncaged Human, I'm Jonathan Mead. For years I've been relentlessly dedicated to one mission:
Helping people like you move pain-free, become strong and resilient so you can move confidently in any situation and live your best life.
But you know what?
Despite where I am today, living a life rich with movement and waking up in a strong body wasn't always the case for me.
Not many years ago I woke up feeling like an old man trapped in young person's body. A debilitating shoulder injury and chronic neck pain kept me from things I loved like trail running, martial arts and climbing. I tried to force myself through boring gym routines, but they often left me feeling worse.
Despite my best efforts, I felt hopeless and defeated.
My job and the culture around me told me to sit still, to ignore my body. And yet, there was an expectation to go from 12 hours of sitting straight into beast mode at the gym.
Something felt wrong with this picture, so I started digging...
For better or worse, I've never been the type of person that can do something "halfway."
Nope, it's just not in my nature.
So, naturally, I started looking for the roots of this strange fitness predicament we're in now. That led me down a winding rabbit hole to discover a fundamental, simple fact:
The way we're living now is completely divorced from the way we evolved to live.
Thanks to modern conveniences (or maybe we shouldn't be thankful?) I don't have to move much to live. You probably don't either. This whole predicament has left us more weak and broken than ever.
But I still had those dreams of becoming a superhero in me as a young kid.
I remember sitting on the couch in our old house in Idaho, doing dumbbell curls with my dad's weights (I think I was up to 10pounds at the time). I'd dream of the day when I'd become strong like the men I saw in the World's Strongest Man competitions and possess the agility and grace of the kung fu movie heroes like Bruce Lee.
But that dream was a long way from my present reality.
At just 25 years old feeling stiff, sore and constantly achey (some days it felt more like 75), I wondered if I would ever have the strong, capable body I wanted.
Then I learned something important...
Modern fitness tries to compensate for us not living the way we evolved, but it's failing... miserably
30 minutes, three times a week is not enough. Not if you want to be a robust, capable, adaptable human that can move confidently in a diverse range of circumstances.
That's what I want, a body capable of...
- Running through diverse terrain and city streets knowing my body will hold up
- Working in the garden and not worrying about my back at the end of it
- Picking up my wife and carrying her into the bedroom without fear
- Vaulting over fallen forest logs and park benches with grace
- Climbing trees and rocks to connect with my inner animal
- Traversing through mossy creeks, riverbeds, and boulder covered beaches, feeling the joy of what it's like to have a body in this crazy experience we call life
In a world that seems set against your body, how do you make it work?
My personal quest has been to figure out how I can support my ancestral DNA while living as wild of a life as possible in the city. My goal has never been to live full-time in the wild, away from civilization.
Rather than ostracize myself from my friends and family, I want to live as wild a life as possible, even in the midst of domesticated, urban living.
I've learned how to take control of my environment and make my home more movement-friendly and stimulating. I've rehabbed my gut through ancestral health practices like bone broth, intermittent fasting, and wild mushroom herbalism. I've learned how to create movement practices that help me stay flexible, mobile, and strong even while working with modern technology and living in a culture where most people are sedentary.
But I'm still very much on this journey myself. It's an endless quest to realign with my ancient DNA, and reconnect with my true nature.
Want to join me in reclaiming your wildly capable body?
If you're interested in reclaiming your mobile, strong body, then you'll be right at home here. I hope I can help you in some way along your path, wherever you might be starting from.
You can start by watching my free workshop:
The Five Shifts to a Pain-Free, Unbreakable Body.
If I can do this, so can you
Reading this site, you might think the guy behind this is some wildnerness expert, or that my story reads like some Huckleberry Finn novel.
The reality couldn't be any more different.
I grew up in the suburbs Boise, Idaho. As a teenager, I was an outcast that dropped out in 9th grade. (Instead of high school, I went to college and took classes I was actually interested in). As an adult, I stumbled from one mindless desk job to the next.
After years of struggling at dead-end jobs, I eventually found my escape and quit my job by building a personal development blog in 2008 for unconventional people. That was one important step in the breaking free process, but my body and health still suffered.
Movement, health and becoming the greatest version of myself has always been something that's fascinated me. I explored everything from raw veganism to Jeet Kune Do. But it wasn't until I discovered the paleo diet and natural movement that I felt like I found something that really made sense to me.
Since then, I've done and explored a lot, but am very much still learning how to become the best version of myself. Rewilding myself seems like the only path that fits.
Want to join me?
I'll see you on the path,
Jonathan
P.S. Are you on Instagram? There I regularly post tips, rants and my adventures with natural movement.