Winter Weight Gain

Here is an interesting article on the effects of winter and our ability to hold on to so much of those holiday calories.

http://www.thefactsaboutfitness.com/news/cold.htm

Enjoy!

Continued...

(Credit to www.southernhide.com for the picture)

Here is a nice post about how many carbs one needs to survive during the day and into a workout.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/nutrition/how-many-carbohdyrates-do-you-need.html/print

Nutrition Challenge #1

Eat protein with every single meal. EVERY meal! What kind of protein? A once living, breathing, roaming, walking, swimming, animal!

To spell it out even more:

- Chicken

- Beef

- Pork

- Fish

- Shellfish

- Eggs

- Turkey

- Lamb

- Venison

- Duck

Good Luck!

On Nutrition:

Why as humans must we pay so much attention and detail to our diets? Is it to help our training goals, to better ourselves, for longevity, or is it a combination of all of these? Being Crossfitters, most of us understand that a proper diet plays a big role in our day-to-day. A proper diet gives us the energy to get through a given day and still have enough left over for the workout when we get home. Nutrition plays a pivotal role in the effectiveness of our training regimens. It also gives us the proper nutrients we need to survive. So, what do I mean when I say a “proper” diet? Here is the FDA’s Dietary Guidelines version of a healthy diet:

-Emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products;
-Includes lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts; and
-Is low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt (sodium), and added sugars.

Is this correct? Dare I say no and go against 30 years of Government say so? If this is the proper diet, why are 34%1 (though I find this number low but its counting for just obese and not people who are “over-weight”) of Americans obese? Not that this is directly correlated, but there has to be something to it. Bottom line, we eat too many dense carbohydrates in the form of processed grains, breads, cereals, starches, and sugars and not enough protein or fat. In fact, there’s an increasing awareness that excess carbohydrates play a dominant role in chronic diseases like obesity, coronary heart disease, many cancers and diabetes. This understanding comes directly from current medical research.2 Break this diet down and it comes to a caloric split of 70% Carbohydrates, 20% Protein, and 10% Fat. All this needs is a bit of readjusting and some basic understanding. We want to turn this around to 40-50% Fat, 30-40% Protein, and 10-20% Carbohydrate all in the form of whole foods, nothing processed. In doing this, we let our body become a fat burning machine by making it rely on fat for energy and less on carbohydrates and concentrate on the major concern of insulin regulation. (It should be noted that there is also credit that needs to be given to the Zone Diet, created by Dr. Barry Sears. This diet has helped many to achieve amazing results through proper nutrient timing and hormonal regulation. The caloric split of this diet is 40% carbs, 30% fat, 30% protein. A diet that one could say is moderate in every way: Not too much fat, not too much protein, and not too much carbohydrate. I think this diet is good for people who need to learn proper quantities to eat, but unless you want to be a slave to measuring and eating 5 times a day it may not be the right path. It is also more of a maintenance diet in that it gives you just enough of every nutrient to live. One major problem I find is that you can eat anything on this diet as long as it’s in the right quantity to manage and regulate hormones. Not the path we want to go down since it’s these foods we want to get away from. I would argue though that “Paleo” food in “Zone” proportions would be a great way to tackle this diet as you rid it of any processed foods only making it that much better for you. To learn more about the Zone Diet click here . To learn more about the Paleo Diet click here.)
Insulin is a hormone released by the pancreas in response to increased levels of sugar in the blood. It causes most of the body's cells to take up glucose from the blood (including liver, muscle, and fat tissue cells), storing it as glycogen in the liver and muscle, and stops use of fat as an energy source.3 When insulin is absent (or low), glucose is not taken up by most body cells and the body begins to use fat as an energy source.4 So what causes increased levels of sugar in the blood and what does this mean? Too many carbohydrates, especially in the processed form cause secretion of insulin. By causing repeated insulin spikes and releases our body builds up resistance to this hormone. Once one becomes insulin resistant is when a whole slew of problems can begin to set in. These problems include obesity, hypoglycemia, diabetes, Insulinoma, Metabolic Syndrome, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome just to name a few. By keeping this regulated we fuel our energy from dietary fat and fat stores and create a healthy and lasting lifestyle.
There is an ongoing trend that dietary fat is what is causing us to be fat. Simply put, eating fat in turn will make me fat. As we have just seen, this is not the case as long as we control insulin. There are two types of fat: good and bad. The good fats are saturated, polyunsaturated (in small amounts), and monounsaturated. The bad fats are trans and hydrogenated. So, in our newly structured diet of 40-50% Fat, what kind of fats should we be eating? Plain and simple would be good fats: olive oil, coconut oil, nuts, avocado, and real butter. Those that are rich in saturated and monounsaturated fats. Fats to stay away from include vegetable oils, soybean oils, sunflower oils, corn oils, any hydrogenated (partially or the like) and trans fatty acids. The reason being is the polyunsaturated fats outweigh the monounsaturated fats and in the long term can end up causing health issues due to immune system suppression.
Let’s talk about saturated fat for a minute. In the past few years, saturated fat has been given a bad rap. Common misconceptions are that saturated fats increase the risk of heart disease and stroke, and negatively affect cholesterol profiles. Studies have shown that replacing fat for energy instead of carbohydrates the number of small dense LDL particles decreases.5 This comes from a good article posted by Men’s Health and a study that I have also read about in Gary Taubes’ book – “Good Calories, Bad Calories”. (Check out the link if you would like to know more about Saturated fats and why its good for you.) Our body likes fat. We are able to survive off fat. By this justification, it should be the mass amounts of carbohydrates that we consume to blame for bad cholesterol profiles and heart disease and not fat in our diets.
To complete the 100% of our daily diet, we must consume plenty of protein (30-40%) and an amount of carbohydrates that supports the kind of work we are doing. By protein I mean of the animal variety. “If you are fighting for survival in a 3rd world country then yes, beans and rice count as protein. Here t most assuredly does not. You need chicken, beef, fish, pork lamb, turkey…are you picking up what I’m putting down? If you think beans, nuts or Tofu count as protein then you are sadly mistaken.”6 Protein must also be eaten at every meal, which is especially critical if you are trying to lose weight. Good sources of protein would be: chicken, beef, fish, turkey, pork, eggs, and some milk. If you choose to use milk as a protein source do so in small quantities if your main goal is weight loss. Milk has lactate in it, a natural sugar, but much the same effect as processed sugar. Whole fatty milk should be the milk of choice. Why? Skim milk has no fat and since it has lactate this will create an insulin spike causing the body to store that lactate (sugar) as fat. Point: whole milk = good, skim milk = bad. As for carbohydrates, we must choose whole naturally occurring vegetables and fruits high in fiber: broccoli, cauliflower, onions, spinach, tomatoes, peppers, apples, oranges, berries. You get the idea, things that will keep insulin regulated. I hope I am driving that point home about insulin regulation. As for the comment about eating enough carbs to support the kind of work we are doing, here is what I mean. Majority of us are not marathon runners. Instead, we work behind a computer screen, take care of our kids or do something that is not overly exerting. Since we are now using fat as energy, fewer carbs are the norm. It’s hard for someone to eat an entire plate of broccoli but the good news is that in an entire plate there is only something like 15 net carbs. Point being that if we are getting plenty of fruits and veggies high in fiber, our carb count will be low and it will be hard to over-eat on any of them.
If you don’t get anything else from this writing, here are a few take home points I would like to address that are a must for a healthy diet and lifestyle:

-Eat protein at EVERY meal
-Want 40-50% Fats, 30-40% Protein, 10-20% Carbohydrates
-If you choose to Zone, you want 30% Fat, 30% Protein, 40% Carbohydrates in Paleo foods
-Eat protein at EVERY meal
-Eat whole naturally occurring fruits and vegetables
-Eat 3-6 times a day accordingly
-Eat protein at EVERY meal
-Fat is your friend: your main energy source
-DO NOT eat processed foods, grains, cereals, breads, starches, sugar

If you would like to get geeky on some of this nutrition stuff here are a few links you can check out:

-www.robbwolf.com
-www.modernforager.com
-www.marksdailyapple.com
-www.theiflife.com

Other info:

“Good Calories, Bad Calories” – Gary Taubes
“Mastering the Zone” – Dr. Barry Sears
”The Paleo Diet” – Dr. Loren Cordain

References:

1. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/07newsreleases/obesity.htm
2. “Glycemic Index”, CrossFit Journal November 2002
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin
5. “What if Bad Fat is Actually Good For You?” - http://www.menshealth.com/cda/article.do?site=MensHealth&channel=health&category=heart.disease&conitem=a03ddd2eaab85110VgnVCM10000013281eac____
6. Robb Wolf

Results are in...

So the Mud Run was a couple Fridays ago. I finished 42nd which I am a little disappointed at. I think I could have done better. But, on the bright side of things, I haven't done any real running above 2 miles in about 6 months. Respectable finish I guess. I finished last year in 11th place. So, I have another goal to add to the ongoing list:
Compete in the March 2009 Mud Run for at minimum top 5.

We will see how that goes. In the mean time I am going to HIT IT HARD, GET BACK IN THE POOL, RUN HARDER, FASTER, AND LONGER, LIFT HEAVY WEIGHT, SQUAT HEAVY, PULL MY BODY WEIGHT PLUS SOME, AND PT TILL MY MUSCLES FAIL AND LEAVE ME LYING ON THE FLOOR WANTING SOME MORE!

Will report back soon!

100 day Burpee Challenge

This is a challenge brought forth by a CrossFit affiliate and if I can find the link I will post it. Basically the rules are this:
100 days
Add a burpee for each day
Ex:
Day 1 = 1 burpee
Day 2 = 2 burpees
Day 3 = 3 burpees
and so on...
Miss a day and you have to make up for the ones you missed the next day
If you start after Oct. 20, 2008 you have to buy in for the amount missed
You can count them if they are included in your workout or you can do them after everything is done, or you can do them throughout the day. Just get them done! I am going to be doing them after workouts regardless of how many I do in a normal workout. This may change as the volume gets higher.

Day 01 Oct. 20, 2008 = 1
Day 02 Oct. 21, 2008 = 2
Day 03 Oct. 22, 2008 = 3
Day 04 Oct. 23, 2008 = 4
Day 05 Oct. 24, 2008 = 0
Day 06 Oct. 25, 2008 = 0
Day 07 Oct. 26, 2008 = 18 = 5+6+7
Day 08 Oct. 27, 2008 = 0
Day 09 Oct. 28, 2008 = 0
Day 10 Oct. 29, 2008 = 27 = 8+9+10
Day 11 Oct. 30, 2008 = 11
Day 12 Oct. 31, 2008 = 12
Day 13 Nov. 01, 2008= 0
Day 14 Nov. 02, 2008= 0
Day 15 Nov. 03, 2008= 0
Day 16 Nov. 04, 2008= 0
Day 17 Nov. 05, 2008= 75 = 13+14+15+16+17

To be continued...
Well...I am going to have to restart this one the beginning of the year. I just couldn't keep up with it, whether it be laziness or something else.
Still to be continued...

5 months to 20 Deadhangs

This one is going to be updated on my max deadhang scores as I do them. I would like to hit 20 by March 1, 2009 so that means a LOT of pull-ups and attempts at muscle ups and handstands. So, without further adue...

Deadhang pull-up MAX:
As of 10/30/2008
7
November, 2008
8
November 19, 2008
10 - Movin' on up!

Road to boot:

One of two posts today since I have been lazy with all this!

First off lets start with training. I have ramped up the training shedule with mainly two-a-days for 3 weeks leading up to the 10k Mud Run race on Saturday, November 8. A training day will typically entail some form of running/sprinting, weights, and/or swimming. So let me break down this weeks scedule:
Monday
AM:
1.75 mile run with boots and a 10# weight vest
10 rounds of;
100m hill sprints in VFF
10 pushups at top of hill
walk down to rest

This is all the work I did on this day. I went out with Drew to Lake Lewisville to scout for ducks with the season opener coming up this Saturday, Nov. 1st.

Tuesday
Handstand progressions
10 DB squat cleans, 30# DB's
10 Box jumps
10 Squat Clean Thrusters, 45# bar

Squat Clean 1-1-1-1-1-1-1
135
155
175
185 F missed rack
185
195 F too much weight maybe
175x3

Swim:
5x50m ALL OUT sprints
3:00 rest between rounds

Wednesday
Bear Complex
6 reps of each movement w/out letting go of the bar
Deadlift
Hang Power Clean
Front Squat
Push Press
Back Squat
75#, 85#, 95#, 105#

pullup work
27 burpees to catch up

Thursday
500m row warmup
25 OHS with bar
Handstand progressions
Back Squat
220x5x3
Press
105x5x3
Deadlift
275x5x5

WOD
5 rounds of:
5 pullups
5 DB squat cleans, 45# DB's
5 Burpees

Time - 6:44

Bevin mad 2 miles today!!! I think thats the farthest she has ever run. Muy Muy props to her and we are going to continue to beat her ass so she can get a sub 20:00 3 mile!!!
Great job Bev. I am proud of you.

Friday
AM:
1.25 mile run in a 10# weight vest to track
4x400m sprint intervals w/ 200m walking rests between rounds
1:17
1:19
1:20
1:20
1.25 mile run in 10# weight vest back to house

PM:

New goals

It is always important to have a goal, as if that saying hasn't been pounded into your head since you were a child. But, the fact remains that this statement is true. I have a few goals set within certain time frames that I would like to achieve this year and into the next:

Goal #1:
First Muscle-up (getting close to that one)
Goal #2:
Try to make it to Aromas, CA for the 2009 CrossFit games
-In the process of getting stronger and getting ready!
Goal #3:
Get CF gym out of the garage and into a REAL place.
-Soon my pretty....

Those are just to name a few. I will keep a continuing blog on new goals, achieved goals/PR's etc. I have really been focusing on Olympic weight lifting recently. I am doing a "hybrid" CF program consisting of C&J's, Snatch, OHS, BS, DL, and a short metcon 3-4 times a week after heavy lifting. So, hopefully with this I will get that much stronger and ready for next year and the CrossFit games '09.

Other News:
I have been IF'ing (Intermittent Fasting) now for a few weeks. It's going great. I have so much more energy during the day. I normally do it 2-5 times a week. I'm not losing any muscle and the fat from my 5 weeks of SS and GOMAD is slowly coming off. More to come on that.

Workout
warmup
Snatch Drills
Worked up to 115#
WOD
5 rounds for time of:

3 Hang Power Snatch, 95#
6 OHS, 95#
9 Pull-ups (chest to bar)
200m run

Time - 14:38
--That's my "sweat angel" from this workout today.

Other Workouts done in the past few days:

#1

135# C&J

1 reps the 1st minute

2 reps the 2nd minute

3 reps the 3rd minute

...until you can't complete the number of required reps in that minute

-7 rounds +6 reps O U C H

#2

AMRAP in 10 min. (Mind you this is after some heavy C&J's and Back Squats)

12 Deadlift, 95#

9 Hang Power Clean, 95#

6 Front Squat, 95#

3 Push Jerks, 95#

3 rounds + 12 DL's + 9 HPC (first round was done with 135#, the originally prescribed weight)

As Rx'd was:

5 rounds of:

15 Deadlift, 135#

12 HPC, 135#

9 FS, 135#

6 PJ, 135#

So, those were pretty brutal...

Today was a good day to come back after being injured/lazy for the last couple of days. I retaped my pull-up bar with athletic tape and that works out really well. NO pain on the hands this time!
Tonight I am going to the DU banquet in Denton. It should be a good time, as it was last year. Now I am rambling and there is no sense in carrying this any further. Off to compile a list of goals for October 2008 - October 2009........
Late..

Tuesday

Got up to the gym early this morning. Had a good workout and no fasting today.


Thats me after "Grace"----------->
135# C&J, 30 reps in 5:38
=OUCH

Workout:
500m row 1:57.0
Back lever progressions
Muscle Snatch
Heavy Single
125#
85% x 2 x 3
105#
OHS
Heavy single
115#
85% x 2 x 3
90#
WOD
"Cindy"
5 pull-ups
10 pushups
15 squats
AMRAP in 10 min.
9 rounds + 5 pullups
Planks
Right :30 x 2
Left :30 x 2
Front :30 x 2

I guess tonight I am going to try to take the dogs for a walk. It's too nice outside not too.

Ohhhh Monday...

Well the weekend is over and its time to get back to reality, somewhat. I had a great weekend. Friday night we went to celebrate a friends promotion. Then Saturday I got out for some last minute teal hunting. We saw a lot of birds so hopefully our spot will pan out for the actual season, just have to get the damn boat running. After the hunt I went to the STX garage gym and got in a little workout.

Workout: (Saturday)
"Grace"
135# C&J, 30 reps
For time
TIME - 5:38

This was my first time to do this one and it was pretty brutal, but wickedly fun. I also got to watch Lindsay set a new PR on Deadlift; 215#. That's pretty bad-a. After that we cleaned out the garage and spent a good 5 hours outdoors. I'm keeping true to my promise! Good times. Saturday night we went out for Morgan's b-day. Sunday we took the dogs on a walk that ended up being around 2 miles or so. Did that barefoot. Feet are starting to toughen up a bit. The dogs had a great time. Then I watched the Boys lose to Washington. Blug.
My diet was crap for the weekend as well. Too much beer. I think thats really the only problem with my diet is that I like beer too much. Gonna have to work on that. other than that, I got in lots of protein and fat and little carbs (besides the beer). This has me wondering though if eating more fat while drinking or in the same day is spilling more into my fat cells, than being used for energy????? I will have to study that further.

Workout
500m row
Back Lever Progressions
Rack Jerk behind the neck
Heavy single; 85% x 1 x 3
Back Squat
85% x 3 x 5
WOD
Sprint Intervals
Load TBD by dice rolls

Quote of the day:
"Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." - Matthew 6:34

Get out and have some fun!

Exactly what the title says. Last night I went on a walk, barefoot, with the dogs. It ended up being over a mile. Not too short, but no too long either. It's nice to get out like that every now and then. It lets one appreciate the outdoors, if you can call a suburban neighborhood the outdoors. So here is a new goal to be implemented:

"I, state your name, do hereby promise to get outside for at least 30 min a day, excluding workouts. In doing so, I will better myself and bring about more appreciation for nature."

That wasn't so hard now was it? As humans, we were made to be outside. Go hike along the unbeaten path. Go run down a unknown trail. Go fish in a local pond. Go bike. Go throw the damn ball for your dog. Play frisbee. Play a pickup basketball or football game. Just get outside!
Thought for the Day:
"Lift heavy, eat right, drink less, live happy." - Brandon Head
Fast = 18.5 hours breaking at 3:00pm till whenever. All day eats tomorrow!
Got in just over 2400 calories yesterday @ 58:34:8 - bison and salmon were main fare.
Workout:

Ahhhhhhh Rest.....

Quote of the Day:

"You have to take care of your 640 muscles, and the number one thing is exercise. You can eat perfectly but if you don’t exercise, you cannot get by. There are so many health food nuts out there that eat nothing but natural foods but they don’t exercise and they look terrible. Then there are other people who exercise like a son-of-a-gun but eat a lot of junk. They look pretty good because the exercise is king. Nutrition is queen. Put them together and you’ve got a kingdom!" - Jack LaLanne

Well today is a rest day for me. I take a rest day on Thursdays and Sundays. A 3/1/2/1 program. Sometimes I may miss a Saturday bu thats because I am doing something outdoors. I only got in 1800 calories yesterday, but I did go fishing. Should've taken some food with me. But that is the whole point to the IF thing, is to not be a slave to food. I will just eat a little more today. My feeding window yesterday was 7 hours. I am fasting today for 20 hours, with the feeding window starting at 4:30pm and ending by 8:30pm. That means I need to eat a helluva lot. Guess I will just have to throw some ice cream into the mix.
On to fishing...I decided to get old school with it and bought some night crawlers and went to a local pond. Caught 20-25 little bream and some fish I didn't recognize. i'm no greenhorn either. I'm going to have to look that one up. I'm thinking maybe it was just a small sand bass that ended up there. So, it was a great time and a good way to bring back memories of my childhood.
This morning I was supposed to go duck hunting with Justin but got stood up...Whatever. i'm still a little bitter about that.
If I come across something interesting today I will post it.

Here Fishy Fishy...

Hopefully after work and workout today, I will get to hit the pond for a little relaxation. Nothing beats a couple of hours of solid fishing...well, maybe some things. I am going to try to go Teal hunting in the morning....hurray for guns and hunting.

Ahywho, I am working on a 17 hour fast today. Through Fitday.com I have been getting around 60-65% Fats, 30-35% Protein, & 5-10% Carbs and aywhere between 2900-3500 calories. I have been tracking that for the last couple of weeks or so and belly fat seems to be creeping up. I think I'm going to switch this up a little and go for a 50:40:10 combination and cut down the total number of calories to around 2400-2500. It's a little more manageable in a 5-8 hour feeding window, not that I don't like to feel miserable all the time. So we will see how that goes for a couple weeks. I am still trying to find the right combination. Guess I will just be a little bit warmer come winter.

On to the workout for today:

500m warmup row:

Back lever progressions (This is my hopper movement for now and will be until I can hold a full back lever for 10 secs. - so far I have a tuck b-lever for 5 or so secs after 1.5 weeks of practicing. It's coming along nicely)

Got up to 8 seconds +...maybe 10. It was hard to count accuratley when your head feels like its gonna pop.

Clean & Jerk

90% x 1 x 3

165#

Front Squat

85% x 2 x 3

155#

Deadlift

135 x 5

185 x 5

225 x 3

270 x 2

305 x 5

WOD

5 rounds for time:

8 pullups

4 box jumps

TIME: 3:24

First time for everything

I have finally done it. Finally broke down and created a site of my own, along with every other person in this world. We will see how it goes. I will be posting random thoughts, ideas, feelings, training logs, basically anything I want to. Maybe a picture every now and again too. This is also a test to see how long it will last, as I may not post everyday but trianing days will always be posted. Let's do it...

Workout:
500m row warmup: 1:50.0
Back Lever Progressions
Muscle Snatch
Heavy Single
65#, 85#, 95#, 100#, 110#, 115#, 125# F, 115#
Snatch
80% x 1 - 115#
70% x 2 - 100#
80% x 1 - 115#
70% x 2 - 100#
80% x 1 - 115#
OHS
Heavy Double
100#, 115#
45# x 10
WOD
"Helen"
400m run
21 KB swings, 53#
12 Pullups
TIME: 12:49

Felt pretty good today. Workout was 9 hours into my fast. I am gonna push the fast to 20 hours today. This will be the longest one thus far. Fasting seems to give me more energy throughout the day, so it's been a definite plus. I haven't seen any body comp. changes yet, but its still new so I will report more on that later.
Update: Broke fast at 19.5 hours. Had good energy levels afterwards.