CrossFit WOD: "Karen" - Balls out!!!

On Saturday, I did the CrossFit benchmark WOD called "Karen." Surprisingly simple looking, she still creates wrath! I wanted a quick burn, but didn't want any heavy lifting and Becky suggested this one to me. To be honest, I'm still sore from "Linda" on Thursday so I didn't want anything crazy anyway.

"Karen" is comprised of the following:

150 Wall balls for time!!! (men 20lb ball / women 14 lb)

Men should hit a spot on the wall 15 feet above the ground. Women 10 feet.  You MUST hit the spot on the wall each time for the rep to count! My time was 7:04.  Good luck!

Best,
Tyler

P.S. I am going to post YouTube videos of all the benchmark WODs to show how they are performed. Here's "Karen":

CrossFit WOD: "Linda" - aka hardest CF WOD?

[flickr video=4388228326 show_info=true w=375 h=500]

IMG_0147.MOV, originally uploaded by CrossfitCatamount.

Known throughout the CrossFit community, "Linda" is about as bad as any WOD can get. Last weekend, I saw a gym buddy of mine attempt her and I thought to myself that I have to try it. So, even though I'm quite sore from "Nasty Girls" and the "Swingset" challenge from Max I did yesterday, I decided to give "Linda" a chance. I was stressed out a bit today with things, so this helped to take my mind off things. Incredible workout! This WOD consists of the following:

Reps of 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 of the following exercises (must complete all three before moving on to next rep #):

Bench press (your bodyweight) - I benched 210 lbs
Deadlift (1.5x your bodyweight) - I DL'd 315 lbs
Squat clean (.75x your bodyweight) - I cleaned 155 lbs

It took me 29:10 to complete, start to finish. I was/am DRAINED! If you have the guts to try this workout, do so! You basically complete about 3 hours of lifting in a regular gym under 45 minutes or so (that is the average time to complete). Form is very important so don't skimp on it!!!

Twitter challenge - "The Swingset"!

I've connected up with a fitness expert on Twitter named Max Barry (@NU_FiT). We got to talking and he's also another CrossFit Kool-Aid drinker, but has a lot of other experience as well in the fitness and nutrition world. In any case, he has a challenge on his website that he told me to try out called "The Swingset" challenge. It was a great burner after my brutal "Nasty Girls" experience at noon today and I owe full credit to Max for creating this WOD!

"The Swingset" consists of:

15 squats
10 KB swings (55 lbs)
5 burpees

AMRAP in 15 minutes!

I got 13 rounds and was DEAD TIRED after. My back also started to spasm at the 10 round mark.

I also told him to try out the "1500" workout. His results from my challenge are here! He did a very good job!

Anyway, check out Max Barry and his blog with the links above! He's the real deal and I look forward to more challenges with him. Of course, I'll be sure to post them!

Best,
Tyler

CrossFit WOD: "Nasty Girls"

This is yet another benchmark/popular workout known throughout the CrossFit community. It's a brutal one, of course, but it's fun to do. I'm especially proud of today's WOD because 3 weeks ago, I couldn't even do one muscle-up. My 3rd one ever was recorded here. "Nasty Girls" calls for the following:

50 squats
7 muscle-ups (or 21 pullups/21 dips if you cannot do a muscle up)
10 hanging power cleans

x 3 rounds!

My time was 12:14. I don't mind the time at this point. The main objective for me was to do ALL my muscle-ups. Being tired was more difficult, but I'm super proud of this accomplishment of mine. I think of this quote when I'm making progress:

"Winning doesn’t always mean being first. Winning means you’re doing better than you’ve ever done before." ~ Bonnie Blair

How true! And how appropriate.  Here are the girls doing this WOD:

CrossFit WOD: Going heavier

I've made the decision from here on out that if I can do more weight with my WODs, I am going to do so. My times in finishing are going to much slower, but I would like to try to develop a bit more mass. Since starting, I've lost about 7 pounds of muscle, which I do not like. But I LOVE my results otherwise.

So, today's prescribed WOD was supposed to be 95lb push presses. I did 135lbs instead. Here's the WOD:

20 Push Presses
30 Situps
40 Paratroopers

x 3 rounds. My time was 11:20. I was proud of my efforts and will continue this self-push for as long as I can. Main reason being is that I may compete in the CrossFit Games next year.

CrossFit WOD: "I'm sweating alcohol..."

Monday was my first day back in the gym after an evening out with friends on Saturday night. Sunday was a rough day, no doubt about it. I RARELY drink alcohol (I'm talking 2-4 times a year, IF that) so even if I have one beer, I can feel the effects on my body. I'm slow, sluggish, tired - you name it.  A lot of my gym buddies and I were commenting on how much more we were sweating during this WOD and we joked about how it's probably pure alcohol.  But I digress...

Today's WOD was a burner, which is what I needed. I did a 5x5 on bench of 225 or so to get things moving and warmed up before our official WOD below:

25 Double unders
25 Squat Thrusts

x 4 rounds.

My time was a decent 6:40.

After this WOD, I worked on L-Pullups, back squats (5x5), and muscle-ups on the bar. It felt great to get my body back in balance and a state of well-being. And that is why I work out!

Huge pancakes

Pancakes are a weakness of mine so I rarely eat them. Not to mention, I just don't have butter and syrup on my pancakes. My friend and I used to wake up in the mornings on weekends and make enormous pancakes and put on peanut butter, ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate, nuts, syrup and whatever else we could find in the cupboards and have at it! So, in spirit of this, my wife and I went to this local restaurant with some friends called Circle where they serve the biggest pancakes I've ever seen. I ate more than I should have, but it was my day of food/drink cheats.

Because of this, I ran the Monument steps again and did as many sprints as I could in 30 minutes.  It was brutally awesome and I may make it a weekly Saturday morning visit from now on. It's so peaceful and productive.

After some resting, I did a 2k row on the rower to top off my afternoon. I'm glad because I ended up having lots of beer with friends from the gym afterwards. Mmmm... Let's just say I like my high carb days.

Best,

Tyler

How much do I need to eat to burn fat/build muscle?

Here's an important fact you need to know before starting this journey. You cannot lose fat and build muscle at the same time! It's impossible. The only time you'll see if, if at all, is the first month, and it's called "newbie gains." Then after this, it's either lose fat or build muscle...

The body needs an excess, or sufficient, number of calories OVER your maintenance level (BMR) to build muscle. If you are in deficit to your BMR, you'll lose fat.

See the following to figure out how many calories (kcals) you need to attain whichever goal you have:

1. Check out this site first. This will help you figure out your BMR:
http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

2. After you find your BMR, goto this page and take your BMR and multiply it by your activity level. (FYI, NO ONE is sedentary but people stranded to a bed.) Do lightly active as a minimum:
http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/

3. Then, see this page for ideas on gaining weight:
http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/calorie-intake-to-gain-weight.php

Basically, once you find your BMR x activity level using the Harris Benedict equation, add 500 to that. That is what you should eat everyday.

4. Or, goto this page for ideas on how to lose fat:
http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/calorie-intake-to-lose-weight.php

The thing here is that diet cannot be sloppy. Diet is 80% of your success. The other 20% is how you do your activity, like heavy weight lifting. I strive for 90% in my diet and the other 10% is a free for all (aka, junk food, beer, etc.). Basically, 100% clean diet Monday-Friday. Then on Saturday and/or Sunday, it's my cheat meals, nights out with buddies, etc. I usually only make it 1-2 meals instead of the whole day, but that is just me. The foods you need to bring in have to be natural, non-processed, whole foods. Things with 1-2 ingredients. No more than this. See what I eat here.

See this site for a list of all foods that are perfect for consumption:
http://www.whfoods.com/foodstoc.php

Don't think of this as a "diet." It's not. It's a lifestyle change and once you incorporate these foods into your routine, you won't want to go back to unknown processed food. This also may sound very "technical" and full of "math", but it's only this way for the first month or two. Once you establish yourself and your routine, this is second nature and you won't have to "count" calories. You'll know what you need after some experimenting and trial-and-error. Measuring out food (for portions), making your meals for the whole week on Sundays, etc. is all part of it. Trust me, life is not about counting calories. It needs to be enjoyed.

Best,

Tyler

CrossFit WOD: "Grace" us with your presence.

Today was another benchmark workout called "Grace." She consists of 30 Clean & Jerks for time! Sounds easy right? Well, try it, then judge. The last time I did this workout was on November 17th, 2009. I did 95 lbs at a time of 4:22. This time, I did 135 lbs at a time of 3:12.

Even if it is just 5-10 seconds, that is marked improvement that you can grow on. So I challenge you to try 30 C&Js for time. You'll then officially get to know "Grace" and what she offers you (sore traps, arms).

Best,
Tyler

P.S. If you want to see elite, check out this guy doing "Grace." SICK!!! My goal, of course.

CrossFit WOD: Overhead squats!

Today's WOD involved my legs, yet again. Was a great noon-time burner and I really felt good doing some heavy weight again. Today's WOD was the following:

Overhead Squats  (95 lbs)
Squat Thrusters
Dips

In reps of 15-12-9. For time!


It's sort of like a "Fran,"-style workout, but not as bad. My time was 4:22. I have a basketball game tonight so I did not want to go all out and become exhausted. Next time, I think I'm going to do ring dips instead.  And maybe increase the weight.

CrossFit WOD: "Annie" are you okay?!?!

"Annie" is a benchmark WOD in CrossFit and a lot of people don't like her. I do not mind because I do well on the double unders. I did have issues with my jump rope tangling up, which added around 15-20 seconds on my time.

The WOD consists of the following:

50-40-30-20-10 reps of

Double Unders
Situps

My time was 5:54.

Afterwards, I worked on my muscle ups, handstand pushups, and rope climbing. Oh and I shoveled one foot of snow after this. Winter sucks...

CrossFit WOD: Deadlifts 'n burpees

After quite the weekend of not-so-good eating (thank you Saint Valentine), I ramped up my workout this afternoon with two WODs. The first was deadlifts in reps of 3-3-3-3-3.  My reps were as follows:

275-295-315-325-345 lbs.  And at the end, I did one rep of 385, just for fun.

This is the most I've ever deadlifted. Mostly because I never tried to go higher up, and also because I'm 6'3" and it's tough for me. But I find this amazing because I've actually increased my strength while losing a bit of muscle mass and losing fat. I love this and I will keep doing this...

After the deadlifts, I did the burpee workout I talked about on Saturday.

AMRAP (as many reps as possible) of burpees in 15 minutes.  I did 204 burpees in 15 minutes. Not bad, but I know I can do better. My legs were shot from the deads so that didn't help.

Here are the results from our box:

McKinley Monument workout

Friday nights are reserved for basketball league so I do not do any lifting, WODs, etc. So, instead of doing as many burpees as I could in 15 minutes, I decided to take things outside and do stair runs/sprints at the McKinley Monument. There are 108 steps that I counted, broken down into sections. It was a great morning, with no one around but the squirrels and a light snow. The solstice of the moment was just what I needed. No music, no artificial noise, nothing. Just my deep breathing and the cold crisp wind. That in itself is reason to go out there.

I set for my workout at 830AM and sprinted the 108 steps about 25 times. Took me 45 minutes or so. I rested at the top occasionally, enjoyed the views from on top, and walked around the place where our 25th President and his family are all resting. This was the first time I've ran these steps, and it will not be my last. A great way to start the weekend!

My thoughts on supplements and what I take.

I get asked a lot about what kind of things I eat, what supplements am I taking, how do you feel about XX supplement, etc. So, finally, I'm going to write up my thoughts on supplements and/or the industry.

First, let me explain something to the general reader regarding supplements - supplements are just that - a "supplement' to your normal diet. The human body is a very capable and smart organism and to give it things other than what it is designed to take in is dangerous and highly disconcerting to me.  It's gone through many 1000s of years without too many problems, so why is it in the last 10-20 years that all-of-a-sudden the human body is not good enough on its own and we need to supplement it?  Let it do what it needs to do, naturally, and it will be fine. I think that if you're doing things that 66% of this country doesn't do (exercise), you're OK to begin with. Most of America's health problems are from lack of exercise and poor diet. No supplement can fix that.

Second; taking anything that has unknown and/or trademarked name is downright silly. Why do you think they hide the ingredient list? Look at BSN's popular NO-Xplode. The main ingredient is "N.O.-Xplode™'s Proprietary Blend" and it's 18,000 mg. Sure, they hide it so people don't copy their product (we all need to make a buck, I get that), but taking something that you don't know about or have COMPLETE control over is a silly thing to do to one's body in my opinion. I don't trust any company to look out for what's best for me!

Third; I know what is best for me, not the other way around. Supplements are designed and advertised to make you better by fixing you, healing you, satisfying you, increase performance, etc. But if the human body is not the sole reason for that improvement, then is your body REALLY the one that you can say made you sprint that 400m, 10 seconds faster?  I can say 100% with my heart that me and my hard work, not some supplement, was the reason for my improvements in my exercises, times, weights, etc. Personally, knowing what I can do to the core of my physical ability is rewarding and makes me proud of myself and my body.

What do I take?

I want to note here that I do not completely hate supplements and the industry. I do believe it has done good in many things and many people have benefited from them. I err on the side of caution about anything that is NOT natural and 100% from nature, so that explains my wording above. But, like anything, supplements should be used only when you can't get it from your food.

The only thing I take is whey protein. I take EAS 100% Whey right now. I've also ordered from TrueProtein.com as well. I like this supplement because I know what is in it, I know where it comes from (milk), it's cheap, it's convenient to buy and it's a food, not a chemical.

It's a fast digesting protein that I use exclusively for post-workout nutrition, as well as a supplement for when I did not buy enough chicken, fish, beef, etc. to last me for all my meals. Protein, as you may/may not know, is not stored in the body, so it's needed to be brought in through the foods you eat. Once your body uses it up, you must eat it to get it back in your system. Protein is the building block of muscle tissue and in order to maintain or build my muscle, I need to eat it often (3-4 hours).

So there you have my thoughts on supplements and what I take. I hope this helps!

Best,
Tyler

CrossFit WOD: Noon-time leg burner

As if I didn't destroy my legs enough yesterday, our gym had another leg burning over my lunch hour today just to let let us know how terrible it can feel. The lactic acid is really built up right now, but I made sure to give myself a good stretch and cool down after the WOD. I finished the WOD in 3:09 so I had plenty of time to do so. Today's burning WOD consisted of:

21 Wall balls
42 Paratroopers
15 Wall Balls
30 Paratroopers
9 Wall Balls
18 Paratroopers

For time!

3:09 was my time, like I said.

CrossFit WOD: Worse than "Fran"

Ok, I think Fran is a brutal workout. The combination of thrusters and pullups is just downright crazy. But today, I'm thinking the combination of exercises I did was the worst I've done yet. Props to Becky for creating this nasty WOD! It wasn't just the heart pounding met-con, but the muscle fatigue as well. Here's the brutality I did today at noon:

In reps of 5-10-15-10-5 at 95lbs.

Power cleans (from floor)
Thrusters
Front Squat
Box Jumps (24 inches)

Do each one, from top to bottom, for 5 reps, 10 reps, and so on....

In my opinion, my time was pretty good. I got 12:32. I rested so much more on this WOD than many others I do. I was gasping for air and recovery was futile.

Do this WOD at your own risk! ;-)

Best,
Tyler

CrossFit WOD: Winter-storm edition

[caption id="attachment_98" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Becky (owner) and I doing KB swings"][/caption]

Today, we're getting pummeled with snow, which is no big deal to me. It seems everyone in Ohio freaks out, but coming from Wisconsin, I'm a veteran of the white stuff.  In any event, today's WOD was a met-con workout. Really burned my lungs nicely and caused some great anguish, especially the kettlebell swings. Here is the WOD:

15 Squat Thrusts
25 Kettlebell swings (54lb for men)
35 Double-unders

x 4 rounds!

My time was 10:47. The Kettlebells are an amazing workout and next time, I'm increasing the KB to 32 kg instead of 24 to get an even better workout.

CrossFit WOD: "Angie"

Attempting to get back into the swing of things after a weekend of terrible dieting and too many drinks, I hit up one of the benchmark workouts called "Angie."  She's tough, and consists of the following:

100 Pullups
100 Pushups
100 Situps
100 Squats

For time!

I felt my time was bad at 17:55. It was my first time attempting her and I think next time, I'll know how to space out the sets.  I tried too much too early and this was my downfall. Oh well, I can't always have good workouts. I'll take the good and the bad  -- the key is that I make progress and I'll see what happens when I attempt her next time ;-)

Here I am in the middle of pushups:

CrossFit WOD: Split jerks

Today's WOD was heavy split jerks in a rep set of 1-1-1-1-1. Basically, one rep, five times.

I did 135-155-165-175-195.  I believe I could've done more, but the shoulder was bothering me a bit.

After the heavy skill set, I did a met-con (metabolic conditioning) that consisted of the following:

5 Squat Thrusts
10 Toes to bar
15 Squats

AMRAP (As many rounds as possible) in 10 minutes. I got a great burn and did 9 rounds! Wanted to do 1 per minute, making it 10 rounds,  but it was harder than I thought. Anyway, I'm off to Minneapolis in a bit so no working out and no strict diet. I'm having fun!

Muscle Up Club

[flickr video=4331871842 show_info=true w=500 h=375]

Muscle Up Club, originally uploaded by CrossfitCatamount.

Here's a video of my 3rd muscle up of the day. I guess I did 10, I don't remember now...

CrossFit WOD: Muscle-up edition!

It's taken me 2 months of gymnastic-style/Olympic lifting workouts to finally be able to say that I can now do a muscle-up. In fact, I did 8 muscle-ups today, and personally, I think I could've done them a long time ago. I had a workout buddy show me how he does them and I didn't know that you could kip your way up to the rings. In any event, this worked and I'm now in the exclusive club of muscle-uppers. This is a huge feat for me because I have LONG arms. I'm super happy.

What is a muscle-up? Witness my 3rd one here!

Today's WOD was a great burner! It consisted as follows:

Max reps in 1 minute of the following exercises:

Burpee Pull Ups (I did the 9ft bar)
Sit Ups
Walking Lunges

30 seconds rest between exercises; 1 minute rest after the end of each round!

x 3 Rounds!

Your score is your total reps! I got 297. The burpee pullups was my demise in this WOD. After this workout, I did some heavy bench, squat, cleans, and snatch.

CrossFit WOD: "1500" - Do at your own risk!

I did a nasty workout last Thursday and I have to blog about it. I also mentioned this WOD to a Twitter buddy of mine, who is also an avid CrossFitter/gym junkie, Dai Manuel! He blogged about it here.

I would say, without a doubt, that it was my hardest CrossFit workout since starting CrossFit back in October. This brutal WOD consists of the following:

100 Singles (jump rope)
10 x burpees
10 x sit-ups
10 x pushups
10 x squats
10 x pullups

x 10 ROUNDS!!!

You may think, "Oh that's not bad." I'm eating my words now...

My time was 25:06. Almost puked...

Frequent meals vs. 3-square meals a day?

Think of an old steam engine, coal fired locomotive.  Say that you've got 100lbs of coal and throw it on the fire all at once.  At first it almost smothers out the fire because there's so much coal, when it does catch it really doesn't burn that efficiently because there's more fuel in the boiler than it can handle.  So....it flames up hot for a bit but then settles way down and limps along almost burning itself out.  There ends up being coal that wasn't burned and gets wasted.  It's left in the furnace to get in the way and prevents the boiler from functioning properly.  Now, what if you took that same hundred pounds of coal and put maybe 20 or 30lbs onto the fire?  You get a nice even burn, and produce a steady efficient fire.  The coal is able to burn a lot more efficiently because it's not smothering itself because it packed loosely and has more surface area.  There's very little waste allowing the furnace to operate at peak efficiency.  The train is running at a nice steady pace and just before the fire needs fuel the fireman stokes the firebox with another 20 or 30lbs.  The engine keeps churning and churning.  It's never longing for fuel and never wasting any energy.

Your body operates the same way.  Keep your fire stoked and your engine will operate more efficiently.

Measuring Bodyfat % and LBM

For those who think they are gaining fat, do this, WEEKLY, not daily:

1. Record your BW (body weight)


2. Record your BF% (bodyfat) (get a fat caliper at Amazon.com for $5. I recommend the Accu-Measure Fitness 3000 Personal Body Fat Tester


3. Take your BW x BF%. This is how much fat you are carrying.


4. Take #3's number and subtract it from your BW. This is your LBM (lean body mass). LBM is how much muscle you carry.

Take these measurements WEEKLY at the same time and day. If your BF% is dropping and your LBM is dropping, it means you are losing fat and muscle. If you BF% is dropping and your LBM is staying the same, DON'T CHANGE A THING! If your BF% is dropping and your LBM goes up, you're a genetic freak and I envy you! If your BF% goes up and your LBM goes down, you're losing muscle and gaining fat - NOT GOOD! If your BF% goes up and your LBM stays the same, you're mainting muscle but storing fat (usually happens when you are trying to build muscle or maintain improperly). If your BF% goes up and your LBM goes up, you're building muscle and gaining fat - usually happens when you're trying to build muscle.

Example: Say I am 200 lbs and 15% BF. This means I have a LBM of 170 lbs. Think of LBM as you without fat. Then say in two months, you weigh 205 lbs and your dropped your BF to 14%. One would think, "crap, I gained weight and I'm doing all this work and dieting?" But in actuality, you gained 6.3 lbs of muscle, aka LBM.

The moral here: get a fat caliper and take these measurements. You may THINK you're gaining fat, but really, it could be just LBM. And this is a good thing!

CrossFit WOD: Lunch time burn

I have a late basketball game tonight so I wanted to get in a quick workout at noon so I have ample time to recover for it. Today's WOD was as follows:

10 Hang Power Cleans
20 Double unders
30 Air squats

x 4 rounds. For time!

I got 6:47. I think I rested too much on some parts, but happy with the burn I got.

What do I eat? An explanation.

I get a lot of questions, especially online in the forums, about what I eat, do I ever take a break (ie. cheat meals), and how I go about making my meals.

What do I eat?

It's nothing magical or scientific at all. Here's my criteria for selecting what foods I eat:

• It has to be 100% natural, found in nature, and whole. In the field, on a tree, and things that have parents.


• It cannot be processed or touched by a machine to change its state. Exceptions like yogurt and cheese are OK to me.


• It has to have 1-2 ingredients or less, if it has a label.

I like to think of my diet as what someone would've eaten 100+ years ago.  The best list I've ever come across is located at The World's Healthiest Foods website.

Here's a typical lunch, consisting of chicken breast (grilled or baked), brown rice, and lots of steamed mixed veggies:



How I go about my diet.

I first must point out that I'm not 100% perfect. FAR from it. In fact, I would say I have a wonderful variety of foods, good and bad, in my home. The important thing is that I have the discipline to eat the bad stuff only for a meal or two one day out of the week.

I eat the same thing everyday, Monday - Friday. My M-F meals are 100% healthy and have no deviation. On Saturday or Sunday, well, let's just say I enjoy what I eat and don't care about eating completely healthy. I still make an effort, but I'm not going to stress out about it. You cannot diet your way through life. That is not normal... I like the rule of eating right 90% of the time and leaving the other 10% to freely consume what you want without guilt. One day of bad eating is not going to ruin your fitness/health goals.

Preparing my food.

On Sunday nights, I prepare all of my meals for the entire week. Here's the assembly line:



Preparing the foods for the entire week provides many benefits to my diet and healthy lifestyle.

• It keeps me on track. I know what I'm eating, how many calories (kcals) I am eating, and keeps me from snacking.


• It's convenient. I just pack all the containers in my lunch bag in the morning before I leave for work and I'm set. No worrying about what I'm going to eat during the day.


• Saves me money. Because I have all the food I need, there is no need to go out to lunch at a restaurant, which is a waste of money. And like above, it prevents me from buying snacks from the company vending machine (unhealthy).

My typical daily diet (quantity of each depends on my fitness goals):

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs,turkey bacon, slice of homemade wheat bread/toast. Small glass of OJ
AM Snack: Serving of fruit, handful of nuts (almonds or walnuts usually), hardboiled eggs.
Lunch: Chicken breast, large helping of steamed mixed veggies, yams (sweet potato) or brown rice.
PM Snack: Unlimited raw veggies with hummus, tuna.
Post-workout: Whey protein
Dinner: Homemade dish of whatever we want on Sunday (chili, pheasant dish, etc.). I make enough to last the whole week.
Pre-bed: Cottage cheese.

Meal timing is crucial as well. I've found that eating every 2-3 hours is ideal for me because I have lots of energy. Post workout, I consume my protein within 15 minutes of completion. I then eat dinner 1 hour after this.  I must also note that I change up the foods every now and then to keep my interested in the foods I'm eating. Like anything, food gets boring after time. If I feel like yogurt instead of fruit for my AM snack, then fine.

I hope this helps to see the logic and reasoning behind my food decisions.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Double Wod Monday! Big mistake...

We all have those moments where we think we can do something, but once you are about to do it, you wonder what your logic was for thinking it. Well, Monday was one of those days. I've never felt so tired, nor in pain, than I did on Monday. My chest felt like it was literally going to burst out of my ribcage.





WOD #1:

10 Rep ladder (10, 9, 8, ... 1) of...

Ring dips
Deadlifts (225 lbs)
Squat Thrusts

For time!

I got 9:04.

WOD #2:

25 Burpees
50 Double Unders
75 Squat Thrusts

For time!

I got 7:04, which I consider well done after doing the WOD #1 above before it.

CrossFit WOD: "Fran"

She's a beast and no one likes her in the CrossFit community. But there is no better combination of exercises done for time, in my opinion. On October 12, 2009, I did Fran for the very first time. My time? 12:32.  Today I did her again and got 4:27. I'm quite pleased with my improvement.

Fran consists of the following:

Thrusters
Pullups

In reps of 21-15-9. For time!