1 goal down

I already knocked off one of my goals (sadly not the 'abs like andrew' goal).

Today during the strength portion of the class, we did 4 sets of 3 dead lifts. I warmed up with 135, then 225, then 275 all pretty easily. I decided to just go with it and knocked out 305 3x. It was nice to be able to cross off one of my goals from the goal board, but now I think I should raise it to 350lbs.

Also today I discovered I can't squat clean 155lbs. I'm not sure if this was due to fatigue from the heavy deadlifts, or if I just really can't handle it. Either way that is going up on the goal board.

annnd I'm Back

What was supposed to be a quick hiatus turned into a 3 month portrait of neglect (I'm referring to this blog, not crossfit), mainly because I had run out of things to say, primarily because I felt I was just repeating myself over and over again.

Some quick updates since I last posted:

-Crossfit Rochester was awesome, I'm especially thankful they let me show up for two weeks and not pay for a single class. Apparently places in Dallas and Austin aren't as friendly, and usually have a fee close to $25 per class attended.

-I did not place in the paleo contest. I wasn't even close. I argue that instead of measuring total % body fat lost, we should have been measuring the % in relation to the starting point (i.e. losing 1/6th should be scored more favorably then losing 1/8th). Alas the coaches didn't agree with me and denied me the victory.

-I still attend pinup crossfit , and you can see me performing various lifts (or mostly just staring at my bar in disgust) by looking through the pictures. I am still going 4 days a week and have finally started pushing through my initial plateauing.

-We had a "Grand Opening / 1 year anniversary" party, in which I beat Andrew in cornhole.

-There was a big addition to the gym in the past week, a dry erase "goal board" where everyone who chooses can write their goals for the world to see.

The goals I wrote down:

1. All Wod's RX'd

2. 300+ lb Dead Lift

3. 135lb OHS

4. 50 unbroken double unders

5. free standing hand stand pushup

6. abs like andrew

7. say hello to everyone

The all WOD's rx'd goal is probably the most important one to me, as I'm making a real effort to not scale. Over the past few weeks I'm finally feeling like I'm getting strong enough (I've been attempting to 'not scale' since september) to actually handle some of the ridiculous workouts as prescribed.

Also, my diet has been 80% paleo, with sodas creeping back in and taking a few too many meals off during the weekends. I understand the importance of diet, and notice a HUGE difference when I workout after not having had a soda in a week, versus when I've been having even 1 to 2 a day. I haven't been as strict on gluten, and as such have notice I'm stagnating on "getting leaner". A renewed spirit / effort towards this will definitely yield better results.

Live from Rochester

I'm calling Rochester my home for the next two weeks. About 2 weeks before I left Houston I emailed the owner of Crossfit Rochester and asked him if I could join his gym for my duration here. His immediate response was "come in and kick ass" , which I loved because that sounds exactly what my coaches would say to a transplant joining our gym for a few weeks.

I love the gym, it fits every stereotype of how I imagined, namely the thick new york / jersey / sounds like everyone is talking with peanut butter in their mouth accents. The biggest challenge I'm facing at this gym is the pressure I'm putting on myself to represent Pin Up Crossfit and the city of Houston in general. Another challenge is getting over the stomach bug I got from eating airport food, which reaffirms my decision TO NEVER EAT AT AN AIRPORT EVER AGAIN. It's been two days of absolute bathroom misery. Sorry for "going there", but with this blog you have to take the good with the bad. I'm hoping that eating cleanly, drinking a lot of water, and plenty of rest will cure me of this bug.

Questions and Concerns

I got some questions / concerns from a reader (I love answering questions and giving uneducated advice) that I thought were worth posting about.

The first concern was "I just don't trust anything I read on the internet". This is a very valid concern and one that I completely understand. While I definitely don't have a nutrition / science background so I can't speak from an authoritative position, I will say the best method is to find out who is actually published and start from there. With regards to the paleo diet, to learn more about it and the science I recommend Robb Wolf's "The Paleo Solution" as he describes the theories and science behind the whole thing. While paleo is something I follow, I won't say its the end all / be all way of life, it's just been working for me. Other sources I use for paleo guidance include my coaches (some of whom are certified nutritionists), I get recipes from everydaypaleo, read fooducate, and in general pay attention to the way I'm feeling.

Secondly, a lot of questions were brought up about "what I do" with regards to my diet. While its easy to just answer "paleo" and move on, I will now share what I believe are the key points that I adhere to.

1. No Gluten - this seems to be the deal breaker with everyone, so I'm just going to get it out of the way. If what you're doing isn't working, then why not just give it a shot? Refraining from gluten has the wonderful benefits of: lowering your carb intake, lowering your sugar intake, limits your ability to snack all the time (which is a BIG reason people are unable to control their caloric intake), oh and you won't feel as bloated (and even if you're saying to yourself, 'but I don't feel bloated', just try giving up gluten for 30 days then you'll actually know what it feels like to not be bloated.). I don't think it's a coincidence that the first thing hospitals suggest to cancer patients is a gluten free diet (I've read that, but does need fact checking).

2. As sugar free as possible - This is aided by not eating gluten, because it's difficult to eat sugar without gluten (cakes, cookies, brownies, bread, etc). The big misconception is people think that there are different kinds of sugars, and that somehow "natural" sugar is good for you. Let me give you the results of all of my research, fructose is fructose is fructose. The sugar in fruit will do the same thing to you as the sugar in ice cream (fruit has added nutritional benefits), so one shouldn't just eat 2 lbs of fruit and think you've done your body good.

3. Don't drink calories - Yes I know another tough one, but if you're trying to get serious about weight loss the alcohol must REALLY be eliminated or severely reduced. You can completely undue a great day of eating with a margarita or two. Also, this category includes fruit juices, which for some reason are given a complete pass despite being unhealthy. They are loaded with sugar, are usually made from concentrate and generally have had all the nutritious benefits of the fruit of origin stripped away from processing. For more info on fruit juices please check out fooducate and search for them.

4. Dinner is my last meal - Eating after dinner is a bad idea, and I typically aim to finish all eating by 8pm (sometimes it's later on friday / saturday which is fine because I typically stay up later). You should wake up hungry every day!

5. Eat vegetables at every meal - This is a tough one because I didn't grow up liking vegetables very much. I make a conscience effort to have at least SOME vegetables at every meal (yes including breakfast).

6. Drink a glass of water before every meal - This helps in a few ways. First it helps fill you up so you eat less. I have a problem with eating too fast so I find that drinking a glass of water helps me to fill 'full' faster. Also drinking water with your meal helps to balance out the glycemic index of food, keeping your insulin spikes under control.

7. Eat protein for breakfast - Most people consider breakfast to be a bagel, or some cereal and milk. For me, I ate steak and eggs last week. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so I get up early enough to cook breakfast (usually means I get up 15 minutes earlier then I would otherwise)

8. No dairy - I did this because I'm borderline lactose intolerant (though I still love cheese). Some of my coaches are paleo + dairy. If you're comfortable with your weight than by all means enjoy dairy, but cutting it out will help you cut fat faster.

This may seem like the worst steps ever to follow. My main advice would be to do what works for you, but if what you're doing isn't working then I would suggest try my way for a change. Personally, I've found the most important thing is to learn to love yourself and making your main goal "being healthy" rather than looking at models in magazines and then hating the image in the mirror. When that mindset change happens, you'll be shocked out how much quicker the results seem to happen.

14.6 and falling

If I had an FAQ section I'm sure one of the most asked questions would center around the decline in my blogging. The answer is I moved my living situation and my computer was in boxes, and honestly didn't know how to keep a purely workout blog interesting to warrant posts every day of the week. Granted I probably should post more than my current rate over the past two months, and I promise to increase the frequency to all my devout readers (which may in fact be zero since I no longer link to my blog in my gchat status).

This week marks the first week in the pinup crossfit paleo challenge. I decided to join at the last minute, despite the disadvantages described earlier. I think there are about 20 of us competing, which really helps my odds because most of the people I know competing don't have the will power to give up alcohol for the duration of the challenge. Some of the other contestants mentioned a multitude of vacations and weddings, so I'm beginning to think I can actually finish in the top 3.

To start the challenge I had my body fat percentage measured accurately for the the first time in my life. I came in at 14.6%, which means I have no clue how much my percentage was before crossfit. 18%? 25%? If I'm still 14.6% after losing close to 25 lbs (I weighed 164 with shoes on during the baseline testing, also this doesn't take into account any weight gain from muscle, so total fat loss could be greater) then I might have been as high as 22-25% body fat.

The truth behind the numbers, we got our body fat measured in 7 locations (back of arm, chest, belly, hip, thigh, upper back, arm pit, calves), and all of my non-belly locations came in at around 7% body fat. What this means of course is that my belly is still 18% (and the final place I'm battling to drop fat, albeit this is the most stubborn area) and is really throwing off my numbers.

While talking to the coaches they said a realistic goal would be 1-1.5% reduction, and at the high end maybe 2% (Andrew mentioned the most he's seen in a paleo challenge is a 4% loss, but that was a person going from 29% to 25%, which as I said its easier to drop from a higher percentage). To do this I will maintain eating as healthy as I can, probably reducing my nut (and sadly this includes nut butter as well) intake to almost 0 (even though those are great sources of fats) and absolutely only drink water. Additionally I will add in some long distance running on a few of my off days (I think I'll keep wednesday sacred and do absolutely nothing).

Furthermore I've been working on weighted dead hang pullups before class. Right now I can only manage about 3 with a 15lb kettle bell hanging from my foot. During this challenge I have made it a goal to go even more uncomfortably heavy to build muscle in an attempt to to hit that 1.5% reduction (though with a NYC trip looming this goal might not happen).

Either way it's going to be a fun challenge.

Paleo Challenge

The National Crossfit games have concluded, and the Bayou City Team had a great showing (alas they didn't win). It's amazing how little can change over the course of a year, this time last year my friend Cody would be streaming the games in his office and I had no clue how someone could get so amped up watching someone lift weights. Fast forward a year and I was glued to my computer (not hard to imagine) watching a live stream of the games, fascinated by seeing some of the fittest people on the planet compete.

Naturally after my last post I had a couple of paleo cheats, one was chips and queso (delicious) and the other was a nice hearty slice of pecan pie (with ice cream!) from Taste of Texas. I don't feel bad about either of those cheats, but I did notice how bad I felt physically when I started feeding myself the bad (but very very good) foods. I hope I got it out of my system because I'm about to compete in pinup crossfit's first ever paleo challenge.

The idea behind the challenge is to show the members how changing their diet can change their life. On the first day we have our body fat measured (the correct way, I'm not sure which method but I know its more scientific than height / weight) and then we embark on a 6 week challenge of who can lose the most body fat. Notice I didn't say the most weight, but who can lower their body fat % the greatest.

While I'm confident I can eat perfectly paleo (at least as to the point of splitting hairs about grass fed whey protein shakes), I don't think I can win this competition if some of the larger individuals take it seriously (which I hope they do). Fatter people always have huge advantages in fat loss competitions (even percentage based competitions) because the initial shock to the system is accompanied by the most fat loss. I've already lost about 23lbs, and my weight loss has really slowed down, meaning I probably won't be able to keep up no matter how clean I'm eating, but I'm going to give it a go. The winner gets a free 3 months at the gym.

This competition is the perfect motivation I needed to really clean out any bad parts remaining in my diet. We will be taking before and after pictures, and obviously doing a lot of trash talking to each other to stay motivated. The coaches have offered all the support for participants, including GOING GROCERY SHOPPING WITH US. I don't think Charlie realizes what he's signed up for, because I'm going to be taking him to whole foods every day to shop for the next days worth of groceries. I will definitely be keeping a food log for them to review, even though I do have a cheat day planned for when I'm in NYC (gotta have NY pizza right?).

For now I'm really trying to cut the last remaining 20 lbs or so left, and am trying to get away from so many protein shakes (not quite there yet) and to really get my nutrients from natural sources.

For now my usual diet looks like this:

6:30 am - Scrambled Eggs with Sauteed Onions (might need to add in a protein)

9:00 am - morning protein shake (not sure if this is staying or not)

11:00 am - Grilled chicken, vegetable mix, a couple spoonfulls of almond butter before returning to work

2:00 pm - Handful of trailmix (nuts,berries,and mostly seeds), wait 10 minutes to determine if I'm still hungry, if still hungry eat another handful

4:00pm - A serving of sweet potato as a pre-workout meal

6:30pm - recovery shake

7:30pm - Grilled chicken, vegetable mix

You might be thinking "does he really stick to that?", and to answer, yes I do. This routine makes it easy for me, not only in staying healthy but also in shopping for the weeks groceries. My main question during the challenge will revolve around if I'm eating enough vegetables and are they a broad enough mix (currently onions,carrots,broccoli,bell peppers).

As you can see I've already eliminated the afternoon protein shake, and hope to eliminate the morning protein shake once I figure out a breakfast. Also, I've been reading about how wonderful a food spinach is for the body, and am trying to find ways to incorporate it into my meals.

Why I don't even want to cheat anymore

I went to a wedding last weekend and ran into people I hadn't seen in months, and in many cases years. Naturally I got a lot of questions about "how did you do it?" (this is not me bragging, just stating fact, which I guess can be considered bragging) referring to the slimmer new madams2.0. I don't mind this question at all because it gives me an opportunity to talk about crossfit, fitness, and the positive changes its had in my everyday life.

Usually I initially respond by saying something to the effect of "crossfit 4x a week and a sensible diet", to which some people responded with "that's it?". That's it?? That line always gets me, because while it sounds simple, it has taken a lot of discipline to avoid certain foods, to come home and eat healthy during lunch, to ignore all the distractions trying to keep me from attending my workouts.

Another thing that I find amusing is how many people try to get me to "cheat". Let me tell you, its not going to work. If I'm going to cheat, it's going to be on my terms. I've been eating very healthy with very few "cheats" since about may 15th. In fact I ignored all forms of dessert at a wedding I was at (on June 11th) earlier this summer, and haven't really partaken of any since then. Last saturday I decided to give it a go and have 2 cakeballs because the creators of these fabulous bundles of joy demanded I try one, so I picked what I thought would be my 2 favorite flavors, sought out the ladies who created the magic and ate them in front of them. They were absolutely delicious, but I later learned that night that my body can't handle that much sugar anymore.

I'm not sure if it was the 3 sodas (not diet either, so many many grams of real sugar) or the 2 cakeballs, but there was a rumblin in my tummy all night long. My body was honestly revolted by the fact it had to break down and process all that sugar. That's why its easy for me to say I'm done with cheating, because I know how I feel afterwards. If a few cakeballs and soda can make me feel that way, I can't imagine how I would feel if I were to pound a whole piece of pie or go nuts at some buffet. The feeling isn't worth it.

So I say goodbye to the feelings of wanting to cheat, because I know better now.

Ups and Downs

First things first, I managed a ONE ARMED pull up today!

Its been over 2 weeks since my last post, but I assure you I didn't quit fitness / crossfit or my quest to be as healthy as possible. Over the past few weeks there have been a few changes, namely I changed up my living situation (moving before a crossfit workout is the worst), meaning my computer was packed up into a few a boxes (I have a desktop, a decision I made after realizing I'm not in college and don't need to do "study" at coffee shops, therefor made no sense to pay the money for a laptop when for half the price I could get a mac mini (its the size of a sandwich people!)), naturally impeding my ability to post here.

I've stopped weighing myself, which is a good thing (last time I weighed myself I was 167) because it's very hard for me to talk about the dangers of getting obsessed with a number instead of how you look and feel, and then proceed to post my weight every week.

I've been working out at pinup crossfit under the coaching of Charlie and Andrew since the beginning of April. For about 15 weeks (just counted, didn't count the first 2 weeks since I only made it once a week) I've been dedicated to crossfit, and for about 11 of those weeks fully dedicated to the paleo diet and can say the results have helped me change my life (ask my roommate, he rolls his eyes when people ask me about it because he's heard me talk about it so much and is tired of my gluten-free-ness). During those weeks I've lost about 22 lbs (on the scale, but added muscle weight so the total change is probably closer to 26-28 lbs), felt my energy levels shoot through the roof, and have improved my fitness / health in just about every facet. Every week was fun because I was constantly improving, never hitting the "wall" or "plateauing" that many life long exercisers talk about.

Then these past two weeks happened (weird, corresponding with my blog absence, not a coincidence I'm sure). I've definitely been in a "valley" or a "down" in terms of my performance. I've been making an effort to not "scale" (meaning change the workouts to make them easier, generally achieved by using lighter weights than prescribed) because I want to get stronger. However for whatever reason my body wasn't recovering as fast as usual (signs of maybe working out too much?) and I was struggling to finish some of the workouts.

To combat this I've increased my eating (while keeping a certain watch on my waistline), mainly by adding in sweet potato on days I'm working out as a pre-workout snack. The benefits of eating sweet potato before workouts are numerous, I suggest you research them for yourself. Also when I say 'I eat all the time', I mean from waking up till I finish my dinner (usually by 730 pm) I go no longer than 3 hours between "meals".

Generally my meals look like this:

6:30 am - Breakfast - scrambled eggs with sauteed onions / peppers

9:00 am - Protein Shake

11:15 am - Grilled Chicken Breast w/ vegetables (broccoli / onions / peppers / celery that I've sauteed up (I make large containers early in the week so that all I have to do is heat up smaller portions throughout the week)), sometimes a spoonful of cashew butter or almond butter

3:00pm - Protein Shake #2 (okay so I go a little longer between these meals, I'm still trying to find the sweet spot, might move this to 2:30)

4:15 - sweet potato (not a whole sweet potato, I make a large container of sweet potato puree and then portion out some on a plate, heat and eat)

5:00 - Crossfit Workout

6:00 (immediately after) - Recovery Shake

7:30 (not a set time) - Generally Same as my 11:15 am meal

Yes I know this meal plan makes me sound like a robot, and for the most part right now I am. The added sweet potato has really been helping with renewed energy during my workouts (I've only had thursday and fridays workout to test it), but the real important lesson I've learned is patience.

My problem with my recent struggles, is that I was enjoying my rocketing pace and didn't give one notion to the fact that it couldn't last. I was worried that I was no longer improving and wasn't seeing results. Yesterdays workout had overhead squats (I have a love / hate relationship with OHS) and I repped out 15 at 65lbs. A mere 13 weeks ago I was barely able to do them with 25lbs. In 13 weeks I've not only increased almost 300%, but I'm REPPING it. That's a big deal, and a big improvement.

It really puts things in perspective. Just remember in all of your goals that there will be ups and downs, and that's why it is important to write down where you started, because its easy to lose sight of how much you've improved and get complacent (like in my case).

Im actually not dead

Contrary to popular belief, I'm actually not dead. This week I've been dedicating it to what I call a "digital detox". I took my computer out of my room, and don't turn on the tv when I'm at home. Everyone should try this, its really quite fascinating how much time we spend watching tv or mindlessly surfing the web (and believe me, I'm as guilty as anyone). Luckily for me there isn't much good tv on right now (except for law and order re runs), so there hasn't been much withdrawl. (On the subject of TV, I was introduced to the show 'suits', and I really enjoyed the pilot. Its one of my goals to get in on a great tv show at its inception, rather than being really late to the game (I.e. arrested development, mad men, modern family, 30 rock)).

As far as working out goes, I've been diligent to the least. Managed to avoid the terrible (but delicious) foods of july 4th celebrations, because I still haven't achieved my goals. I made a decision to stop scaling the gym (scaling means to lighten the load) if possible. It seems like a no brainer but its much harder than it sounds, mainly because I now no longer finish anywhere close to the front of the pack. Yesterdays workout of 55 thrusters / 55 burpees (thrusters at 95lbs) took me forever, because the weight was uncomfortably heavy. Andrew agrees this is the best strategy to 'forging elite fitness' (the motto of our gym). So yes its humbling as now I'm coming in nearly dead last, but I'm working much harder and will reap the benefits.

I weighed myself yesterday afternoon and came in at 166.7, which is crazy because I'm not sure the last time I've ever seen that number on a scale. I'm definitely not fixated on my weight, but improving my body composition, however its always fun to say I've "lost 22lbs" to people asking about crossfit, because all they ever want to hear about is potential weightloss if they start (even though factoring in muscle gains, I've probably changed more like 27-28lbs).

Baseline Revisited

I think now would be as good as time as any to revisit my initial baseline post and determine how much (or if) I've improved:

These numbers were recorded on May 5th, anything without an update means we haven't maxed in that particular exercise since then.

Weight: 178lbs

Update: 171 lbs nighttime weighing, but I've seen as low as 168 on the scale

Kb Swing - 53lb

Update: 53lb but I can now rep it 15x in a row

Pullups - 8 in a row. Pullups will always be my big test, because i've always struggled with them especially pull up endurance. On long pullup workouts, I still scale with a band.

Update: 15 in a row, and I'm not even sure how accurate that initial 8 was, I think I was being generous to myself

Overhead Squats - 25 lb bar. This is the most humbling exercise, but its good to be humbled.

Update: 65lbs

Power Cleans - 85lbs, not a max but my 10 rep weight.

Update: 135 lb max, 105lb rep weight

"Helen" - 10:07. This is a benchmark exercise of 3 rounds: 4oom run, 21 Kb swings , 12 pullups. The pullups were very assisted (see jumping from a box).

Thrusters - 65 lbs rep weight

Update: 95lb rep weight

Front Squat - 65 lbs rep weight

Push Press - 125lb

Deadlift - 135lb rep, this was performed in basic and we haven't done it since. The rep weight will probably go higher next WOD that has deadlift.

Update: 245lb max, 185lb rep weight (probably will go up next time)

Wall Balls - 16lb medicine ball

Update: 20lb ball

the magic formula

Walked into the gym friday to the words "I found your blog" by Andrew (my coach / life mentor / whatever). I wasn't sure what to think when he said that, but knowing that I've never bad mouthed him or the gym on here, I knew I had nothing to be afraid of. So Andrew, if you're reading this, I will see you monday at 5pm ready to rock.

Also I had a few out of town friends come into town and mention this blog to me, which I'm grateful that people read this, but I'm sometimes confused as to how this has any appeal to the 24-27 year old female demographic. I'm assuming it's my dashing good looks and unmatched charm, because I can't imagine anyone honestly being intrigued by tales of overhead squats and burpees.

(random fact: my roommate is watching Independence Day in the next room, so if I slip some quotes into this post that's why)

(follow up random fact: Independence Day is a fantastic movie and should be watched every July 4th, if only because how many 4th of July movies are there??)

At the gym on friday a group of us were discussing diets (because that's what crossfit people discuss before class, that or extremely hard previous wods) and I casually mentioned how much weight I had lost in the last 2 months, to which (all girls at this point) started complaining how unfair it is that guys can "magically" lose weight. This of course makes me laugh, because I can assure you there is no magic involved in what I'm doing at all, but I refrained from taking a pompous attitude (for the first time in my life), luckily Andrew chimed in and we started shooting out dietary facts and how we eat. What I discovered is that many of the people (girls and guys) that are doing crossfit purely to lose weight, are still refusing to change their diet. When we explained that a good paleo eater doesn't eat any grains, they refused to hear it. It dawned on me that they (and most people in general) were looking for the magic answer, rather than "eat meat and veggies, some fruits, some nuts, and some seeds", they wanted to hear "just add grapefruit every morning and you are guaranteed to lose 20 lbs this month" (thats not true).

I think this is the same reason people are always looking for the next workout fad (yes I know, crossfit is a fad (one thats not going away I hope)) and why infomercials continue to make money selling the promise of "lose 10 inches in a week and look like this model in just 20 minutes a day 3x a week".

There's no such thing as a magic solution. Trust me, I've been looking for it. There's no one device or magical food that will allow you to transform yourself. Actually I'm lying, there is a magic formula:

exercise + healthy diet = voila. Amazing how that works right?

Finally, it's amazing to me how my goals have transformed (I've used that word a lot in this post) since starting crossfit. Originally my motives were complete vanity, I wanted to change the way I look. However, my goals have shifted from "looking good" to "being healthy". There's a big difference, just because someone is skinny doesn't mean they're healthy, it just means they had a bit of luck in the genetic pool. I know how I feel when I cheat my diet, not emotionally I'm talking physically. The upset stomach and bloated feeling not to mention sometimes paying for it in the bathroom (see once again, have no clue why anyone would read this with these kind of references lurking), just isn't worth it. I'm caring less and less how I look, and much more how I feel.

Since starting crossfit (and changing my diet, okay A LOT of it is from changing my diet) I've noticed an increase in energy levels, more discipline in other areas of my life, and a sense of confidence in myself that I've never had before. I've had energy to go home and help out more (dishes, take out trash, cooking, etc), have been reading A LOT more (my purchase of a kindle is proving to be well worth it) and otherwise have been feeling great about myself, which that feeling alone is worth the monthly fee I pay for my gym.

(guess I didn't slip any quotes in)

pullup PR

Really really needed an off day. Tuesdays workout was a really hard warmup and then all sprints. Go ahead and google "death by 10m". Its already hard enough, then you factor in Houston's 6pm heat (i.e. soul sucking) and some would question my sanity.

Tomorrow I get my BMI checked for the first time since I had it checked in January? Maybe it was earlier, probably more like November. In any event my BMI was 18%, I'm hoping to shatter that score and get a score of < 12% , but who knows. Each method of calculating it (there's like 4 methods) can produce wildly different results, so we'll see.

During the warmup tuesday is set my PR (personal record) for pullups in a row by knocking out 12. That may not seem like a staggering amount (my friend Cody once did 46 in a row) but I started out only being able to complete about 1.5, so that nearly 1000% increase is actually pretty good.

Also today I tipped the scales at 169.4 at night, meaning that my adjustments are causing me to lose (healthy) fat, and for the first time since high school I'm below the 170's. This really is uncharted territory for me and I love it. I think the body part that loves me the most are my knees, as they've had almost 20 lbs of pressure relieved that they have to support.

Now I need to get some rest and be ready to tackle whatever WOD Charlie draws up for me (I'm fearing that 'FRAN' is in my near future).

more than just crossfit

Part of my matt adams 2.0 project (which I don't think I've discussed in this blog, but I definitely have discussed it to many in real life) is to explore new hobbies and interests that I've once put on the back burner for one reason or another. I've decided to become increasingly passionate about a select few things, and really dive into them rather than spread my interests out too thin.

That being said, I took my first Krav Maga class today. It was intense, and really really tiring to take it after my 5pm crossfit workout. I knew 2-a-days would be tough (looks like I'll be doing Krav Mondays / Tuesdays until the end of the Grace Bible Church thursday night series, then move to 3x a week) but I was really tired during the warmup. Not a "I'm too out of shape for this", but really a "I don't think my legs have any energy left" type thing. The instructor was awesome and put up with my sarcasm and laughed at my jokes (the key to my heart). Needless to say I'm excited to learn the Israeli form of self defense and attack (aka Krav Maga), yes its a workout but its also just practical knowledge. For instance today we learned how to escape rear choke holds when someone sneaks up on you (and then proceed to "eliminate the threat").

Anyone that's even slightly interested in learning should come to a class (its free to try), and right now the classes are small but will surely grow once they get mentioned on my super popular blog that nobody reads anymore.

Also in a fit of laziness (and a desire to not be on the computer so late), I may not post EVERY workout, you can always go to pinups main site to see the workouts everyday if you really want to. I'll try to keep a high posting rate on other various interesting topics and of course, feel free to ask me any questions (how's it going? do you like long walks on the beaches? are you keeping up with your workouts? etc)

So yes I did a WOD today, yes it was tough and left me on the floor (not to mention we ended with ab work post wod) in a pile of sweat, and yes I'm going back for more tomorrow.

bayou city - best in the region

If you wanna be the best, you gotta be coached by the best. I'm not sure who said that (probably Abraham Lincoln) first, or if I'm original in my thought (but lets face it, I steal 99% of my jokes) but it applies to everything. That being said, I'm pleased (okay extremely pleased) to say the Bayou City Crossfit Team (aka my coaches) got 1st place in the South Central Regional Crossfit competition and are on their way to nationals.

I looked down at the scale and it read 170.8, which is the lightest I've been since High School I'm guessing. Even though I'm past the point (at least I like to think I am) of weighing myself, it's still nice to know the small changes I've made since plateauing are helping me push through. I figure as long as I'm continuing to improve my strength / stamina / performance on workouts, and that I'm eating enough then the weight loss is safe.

The changes I made since plateauing:

1. Eat more at breakfast - Now I eat eggs / veggies (scrambled in a sort of "hash") along with my protein shake
2. Eat leaner meats - When I'm at home I try to only eat either grassfed beef / bison or free range chicken. Also when I go out to eat I'm choosing chicken more often then not. I've eliminated bacon (for the most part), despite everydaypaleo's claim that bacon can be eaten everyday.
3. Eat less nuts
4. Eat less fruit - this sounds counterintuitive because everyone just naturally assumes fruit is amazing for you. It is in some senses, but when trying to "lean up" or lose weight fruit can become a hinderance, its higher in carbs, high in sugar and some fruits have a high glycemic index which means insulin hits your system extra fast (not a good thing).
5. Eat more vegetables - try to eat at them at every meal, and have added a lot of broccoli into my diet
6. Drink more water - though I'm not always as successful at this as I should be
7. Add supplements of fiber , calcium, and a one a day (flintstones) vitamin every morning

(Some people might say, if paleo is so healthy, then why the supplements. My answer, paleo is very healthy, and if I were doing paleo perfectly I wouldn't need supplements. You can get fiber from many vegetables / fruits, same with calcium (spinach, kale, broccoli, other leafy greens) I just admittedly don't eat enough of certain foods (leafy greens) or a wide enough variety of vegetables (like beats, turnips, carrots, eggplant, etc) to get all of my vitamins. I try to add in different vegetables but I'm also trying to make this work in the modern world, which means I don't have the time to prepare something new everyday or have the space to have a wide selection of veggies. What works for me are a few simple meals and slowly adding in new ones, the number one thing about changing your life is to do what works for you.)

I think the natural reaction for most people is to eat less, but really the thinking should be "eat less bad food eat more good food". Your body needs food, eating too little causes your body to go into starvation mode and actually cling to calories / fat rather than burn it. I'm no scientist or dietician (but I know a registered dietician at church who I bounce ideas around with) and I believe that increasing my calories at breakfast helps jump start my metabolism in the morning.

As an added bonus, I'm starting Krav Maga on a trial basis today. I guess you could call crossfit + krav "2 a days" in preparation for wedding season (or life) .

Follow Bayou City at the Games

My coaches are competing on The Bayou City Team.

Crazy thing about the team of 4 competing:

Vic - Owner
Charlie - My first coach (basic coach / Tuesday and Thursday Coach at Pinup)
Kristian - Coached my first boot camp I went to that wrecked my world and made me realize I wanted to join crossfit
Cody - Not a coach, was on my actual team at work (about a 9/100,000 chance)

So yes, I'm pulling for my boys to win.

okay put your money where your mouth is, current results

I've been avoiding this post for a while, but I want to prove to everyone (with pictures) that I'm not just blowing smoke when I say if you put in the effort you can start seeing the results (and rather quickly too).

Without further adieu, my first before and after pictures:

The furthest left picture is my "before" picture taken Feb 26th, but it might as well have been March 26th because that's when I decided to take my first crossfit class (and I assure you I didn't improve my physique at all during that month, not even accidentally). The second picture was taken May 15th, where you can see some improvement but still noticeable flabby areas. To this point I hadn't taken my diet very seriously. I would allow myself to eat gluten throughout the week and really took the weekends off diet wise, and allowed myself cheat meals almost every other day. I probably didn't get real serious about being a paleo eater until early May, (so maybe just a few days before picture #2 was taken). The picture on the right was taken yesterday June 15th, and is about as current as can be (yes even my paleness, gimme a break I work in an office and actually take skin cancer seriously). The funny thing about those two pictures is I probably weigh within 2lbs (Both are about 173-176lbs), but I'm beginning to "tighten up" with muscle mass replacing the flab (still have a long ways to go). In June I added progenex recovery and more muscle to my diet, and since early May have eliminated gluten / eating as paleo as possible.

For a time frame reference:

March 26th - started my first crossfit basic class, was only going once a week for 2 weeks then moved to two times a week

April 26th - Moved to 3x week

June 1st - Move to pinup crossfit, still at 3x a week

June 5th - 4x a week

So in the course of 2.5 months I changed from picture 1 (notice the double chin) to picture 3. The scale says I've lost 15lbs (188 to about 173) but that doesn't account for gaining lean muscle weight (like I said, I weigh the same in pictures 2 and 3).

Now I'm strongly considering adding a krav maga class that meets at my crossfit gym pinupcrossfit , because my roommates in college took it and loved it, and also because I would get a discount for being a current pinup member. Basically I want to be able to win fights (that I clearly would look to start).

I hope these pictures help show that results are achievable, I'm nowhere near "ripped" or where I want to be, but I feel much better about myself from a health stand point (and I'll hopefully get to prove it as I'm having my BMI / cholesterol / other fun things checked (for free thanks to health screenings from the company I work for) next week. Next picture day is July 15th.

oh yea, also had a workout today, which was my 4th in a row (taking friday off):

WARMUP:

30 box jumps

30 Kb swings (40 lbs)

30 sitsups

10 HSPU

Workout:

1-1-1 max

Deadlifts

Back Squats

Overhead Press

my results:

245lbs

245lbs

95lbs

Really think I can deadlift / back squat more, my legs were just tired from the 150 squats on wednesdays workout, and not getting any rest days this week so far. Other then that I was pleased with my results as I'm improving each time we max out.

What am I eating?

I didn't take today off seeing as how the gym is closed this friday for the southwest regional crossfit games. Bayou City is sending a team of some of the best athletes I've met, so you can consider me amazed if they don't do very well.

I've actually been eating MORE lately and still dropping inches and a few pounds (172 at last casual weigh in) so I thought I'd write about my day today from a food perspective:

Wakeup:

Protein Shake

Scrambled Eggs with sauteed onions / peppers (I have them in containers in the fridge pre-diced so I can't just throw them in the pan). Take a flinstones vitamin (yes I actually take a flintstones) and a couple of fiber chewable tablets. I decided to add in the vitamins and fiber just today as I wasn't getting enough in my diet. Yes the additional fiber had the effects you assume it does.

Mid-morning snack (If I'm getting hungry): Spoonful of cashew butter (Goal here is to make sure I don't overeat. A spoonful (1-2 tablespoons is more than enough to hold me over till lunch)

Lunch: Puerto Rican Beef (I cooked it for dinner last night, but made enough to eat on throughout the week). Today I also added another protein shake because I was still struggling to recover from yesterdays workout. The protein shake did wonders for me the rest of the day. Also, not that it needs mentioning, but I always finish lunch with a large glass of water (I'm still drinking water throughout the day).

Afternoon Snack: Today I didn't have one, but it would be either cashew butter, or if I can wait till I get home I would have some paleo trail mix OR if I'm being REALLY good I would have some pureed squash or other vegetables in the fridge and would eat those. I try to keep it light because my workout is at 5.

Post Workout: Recovery Shake (progenex has both a muscle building morning shake and a post workout recovery shake)

Dinner: Ginger Chicken with broccoli , onion stir fry, and a small side of avocado. I had some chicken breasts from whole food that were already cooke, so I got the onions cooking, added the broccoli, poured some tamari sauce (gluten free soy sauce) over the sauteeing mixture, then cut up the chicken and dropped it in till it was warmed and ready to eat. The side of avocado was half of a small avocado purely because I bought two this week and don't want them to go bad. Actually turned out quite deliciously. Once again drink a big glass of water before bed.

WARMUP:

15 pullups

10 box jumps

15 OHS

Bear Crawl across the room and back

x2

WOD:

50 burpees

100 Situps

150 Squats

400m run

This workout was hard, but I really felt that I'm improving. I was able to do the squats in sets of 50. I broke down the workout into 3 sets and finished in 16 minutes on the dot (1st place!). This is a great workout if you don't have access to fancy equipment.

And for your viewing pleasure, that's a pic of me performing an overhead squat, just so you know I'm not making all of this up. The weight is a standard 45lb bar.

Do I have to be in shape before starting crossfit?

This post will probably be short as I have to be AT work at 6:00 am tomorrow. Just typing that makes me feel ill. Really want to expand upon a common question that has been asked of me:

"Do I have to get in shape before starting crossfit?"

Answer: 1000 times NO.

In fact its probably better that you don't waste your time "getting in shape" (once you start crossfit you'll realize why I put that in quotes). There are people of all fitness levels and ages (me and a friend were joking after yesterdays WOD how at bayou city there were high schoolers dominating us and we were just hoping to beat the 14 year old girl). Yes the workouts will challenge you in bring to the brink of vomiting (or in the case of some, actual vomiting) but I can't emphasize enough that if you come in with a good attitude and are willing to work, you will see dramatic results quickly (and yes I realize I'm sounding like an infomercial). I'm always impressed with the people who have just started, because I know how tough it is to complete these WODs even after months of training, so the fact they're fighting through it week 1 is inspiring.

I'll put it this way, if you can do a single pull up, you're MORE than fit enough to start, because most people that start can't.

WARMUP:

200 M run

5 Burpees

10 Pushups

15 Squats

WOD:

800m run

3 Rounds of:

10 Tire Flips

Farmers Walk (about 100yds) (53lb kbs in each hand)

15 kb swings (53 lbs)

800m run

This WOD might seem short and sweet at first, but it really REALLY left me hurting. In fact merely typing is killing me as my forearms and grip muscles are just exhausted. The farmers walk absolutely taxed me, but I could definitely tell I'm improving on my KB swing stamina as I was able to knock out the first 2 sets without setting down the kettlebell. Also while the workout says '800', we're actually just running around the block 3 times so the actual distance is closer to 900m (the one negative about pinup is we're essentially running around downtown houston rather then have a nice track).

Finally, as I've been saying the best idea for anyone who needs motivation is to take pictures of themselves (shirtless, or if you're a girl, in a sports bra, and please don't tweet them to me) and keep them up on a wall in your room or next to your computer, just somewhere you'll see them. Then as you begin your crossfit journey take pictures of the same angles about once every month. I've been doing this on the 15th of each month, so I guess you could say tomorrow is picture day. I'm planning on posting some before and afters relatively soon.

whole foods is really expensive

I mistakenly was living under the premise that central market and whole foods were similarly priced. I actually loved the idea of going to whole foods over central market (closer, better selection of grass fed products) until making a quick grocery run tonight and realizing I might as well be lighting money on fire. The vegetables are outrageously priced, sometimes double central market prices ( you can argue things like "organic" for however long you want with me, but you can't assure me that the fruit and vegetables are truly organic and NON-gmo (genetically modified, a common practice in farming) ), which isn't necessarily cheap to begin with. So to all my friends who shop at whole foods, I have only one thing to ask: WHYYYYYYYYYY?

Another thing I've noticed while at whole foods / central market is the number of people who seemingly shop there because they think its healthier, yet have fallen into the trap that is very common of picking out the most unhealthy stuff. I'll leave the gluten thing alone tonight because that's still up for debate, no I'm referring to people who shop at these "healthy" places and load up on the cookies / chips / dips / "healthy ice cream" and so forth. The main point I'm trying to get at in apparently the most round about way is, just because you are shopping at a healthy grocery store doesn't mean it's blank check to everything they offer, there are plenty of unhealthy options. Of course just typing this has made me want ice cream, thankfully laziness is keeping me in bed and not in search of a sweet fix.

So now that I've made everyone reading this feel terrible about themselves and eating habits (yes I'm one of those people that judges people on their shopping carts and prides myself when none of my purchases come prepackaged / in a box), I will share a quick tip to avoid another common dietary pitfall.

KEEP HEALTHY SNACKS ON HAND. I can't say this enough. Tonight at about 9pm I had a fit of hunger come over me (this is because I handled dinner poorly as I didn't have any food on hand and was too lazy (I guess laziness is a running theme tonight) to cook after buying all the groceries, so I essentially hoped my post workout shake would be enough... it wasn't). These hunger pains late at night are common times when the usual response is to grab the nearest food, and in my old days would usually mean killing a bag of doritos or oreos, or about 4 bowls of cereal (I could eat cereal like a CHAMP). Not only was I making poor choices, but I was compounding the issue by eating so close to bedtime. The ONLY thing you should be having within 2 hours of bed is either a protein shake or water. That's it. I try to not eat after 8pm unless I know I'm going to be up till 2am or something absurd like that. Yes that means I'm going to bed hungry tonight, and if millions upon millions of children in impoverished nations can do it, then I can put on my big boy pants and do it too.

That's not a joke, I really do have a heart for them. I'm becoming much more interested in the work of living water, and hope to go on a trip in the fall (BUT ALL THESE WEDDINGS ARE GETTING IN THE WAY).

Oh ya, I also worked out today:

Warmup:

200m Run

10 Squats

15 Situps

20 Box dips

x2

WOD:

25 Dead Hang Pullups

20 HSPU

10 Pistols Per leg (by the way, Pistols is something I'm really hoping to master, being able to do them gives you instant street cred at wedding dance parties)

THEN

10 Minutes

3 Squat cleans (95 lbs) every minute on the minute, for remainder of the minute perform as many double unders as possible.

This workout really challenged me today, not only can I still not do handstand pushups I'm not even comfortable holding myself in a handstand. Also, the prescribed weight for the squat cleans was 135lbs, umm Charlie you serious? Only one guy in my class managed to do the prescribed workout, everyone else had to scale down. The weight was just right for me, I probably could go up in weight next time but I definitely had to fight for the last few reps in the later rounds. I'm finally beginning to understand why people grunt / yell / slam the weight (we use bumpers so I can literally just slam it from chest level ). When you start really challenging yourself, you have to fight through pain, fatigue, and anything else to knock out the workout.

a wedding weekend

Spent the weekend at a wedding celebration in Austin and loved seeing old friends (especially the ones who mentioned this wonderful piece of internet literature you're reading right now). Always fun talking to people about what I'm doing or mentioning paleo and then randomly finding out that three other people at your table are doing it as well. I'm trying to remember all the questions people asked me and share them here, but alas the combination of heat and wine (okay mainly wine) has me drawing some serious blanks. Most of the questions were about cost and commitment, but as I told everyone, you should just go try one of the free sessions. I promise it will break you physically, maybe even mentally, but you'll want to come back for more.

I've hit some weird bumps in the paleo road, namely I feel like my taste buds are changing. Food I used to eat all the time just isn't appealing to me, in fact tonight I couldn't stand all the squash I had prepared (I made about a pound of butternut squash puree for a quick side dish) to eat throughout the week, and ended up throwing it out (along with the cauliflower mashed potatoes experiment). On the bright side I'm really beginning to like chicken, which is a strange development. Growing up (heck, up until last week, and it still is true mainly) I would ALWAYS get beef if available. I didn't like chicken, didn't want to go near it or it come to me. It's always a fun dynamic to go to wing joints with friends (pluckers, buffalo wild wings, etc) for 50 cent wing night and order the burger. Anyway I've been more adventurous and have really started enjoying good flavorful chicken (aka marinated properly). Unfortunately I'm not confident in my ability to cook chicken quite yet, so I'm "settling" for whole foods chicken that is pre cooked (meaning that day, not the frozen variety) and I just have to heat up on the stove. Delicious. I'm wondering if this new found chicken craze will help me drop some more unwanted body fat quicker. One can only hope.

I wanted to share the workout we did friday because it was a MONSTER:

(Don't remember the warmup)

WOD:

400m run
35 overhead squats (45lb bar)
35 front squats
35 back squats
400m run
35 press
35 push press
35 push jerk
400m run
35 hang power clean
35 hang power snatch
400m run

Use the same weight, in this case a 45lb bar for the entire workout. Just looking at the sheer numbers, you should probably be thinking "thats insane", and I assure you it was. With a 35 minute cutoff I skated in at 31:07 and absolutely collapsed.

I guess one of my favorite things about crossfit, is that everytime my roommate asks about how the workout was, I can only think to respond with a "horrible, wanted to die". Every workout pushes me to my extreme limits, WAY past the point of pure exhaustion and sometimes into the "I can't see" phase. Both Andrew and Charlie know are very good about staying on me to make sure I don't rest too much if I need a quick break (I try to limit myself to less then 10 seconds, but sometimes you feel like you need 10 minutes), and I appreciate them for always making me work harder.

I know I usually give progress updates on sunday, I didn't weigh myself today but I was 173 on Saturday before we left for Austin. In an upcoming post, I'm going to re-post all of my baseline stats and note the improvements I've made since.

every rep counts

I stopped looking at my blog stats, and people have stopped asking me questions so one could make the argument that I'm one of those people that just like to hear themselves talk (or in this case read their own writing). I'm not sure when or how, but I'm going to make the suggestion that pinup crossfit include my blog on their site because 1) I actually update this thing on a regular basis and 2) the coaches are already in ridiculous shape and look like comic book characters. I'm sure people perusing the site would love to hear the point of view of someone trying to get healthy during their journey.

Today I came to the discovery that the best way to conquer soreness is to just do another workout. For the past two days I've felt dead, but showed up to the workout anyway and was surprised how the soreness goes away once you get warmed up.

Warmup:

400m run

20 squats

15 hollow rocks

20 OH (weight over head) lunges with 25 lbs

WOD:

900m Run

then

AMRAP 20 minutes (run counted for the 20 minutes, so AMRAP whatever time is left after the run)

6 pullups to K2E (knees to elbows)

8 Deadlifts (115 lbs)

12 situps

If you're reading this and are confused, then you are like me when I first read the board this afternoon. Pullups to knee to elbows? Only 115 lbs on the deadlifts? The pullups to K2E was much harder than I expected, and I don't expect anything to be easy. Basically you do a pull up, then touch your knees to your elbows. That's 1 rep. Whats hard is, 1) my core still isn't up to snuff 2) kills my kipping rhythm 3) your forearms get really really tired of holding that bar. The deadlifts were light because we were working on our endurance deadlifts, meaning we weren't supposed to drop the weight after 3 reps and gather ourselves, but rather knock out all 8 reps in a row. This got harder and harder as the pullups wore down my grip, and gripping the barbell for deadlifts was hard even though the weight was light.

The hardest part of the workout for me was the other guy in the class (there were only 2 males in this class) was just slliiiightly ahead of me the entire workout. I glanced over (I'm admittedly bad at checking myself against others) and noticed he wasn't putting in good reps on the pullups or the K2E's. The competitor in me really wanted to beat him, and was getting frustrated that he was counting iffy reps. The main takeaway I got from this workout is, while it's nice to "win", if I start counting so-so reps (we've all done it actually) I'm only cheating myself. So I took a deep breath and let him have his win, (he beat me by 2.5 reps) and I made sure to make every rep count on the K2E's (easiest round to cheat), which meant dropping off the bar after every one in the later rounds, gathering composure and getting back on it.

One last workout tomorrow (for the week) then off to one of many weddings this calendar year.

(Why do you think I'm trying to get in shape?)

a paleo failure

Just a word of advice, paleo mashed potatoes are NOT an acceptable replacement for the real deal. In an effort to increase my veggie intake, I looked up the paleo version of mashed potatoes, which is basically making them out of steamed cauliflower and coconut milk mixed in a food processor. While they weren't spit out of your mouth horrible, it was still like eating cauliflower, though I was impressed with the texture (it actually had the consistency of real mashed potatoes) it just didn't do it for me. Though I think just like real mashed potatoes, it needs some sort of flavorful sauce as they were just bland. Oh well at least I got about a pint left of my first batch so I'll have plenty to experiment with.

Speaking of food, I broke my gluten-free-ness today. Yes I report both my triumphs and my failures. I was at a work lunch where literally everything had gluten, first it was chicken parmesan, with a side roll, and some cake desserts to top it off. I ate the a serving of the chicken parmesan (the breading is where the gluten was located), it was pretty good I must admit. Instead of falling down the slippery slope, I declined eating both the roll and the cake (however, I'm fully resigned to the fact that I WILL be eating delicious cakeballs this saturday made by two fabulous ladies at the wedding I'm attending). I feel like everyone needs a cheat day, just as long as you limit yourself to once a month-ish (for good old fashioned mega cheating).

Also today, I was unbelievably sore. The 100 thrusters from mondays workout have proven that I can indeed still get sore, in the worst of ways. I found walking in general difficult, and lowering myself into a chair excruciating. I only say this to you to prove to my faithful readers that I'm actually not a super human.

Finally, since moving office locations I have been unable to find a place that makes breakfast as good as my old office bistro. So tomorrow morning I'm getting up earlier and cooking myself some scrambled eggs with veggies. To save time I've already pre-cut the veggies (onions / red bell peppers) and they're in the fridge. Its unfortunate its come to this, because believe me, I like to sleep in as late as humanely possible, but I gotta eat.

Eating Enough

Can't believe I didn't sneak in a post yesterday. This is going to kill my book deal if they see my inconsistency. If I ever miss a post, you can go to the pinup crossfit site and click on the day you want to view, and you'll see the workout and maybe a picture or two of me. I can't promise they will be flattering pictures, but me none the less.

Monday I spoke to Andrew about my (apparent) plateauing. Once again the first thing he brought up was my diet, which is funny because none of them believe that I adhere to the prescribed paleo diet. Once I convinced him I actually do follow paleo, we broke it down even further and I realized I'm eating too many almonds (or my favorite meatloaf dish made with..... almond meal). He however brought up a good point that I wasn't eating enough in the morning, as I was only having a protein shake. So for this week I'm going to try a protein shake and some eggs to kick start the old metabolism. I tried that this morning and felt surprisingly full until lunchtime and wasn't tempted to snack, so far so good. He also suggested I start taking a fish oil supplement, as I don't get enough omega 3's in my diet. I don't think that suggestion was so much for "weight loss" as it was for overall health. We'll see, research is needed. I'm not overly concerned at this "plateau", as I said before weight is just a number, and perhaps my body is finding its natural weight, so I will be concentrating primarily on composition just to make sure the extra shakes I'm intaking don't start adding unneeded flab.

The saturday morning schedule has been slightly modified, but is still free for all new comers. Now the only way I can go on saturday is if I bring a friend, so anyone reading this that wants to come with me I'm more then willing. You'll get a great workout, get a chance to talk to one of the coaches, and see me gasping for breath.

WOD (monday)

50 thrusters (45lbs - prescribed)

800m run

50 thrusters

This WOD really pushed me for muscular endurance. Even though 45 is a low weight, it just gets heavy after about 35 thrusters, and thats on the first set. A thruster is such a good exercise because it involves your whole body as you go into a full squat and then "thrust" (hence the name) the bar above your head as you squat up. I definitely woke up the next morning real sore in my legs.

Todays workout:

WARMUP:

10 Back Jerks (like a push press but from behind the head, not even sure if thats what its called)

10 ring dips

10 situps

10 squats

2x

WOD:

2 minute timer:

200m run

5 burpees

1 rep max Back Jerk

rest 3 minutes

5 rounds.

This was a great WOD as it combined both strength and sprint cardio (the best kind) into one workout. Each round had to be completed in 2 minutes, and I usually had about 45 seconds left after the 200m run and burpees to gather myself for the back jerk. I started with 95lbs and kept increasing weight each round. The last round I attempted 145lbs and juuuuuuust missed it. Part of the problem is the move involves using "explosion" ( let me just tell you none of my former basketball coaches in middle school or high school ever described me as "explosive") and getting underneath the bar in a half squat. I really think I could've gotten the weight had I used better technique (I seem to say that a lot) as I didn't pop under the weight rather than just try to muscle it up. Nevertheless I was pleased that I got 135 as easily as I did, knowing full well that if I had done this WOD a month ago I would've been maxing at mayyybe 95lbs, probably less.

Another fun thing about today was that it was my partners FIRST day at crossfit, which I think is hilarious that I'm the "grizzled veteran" now after a whole month. I know how I felt on my first day and reached out to him, assured him he was much further along then where I started from and that he just needs to battle through the first few weeks to get comfortable (and to avoid being outrageously sore everyday). Tomorrow I get a day off (which is necessary with the new 4x a week schedule) and will use it to get some grocery shopping done, and probably see xmen again.

looking ahead

Went and saw X-Men: First Class, and I cannot say enough good about this movie. This is one of those movies (at least to me) where I didn't want it to end, it could've been 8 hours long and I would've happily watched the whole thing.

Weighed 174.8 today, which means I GAINED weight in the past week (every person's worst nightmare). I'm honestly not sure why, unless its because I'm putting on more muscle mass but one can never just assume thats the reason. I'm adding in more vegetables at every meal, my current favorites being sauteed broccoli and onions or butternut squash (which takes quite a bit of effort to make what is essentially "mashed potato squash").

I'm hoping the increase to 4x a week will help me push through this plateau I'm currently sitting at, also this week I begin taking progenics (both more muscle and recovery drinks) as the crossfit coaches swear by the stuff. Like I said, I'm using myself as a guinea pig and you are going to reap the rewards. The main thing I have to be careful about is watching my calorie consumption as I'll be drinking two shakes a day (one shake in the morning) and one shake in the afternoon post workout. The stuff is kind of expensive, so if I don't see results in two months I'll switch to something else thats cheaper.

Goals for this week are to show up to every workout with renewed intensity. Also I want to show better discipling with portion control on things such as the paleo trail mix and cashew butter, both of which I keep in my office to help control afternoon cravings, and eat more greens.

Moving to 4x a week

Second official workout at pinup, and my first ever friday afternoon workout. Apparently I didn't get the memo that people actually don't workout on friday, because only 5 of us showed up compared to about 15 on wednesday. I've been loving the 3x a week, but I made the decision today to move to 4x a week (the pricing is a lot more favorable for 3 and 4 times a week compared to 2 times). So now my new schedule will be M/T/TH/F and hopefully saturdays will be used for various sports and recreation. My end goal is to be in tip top shape for my buddy's wedding (well I'm good friends with the bride as well) on Sept 17th, giving me roughly 3.5 more months to get after it. I figure 4x a week plus eating right, with the possible addition of creatine (I've been talking to the coaches about it. Andrew in particular, takes some creatine after his workouts) will be the key for me to be looking my best (okay enough with the vanity).

I was talking to one of the girls in the class who had a high school reunion coming up and how she was struggling to lose weight. I basically told her about what I was doing and how I'd already dropped 15 lbs (plus whatever muscle gains I've made) and she basically used the excuse of "oh you're a guy". I'm not sure about the validity of that argument, I haven't researched much, while I bet it is easier for guys to lose weight because they can put on muscle faster, I still don't think girls should get into the line of thinking. I then asked her about her diet (at crossfit, no fitness topics are "off limits") and told her how I was really sticking to paleo and her response:

"oh I could careless about paleo, I like milk too much and can't give up grains" (or excessive booze). She basically confirmed my previous theory about the 80 / 20 rule. Of course she couldn't lose weight, she was trying the "exercise only" angle. For all you gents and ladies out there thinking about starting, while your waiting (which you shouldn't, that's another story) start with your diet. If you wanna lose weight its 80% diet 15% exercise 5% prayer (or genetics, whatever you wanna call it).

I found out that there will be some free workouts on sunday for people that want to come and experience it, but I can almost guarantee I won't be in attendance. Somewhere along the line I need to let my body rest up, I mean I lead such and exciting non-stop fast paced life that I'm not sure if I can find any other time (hint: I'm blogging on a friday night, yes you can feel free to enjoy a laugh at my expense).

Today's workout had 2 parts, one was a "skill" portion and then the regular WOD. The nice thing about pinup, is that everyone is relatively new to crossfit, so some classes will be spent on learning new lifts and practice rather than just throwing us to the wolves. Today's skill was learning the "Snatch Balance", which I had no idea what it was before hand. The snatch balance involves a weight (think squat bar) on your back (just like you're going to squat) then doing a slight dip and press (like a push press), only while pressing up you slide underneath the bar and catch it in an overhead squat, then squat it up. If it sounded complicated, I assure you its even harder to do in real life. Needless to say I was humbled (again), and Andrew just had me work on my OHS 3 sets of 5. I used 45 lbs and knocked it out fairly easily, Andrew even told me that I've gotten noticeably stronger in just a few short weeks. Looks like I'm moving up in weight next time we OHS.

WARMUP:

Run 200m

20 Squats

15 pushups

10 KB swings (53 lbs)

WOD:

AMRAP 7 minutes

3 Handstand Pushups

6 burpees

9 Ring Rows

Rest 3 Minutes

3 Pullups

6 Burpees

9 Box Dips

As usual AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) workouts are absolute killer, as they should be because you can always go faster and harder, so even as you progress you're just doing more work. Naturally I scaled the handstand pushups with a box, which is right now my biggest short coming in crossfit. I just haven't made the effort to get in and practice them before class. The burpees just zap all your energy (assuming you had any energy to begin with), and ring rows are one of the most underrated exercises in my opinion. If you're someone who is looking for a great back workout but can't do very many pullups, body weight ring rows is your answer. By the second set my back was on fire and I had to start scaling (which means changing your angle, for a full ring row, your body should be parallel to the ground, to scale just use your feet and walk yourself up a little to change the angle).

All in all managed 5 rounds + 14

The second AMRAP involved pullups (I love pullups in workouts because I've gotten so much better at them, once you go from barely doing any on the band to no assistance you really do feel like the king of the world) more burpees (whats up with all the burpees this week???) and the surprisingly effective box dips. I started out strong, but the burpees always win out and get to me. Not only do they take your energy, but they bruise up your knees, shins, elbows and soul and just wear on your mind the more and more you do. The box dips while easier than ring dips, gave me a great burn and tired me out.

Final Tally: 6 Rounds + 9

One thing I failed to mention and will mention now, both of those scores were tops in the class. This isn't me bragging (okay it is a little) because I scaled on the handstand pushups, but the real thing I'm trying to convey is how all fitness levels come together in our class. Pinup is clearly where the newbies are, whereas Bayou City had a bunch of crossfit champions (I was almost always in last place at Bayou City).

The scary thing about being near the top, is that I'm now expected to be a leader (this wasn't told to me, but it's just implied). This means I have to raise my intensity and set the tone for those that want to slack off. Not to say I'm the best by any means, in fact there were plenty of guys better than me at the wednesday class, but by raising my intensity I can push them at the same time, really its a win win for everyone.

First Thursday Off

Random decision I made today, I want to not spread my business out to thin. What I mean is, rather than jump from place to place (or in this case different bars), I want to have a few that I become a regular at and actually know the people that work there. After visiting Harp for the second time in the past two weeks, I've decided that it is definitely on my "list" of bars that I want to be a local at. Come join me for a drink at Harp and maybe we'll even throw some darts.

Today was a day off from working out only because I plan to go in on friday and knock a workout out of the park. Made another batch of the paleo meatloaf (quickly becoming my go to meal) and tried eating both roasted broccoli and sauteed broccoli ( for this test the sauteed version won, but I was assured by the person that showed me how to roast it that I was doing it wrong, so I'll for sure give it another go) in an attempt to increase the amount of veggies I eat. I still haven't tackled the butternut squash, I have a feeling that will have to wait until saturday for some reason.

I don't really have any inspiring words tonight, other then if you have any questions about crossfit, paleo, or getting started please don't hesitate to contact me. I know some (avid) readers of this have had questions and truthfully, I don't mind answering them at all. I guess the one message that I would give tonight is that Rome wasn't built in a day, meaning don't get depressed when you don't see immediate results, dedication and perseverance are part of the game.

Describing Crossfit

I was given this link by a friend, and well he just does a MUCH better job describing it. Enjoy.

First class at PinUp

Made a huge discovery today, well maybe not huge but it was definitely a game changer in my mind. During my lunch hour I went to whole foods to pick up some groceries mainly because I was completely out of food, and me being out of food leads to eating out all the time and making up excuses to why I should keep eating out rather than go to the grocery store. This is why its important for me to get groceries on sunday, because if I miss I usually end up eating out triple the amount over the course of the week. Back to the discovery... I found that whole foods not only has grass fed beef, its the same price as central market. Like I said, not huge by any means, but I always assumed whole foods was twice the price of central market, but I was wrong. I'm going to compare other products, but with the meat being the same price AND more readily available (central market only gets its grass fed beef on wednesdays (or so they say) ) looks like I was just converted.

The next question you should be asking is "how the heck do you have time to eat and go grocery shopping on your lunch hour??", ahh great question very perceptive of you. I recently (i.e. today) moved work locations to greenway plaza, and moved crossfit gyms to midtown. My total driving distance for today was about 6 miles, which is about 1/4 of what I usually did with my old work location. My new boundaries are, nothing west of buffalo speedway, and nothing north of gray. Forget being a loop snob, I don't even have to go near I-10 save for sundays.

Also I discovered that when I take the link out of my gchat status, my "total page views" plummet. Its okay, my favorite people have already confirmed they read this, so I'm not really looking to gain too much more of an audience (who am I kidding, I need about 100x the readership to get my book deal).

I guess I should include some "fitness" updates to in this blog. Today was my first day to work out at pinup, which I immediately enjoyed more than bayou city. The classes are smaller (aka you people should come join me) and the people are more personable as most people at pinup are new (this could be you!) to crossfit and don't have the built in friends already. The negative to pinup is that its much smaller, and much MUCH hotter on the inside. Working out in the summer might be the worst thing ever, but I'm gonna give it a go.

WARMUP:

5 Handstand pushups

30 Squats

10 ring dips

Actually attempted to do real handstand pushups, still working on kicking up into the handstand and feeling comfortable. I managed a couple of real HSPU's but then scaled back down to the box. At least its a slight improvement. The ring dips were humbling as well, as I had much more trouble with them then I thought I would. I can do regular dips but ring dips add a whole new dimension of tough.

WOD:

25 burpees

20 T2B

25 Burpees

20 KB Swing (53 lbs)

25 Burpees

20 Box Jumps

25 Burpees

20 OHS (45 lbs)

25 Burpees

15 lunges (per leg, holding 45lb plate above head)

25 Burpees

This was a partner WOD, in which partner A completes and exercise while partner B rests, and then switch. My partner had the appearance of being strong and in shape already, so I naturally assumed I would be holding him back. How wrong I was. He struggled mightily with the exercises, and is proof that looks doesn't mean you're in shape. Granted this was only his second week, but he was definitely humbled (which happens to EVERYBODY including me almost every class), but I was just as impressed how hard he worked to fight through the workout. Thats the thing about crossfit, everyone's in it together. The newbies understand just how hard and accomplished the guys doing the full workouts are, and the "better" guys recognize the effort that the new people are giving (might even be more effort than the regulars). So I can say I was proud of my partner, no matter how confused I was that I was the "stronger" of us.

san francisco cheat weekend

If you haven't read the book BossyPants by Tina Fey, I would encourage you to drop what you're doing, purchase it (as an added bonus, if you go purchase it at borders bookstore you may even see snarky signs like "no bathrooms, try amazon"), let it sit on your night stand like all those other books you buy fully intentioned to read but never get around to. Or you could read it and have a few laughs as I did on the plane home from San Francisco (few things are as depressing as landing in Houston when traveling from San Francisco. If you thought Houston weather was bad, just visit places with a nice cool 70 degrees year round, then come back to 95 and 150% humidity, yikes.) Tina Fey's humor is about as aligned with mine as could be, which is to say sarcastic, degrading and sometimes crude. I don't know what I would pay to be able to read her thoughts and see how she sees the world, but its a whole bunch of money. If you're looking for a non-captivating or non-wild-at-heart-living-in-a-shack-something-about-love-tatooed-dragon book to read, I recommend this one if only for the pictures.

Also if you can't tell by now, sometimes I will write paragraphs that have absolutely nothing to do with the theme of this blog, which is "me trying to get in shape and everyone else getting to laugh at me", but like I said in an earlier post, this blog is a living, changing thing and might include some non fitness related material from time to time. Sorry, I'm not sorry.

As I mentioned previously I traveled to San Francisco over this memorial day weekend, probably my favorite city in the United States. The trip was for a buddy's bachelor party, but I really do look for any excuse to get out to San Francisco. The shocking part of this trip, is that my blog WASNT the thing everyone was talking about which tells me a few things 1) I'm not yet "there" with my fitness goals because people weren't asking me "how did you do it??" and 2) the few in SF that actually read this aren't spreading the word, which is okay by me, because they are too busy eating brunch and wearing half zip fleeces, vans, and fancy jeans to be talking about me.

I knew going into this trip that eating healthy was going to be problematic which was confirmed as our first stop was at In-N-Out. By the way, I think In-N-Out is good, but not waiting for an hour to get my food good (people of dallas, what the heck???). I was good about ONE thing during the trip, I maintained myself gluten free (sans ONE beer, but it was a good one). This wasn't easy at all as one of the guys freakin whipped up stuffed french toast for breakfast and I had to sit there in complete awe (this was honestly one of the few times I've just wanted to give up and eat gluten since the experiment started , french toast and I have a long complicated history, it just gets me). I definitely wasn't perfect, as I learned that setting 7 layer dip and corn tortilla chips in front of me will cause me to go into robot mode and eat until the dip has been eliminated, but remembered the wise words of Everyday Paleo, and that is if you're going to cheat just make sure its not with gluten.

Also I drank WAY too much soda, (yes occasionally (often) mixed with whiskey, and sometimes at 10am) but even in the airport on the way home I had difficulty switching back to water. On the airplane I ordered my coke zero just like old times. Within a span of 4 days it went from "cheating" with a soda to "this is natural". I'm now beginning to sympathize and understand how hard it can be to quit smoking and how just a couple bad decisions (one smoke with a friend, etc) can turn "cheating" into "2 packs a day" (though the real question in my mind is why do people ever start, but thats not a question we're going to delve into in this blog).

We managed a few items of physical activity, but nothing as vigorous as a typical crossfit workout. To sum up the weekend, I didn't eat great and was pretty lazy. I really came away from the weekend confused as to if I did "well" or if I really let my body down. I avoided gluten, didn't eat cake but definitely didn't stay paleo, and hadn't gotten to workout since thursday (my gym was closed today, which BTW Charlie if you ever stumble upon this, umm its tuesday after memorial day, everyone else had to go back to work, whats the deal?), surely I must've gained 4 lbs back.

174 on the dot. This was great news to me as I thought I had surely set myself back a few weeks (not saying I didn't set myself back, but at least not in weight). The moral of this story is, setbacks in diet and exercise are going to happen, but as long as you don't feel sorry for yourself they won't prevent you from achieving your goals.

So goals for this week:

*Get back into paleo - with more vegetables. I purchased some broccoli and butternut squash (I know, my life is a little TOO exciting for this online space) and will hopefully turn them into something tasty

*Drink only water - need to help flush my body of all the soda I drank. I really felt it on my run this afternoon (tried to go 4 miles), just felt sluggish, of course maybe that was the fact I'm running in Houston and the humidity makes it feel like I'm running in a swimming pool

Those are my only two goals. I'm hoping I can build on those small but big changes next week.

Also, (not sure why I said 'also' as this has nothing to do with the previous paragraph) I officially switched Crossfit Gyms to the Midtown location called PinUp. Factoring in my new work location, and the only reason I have to go north of westheimer is Church on sundays. I'm already loving (and in my mind spending) the savings on my gas bill. The best part of pinup is they don't have very many people, I might honestly be the only one in my T/TH class, so please if you're interested you should definitely come join me. It'll be all the benefits of personal coaching without the intimidating big guys there (unless I can get my hands on some steroids).

So there you have it, proof that cheating isn't the end of the world (just don't let it become a habit).

I'll have time later

This was one of those nights where I was hitting a brain freeze on what to post, and thought about taking the night off. Then I realized that I'm flying out of here tomorrow (there are 3 roommates, so the house will still remain guarded all you would be internet stalking robbers) and won't be posting all weekend leaving my wonderful readers with no new material to make fun of me with. Generally I just post on topics that people have been asking about, and the main consensus from calls / emails / fanmail and one photoshopped album of our wedding and what our kids would look like, I've noticed a running theme of "oh this is great, how do I get started?" or "but it just seems like so much for me to handle and I have no time".

I've tried to address how to get started, its all about commitment and having the intrinsic motivation (just engaged, competition with friend, doctor tells you if you don't cut weight you're going to die in the next year, etc) and then working out and writing everything down (with changing your diet being the mega elephant in the room) to keep yourself accountable. The time issue is tough, I'm fortunate enough to have a job that allows me flexibility to come in early and leave early but, I'm about to experience that same problem as I'm switching assignments this next wednesday (essentially like getting a completely different job, just in the same non profit oil company) and have no idea what my hours / rules will be. I could be working a lot more, or just having to work later in the day. Plus I already know that I will be spending 2 weeks in training in New York (Rochester, not NYC) and am NOT looking forward to missing workout for two weeks (so obviously there will be posts about me freaking out the other hotel guests trying to get my workout in).

My philosophy on the whole "time" matter, there will never be a point in your life when you are "finally ready" or "finally have time". People are busy (or in college, which is NOT busy), the hustle and bustle of life isn't going to slow down in 6 months, as one work project ends another is going to begin. Don't let "no time" be the excuse, unless you're an investment banker then I have no idea what to tell you.

WARMUP:

15 Body Squats

15 Pushups

15 Situps

200 m run

With the lovely weather of houston now approaching 100 degrees when I workout, it doesn't take much for me to "warm up". Quite frankly its like working out in a sauna.

Main WOD:

50 Snatches (75 lbs)

50 Situps

50 Wallballs (20 lbs)

50 Bent Over Rows (25 lb dumbells)

100 walking lunges holding plate overhead (35 lb plate)

200 m sprint

Didn't do so well on this workout, generally the strength endurance ones really get me. What am I saying, they ALL get to me, it's really getting to the point I should just program this thing to automatically type "that was a really tough workout" because I have yet to find one that hasn't been challenging to me. Repping out 75lb snatches was a big accomplishment for me, because if you recall the last time I did snatches I was using a 45lb bar only. I think I'll settle for an almost 50% gain. If I can keep up that improvement I'll be setting world records in a year. The most tiring of them all was the 100 walking lunges, what a killer.

Tonight me and some friends cooked a very paleo friendly meal. Central market pre-marinated fajita steak, mashed sweet potatoes, guacamole, and sauteed spinach. See, just because things are healthy doesn't mean bland or terrible.

Getting started

Thankful for the day off today (though does fitness ever really sleep? Weight gain and pesky pounds sure don't thats for sure, am I right ladies?) as I was definitely feeling the effects of deadlifts yesterday. I still haven't achieved my goal of eating more vegetables, but apparently roasted broccoli is awesome so I'm going to try it next week (and if it's not the best thing I've ever tried, I will never take a suggestion from you again Steck). I also took a big step today and emailed my friend whose bachelor party I'm attending in two days to tell him about my dietary restrictions and some work arounds. I think it's important and can be a big help to your personal goals to tell others what you are trying to do. For big weekend camping events (we're going to be off in Tahoe somewhere) when people say "don't worry I'm handling the food" it naturally means lots of chips, pb and j sandwiches, maybe some meat to grill, and other snacks that I probably should stay away from. By simply telling him I was trying to avoid gluten (I didn't break down paleo in the email), it was really easy to ask him to pick up some beef jerky / almonds / and extra of whatever meat we're grilling for my snacks (but matt if he's such a good friend shouldn't he know? well he might not read the blog, shocking, I know.) so hopefully I can maintain my quest to be gluten free.

So my advice for people looking to start a fitness plan is as follows:

1) take photos of yourself - thats what got me motivated. Sometimes we don't believe what we can't see, and in my case it was my double chin forming. A couple photos really got me motivated to change it.

2) Tell people - start a blog (and share the link), or get a group of friends to do it together. Fitness shouldn't be a secret that you keep to yourself, let other's successes motivate you and push you to work harder. Sure you have to put up with some awkward "you're on a diet??" ( to which I want to explain that a diet = what you eat, and that everyone's on "a diet" and the only thing I did was change mine, but alas I digress) but I find it quite enjoyable when people come to me with questions.

3) Write it down. Tony Horton of p90x made one of the most prophetic statements of our time when he talks about not knowing what to do if you don't know what you did. At the small non profit oil company I work for, we occasionally have guest speakers come talk about fitness and getting into shape. One year the speaker gave what I think is the best advice, he said everyday you should write down "if I did today everyday for a year, I would look...(insert blank), feel.. (insert blank), etc". Writing things down and keeping food logs also adds another layer of accountability, especially if you have to show those logs to people. Thats essentially what I want this blog to be, a place where I can write down everything I did that day (and gives me a creative outlet for writing).

4) Put your money where your mouth is - I'm not gonna lie, crossfit is expensive. It's expensive enough that I will NOT miss class. Totally worth it.

5) Set tangible goals - Don't say to yourself "I want to lose some weight", thats too abstract. Start with 10lbs and then reward yourself for achieving that goal. I've found turning everything into manageable smaller goals works best.

Once again I'm no expert, and am definitely not in super duper shape and haven't been mistaken for a replica of the David statue. What I just listed are the techniques that are helping me get there though.

Finally, I made paleo meatloaf this week. I actually really like meatloaf whereas some people think its the worst thing on the planet. I used grassfed beef and it was not only delicious, but gave me 5 meals out of it (and the price per meal goes down with each batch because I don't have to buy almond meal each time, etc).