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02/20/2012 Catchup

February 20^th 2012 Catching Up

The month of February is almost over, and I have yet to drop a pound from the end of the Paleo Challenge 10 days ago.  I had one meal where I cheated and ate three or four bites of a desert, and taste of a roll.  I felt like complete shit the next day, but was able to work the badness with a Crossfit WoD.

For the most part since the end of the challenge I have been battling a reoccurring sickness, that I can’t tell if it’s a cold, the flu, or just general fatigue.  I wake up with a void of energy and my workouts have been less than awe inspiring.  I felt like a good deal of the time I was just going through the motions.  I haven’t had a day since the week before the challenge were I felt in control of my workout.

With all that being said I felt good enough to go workout on Sunday, and even if I didn’t fell good enough to workout taking two days off is enough for my brain to say get back to work bitch!

Yesterday I went to the 9:30 AM class and did Helen.  I was able to shave 55 seconds off of the last time I did Helen, with less assistance from bands.  I by no means am anywhere close to doing pull ups without assistance but I am reducing the width of the second band, hoping to one day just have to use one band. 

For the uninitiated “Helen” is a named CrossFit Workout of the Day which involves 3 rounds of doing a 400 meter run, 21 kettlebell swings with a 53 lbs kettlebell, and 12 pull-ups.  I’m sure the difference in time was made up on the kettlebell swings, because my pull-ups require constant breaks, I do 3-4 at a time, as I lack the muscular strength to pull my fat body up.  It’s too bad hanging on the bar isn’t a part of CrossFit, that maybe the only way I can do these types of workouts as prescribed. 

During the runs I felt like poop, I tried to run faster, I didn’t have “it”, the energy or strength to push harder on the run.  In fact during the second round of work I was coming around the building about start my second 200 meter lap, when Mollie darted out of the door in front of me, she is in great shape, and has a killer body, at which point the monkey part of my brain said, “ooooh, chase Jane”.  Somehow my mind was no longer thinking about how much I hated running, but how I had to keep up with Mollie, its strange how paradigm of the male mind can shift so quickly with a little stimulus.

This plan did not workout well…

Trying to use Mollie as my visual pace car, would be like a hippo trying to keep up with a gazelle.  At some point the hippo would realize how much bouncing sucks, and find a bit pit of mud to slosh around in like he was the offspring of Shrek.

I finished in 11 minutes, so if you look at the progression of my Helen times, it looks like this:

 

• August 2011 (1 WoD a week with Liz)
  • 14:51 –Macgyver (which apparently is no longer a good reference because most of the people you talk to don’t have any idea what you are talking about (I’m old)) version of Helen, dumbbell swings 50 lbs, running on a treadmill, and doing heavy seated lat-pull downs.
• January 2012 (3 on 1 off for three months)
  • 11:55 with Black and Green Band, all else Rx
• Feburary 2012 (3 on 1 off for 4 months)
  • 11:00 with Black and Purple Band, all else Rx

At the end of the WoD I felt tight; I did some Recon Ron work with push-ups, and worked on my hip mobility.  As the day progressed the feeling in my hip got worse, and I ultimately decided not to do the Monday WoD.

I need some extra rest this week, and my appointment with Ingrid isn’t until Thursday which means I have to somehow get through this week before I start feeling better.  I also need to see Doctor Moses again so he can help me get fixed.  The last time I went to see him, the “shock” stimulation I got made me feel a lot better. 

The Crossfit Games start this week with the “open” which is “open” to everyone.  I want to be at my best for this, just to see how I stack up against other average people.

My Hip

Being an obese fucker has many benefits, paying a premium for clothes at fit because it requires extra material, being forced to buy two plane tickets, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and oh yes utter total humiliation in public.

As you lose the weight things get better in many areas, but the damage done to your body while at an obese weight leaves their mark, especially when you want to be physically active.  I am finding that the more I get immersed into CrossFit, the more my body has to undue the damage from carrying too much weight.  I have serious issues of mobility in my lower back, shoulders, and hips. 

The lower back and shoulders are not as bad as the hip.  I have a hard time getting my arms into the “racked” position, I can get into a rack for purposes of a front squat because I can release my hands from the bar, but when it comes to holding the position for push presses, jerks, or thrusters I am not in a safe position. 

My hip is a different scenario.  I am really tight in my hips.  I was so tight before that I learned to squat in a position which basically has my feet underneath my body directly, I had maybe 6 inches of separation between my feet, after Shady fixed the position of my feet, I’ve been working on relearning how to squat.  When I learn a physical action I tend to use reference points, or relationships of where body parts should be at any given time, so change the position of my feet as drastically changed the reference points of how I squat. 

This change has altered in fact just about every power motion in Olympic lifting, including the snatches, and cleans.  It is also causing constant pain. 

As much as I’ve worked on the mobility, the constant wear via CrossFit is causing me to live in pain.  I don’t know what the answer is, or how to make it better.  The only thing I can do is to work on mobility, visit the Chiropractor, and get massages. 

My theory on why my hips are so tight is a result of carrying 200 extra lbs.  All of that weight, and fat I'm sure caused inward and downward pressure on my hips, and legs.  In fact I find myself trying to learn to walk with my legs apart, I’ll catch myself in the middle of the day walking like a fat guy, and then consciously working to walk normal. 

I may have also just reached that point of burnout, where my head is just not in the game, and the pain that I’ve dealing with seems worse than it is because I want to rest.  It gets exhausting thinking about your weight, and physical state of being all the time. 

 

02/11/2012 Paleo Challenge Finale, Final Challenge Weigh In, and Future Plans

02/11/2012 Paleo Challenge Finale, Final Challenge Weigh In, and Future Plans

Paleo Challenge Winners

Guess who is not in this picture?

Saturday morning I woke up feeling less than perfect.  I took a Dayquil, an occicilium, drank two cups of coffee, took some endurolytes, and ate some starchy carbs.  I took my dog for a walk to loosen up my legs, but I was stiff and sore from the day before.

After dropping off Benny at Doggy Daycare (I know, it’s insanity), I had an early lunch, and picked up Catelyn who I sometimes give a ride to on the weekends.  She’s been doing CrossFit just short of a year now, and is turning into the “Elite-Elite” athlete that everyone aspires to be, she’s quiet but handles her workouts with subtle intensity, where as I am the typical ogre who will start grunting, I seriously hate that shit but I can’t help it, when shit gets heavy it just comes out.

When we got to Patriot the 12 o’clock Saturday class was in the middle of their Metcon, so there wasn’t much room to stretch, or warm-up.  While rolling out on the foam roller I realized that I had forgotten one of the most valuable tools I have when I feel like shit.  I forgot my dose of Core Zap,which is a thermogenic pill (aka fat burner), which has a nice serving of caffeine and some herbal stuff in it, so I bolted out of the box and drove to Arlington Nutrition Corner about a mile and half away to buy some more.  Who knows how effective this product really is in giving me an extra boost, but it gives me a level of confidence when I am less than 100%. 

When the Paleo Challenge WoDs started I was stilling wearing my sweatshirt, and sweatpants, and a beanie.  I couldn’t get warm.  Even with the Zap, and the increased water intake I just could not get warm.

I started the first WoD without my sweatpants, but with my sweatshirt and beanie still on, which rarely ever happens, because my body normally runs at a hotter temperature.  The first WoD was an AMRAP of 4 minutes, 1 minute of pull ups, 1 minute of push ups, 1 minute of sit ups, 1 minute of air squats.  The air squats I thought would be a problem, but it turns out the sit-ups and the ring rows (sub for pull ups) were my Achilles heal. 

All the weeks leading up to the challenge I would practice parts of this WoD if one of the motions was included in the programmed Workout of the Day, so if we had a 10 minute AMRAP that had push-ups, sit-ups, or air-squats as part of the workout I would watch the clock and count to see how many reps I could do in a minute, or if it was say 25 reps I would see how fast I could do them. 

Based on some unscientific calculations, I figured I had worked myself up to being able to finish 35-40 push ups, 40 sit-ups, and 60 air squats.  I knew that the percentage change would play a big role in the competition, and realized that the AMRAP’s gave the biggest opportunity to make that change, especially on the WoD 1.

In the end I just didn’t have enough in the tank.  I made improvements in each category but not to the degree I was expecting. 

Day 1 WoD 1 Numbers           vs.        Day 36 WoD 1 Numbers

Ring Rows 26   (20.8)                          Ring Rows 31   (24.8)              

Push Ups 27                                         Push Ups 35

Sit Ups 28                                            Sit Ups 30

Squats 43                                             Squats 53

Total Score      118.8                           Total Score      142.8

                                    % change of 20

After the first WoD I felt like shit!!!!!  A complete pile of heaping elephant dung, I changed into dry clothes; I put on my sweatpants, sweatshirt, and new beanie.  I also ate a primal pak which has beef jerky, nuts and dried fruit.  I drank two Vitococo waters, and kept moving around.  My body temperature was falling down again. 

There was about an hour plus of discussion about the challenge, which I didn’t spend much time listening to because, I just wanted to keep moving around so I didn’t get cold.  When it appeared that it was almost done I popped four Core Zaps, and pounded a Vitococo water…sugar and caffeine cures everything. 

During the second WoD we had 22 minutes to establish a 1 rep maximum for a power clean.  I hadn’t done much with power cleans, except one night of barbell club, so I wasn’t expecting much, to be perfectly honest I figured I would be in good shape if I just did my previous weight of 175 lbs. 

Each time I went down to the bar and did a power clean, I would put the bar down, and get lightheaded.  The heavier the weight got, the longer the dizziness spells were, when I did 175 lbs I felt a huge sense of relief.  So with nothing to lose I went for 185 lbs.  I attempted it 3 times, with no success, then Ryan said to me don’t spend an hour at the bottom, just grab it and go to build some momentum, I did and power cleaned 185 lbs.  It was ugly, but it was scored.  Any attempts at heavier weights was just futile, my body wasn’t going to have it.

My workout partner John Anderson, who owns the finest tobacco shop in DC, W. Curtis Draper Tobacconist with two locations, DC and Bethesda, visit them on the web at http://www.wcurtisdraper.com/ I can’t help it he paid me to write that, added 25 lbs to his power clean. 

Day 1 WoD 2 Numbers           vs.        Day 36 WoD 2 Numbers

1 rpm Power Clean 175 lbs                  1 rpm Power Clean 185 lbs

                                    % change of 5

Following the second WoD we broke our gear down for WoD 3.  I again pounded a Vitacoco water, and a full bottle of water.  My goal for this WoD was to get more than 6 rounds.  My previous attempt I got 5 + 9 reps. 

I let John go first so I could recover a little more, and in hindsight I think I should have gone first because the adrenaline was pumping to the point where in a short 6 minute AMRAP it would have boosted me through the first couple of minutes.  I felt that jolt go away halfway through John’s workout. 

The workout was as prescribed 5 burpees, 10 kettlebell swings with a 53 lbs kb, and 15 push presses with a 45 lbs bar.  I used a 55 lbs dumbbell because that’s what I got stuck with the first time.  The dumbbell sucks because it’s much harder to drive it upwards with your hips because only one hand has a true grip on the bell.

When I started I blew through the first three rounds finishing each one under a minute, in fact the first round I think I finished right around 40 seconds.  In fact I think in the first round I jumped from my burpee right into the position to grab the kettlebell.  Rounds 4 and 5 I started to slow down, and it was enough that I didn’t have enough time to finish round 6.  I ended up completing 5 full rounds, and did 20 reps, I was 10 push presses away from the 6^th round.  I could have picked up the 8 more seconds I needed easily by not resting and picking up the barbell faster each round.

I might do the challenge again just to see if I can get 6 rounds of work on this one workout.

Day 1 WoD 2 Numbers           vs.                    Day 36 WoD 2 Numbers

6 Minute AMRAP                                            6 Minute AMRAP

5 Burpees                                                         5 Burpees

10 Kettlebell Swings 53 lbs (55 lbs)                  10 Kettlebell Swings 53 lbs (55 lbs)

15 Push Presses 45 lbs                         15 Push Presses 45 lbs

5 rounds + 9                                                     5 rounds + 20

Total Score 159                                               Total Score 170

                                    % change of 7

So here are the final numbers:

 

Beginning Weight 274 lbs                                  Ending Weight 257

                                    % change of 6, 17 lbs weight loss.

WoD Day 1 Performance Total: 437.8  WoD Day 36 Performance Total 497.8  

                                    % change of 13.7

 How would I rate the overall experience, and outcome? 

It’s hard to say.  The final workout I don’t think was indicative of what I could have done if 100% healthy.  To some degree perhaps it was the best thing for me, because in the end I realize the whole point of the challenge is to get people to buy in, and I have somewhat bought in, but I don’t think “strict” Paleo is for me.

Can a brother get a little soy?

We are talking about long term sustainability when it comes to fitness and nutrition, so eating as strict as I did is just not going to happen for the next 40 years of my life (almost no starch, no nuts, no fruit).  Having said that I also think that the way the diet is explained, and portrayed by PCF as being idiot proof is one that should be clarified, I think if you aren’t struggling with weight it’s easy to follow the plan.  Eat when your hungry, and don’t eat when your not.

If you have battled your weight your entire life this is not as easy as putting on your pants.  You just don’t trust yourself with food, how insane is that; you don’t trust yourself with one of the key functions of survival.

I struggled quite a bit, and had to ask Shady if I should eat at certain times because I was obsessing over the caloric intake, and I wasn’t hungry.  Other times I felt like I ate too much, but was still hungry and would debate whether or not to eat.

In the end I had a nutritional consultation with Amy Kublar who is one of Robb Wolf’s nutritional consultants.  She read my food log, and said that I was eating too much protein.  Apparently your body can only digest so much protein at any given time, and then the excess becomes waste. 

She sent me the following:

Protein isn’t particularly dangerous, but an over-consumption of protein may be associated with:

1.                               Weight gain. Excess calories from excess protein may be stored as body fat.

2.                               Intestinal irritation. Too much protein has been linked to constipation, diarrhea and/or excessive gas.

3.                               Dehydration. Experts advise drinking a half gallon of water per 100 grams of protein.

4.                               Seizures. Seizures have been linked to excess protein intake – but only if insufficient amounts of water are consumed.

5.                               Increase in liver enzymes.

6.                               Nutritional deficiencies. Just focusing on protein intake causes some high-protein dieters to overlook other nutrients. Ensure that your diet is balanced and nutritious.

She also gave me a simple template with the Paleo Diet for weight loss.  This is the template on their website.  My plan is similar but with a few tweaks based on activity level.

 Sample Meal Plan

Sample Meal Plan: Weight Loss

Breakfast:

Shrimp scramble with basil and steamed spinach. ¼ cup blueberries. Espresso.

Lunch:

Chicken salad with red onions, romaine lettuce, artichoke hearts and mixed bell peppers. Dressing: Lemon/Olive Oil with a hint of garlic. Green tea with lemon.

Snack:

Grilled shrimp & veggies with a hand full of macadameias.

Dinner:

Baked pork loin with ginger cabbage and olive oil. Desert: shaved almonds over 1/4 cup mixed berries.

In the end my discussion with Amy made me feel a little better about how to make this a lifestyle choice.  I’ve bought into the science on how to control your insulin, but I also think that the process of gaining and losing weight is something no one has figured out to a precise science if that were the case there would be one way of doing it for everyone. 

There are too many systems that are involved within your body that cause changes to your cells, what I do think is necessary is controlling your insulin, watching your caloric intake to make sure it’s not excessive, and also so it doesn’t fall so low that you are starving, and making sure that you are active to promote a better state of well being.  The good nutrition I believe goes hand in hand with activity level; there is a symbiotic relationship between the two.  The human body was clearly designed to do work, and build muscle if it wasn’t I think the more you stressed your muscles the more they would like bruises or tumors. 

I am going to utilize the suggested changes that Amy made, and continue to do CrossFit, but it won’t be the only thing I do.  If I only focus on CrossFit then all I’m doing is getting better at CrossFit, I think it’s a tool for an end goal.

I will most likely buy some sessions, or pay for a membership at LA Boxing, or the MMA school in Arlington because I like that shit  I will probably cancel my membership at Washington Sports Club because I don’t use it, and I fucking hate cardio machines.  I may also buy a Concept 2 rower for my house. 

There are just some of those days where I feel the need to burn the shit out of my body through an extended period of work.  When the weather gets warmer I will probably start doing some trail running, and hiking.  I bought a weighted vest that I plan to use when I walk my dog, because my calf muscles are looking thin, and that’s not good for going uphill.

All in all my experience was a 6-7 on a 10 scale.  I think its better that my performance ended up in the middle of the pack, because it’s motivating me to work harder, get smarter, but also to look at the bigger picture and not just within the walls of CrossFit. 

A quick note on my weekend Shotgun rider, she won the competition.  She actually smoked the shit out of everyone.  The way the scoring is set up, it favors someone who can stay in the top tier for both workouts.  She finished 4^th in the initial WoD for the women, and then was able to follow that up with a 10^th place finish in the % change.  The third category which was the photos was subjective, and all done by Brian.  She was able to finish in the top tier here as well, she did what was really hard, stay in the top 10 for all three categories, which is why she won by a wide margin.  Nice Job Catelyn. 

02/06/2012 Paleo Challenge Day 30

Day 30 Paleo Challenge

Started my morning off with a feeling of ass, started to look for a cold remedy, and found that most over the counter syrups contain sucralose, so I bought some Nyquil and Dayquil gel caps. 

While sitting in the bitch chair yesterday, aka the Managers seat at one of my locations, I was reflecting on my weekend workouts.  Saturday we did a 15 minute AMRAP, which I did as prescribed.  It was 9 dead lifts at 155 lbs, 12 hand release push-ups, and 15 box jumps at 24”.  It was one of those days where when I finished I felt fucking awesome because I had “A” done the worked as prescribed, and “B” performed on a level which was right at the middle of the pack for Rx’ed work. 

Then Sunday mornings WoD took a brother suffering from WoD and knocked him the fuck out.  It involved pull-ups which I suck at, sit-ups which I am ok with, and double unders which I have no rhythm for, so doing double the number of running men is a blow to the fragile CrossFit ego. 

Oh I desperately want to be able to pull-up my fat body without assistance.  Towards the end of the WoD I felt as uncoordinated as a baby hippo trying to fuck a donkey.  I don’t know why a hippo would want to fuck a donkey, but if one did it would look like my trying to do 12 pull-ups with two bands during the fifth round of a WoD.

Deliberate practice…I am choosing to work on the areas I am weakest, and attempting to improve my performance, and measure my work through measurable units. 

Being the neurotic Asian that I am, I’ve charted my performance in the power lifts and Olympic lifts.  Because some of the movements are done in non-consecutive weeks I condensed the data into three periods of time.  I’ve charted my maximum weight per session, as often times caution has me start at the same lower weights during each session. 

In terms of improvement, most of my lifts have improved, as have my metcons.  I am not down the “weight” that I want, but I feel stronger, so I got that going for me.

I’m done, my brain isn’t quite functional, sometimes I feel better, sometimes I feel worse, what I do have to do is get better so I can take my title on Saturday…check please!

Download Paleo Challenge

Other stuff...

Why weight loss sucks...

http://board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=63520

This message thread is just a snippet of what information is out there about the right ways to lose or gain weight, it should give those who have never struggle with their weight how frustrating it can be in terms of filtering the information that is out there, further I am comparing myself to a 33 year old 5'4" woman, who I'm sure could OHS more than me.  If you don't know what an OHS it's better for me that you don't know.

Oly Shoes:

http://board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=72234

Reviews of shoes:

http://wlshoes.com/

http://journal.crossfit.com/2011/01/rate-your-shoe.tpl#_login

Download CFJ_Kilgore_Shoes_Jan11

Who's ready to get there head bashed in?

https://www.trainingforwarriors.com/philosophy/

TANSTAFL

http://station515.blogspot.com/2011/12/tnssaafl.html

 

 

 

02/05/2012 Paleo Challenge Day 28, 29...Caveman Sick

Official Monday Morning Weigh In

262 lbs

Caveman, sick, and not possible to be witty, or display unhappy about weigh in...

A note from a gym that gives me inspiration...

From Station 515

reason.

do it for a fucking reason.

it is a common statement, and when applied to every aspect of training, will yield more results than any piece of equipment, any fad-diet, or what you would get by following anyone elses training program.

having a goal is the first part. it is easy to understand that a goal functions as the "why?" it is why we eat a certain way. why we get up early. why we go to sleep at 10 pm instead of going out. but once you have a solid and specific goal it will also shape the "how"...

what is required of your goal? what skills? what weight is ideal? how strong do you have to be? how fast? how much power? how much endurance? what movements drive this task? what are the common injuries you need to avoid?

these are not hypothetical questions. make a fucking list. do research. add to it often.

now: self assessment. the goal is outlined, time to find the starting point....

if you can, have someone help you here. someone who is not afraid of telling you the hard and ugly truth. do this without ego. lies at this stage are hurting only yourself. this must be ruthless. it should be humbling. the task is deceptively simple: where are you in relation to the goals?

timeline. triage. how long will this take? what goals can you train at the same time? what other factors are involved? what are you willing to take on? what are you willing to give up? what kind of diet/recovery/work/travel schedule will be required? how much are you willing to spend?

be honest. be thorough. ask questions and the path will begin to form.

what root goals are other goals based on? what steps are most important? what goals can be worked on in parallel? what problems can be solved in the gym? what corrections yield the greatest benefit? what psychological factors will play a role? what pitfalls am i headed for and how am i going to deal with them? who has been there before and how can i learn from them?

do work, and do it for a fucking reason.

explosion from a fatigued/compromised state

grind down, build up the acidity, learn to hang on and explode from it. fighters can immediately see the use of a skill like this. train the ability here so you can focus on the timing during your fight training.

CV recovery under a load.

initiate panic breathing - rack as much weight as you can handle and hang on. learn to control it. to contain it. and to recover under the load.

30' of 3" rope. 30# of chain. sprint the rope straight, pull it (and the chain) to you hand over hand (use your hips) repeat 4 times. rest while your partner does the same. repeat.

grip. hip/hand coordination and engagement. CV power. muscular efficiency and short term recovery practice.

mid-section stability. shoulder flexibility and control.

here we build the tools.

 

send a message. tell your body what you want it to be able to do. tell it clearly and tell it often. recover well. work smart. don't quit.

02/02/2012 Paleo Challenge Day 27

02/02/2012 Paleo Challenge Day 27

Today was a rest day from workouts and from work, so no physical activity other than a great massage from Ingrid.  I did a 90-minute session, and I felt like I had been in a car accident after she was done, you could say I like being manhandled by a woman…

I spent another day doing errands, and cooking food for the upcoming week.  If you looked into my fridge it would appear that I am keeping a circus animal as a pet, lots of meat, and green veggies.  As the months pass, my shopping habits continue to evolve and change, the more often I go to the grocery store, it seems the less I buy shit in boxes or pre-packed bags. 

In the bad old days I think I spent most of the time in a supermarket in the center aisles, buying packed products like cereal, noodle, pasta, and rice packs, bottled sauces, enough ketchup to fill a bathtub, and my favorite breads and bread mixes. 

Can a brother get some cornbread?

I would come back home with a $200 whole foods bill put stuff away, and realize I didn’t have a whole lot to eat.  There was a moment about 8 months ago where during my fourth or fifth trip to Whole Foods after my visit to fat camp where I placed my shopping cart aside, went to grab some vegetables and then couldn’t find my cart.

I was standing right next to it; I didn’t recognize my own shopping cart.  I’m sure a result of years of poor habits, and conditioned behavior.  This has happened one other time, and at this point I’m used to seeing only things that were alive at one point.

Today my time at the supermarket is mostly spent on the borders where all the real food is placed.

Clearly my ideas about food have changed, and as I continue my evolution, I find that food doesn’t move me in the same way.  I guess what I mean is, I don’t act impulsively when it comes to eating.  It’s a lot easier to make decisions about what I eat before I eat them.

In the past I would have the urge to eat, and if something came my way I would attack it like I’m Godzilla, and the food was Tokyo, only to realize 20 minutes later I had punished all of Japan with the rumblings of heartburn beginning, it would literally take discomfort in my stomach or throat for me to stop eating, and I would come out of what can only be described as a trance like state. 

I always felt hungry.  Uncontrollable hunger. 

While going through this weight loss process after fat camp, I was less hungry, but still had a compulsion to eat.  The change in my diet, and the addition of lots of vegetables and fruit made it easier to not crave the refined carbs.

But this new intake required me to snack frequently, and sometimes no matter what I did the eating seemed to fuel the hunger.  I couldn’t get satiated.

The interesting thing that has occurred during the 5 week Paleo Challenge is that, I’ve basically stopped snacking, well not entirely.  Whereas before my snacking was a direct result of a schedule which was designed to help carry me through in between meals, my snacking now is really about satisfying hunger because I have physically hungry, or I know my energy void is a result of not eating enough.

I have found myself in several situations where at the end of the day I was eating less than I had been with the old way of eating, because I just wasn’t hungry.  On days that I workout I monitor my food more closely, so I don’t end up in the up starvation zone, during days like today (rest days) I choose to try and live based on my bodies natural drive to eat.

Because I’m not eating fast digesting carbs, I’m not in a food fucking purgatory, where you continue to eat, get hungry, and eat again, get hungry, and eat again until you fucking explode.  My old way of eating was like one long 33 year version of Groundhog Day, where every morning Ned, would stop me in the street and say  “Phil? Phil Connors?”

Today I eat, stay satisfied, and after hours my body says feed me, and I find something to eat, even when I do get hungry the hunger isn’t as intense.  It’s not as voracious of a desire.  It’s what I think could be described as normal physical response to the need of energy.

When I started the Paleo Challenge I still had to eat frequent snacks, almost one month into it, I snack when I need to, and I eat when hungry. 

Let’s see what happens over time, but I think my body has turned in a direction which is burning fat, and not sugar.

Check out this link…

It’s an interesting article on 6 food myths, I’m not surprised after reading Omnivores Dilemma that this stuff exists. 

http://www.cracked.com/article_19433_the-6-most-horrifying-lies-food-industry-feeding-you_p2.html

 

Meals:

Paleo Meals Day 27

 

02/01/2012 Paleo Challenge Day 26, Biggest Loser...

My Thoughts on the Biggest Loser

I watched the recent episode of the Biggest Loser, the one where Bob Harper brought his obsession of CrossFit into one of the shows workouts by having the contestants do “Fran”.  The first thing I thought about was how I felt at those bigger sizes trying to do things like jumping pull-ups, and squats.  At one point of one of the younger guys fights for air, which is a feeling that I will never forget, because the more you try and open your mouth and open your throat for air the more it feels like it’s closing. 

This happens not just because of poor fitness, but because your body weight actually compresses your internal organs.  When you are carrying an extra 200 lbs your fat presses down on your lungs, and it is a laboring process to just breathe, which is why sleep apnea is so prominent in obese people (when I had a sleep study done before I was told that I stopped breathing 50-60 times an hour).  You add to that decreased lung function taxing cardiovascular work, and it’s like breathing with a plastic bag on your head. 

Second I was getting annoyed by the contestants.  Listening to these people bitch, and moan, made me want to fly out to California and say to them this fucking shitty attitude you are displaying is how you ended up as obese fucks in the first place, I know from experience.  The guy who just won a spot back on the ranch has the best attitude, and he’s a guy who will stay lean once he gets there, everyone else I assure will be on a road back to obesity. 

I know a large percentage of the people who were contestants will regain the weight; in fact more than one winner has had to do something drastic to lose the weight a second time. 

Having just posted about my body weight issues yesterday, I had a bit of my neurotic insanity thrown back into my face.  I’ve lived in a similar environment to what the contestants go through on the show, and had been taught the same concepts of nutrition. 

What really started to irritate me was the attitude the contestants had with each other which was a direct result of viewing  weight loss through the lens of balancing a mathematical equation of caloric input versus caloric output, if that were true the following would have not happened(read previous post here) to me. 

I also found it ironic that the two new people added to the show this week lost the smallest amount of weight because their diets had changed at the ranch to include more “Healthy Carbs” like oatmeal, when it appeared that at home they had stayed away from carbs.

 I just thought to myself if they were eating a low carb diet, and then started taking in more refined carbs, of course weight loss would be inhibited because their insulin would be going “What the fuck just happened?” 

I can’t remember if I read this on Marks Daily Apple, or another similar blog, but the writer posed a simple question to people to name an essential carb, meaning that he/she wanted you to name a single carbohydrate that you had to eat to survive.  The answer is none.

What smacked me in the face, and made me realize how my neurotic Asian behavior is probably causing me to stress while I sleep, was the connection made between effort and weight.  The contestants were saying things such as, “well this person should have worked harder, because they only lost a small amount of weight”, and that they were being lazy. 

Ian tried to explain to me months ago, that my output and weight loss aren’t necessarily connected, that I shouldn’t judge my efforts based on feedback from output mechanisms like how much I sweat, or how tired I feel, or how long I workout.

He told me that my best changes every day.

He tried to get me to think about results oriented measurable goals like weight moved, or movements mastered, things which are tangible and quantifiable, because I have to judge performance based on something which can be measured. 

You know there was one other guy who was saying something similar, but it sounded more like caveman grunting so I needed an interpreter.

On the one hand I am going to focus more on my performance in the gym, like being able to do strict pull-ups, or to do at least half of the Metcons as prescribed.  These are realistic performance oriented goals.

 At the same time my obsession with my weight will probably not change but it won’t be the primary focus.  I am 10 lbs away from 250 lbs, and I’m 16 lbs away from having lost 200 lbs…I was 443 lbs at my heaviest.  This is a real goal that I want to hit.  From the 240’s down I don’t think I would care if it took an entire year to get there, but the shorter term goal is something that will make me nutty.

Thanks to the MoMos on the Biggest Loser I’m less likely to bang my head into a wall when I work hard and see no results on the scale.  I call them Momos because not all that long ago I considered putting in an application.

When you feel helpless, you are…when you realize you have control over your life there is nothing that will prevent you from achieving your goals.

WoD

Today’s WoD involved establishing a one rep maximum for your jerk, and then a metcon of Ring-Dips, Box Jumps, and weighted lunges. 

During the jerks, I partnered with Loren, who previously had only gotten to 185 lbs, the most I had done was the previous week doing 185 lbs, so we paired up pretty well, and in the end he was able to jerk is body weight at 205 lbs.

 After 2 failed attempts on the third one I was able to Jerk 215 lbs.  When I got 215 lbs up, I felt like I could get 225 lbs, but ran out of time.  I am so close to jerking two red plates…damn you 225 lbs.

Here is video from my 3 attempts at 215 lbs. 

 

 

 

Here is video of Loren at 205 lbs.

 

The metcon was a 21-15-9, doing the above mentioned motions, so the first round we did 21 reps, the second 15, and finished with 9 reps per exercise.  The prescribed work was to do ring dips, box jumps at 30”, and lunges with a 45 lbs plate, remember what I wrote yesterday about doing 2/3 rx, not this one.  I had to use a green band to assist on the dips, and had to use a 24” box.  I was able to do the lunges as prescribed.

I finished the WoD in 7:18, and look forward to the day I can do the dips, and the 30” box.  Ricky gave me a good bit of advice today.  He told me to pause at the top, and not on the bottom.  I am going to have to work on getting down, and up, instead of up and down. 

Here is the ugliness.

  

I also started doing Recon Ron today.  Recon Ron is a training program from the Marine Corp designed to help improve someone’s ability to do pull-ups, or push-ups.  It’s a 38 week program done over 5-6 days.  If it’s good enough for the jarheads, it’s good enough for me.

It’s done with 6 sets and varying number of reps, it simply adds volume over time, but I think it’s a nice simple way to improve at something without a huge time commitment.  So I started week 1.

Week 1 day 1, I did two sets of 6, two sets of 5, one set of 4, and one set of 3.  I used the black and purple band.  I’m hoping as time goes on I can reduce the bands as well; I also did the same sets above for push-ups.  I would like to get stronger at push-ups so during something like Murph I can do all of the push-ups strict.

Recon ron chart here…

Brian Wilson’s previous blog post on Recon Ron & Volume Training here..

Barbell Club

I went to my first addition of Barbell Club aka Ryan Powell’s kingdom.  Barbell club is the equivalent to an “open gym” time that some other CrossFit gyms have, it’s an opportunity to work on Olympic and Power Lifts.  It’s not a class, and intended for instruction but King Powell is there to help direct, or provide feedback on your lifts.  I went with the intention of working on my 1 rep max power clean, only to find out that the mechanics of my cleans in general suck.

Right before barbell club I went to see Doctor Moses and NOVA Pain and Rehab.  I went to see him because I keep having a reoccurring tightness and soreness in my hips and groin.  Doctor M told me that I have serious mobility issues in my hips, and that if I don’t work on improving my mobility I will be limited in my ability to lift heavy and will most likely injury myself.  I don’t know the technical diagnosis of what is wrong with my hip, but I can’t rotate my hip outward.

The test is simple.  From a seated position with your legs hanging over the edge of a table or bed, you are supposed to be able to rotate your leg the same distance in, as you can out.  So if you take your foot and try and turn it up to your face, you should be able to take it out towards your ear as well.

It was thus no surprise that, at Barbell Club, most of the things that Ryan had me work on were related to hip mobility issues.  As my hips have gotten tighter I’ve been moving my feet closer together, and limiting the range of motion for my squat.  I’ve compensated by rolling my entire chest forward.  You couple this with lack of shoulder mobility and I have a recipe for failure.  It’s no wonder during the Metocn last week with thrusters that I was in such bad shape. 

Barbell Club proved to be a huge boost in enhancing my positioning, and technique for front squats, and cleans.  I have a couple of reference points now that I didn’t have last week. 

 Needless to say, I’m reserved to the fact that I have to take a step back and go a bit lighter on cleans, and front squats until these new body positions feel natural.

Meals

You can check my meals here…

01/31/2012 Paleo Challenge Day 25

01/31/2012 Paleo Challenge Day 25

Feelings On Paleo Challenge

After three weeks and some days I have mixed feelings about the Paleo Diet.  I have been strict, as strict as I think is possible.  My eating has been clean, I’ve gotten good sleep, and I’ve done everything I can to keep my stress levels low. 

In terms of my performance in the gym, I am clearly getting stronger, and I am getting better at Olympic Lifts.  During the longer Metcons I am able to maintain a nice energy level throughout the work, but I don’t have the reserve gas tank that I do during the home stretch, there’s normally a small window of time where I use my sheer desire to succeed to push harder than I did in the opening minutes, but it just hasn’t been there…  When we do shorter Metcons I’m not able to maintain the intensity for more than a couple of minutes.  In a 4-5 minute workout in the pass I had far more juice than I do now. 

I think there is a combination of things going on here, because I am doing heavier weights, I know I am reaching the verge of muscle failure faster, but I also feel a part of it is a result of my low starch intake.  When we did Murph I did consume some starch the night before, and morning before.  This proved to help me get through a 40+ minute workout, and a little bit to finish my second mile in a close time to my first mile.

In general overall performance is up, but how I feel during metcons is down, so to some degree I feel like my strength is growing yet the endurance is dropping.

The area for me which is making me a little unhappy is clearly the weight.  For those people who are trying to be encouraging I appreciate your concerns, I really do, to take the time to post to my blog and say something means a great deal; be assured the weight frustrates me but not to the point of doing something drastic.

And I post to the blog how I feel during any given time, I don’t want to filter anything because this evolution is a process which is a tough one.

When you spend a good portion of your life obese, you want nothing more than to not be obese, so when you put the effort forward, and do what is recommended and nothing happens towards a goal it’s frustrating.

Irrational as it maybe, I have to be comfortable in my skin, and in my own head.  I just want to know what causes the body to actually shed weight, and what causes it to retain body weight.  My body composition is changing, yet I don’t want to be a 250 lbs guy who is ripped, that’s just not what I want in my life.

If this is the new norm, fine, when reflecting on the overall month, losing 10+ pounds is not bad.  Staying at this rate for the course of a year I would lose 120 lbs, so I got that going for me…

WoD

Today’s WoD was a single 15 minute AMRAP (as many reps as possible), 5 power cleans at 145 lbs, 10 toes to bar, and 15 wall balls with a 20 lb wall ball and a 10’ target.  When I read the workout the night before and the metcon involves moves that I have to scale I get frustrated, but then have to think about which movements I can do as prescribed.  The nice thing occurring over the last month is that more times than not I’m able to do at least 2/3 of a metcon as prescribed, so I got that going for me.

After warming up, and doing a few power cleans at 135 lbs, I felt like this would be a good weight.  That’s when Coach Jay and Loren goaded me into adding the 10 lbs to the prescribed weight of 145 lbs.  My response was something along the lines of kissing my ass, as I added the weights.

When the clock started I felt like the right decision had been made in terms of the weight for the power cleans.  I made progress in the toes to bar as I was able to bring my knees further up just below my chest.  I wore my lifting shoes, and found that the wall balls were easier to do, and that I was able to pop up the bar up.  When wearing my Pure Ugly’s I could feel my feet moving every time I would go into the squat with the medicine ball, but with my New Nikes my feet were planted perfectly, thus allowing me to drive the ball harder, and making it feel lighter.

I finished 7 rounds plus 5 reps in the fifteen minutes.  I figure once I am actually doing toes to bar that I would have probably finished 5 rounds, but I could be completely pulling that out of my ass.

Paleo Meals

My paleo meals for day 25.

01/31/2012 Paleo Challenge Day 24

01/30/2011 Paleo Challenge Day 24

The scale

I spent a little time today at REI buying jackets in an XL size.  They are a smidgen on the small size, but I fit in them standing up.  In any case I feel the emotional need to start clearing out the XXL clothes which are too big now, and replace with XL cuts which actually fit me.  

XXL jackets and shirts fit loose, and at times are too big, in fact I have a pair of Levis that when I wear I look like an old guy trying to look cool with his baggy jeans.  I don't want clothes that are too loose because I think loose fitting clothes gives you the ability to gain weight without much in the matter of negative feedback.  When your clothes start to get tight you say oh fuck I’m getting fat let me watch what I eat.  If you have enough room to gain significant amounts of weight, it just makes the uncomfortable change seem a part of normal life.

I wore nothing but sweatpants when I started to gain weight...that fucking wont' happen again.

With that being said the ever-fluctuating weight is frustrating.  It’s baffling.  When I weighed myself yesterday I weighed 264 lbs, when I weighed myself this morning I weighed 261 lbs.  I don’t know what to say, other than fuck, and I can’t figure it out.

I won’t spend too much time stressing about it, but it just reinforces the fact that weightloss I hard, and every time you figure something out your body dynamics change and then makes life difficult.  It’s either a product of bad genes, or the innate adaptability of the human body.

After the Paleo Challenge I’m toying with the idea of 1 meal a week, as a cheat meal to shock the body.  I don’t know if this is lunacy or a good idea, but I may try it if things don’t change the next week and half.

WoD

Started my morning off at the first WoD with the combined Patriot and Potomac groups.    At the 5:30 am session there were 40+ people, yet with all things considered Dan and Kevin did a good job.  I don't think as a coach you can prepare yourself for double the number of athletes in a particular class, fortunately the type of people who gravitate towards CrossFit are motivated, and smart, which makes this type of transition easier on the staff and owners of a gym.

We worked on Front Squats for the powerlifting portion of the WoD, and then a short 7 minute metcon which when you read seems innocuous, but turns out to be poison.  I ended up partnering with Matt R., and Eugene for the squats.

Matt was on his “deloading” week of Wendler (more information on Wendler here) so he did a few sets of back squats in-between our warm-up.  The program was designed by Jim Wendler a power lifter and is called the 5/3/1, which is done over 4 weeks with lifts 3-4 times a week on a series of core lifts, back squats, bench press, deadlift, and standing press.  The idea being that during the cycles of training you do weights which are a varying % of your 1 rep max, ultimately the program is designed to increase your strength in these core lifts. 

Eugene and I worked at similar weights and ended up doing 4 sets of 2 at 175lbs and 3 sets of 2 at 185 lbs.  There is video below from the third set of 175 lbs and my last set of 185 lbs.  I’m just happy I can hold 185 lbs in the racked position.

  

 

The deceptive metcon was programmed for 7 minutes, and two movements.  A reasonable amount of weight, and a motion that I’m comfortable with, a great number of people either have shoulder issues, or are uncomfortable in the overhead squat position, it doesn’t bother me, but I haven’t done enough of them to really know how much weight I can handle.  I have no problem squat snatching 115 lbs, so I figured 115 lbs for the overhead squats would be more than doable; the prescribed 135 lbs just seemed a hair out of reach.

The Overhead squats were followed by 10 bar facing burpees, which I think was supposed to mean we were facing the bar and jumped over the barbell, but with the number of people in the class we did bastards, which means you jump laterally when coming up.

I was able to do 4 rounds plus 1 rep but I will admit a good deal of my bastards looked like skips.  Here is video.

 

Meals

Paleo Meals Day 24

 

 

01/29/2012 Paleo Challenge Day 23, Monday Morning Weigh-in

01/29/2012 Day 23 Paleo Challenge, Monday Morning Weigh-In

Official Monday Morning Weigh In

264 lbs

 

Video below is how I felt this morning when I got off of the scale.

   

 Yeah I could just a kill a motherfucker…

Last week I spent a couple of days at 261 lbs, so I felt that the 250’s were just around the corner, waking up to find this morning I’m at 264 lbs.  I don’t know what’s going on with my body, whether I’m eating too much, not enough, or if my hormones are out of whack, but shit is getting emotionally tenuous.

Today was a rest day, and it was perfect timing because we had our busiest Sunday in almost 6 months.  The car wash business is like being on a constant roller coaster, while taking acid, and having your balls cut off.  You never know what craziness is next, and feel completely emasculated to the point you don’t have control over your destiny.  We work hard to maintain great customer service, and spend a good deal of time retaining existing customers.  When needed we spent money on advertising, but when the weather is consistently bad for months you might as well just start drinking.

Here is the car wash business cycle in the Mid-Atlantic Region.  The average person washes their car 4 times a year, with most of them washing twice during the winter months.  Why the winter months you say?  Because salt to me is like Strippers with big boobs, and extra special lap dance skills, in fact it’s better than fellatio…well maybe not, ok it probably will be after I turn 40, and I’m married (when I was 18 I would have never thought anything could be better than fellatio…I probably would have given up bodily organs for it, but today I’d rather see salted cars).

Everyone has been programmed to understand that “Salt eats cars”, because it does prolonged exposure accelerates oxidation.  Because of this, during the winter months the salt on the road means $$, yet it’s not that simple, in order for us to really make gang buster money the salt has to be thick enough, and the street wet enough to cause it to splash on windshields and hoods.  Again thinking about the average car washer, side panel dirt is not as annoying as having a dirty windshield and hood.

When your visibility is impaired even you bastards who wash your car about as often as you go the dentist are compelled to wash.   Back to the business cycle, so during these winter months we have to work extra special hard to provide the best wash quality possible, and provide the type of customer service that will bring people back for their other 3 washes.  This time of year is where we build volume for the rest of the year. 

You can see the numbers shift at the end of the year, a great winter means, a good summer, and good fall.  A bad winter season means nooses, razor blades, and access to high buildings. 

This winter has been bad, and it’s been tough trying to just maintain a feasible operation.  I have to tell you as bad as it has been, my stress levels aren’t what they would have been, in part because I am not crazy high on sugar, but because I have made progress in my weight loss, if I was still over 300 lbs, I’m sure I would have been at the top of a building crying for help.

So for those of you thinking about the car wash business, that’s what you have to look forward to, unless you are a smart bastard like my friend in Baltimore and open up by pricing your shit right, and using a marketing plan which is hard to adopt after you’ve been open for 5 years.

For the first time on a weekend rest day, I actually had to help my operation, and it felt good.

Paleo Meals Day 23

Here are my meals.

I have to stay conscious about what I eat because I’m finding I may not be eating enough at times.  I’m just not hungry, but I don’t want to fall below into nutritional values that put my body into starvation mode.  I would love to live my life not focused on my body weight, and food consumption on a near hour by hour basis.

 

01/29/2012 Paleo Meals Day 23

01/29/2012 Paleo Meals Day 23

Breakfast

• Pork Belly 1.5 oz
• Eggs 4 Large
• Spinach 1 Cup
• 1 Cup Mushrooms
• Calories 539 Grams of Protein 32

Power Supply Meal + Supplement

• Chicken Thigh 5 oz
• Chicken Breast 8 oz
• Spinach 2 Cups
• Butternut Squash 1.5 Cups
• Calories 598 Grams of Protein 6174

Dinner

• Beef Ribs 6 oz
• Salmon 6 oz
• Spinach 2 Cup
• Kimchi 1 cup
• Cauliflower cup
• Olive oil 2 tbsp
• Calories 868 Grams of Protein 87

Snacks After Dinner

• Calories 0 Grams of Protein 0

Total Calories of day 2005 Grams of Protein 194 Grams of Fat 106 Grams of Carbohydrates 56