Getting back into it.

I know, I've been slacking. Things have been crazy. I had half of a roof on my house all summer and half of the ceilings collapsed as well. Needless to say working out/eating right haven't been on my agenda. That's going to change. In January I'm going to do take Gluten Free January to Ketogenic January. I know that I've said this all before, but I'm going to succeed this time. I'll detail my goals later in the week. I'll try to blog once a week.

Please, for those of you following the blog or whatever, push me in this endeavor. Call me fat, lazy, all the above. Help motivate me. Help me get that elusive 6-pack.

In the meantime, watch this and get psyched.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwvoTDoO9Hg

Matt

Almost there

Tomorrow will mark week 3 of my Whole 30. I'm feeling great. And I've only eaten out 4 times in the entire 3 weeks. And it's all been paleo. The first time was at iHop which was surprisingly easy to eat good food. I had sirloin steak sauteed with onions and mushrooms (I asked, they used canola oil, I asked them to use no more than a tablespoon...I'm pretty sure they did). I also had some steamed broccoli with it. And a glass of water. The waitress seemed a bit interested since I declined adding cheese to the broccoli or even touching the piece of garlic bread that came with it. It was only $10. I've also hit Jimmy Johns a couple of times...having an unwhich each time. An unwhich is a sandwich withouth bread. The last time I had double roast beef, just to up the protein content.

Friday night I went out to Texas Roadhouse and had a nice NY Strip. I asked for double veggies, but I only got the single. Oh well. I loaded up on some fruit when I got home.

I've definitely noticed that I am spending more on groceries, which is a good thing. I'm going to need to sit down and plan out my budget in order to maximize my groceries. I have a membership to Sams so that is helpful that I can buy meat in bulk. I can also buy frozen broccoli like crazy there. And it's cheap. Just need to plan ahead to buy fresh veggies and fruits. I am also in the center of a couple of quality farmers markets that I would like to take advantage of this summer.

My ankle is feeling pretty good, so I'm hoping to start running soon. Figure that I'll start jumping rope first (need to work on the double unders!). I'm also about 3 weeks in to the PTP and am thinking about doing another one probably in August. But for this PTP I'm going to work on the snatch and the front squat. Not only to increase my load capacity on those lifts but to also focus on the formI'll probably do another Whole 30 as well, but this time be more strict about the amounts of food I eat, just to lose the weight. But I really feel that if I stick to a strict paleo diet like I am now and up my cardio I'm going to lose more weight.

I'm not having very many struggles except for my urge to go get a happy hour from sonic. I've already got a couple of plans for some cheat meals when this is over. My goal is to not go crazy. I'm making some pizzas for a party I'm hosting in a couple of weeks, which I'm really looking forward to. I also plan on partaking in a soda or two on the 4th of July. And probably a cheeseburger. And mac and cheese. OK, maybe that's a little crazy.

2 weeks

So I was told that I need to update by more than one source, so here goes.

Started the Whole 30 on Monday May 17. Its been almost 2 full weeks since I have had processed sugars, carbs, or grains. The first couple of days were ok. Day 3 there was an episode of vomitting with sweats/shakes. It was a rough day. But I've been feeling rock solid ever since. I've also been doing the PTP program and loving it. I've been working out 5 times a week.

Twice this week someone has brought donuts to the office. And twice this week I have abstained. I've come too far to quit now, right? Today the big wigs announced that they were buying pizza for the office on Tuesday. Guess I won't be participating in that either. This had me thinking today. My employer has in the past made some big gestures towards improving the health of the employees company wide, which makes sense because healthy employees have less sick days, on the job injuries, etc. But how is it helping us by serving pizza and donuts all the time? Followed by having us sitting in cubes for 8+ hours a day while they work us to the bone (the work volume at my office has been insane since Thanksgiving, morale is low, and 13 employees have quit this month alone)? I realize that it's perceived as a good gesture to provide these types of meals for the employees, but when more than 60% of the department has a weight problem, what's the motivation?

I've read on the Whole 9 website of people who have completed the Whole 30 about how it changes their relationship with food. I'm not even 2 weeks in and I can already see that my relationship with food has been changed. Instead of picking out all my change and hitting the vending machine, I plan ahead for those mid-morning/mid-afternoon snacks and pack jerky, nuts, and fruit. I've found that a couple of walnuts and some cold water goes a long way in quelling the mid morning hunger strike. I also find that I don't eat when I'm bored any more. I drink water...a lot of water.

The workouts have been excellent. There's been a few of them that have called for running, box jumping or jump roping that I've avoided because of my bum ankle that is just now getting healed up from the sprain that I had a month ago. I'm think that after this press/deadlift PTP is done I'm going to do some Crossfit Football WODs for a couple of weeks and then do the PTP with front squats and possibly pull ups. I'm not really sure how I'm going to work that out, but I really need to work on my pull ups since I can't really do them. I now have the assistance bands and the plyo boxes, so I might as well work on them right? I know that I am getting stronger as well. I warm up with 135# on the bar for deadlifts and it's starting to feel like nothing. I'll do some warm up presses with a standard Oly bar (45#) and it feels like a feather. Can't wait to do the 1RM of these exercises in a few weeks.

Haven't weighed myself since I started this because I don't want to see the fluctuations and think "what's the point?' I'm planning on weighing in on either Monday or Tuesday, so hopefully it's a good result.

Whole 30

I've been doing a lot of research lately. Researching the basic formula of human performance. I know what I want to do, and I know that our race is capable of much more than what we think. There was once a time when man had to walk everywhere, hunt, kill for food, gather necessary vegetables and fruits. Times were probably much simpler then. There wasn't a worry about showing up late for work, or paying bills on time. Or what is going on with American Idol or Justin Bieber (just who is this no talent hack anyway? Seriously, are they selling record deals at the mall now?). The only concern in life was just surviving. To me it doesn't really matter what you believe, evolution or creation, there was this time when a daily stressor was running away from dinosaurs, tigers, bears and finding your next meal. Sounds a little better to me than sitting in traffic going to work every morning.

This rambling does actually have a purpose. At the beginning of April I started blogging about my first attempt at the Paleo Diet (aka: the caveman diet, the hunter-gatherer diet, etc). Well, I am attempting it again. Basically. I am beginning the Whole 30. The Whole 30 is a commitment to 30 days for nothing but solid, good foods. Lean meats, vegatables and fruits. This is to reset my body and hopefully drop some pounds. All while putting up more pounds in the weight room. I came across this blog this past week and the information I read has opened my eyes. The blog is www.whole9life.com. It can get pretty science heavy and throws around some bit words like glucose, cortisol, insulin, etc. I suggest you give the site a glance. I'll post some other links in the coming month.

I will also be following the Whole 9's PTP (power to the people) program for the next 35 days or so. This is a strength program designed to increase my overall strength. I'll be working primarily on the deadlift and the shoulder press. There will be plenty of other exercises thrown in there as well. The PTP is on the Whole 9 website as well.

Now I know that I've said in the past that I'm going to a better job of posting on this thing. I'm still really going to try. I really do enjoy writing. However, there may only be 1 big update a week. I'm going to keep a food journal and also jot down any thoughts or observations about how I'm feeling along the way. I'll try to share that all with you as well.

Paleo: Day 4

Only had 2 real meals today. Found some good recipes in my paleo book, so I tried out two of those. Paleo Meat balls and paleo meat loaf. Both are pretty awesome. But I made those for the week. Hello, lunches.

Breakfast/lunch: Flank steak, 2 turkey bratwursts, Asparagus, and some strawberries.

Dinner: paleo meat balls and boccoli, grape juice.

Anyway, I'm actually feeling really great today. However, tomorrow is Monday which means another week at the office. Fun times.

Paleo: Day 3

OK, Here's the run down of the day...

Breakfast: Grilled Halibut, broccoli, strawberries and apple butter.

Lunch: Sliced Roast Beef and grapes.

Dinner: 2 chicken breasts, broccoli, glass of OJ.

Today was quite a bit better. No headaches, no real feeling of hunger. Tomorrow morning, I'll weigh in and see how much I've lost thus far.

Paleo: Day 2

So here it is. My day 2 of the paleo diet. It started off somewhat rough as I had a headache until about 11am. And due to the fact that my eating has drastically changed, I'm suffering from food withdraws. More specifically, insulin spike withdraws. My body is calling out for the sugary-sweetness of the typical American Diet. Basically, as I eat a large meal full of foods that are really good for me, and eat until I am content my body wants more food after about an hour or two. As you can see, I'm posting this on Day 3 of the diet, and things are improved immensely this morning.

So here goes

Breakfast:

1 pork tenerloin, 2 cups of broccoli, 1 apple and 2tbsp of almond butter.

Lunch:

2 cans of Tuna, 4 oz of roast beef, 2 cups of celery, 2 cups of grapes/strawberries, 2 tbsp of apple butter.

Dinner:

1 top sirloin steak, 2 cups of broccoli, 1 apple and 2tbsp of almond butter.

Also yesterday I started my skill work. Did some bench presses (been a long time!) and some front squats. Got a few additional things to do on the power rack today, so I think I'm going to get started on that. I'll post again tonight.

Paleo: Day 1

April 1, 2010. A date that will live in infamy. A date that I walked into my office and there was a bake sale. And I had foldin' money in my pocket. But I kept walking. That's right, I kept walking.

That should be a song. or not. For those of you who are curious, here's what wikipedia has to say about the paleo diet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleo_diet.

Here are my meals for the day:

Breakfast: 3 eggs, scrambled. Bacon (have to get rid of it and I'm not one for wasting food. There are starving people in India, but they probably don't eat pork). 2 cups of broccoli. Yes, that's broccoli. For breakfast. 1 apple and some OJ.

Lunch: 4oz sliced roast beef, 2 cans of tuna and assorted spices and a splash of olive oil, 2 cups celery, and an apple.

Dinner: 2 pork tenderloins, 2 cups of broccoli, 1 cup of grapes, 1/2 cup strawberries and 1 tbsp of apple butter.

Thoughts: I think that the breakfast that I had this morning was one of the better ways to start off the day. I didn't sleep much last night and was awake for the first few hours of work. My energy level slipped off because I went so long without eating, but once I had lunch I immediately felt awake.

I also weighed myself this morning. 332.6 is the starting weight. The goal is 20 pounds by the end of the month. Hopefully about double that will really happen though.

refocusing

So things haven't been great as of late. I've really been lacking in the motivation department. I am not motivated to work out, eat right and it's honestly eating at me quite a bit. I only gave a 50% effort to a workout the other day that I was actually looking forward to (10 rounds for time of the couplet: 135# Deadlift-15 reps, 15 push ups). I came up with excuses, and only did 5 rounds.

I took today to get the bad out of my system. Didn't eat very well at all. Starting tomorrow morning, I'm only going to eat food that I prepare in my own kitchen for the next 7 days. I've got a stocked freezer and have no excuse not to do so. I've felt like crap all week long and I know it's because I've not been eating right. Now it's time to fix that. If I eat right I know I'll be able to get back in the garage and kick some tail.

I. Want. To. Die.

Short one today. Here was today's WOD:

Five Rounds for time of:

Row 500 Meters

135# Thrusters, 7 reps

And of course, the Matt-is-fat-and-out-of-shape-scale-down:

Five rounds for time of:

30# Sumo-Dead lift High Pulls-50 reps

60# Thrusters-7 reps

For those of you who are curious, here is a sumo-dead lift high pull: http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFit_SDHP.mov (for you non-mac people: http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFit_SDHP.wmv).

I'm still sore from yesterday's workout, and this one pushed my cardio to the limit. I intentionally avoided heavy weights because I would have lost good form (I'm still teaching myself some of these movements). Admittedly, I could have done the SDHP's at 45#. But 30# nearly beat me to death. Again, it became all about meeting that wall and pushing through it. I hit the wall at the end of the first round. I thought to myself, "You can stop at 3 rounds, man...it'll be ok." But I didn't, I pushed through it. Granted, I took some breaks. But I figured breathing was probably OK. I ended up finishing the WOD in a little over 47 minutes. That's a really long time for a CF WOD. I'm not proud of the time, but I'm proud that I did 5 rounds. At least that was as prescribed.

An unbelievable epiphany...

I had an epiphany while working out today. I'll get to that in a minute. First, the workout that was prescribed:

225# Dead Lift--15 reps

50 Pull-ups

225# Dead Lift--12 reps

40 Pull-ups

225# Dead Lift--9 reps

30 Pull-ups

225# Dead Lift--6 reps

20 Pull-ups

225# Dead Lift--3 reps

10 Pull-ups

And here is how I modified it:

110# Dead-Lift--15 reps

25 Pull-ups

110# Dead Lift--12 reps

20 Pull-ups

110# Dead Lift--9 reps

15 Pull-ups

110# Dead Lift--6 reps

10 Pull-ups

110# Dead Lift--3 reps

5 Pull-ups

My time: 15:50. I was pretty proud of that. Albeit I didn't do a single pull up. I completed all of my pull ups on the total gym, because there's no way I can pull myself up.

And now for the epiphany. Today I realized that these workouts are insane for a reason. In any workout that you complete on this program it's all about intensity and pushing yourself through the WOD. My intensity has been lacking, which I will freely admit. I do have some limitations on myself that prevent me from doing these workouts as prescribed, but I'm just starting out. And these workouts are designed to make you hit a wall. Today, I hit the wall at the end of the first round. I had to push myself harder to get it done. My body is not used to doing this kind of work and that makes my workout much harder. And in order to keep my heart rate in a safe zone I've got to take little breaks every now and then. But as I push forward, things get easier. I had to break up the pull-ups and DLs with the higher reps. I was able to knock out 12 DLs in the first set before having to take a break. I had to take the first set of pull-ups in a 10-10-5 form.

Another part of my epiphany is...EAT MORE. I know, I'm trying to lose weight and eating less is supposed to help that. But with these workouts, I'm burning through many more calories. And in order to complete these workouts, I need to eat more. I'm not talking about eating crap foods that no one should eat, but eating good foods. So, that's my task. I've been fairly paleo today, but I haven't had nearly the amount of vegetables that I should have had today.

Tomorrow, 0500, I'll be back in the garage doing some skill work. I think I'm going to try to do two-a-days this week as well as keeping a strict food journal. We'll see how that goes.

This is for you, Uncle Steve

See, Uncle Steve, I told you I would update.

I have done a full 3-day rotation of the main site WOD this week. Very much looking forward to the rest day tomorrow. If I think about it, I'm going to weigh myself tomorrow to see if I lost any.

I kind of abandoned the diet last week due to my birthday festivities. I think that my body was really letting me know that I should not do that again until my next birthday. But that chicken fried steak was delicious!

On Wednesday the WOD was 100 burpee pull-ups. That is a burpee and then you do a pull-up. Well, I cannot do burpee pull-ups on a total gym, so I decided to just do 100 burpees. For time. I was feeling pretty good about them for the first 10 reps, then I had to take a bit of a breather. On number 11, I could really feel it. Usually burpees make me dizzy, but they didn't this time around. By 15, I decided that I would only do 50 burpees. At 25, I couldn't get up. Wow, I am out of shape.

Thursday's WOD was 3 rounds of 10 Clean & Jerks and 30 sit ups (for time). The prescribed weight on the C&J was 135. I ended up going with 60 in order to maintain proper form. I can definitely feel the stabilizer muscles on the front of my shoulders today. And my abs are really sore today...probably has something to do with the 110 situps I did (3x30+20(in warm-up)).

Today's WOD was 50 double unders and 50 back extensions, 3 rounds for time. Double unders are jump rope, but you jump once and the rope goes under your feet twice. I am very large, thus the force of gravity does not allow me to stay in the air long enough to complete this. So I just did 50 regular jump ropes. And I did 60# deadlifts for the back extensions because we don't have a proper GHD machine and back extensions hurt my neck.

Well, the plan for this week is to also start working on a skill before completing the WOD as well. By skill I mean getting my body used to doing the Olympic lifts, push-ups, double unders, and pull-ups (when the pull-up station is complete). I am also planning on sticking to paleo this week. Didn't do so well at that this week (today especially).

Anyway, it's 110 in the am, and I'm going to bed. Peace out all.

New year. New goals

Hey, I’m actually updating. Aren’t you proud? I thought so. I started Crossfit as promised on January 1. I completed “Cindy” as prescribed on Friday and did a modified version of “Barbara” yesterday. My body is definitely letting me know I worked out....

Anyway, here are my new goals.

1). Lose 40lbs by April 1.

2). Bench press 220lbs 10x (once the new bench and weights are obtained).

3). Run 1.5 miles in under 15 minutes (will work more seriously on that once it warms up).

4). Complete a sub-five minute “Fran” as RX’d by the end of the year (there are some limitations on this as I am unable to complete a single pull up at this time. But I will be building a decent pull-up station).

5). Lose a total of 100lbs minimum by December 31, 2010.

There were some more goals, but I can’t seem to think of them right now. I’m sure I’ll update the list as I move forward.