Saturday, April 30, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Alcohol Will Make You Suck!
If you’ve been doing CrossFit for any significant amount of time and you are stuck on something like not being able to do a pullup, always complaining about being sore, not “leaning out” or feel like you’re getting weaker…it most likely is a problem with your nutrition, alcohol intake, & sleep.
Today we’re going to talk about alcohol. Research overwhelmingly suggests that alcohol use and athleticism do not go hand in hand. Although it might not be realistic for some of you to quit drinking altogether – if you want to thrive in the athletic environment you should take steps to limit and eventually eliminate it because…
DEHYDRATION
Alcohol can cause severe dehydration and huge electrolyte imbalances. After only one night of long drinking, it can take several days to a week for full recovery. While dehydrated, you are greater risk for many injuries including: cramps, muscle pulls, and muscle strains. Also, dehydration can lead to severe brain impairment and even death when coupled with extreme temperatures and intense practices. Dehydration also leads to muscle loss – muscle which you are working so hard to gain.
TESTOSTERONE
Alcohol, when consumed in amounts typical with most college aged drinkers, will dramatically decrease testosterone levels. Less testosterone = less aggressiveness in workouts, loss of motivation, weakness, & once again muscle loss. Your balls will shrink and the quantity & quality of your sperm will decrease. Ladies, don’t think you’re off the hook…for you it increases the amount of of estradial – which increases your risk for breast cancer.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
GAME DAY NUTRITION
March 21, 2011
John,
First of all, thanks for the phenomenal FREE programming.
I use your program as my strength & conditioning tool for fighting in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournaments as recommended to me by Freddy Camacho about a year ago. I stand 6’3″ and when I started CFFB I was about 250 pounds with a 385lb squat, 335lb bench and 510lb deadlift. One year later, my weight is down to 225 lbs but with a 445lb squat, 365lb bench and 565lb deadlift and I’m faster and more explosive. One of the biggest benefits has been the ability to drop from the ultra-heavyweight division, which has no weight limit to the 207.5 to 221lb weight class. Now I am one of the bigger guys, which provides a significant advantage. I’m now also almost always the best-conditioned fighter in my division, which helps during a tournament where you fight back-to-back with no extended rest.
That brings me to my question: How would you recommend that I eat prior to a tournament, during a tournament and then after a tournament?
Presently, I eat a Paleo diet with a daily single quart of whole milk added in my post workout meal. During my tournaments, if I do well in my division, I qualify to fight in the open division, which is usually held 1-2 hours later. I tried slugging down a quart of milk after winning my division in my last tournament, but when time came for the open division, I just about puked on my opponent and didn’t do well.
Do you have any other suggestions for my nutrition during the tournament as well as for before and after?
Thanks for any advice that you can offer and, again, thanks so much for providing this incredible resource that is helping me and so many other athletes.
Regards,
Mike P.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Getting those knees loose
Getting those knees loose
Here we move upstream from the last post we had with Jami at our seminar in London. We are targeting the knee joint, and Jami points out something rather interesting that we should all be aware of in the beginning of this little vid… Problems with the knee USUALLY happen at either the ankle or the hip because the knee is in the middle. So if you got things going on in the knee you probably want to start looking at those hip flexors, or calves first if your a runner/endurance athlete. These are the go to problem areas we see. So, have a look at this stuff, but before you hit it test the end range before then test the end range after, and see if you can find anything “special”/ hot in those spots.
Getting Mobile w/ Runners, Cyclists, Triathletes, or CrossFitters…
Recently we were in London doing a CrossFit Endurance Run Seminar, and had the pleasure of having Jami Tikkanen at the seminar. Jami is an Osteopath out of London right now, and is part ofThames CrossFit. He runs some of the European CrossFit Mobility Seminars for Doc Starrett, and is one of the few who really gets “it”. It was an honor to have him at the seminar and we will be working with Jami quite a bit more as we have plans for several seminars in Europe this year. We got some great video opportunities at the seminar and decided to post some of them up, as it is great work for anyone that runs.
In this video we discuss opening up the foot a bit, or just looking for some things that might be HOT. A barbell can go a long way with a group, and we make use of it. We also look at opening up the ankle, with a unique little counter action with a band. Again, these are things and places around the gym and are easy to do, and dont take a long time. Working on dorsi flexion is as important for running as it is with squating and deadlifting. Limited range in this will have repercussions for any athlete, and inevitably will have smaller muscle groups making up for what larger ones should handle. Enjoy this first piece.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Workouts...
Workout #1
"Nicole"
20 minute AMRAP
400m run
Max effort pull ups
Workout #2
Complete 3 rounds of the following:
3 deadlifts
Then 3 mini rounds of:
25 doubleunders
20 push ups
Workout #3
7 ping pongs (outside) of:
- Sprints
- Double unders 20
- squat thrusts 10
Living Like a Caveman in New York City
March 16, 2011 2:45 PM HKT
Professional caveman John Durant makes a pretty convincing argument for eating like hunter-gathers. "Anybody with a lot of inflammation, rheumatoid arthritis, allergies, they would do very well on the paleo diet. Anybody overweight, I mean, name your medical problem-I feel like a snake oil salesman." Cure-all or not, it doesn't hurt that Durant himself is outgoing, energetic and fit, a kind of walking advertisement for his lifestyle. He is the author of the blog Hunter-Gatherer.com, and is writing a book with the working title Live Wild: A Survival Guide to the Modern World.
The basic idea behind the paleolithic diet, also known as the caveman diet, is that humans are best adapted to eat and live like hunter-gatherers before the time of the agricultural revolution. "If you look at these hunter-gatherer cultures, in reports that date back to the 19th century and early 20th century, they're actually remarkably healthy," says Durant. Followers of the paleo lifestyle argue that the agricultural revolution led to a marked decline in health, in part due to less diverse sources of nutrients. "Our diet became very narrow, very quickly. We went from eating a wide variety of animal foods and plant foods driven by seasonal eating, to a very narrow set of foods."
By modern standards, some might find the paleo diet limited to a narrow set of foods as well. Those following the paleo diet eschew sugars, grain, processed foods, legumes, and most fruits. However, this leaves a diversity of vegetables, tubers, meats and seafood. There are no recommended serving sizes and no calorie counting. Instead, followers are advised to pay attention to their body's signals of hunger and thirst.
Durant has been eating this way for about four and a half years. After taking his first desk job out of college, he began to have trouble staying awake and his weight crept up. "I was falling asleep during the day, my energy level would spike and crash," he says. "Not just my energy level but my mood." He began looking for a healthy way to improve his energy level, when he read an essay by Art De Vany, one of the founders of the paleo movement. "I started implementing it and I got very good results."
Among these good results, Durant lists an improvement in his complexion, dropping about 25 pounds over the course of about two months and an improvement in his mood. "My energy evened out and got higher, that took about a week."
Going paleo involves more than just changing how you eat, it involves embracing a "wilder" lifestyle. For a man who lives and works in New York City, this means getting plenty of sleep, regular exercise and some sun exposure. Durant recommends doing a variety of physical activities to "use lots of different muscles and vary things." He does CrossFit training in addition to going to the gym, and also enjoys barefoot running in Central Park.
After giving me a recommendation for upgrading my barefoot running sandals, Durant explained why he likes the real deal more than huaraches or Vibrams Five Fingers. "It requires you to be in the moment a little more. A lot of runners really run to zone out," he says. "That's enjoyable too if you want to zone out and not think about anything. If you're barefoot running you're much more likely to zone in, and focus. Very few or I would venture to say no barefoot runners run with headphones on." For anyone new to barefoot running, Durant recommends that you take it slowly, run less than a mile at a time, and pay attention to foot pain. "You actually get good feedback from your body. If you land on your heels, it will hurt, it won't feel good. That pain is a signal to say, 'don't do it that way.' "
While working on his blog and book, Durant uses a counter as a stand-up desk, which can be also be fashioned from stacked tables. Like barefoot running, it may take some time to adjust to standing for several hours at a time. The diet, however, shouldn't be done gradually. Durant says that it's easy to find caveman food at the local grocery store, just as long as you stick to meats and whole veggies. "I don't venture into the inner isles, that's the pit of death."
Reproduced from Dietsinreview