Day: March 13, 2013

The Leangains Guide.

Really good read on fasting: at Leangains

I would be one of two:

Two pre-workout meals

This is the usual protocol for people with normal working hours.

Sample setup

12-1 PM or around lunch/noon: Meal one. Approximately 20-25% of daily total calorie intake.
4-5 PM: Pre-workout meal. Roughly equal to the first meal.
8-9 PM: Post-workout meal (largest meal).

Fasted training

Training is initiated on an empty stomach and after ingestion of 10 g BCAA or similar amino acid mixture. This “pre-workout” meal is not counted towards the feeding phase. Technically, training is not completely fasted – that would be detrimental. The pre-workout protein intake, with its stimulatory effect on protein synthesis and metabolism, is a crucial compromise to optimize results. The 8-hour feeding phase starts with the post-workout meal.

Sample setup

11.30-12 AM or 5-15 minutes pre-workout: 10 g BCAA
12-1 PM: Training
1 PM: Post-workout meal (largest meal of the day).
4 PM: Second meal.
9 PM: Last meal before the fast.

Calories and carbs are tapered down throughout the day in the example above.

chippers.

“I believe that there is one story in the world, and only one. . . . Humans are caught—in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too—in a net of good and evil. . . . There is no other story. A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well—or ill?” ― John Steinbeck

Some days are very long days at work. 10 – 11 hour days. When you wake up you know you’re in for a Chipper. You just have to chip away at your day. It helps to know there’s the 8:30pm WOD at ACF, the Dirty-Thirty as it has been nicknamed, waiting for you at the finish line.

I. Strength:

High Bar Back Squat

1 x 5 @80%  – completed at 130lbs.

2 x 3 @ 85%  – completed at 140lbs.

3 x 1 @ 90% – completed at 145lbs.

* Rest 2 Minutes Between Sets

II. Conditioning:

12 Push Press (155/105)

20 Walking Lunges 

9 Push Press (155/105)

40 Walking Lunges

6 Push Press (155/105)

60 Walking Lunges

* 15 Minute Time Cap

Completed: in 7:27 at 65lbs. When the WOD was over it was one of those moments when I knew I went too light with 65lbs. and felt the residual effects of defeat. It was clear I chickened out. Should have gone heavier, 75lbs. Even just a couple of 2.5lbs. thrown on the end for good strength building measure.

Why is it with a Deadlift or Clean I will push myself to the absolute extreme of my strength, but anything over head I go soft? Fear of failure.

Not going to get stronger, not going to get better, if I consistently give into the fear.

Grumpy Pants.

“Normally, in anything I do, I’m fairly miserable. I do it, and I get grumpy because there is a huge, vast gulf, this aching disparity, between the platonic ideal of the project that was living in my head, and the small, sad, wizened, shaking, squeaking thing that I actually produce.”
― Neil Gaiman
 
f off

I’ve been messing around with Intermittent Fasting. Messing around is a good way to describe not really knowing what I’m doing. Nonetheless, here’s the goal; eat a healthy meal, once per day (every 24 hours).

The tricky part has been in choosing the right time of day to eat that satisfies a majority of the following criteria; satiate my hunger, appropriately feeds my body, leaves me feeling strong for the WOD and not wanting to fling myself from a tall building for the remaining 23.75 hours that I am not eating.

It’s not easy. But I do believe I’m learning what it means to be hungry, to be really hungry. It’s not pretty. I get irritable and tired and very impatient. I pity the fool who stands between me and some almonds currently between 1:45 and 2:01pm.

Other current side affects of IF’ing; total lack of desire to talk to anyone, resisting the overwhelming need to put my head down and take a nap from exactly 2:02 to 3:15pm, complete and total grumpiness. When I get grumpy, I get cranky. I mean, when I get grumpy, I get quiet. I’m pretty quiet right now. And hungry.

This morning the hunger was so strong I ripped into my very large daily salad of sliced turkey breast and walnuts and dried cranberries at 11am. Now the question remains can I go the rest of the day without eating? Seems crazy, right? But I already believe a majority of us are way overfed, and I also think that a lot of our hunger is simply derived from habit. 3pm in an office is Snack Time. You can tell by the wafting sound of wrappers rattling and the many footsteps to and from the staff kitchen.

I. Strength:

3 First Pulls + 1 Hang Snatch 7 x 1

* Rest 60 Seconds

** Heaviest Possible Weight

Completed: getting up to a working weight of 80lbs. I honestly feel like my form with the Snatch is getting better.

II. Conditioning:

10 Minute Ascending Round AMRAP of:

3 Hang Squat Clean Thruster (135/95)

3 Burpee Box Jump (30/24)

3 Chest 2 Bar Pull-Ups

6 Hang Squat Clean Thruster (135/95)

6 Burpees Box Jump (30/24)

9 Hang Squat Clean Thruster (135/95)

9 Burpee Box Jumps (30/24)

9 Chest 2 Bar Pull-Ups

12…

Completed: up to Round 12 Thursters at 65lbs., and 6 BBJs.