Crossfit Total

My previous CFT was a 10RM. I also was lifting a kettle bell instead of a barbell because of my back (easing into lifts rather than DESTROMINATING). And, because I didn't know any better, I was doing a push press instead of a press. These facts need to be considered when evaluating my new CFT.

As of Thursday, my total is thus:

• 155 back squat
• 115 press
• 185 deadlift

This is a five-rep-max (5RM) total. My previous CFT was:

• 125 back squat
• 85lb (push) press
• 32kg KB deadlift (70.5lbs)

The KB lift was impaired by the fact that we didn't have a heavier kettle bell. I had more, but not a lot more. Also, this was on 5 January, or just under sixty days before my new CFT. Now you could say that I went from a 10RM to a 5RM, but that 5RM was everything I had, and it was just barely a 5RM at that. This isn't to say I didn't earn that 10RM, but the method for getting a 10RM is totally different than a 5RM. And Glassman would tell us that's a different pathway.

What's really stunning here is the improvement in the DL. That's more than double. I mean, really. Deadlifts by a guy with a broken back. I can't overstate that. Two different doctors told me nothing could be done. That I was going to spend the rest of my life in pain, crippled, and that medicine could do nothing for me. The deadlift increased 55%. Over sixty days.

Let's look at the press, too. It's a more accurate comparison than the DL because we're talking about a bar vs a bar instead of a bar vs a KB. My previous press, a push press, was 85lb. Not a whole lot. And I could really bang out the push press because you get to use your hips in it. I think this, too, was remarkable. Even with the advantage of using a push press vs a press, I got a 27% improvement.

And the most correct comparison here is the back squat. Both times I did a back squat, both times with a bar. That's a 20% improvement. Again, in sixty days. Most people would be pleased with that in general, without the back injury.

But over the same period, I've also done the nutrition challenge. My sleep has gotten better, my endurance has increased, and my form has gotten way better. But I've also noticed body composition changes. So, since June of last year, I lost about thirty pounds. Since January, I haven't actually lost more than 2-3 lbs, and that varies per day. But since June, I've lost six inches off my waist. I've lost two of those six inches off my waist since 9 January. That, too, is a result a lot of people would be looking for. What this means, though, is I have lost weight in fat, and gained that much in muscle.

Does anyone really care what they weigh if they fit their clothes better, their stamina increases, and their strength increases?

I entire credit my gains in the CFT to improved sleep and improved nutrition. I also credit the improved "pant fit" to the nutrition challenge. One last thing. I normally wear boxers. They fit much better around the waist. But since the challenge, they no longer fit around the glutes and the thighs. This is almost certainly because of the squats. I also don't fit my jackets as well anymore. My shoulders and biceps (or triceps, I suppose) are now bigger that my jackets are lots tighter around my arms and upper body.

This is incredible. Four months of dedicated time at Crossfit, with my first workout being eight months ago, and two months of really dedicated time. I couldn't be happier. This is one of those success stories that we see posted by Crossfit/CFJ.

So I've been thinking about the Whole30 challenge for a couple weeks now. There's really a lot to sum up.

First and foremost, I was entirely skeptical of how the whole thing was supposed to work. I still don't buy the evolution idea – I think humans are entirely capable of evolving the digestive tract to manage refined carbohydrates and sugar intake (among other things). I think our diet has changed substantially in the last thirty years, and that is the problem. Nutrition, especially in America, is a moving target. We buy "organic cane sugar" and "100% agave nectar" and "local wildflower honey" instead of sugar cubes made in a plant in latin america, but the bottom line is it's sugar, we're eating more of it than we ever have, and the same is true of wheat. And dairy. And even soy.

The reasoning for this is likely that it's cheaper to produce these crops because of government subsidies than it is to produce quality meats or broccoli and so on. It saddens me that these derivative crops – crops which are less valuable in their raw form than as corn syrup etc – are being produced in greater volume, for less, than more nutritious and frankly tastier crops. But this strays into soapbox territory.

So my performance at the gym improved. I can't tell whether it's because I was working harder at the gym or because of the nutrition aspect of the program, but I don't think it's relevant unless you're trying to just evaluate the Whole30 program on nutrition. I think that is mostly a waste. If you're not exercising while you're doing it, you're wasting the good nutrition you're preparing for yourself at great time and expense. You'll see better results with the exercise. I'll post my new CF Total (should be on Thurs) when that happens. It will be lots bigger. There is no question that the delta is due to nutrition in some part, likely in large part.

My sleep improved. Now I normally don't talk directly about my taking drugs in public, but I will say that for six solid weeks, I had only two nights that I didn't take something to get to sleep. Those nights when I had 11+ hours of sleep (there were a number of them), I did okay at the gym, but I suspect that this is because I slept off whatever I took and got reasonable, healthy sleep afterwards. On the nights I got 4-5 hours of sleep, if I was able to get to the gym, I did poorly. A couple of days I propped myself up with caffeine and really suffered at the gym. If anything, the nutrition challenge eliminated a lot of variables from what I considered prior to the challenge to be a nominally healthy lifestyle. This allowed me to focus on independent variables – sleep, what I ate that day (to quote Siddharth, "irreducible atomic food transactions"), and anything I took, be it caffeine, sudafed, and so on. I was also able to evaluate the amount of water I consume at a workout, and gauge how dehydrated I was on average. I digress a little from sleep here, but in general I consume about 1L of water during a WOD.

Let's talk for a moment about timing of eating and the WOD. I like to have a larger breakfast in the morning. Like, 4-5 eggs, 4-5 pieces of bacon, and maybe 2 cups of broccoli. Obviously if I wake up at 0530 to hit the 0615 WOD, it would be downright stupid to eat that much beforehand. I've found that I need to be entirely finished eating ninety minutes before the gym. I also need to be entirely finished drinking around the same timeframe. I need to get 1-2L of water (just water; not juice, not tea) done before I work out. I do lots better that way. I of course need to bring 1L with me, and sometimes I drink as much as 1.5L at the gym. Because it's a diuretic, I avoid things like black tea now. I had a couple really bad days due to caffeine and dehydration. I also found that if I ate something spicy (I love hard boiled eggs with Melinda's Naga Jolokia hot sauce as a snack), it's gonna come up if I have it even remotely close to the time I go to work out. So I need to do that after the WOD, not before. Even if it doesn't seem like a lot of food.

Now, lessons learned:

• We spend about $225/head/wk on food, eating compliant. This is mostly inclusive of eating out and shopping.
• We go through three pork chops, one ribeye or strip steak, two chicken breasts, a dozen eggs, half a pound of bacon, four pounds of frozen vegetables, three pounds of fresh vegetables, 1 fluid ounce of pork lard, one cup of dried nuts (macadamia, brazil, cashew), half a cup of dried fruit (pineapple, mango) and 2-ish primal pacs/paleo kits per person per week. That's not counting eating out.
• I tend to eat as much as five times a day when I am going to the gym regularly. 2-3 times tops when I'm not (I got sick during the challenge, and missed the gym for ten days).
• I've noticed is that my sleep tends to be bad on Monday and Wednesday nights, and then I over-compensate Thu/Fri/Sat. This is unhealthy and means I miss the 0600 workouts that I enjoy going to.

I still haven't figured out exactly how much to eat (or what) before the WOD. I also am not sure exactly how long before I need to have eaten and finished. I am nauseated sometimes during the WOD and I feel like I should probably have eaten less. A couple times I have felt totally gassed, making me think I should have had more to eat. And one time I went to the gym, I had about a cup of Cheerios before hand (maybe 45 minutes before) and did great, had energy, wasn't ill, etc. I tried to repeat the experience and was not successful. I've been trying to do it with carrot juice so I get the carbs without the gluten, but still haven't gotten the timing or quantity right.

There are a lot more things to add to this post that I've forgotten or just can't get organized into something that makes sense to anyone else. And indeed this might not make sense. So it's mostly my notes for myself.

Obligatory crossfit post

Today SACF was running on a modified schedule on account of the "holiday" (that is, government folks got the day off. Us working stiffs worked). But BCF was open, and Tucker said to come on over (Tucker is a helluva guy). The WOD was Filthy Fifty. I've known about FF for a while.. in fact, I'd go as far as to say I knew about it before I actually started CF because it's one of those benchmark workouts (like Cindy, Fran, Kelly, etc) that you can really measure your performance on, so there are lots of videos on youtube. Because of my, ahem, "modified" spine, I'm just not able to do jumping pullups or knees-to-elbows. And I ain't got double unders.

That being said, I managed the PP, KBS, box jumps, walking lunges, and WBs. With effort. The workout was capped at 36 minutes. I didn't finish the burpees at the cap, so I didn't actually make it to the (single) unders.

But you know, this doesn't bother me. It's a hell of a workout, and before the workout we had an 800m run, which I was able to do – previously, I could do a 400m, but I was not able to run the full 800m.

Not bad for a guy who, eight months ago, was on fentanyl patches, a year ago was unable to walk even eight blocks, and two years ago was effectively hospitalized.

I'm real pleased.

And my callouses are coming back. After getting ebola a couple weeks ago, my skin started softening up and the callouses peeled off. Sort of. Ages ago when I was in karate, the instructor referred to callouses (on our feet) as "comfort zones." He was so right.

The "nutrition challenge" is over. I'll write that up later.