Tag Archives: mental-health

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Renaissance Periodization, First Few Weeks

Many athletes at our box have been on Renaissance Periodization (RP) and have had excellent results. I started it February 5th. I had purchased the templates late in 2017. I finished up what I was doing, The BodyBiz, in January and then wanted to do something different. Below are some tips that I found useful:

First, read the FAQ’s and the materials provided several times through. Don’t just skip and read the bolded fonts. Read everything. I did not, and was eating 9oz of cooked protein four times a day for the first week. Whoops. Read the FAQ’s and watch the video.

I strongly suggest you scrap the MyFitnessPal membership and tracking. I found that to complicate things. The templates are all you need, paired with the digital scale of wonder and amazement! This thing is awesome. Pick one and stick with it, meaning weighing your food cooked, or raw. I weight it cooked, going by the grams of carbs, proteins, and fats, and put my meals together for the week on Sunday. Makes it much easier. Also, stick with basic meals the first few weeks until you get comfortable and confident with the templates. There are a lot of options for meals and some people are truly gifted at culinary genius based on the posts I see in the RP pages in Facebook. Try not to follow suit right away.

The scale is mean and it has no heart. Do not trust it. Meaning, do not rely on this as your single point of validation if RP is successful for you. I had been eating whole foods, following a similar program when I started RP and did not see much success in my two week base period. I actually gained a few pounds. However, clothes that had been snug before, were no longer snug. Trust the way the your clothes fit, and take the before and after pictures for comparison.

Don’t let one bad meal turn into a bad day, or worse yet, a string of bad days. It happens. Let’s face it. Our body composition did not happen overnight, not does changing our composition happen quickly. It takes time and more importantly, consistency. Cheat meals will happen for just about everyone. Do your best to enjoy that infrequent meal and then put it behind you and focus on staying on track with the templates. Go for a run, or a long walk, or do yard work, or something outside if you feel bad about the meal or a day, or in my case one hell of a fun weekend, and then follow the templates.

Feel free to post any questions and have a great day. Go PR something. Fact: Deadlifts are better than running any day.

 

 

 

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First Thirty Days of Focused…ish…. Nutrition Plan

It is amazing how time flies. It is hard for me to believe we are already through the first week of August. Summer is just about over. Believe me, I am not wishing it away. Autumn is my favorite time of year. Fires, Cocktails, Football,  and hooded sweatshirts. Summer is my second favorite time. We have not gotten to the beach once and we do need to fix that, quickly. We have been on the water a few times in the kayaks and Berger took her maiden voyage. She did well. She was very focused on a paddle boarder behind her and Kylie…not sure why.

It has been seven months since I last posted. Way too long. Things have been going well this year, however I have not been focused on hitting my goals. Life gets in the way. Things happen. We all make choices and push what needs to be done at that time to the top. Sadly I think many of us put ourselves last. Then we find ourselves kind of pissed that we are not achieving the things that six months ago were important to us. And of course, there is also the reality of New Years’ resolutions…..that are the same year after year.

For those of you who know me, you know that I lost my Dad the end of April. Losing a parent seems to change the view of one’s own mortality. It is an assault on it actually. When I was little I thought he was the strongest guy in the world, able to do anything. I watched him age and his physical capabilities diminish. He was hard on his body and in the end his body just gave up. It was done.

So, in part because of that, and because it just beyond time, I spoke with a fellow CultFitter and he recommended a nutritionist he had worked with previously. So I contacted her and we were off. I had to get a Resting Metabolic Rate test and a VO2 max test. The first was not hard, just took twice as much time as it was supposed to. Based on those readings I burn about 2500 calories a day just living. The VO2 max test was a giant PITA. It was on a treadmill and everyone who reads this blog knows how much I looooooove running. So imagine me on a treadmill with basically a fighter pilot mask on, a heart rate monitor around my chest, and a clippy thing on my finger. Quite the sight. I hoped that i did not trip and take out the whole thing.

The numbers came back no differently than I expected. Average/Slightly above average for a person of my age and dimensions. I met with the nutritionist via phone and went over all pertinent information. She put together a meal plan and sent it to me. Using MyFitnessPal is a huge win. It was as one would expect. Reduced calorie, high protein, moderate fat, and low carb. I am at 130 grams per day, which is not bad. Just have to make each one count.

I have enjoyed it and as the title indicates, have been committed…mostly. There was one night that was just silly. I am down 21 pounds in a little over a month. It is a steady clip of 3-5 pounds per week. CrossFit five times per week, 2 runs a week, and yoga once. I do not always get both runs, in however I’ll make it longer if I only get one run in.  The big difference on this one is that I followed exactly what I told, and it is paying off much better. Funny how that works, huh? Kind of like that thing, when you finally do what your Coach told you to do, and shocker, it works.

The eating has been easy to follow. 5-6 meals per day. I like having a plan for the week as it makes it easier to prepare and not worry about it during the day. Sunday is meal prep day. I won’t bore you all with a picture of a counter covered with food and individual prepped meals. Do I miss eating pizza? Do I miss desert? Do I miss cocktailing? Absofreakinloutely! She suggested two drinks on Saturday night. I really don’t have that switch, so i cut it out for a few weeks. The stories aren’t quite as funny, however the mornings are much more fun.

It has been a very good experience thus far and am looking forward to it continuing. Drink a few for me folks. Have a great week. Lift something heavy even if it is not in the WOD.

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The Ten CrossfitRook Commandments

Below are ten  tips I have learned during my CrossFit experience. I don’t always follow them, however when I do, I usually have better results. Please feel free to comment and add your tips.

10) Show up Mentally and Emotionally Prepared

It is an hour of your day. Be ready to go when you get to the box. Leave family and work stress at the door. This is your time. If your head isn’t right, the WOD won’t be right either.

9) Drink the Kool-Aid

Is CrossFit kind of like a cult? Sure is. We wear funny looking shoes, have our own language, and we talk about it all of the time. Get a few of us together and others will look at us like we have two heads. It is O.K. It is a good cult. We want everyone to be healthy and to succeed. Now, if your trainer shows up wearing a white robe, and asks you to drink the actual Kool-Aid, turn around and run.

8) Compete Against Yourself

CrossFit is definitely moving into the mainstream. ESPN 2 now regularly shows the Games. It is easy to fall into a trap of comparing yourself to the professional athletes, or the elite athletes at your local box. Try not too. Track your times and weights for the WOD’s. You will notice that you are getting stronger and faster, keep competing against yourself or against other team members who are similar.

7) Don’t Scale Only to be Faster

I often fall into this trap. I am worried about time so I sub ring rows for pull-ups    because I can do them faster. Guess what? I am good at ring rows and still suck at pull ups. Not quite what I wanted. Check with your trainer and ask their opinion. If it is a WOD that is supposed to be fast, it might be OK to sub. The only way you get better at the movements is to practice,…a lot.

6) YES YOU CAN!

One of the beauties of CrossFit is that any WOD can be scaled. There are substitutes if you have not yet mastered HSPUS or DU’s; however don’t talk yourself out of it if you haven’t even tried it! Give it an honest effort and then sub if needed.

5) Do the Whole Warm-Up

O.K., so the three legged dog looks dumb as hell and I hate baby elephant, but guess what, you have to warm up the muscles and stretch to reduce the chance of injury. Don’t, and you’ll be out of action for a while.

4) Celebrate the Wins

Don’t always focus on the weights you didn’t do, focus on the records you set. Every box has a bell for PR’s, ring it! You are going to get stronger and faster. You will accomplish things that you previously thought weren’t possible. Be happy!

3) ]Don’t Stop, you are not Going to Catch your Breath

It may sound odd, however it happens to me quite often. I am in the middle of doing a WOD and I feel like if I just got ten or fifteen seconds, I could catch my breath and then finish out. It doesn’t happen and instead my time is a lot longer. Just keep going, try not to stop.

2) Nutrition is Just as More Important than Exercise

Proper Nutrition is the Foundation

The image above shows that nutrition is the foundation. GIGO. Garbage In, Garbage Out. Changes to your diet such as following Paleo will result in quicker and bigger gains. You are asking your body to do more so don’t you need better fuel?

1) Listen to Your Trainer

Your trainer wasn’t born knowing all of the movements and lifts. They made mistakes and learned the correct form. Listen to them. They want to make sure you get a quality workout and are not injured.