Something Beats Nothing Every Time – Page 70 – Extreme Home Fitness From P90X to Crossfit to Russian Kettlebells – Proof that at any age you can still give it the beans and be your own hero!

Round 4 Day 35 – Chest and Tri, no rest. FitDay and the Protein Issue.

So my weight this morning was a low 266.8. That makes 15.2 lbs lost on the Paleo diet and thanks to FitDay I know why. I am having a hard time keeping up with the amount of calories I need to keep my fat ass fat. Yesterday I was short almost 1500 calories but still over the 2000 calorie minimum that I feel is necessary. I seriously can’t stuff any more fruit and veg down my throat in a day. I am going to have to start increasing my protein which led me to calculate my protein needs…

I used to calculate my protein requirements when I was into the heavy weightlifting since to a “bodybuilder” protein is like air, without it you will wither and die. According to THIS I need 360g of protein a day, even using just my lean mass by subtracting my fat% I am still rated at 300g a day. Fit day claims that my 106g of protein that I ate yesterday was already 190% of my requirement meaning they estimate my protein requirement at a minuscule 56g! So why the discrepancy? Well, the obvious thing is my frame size and musculature, but even healthcalculators.org taking into account a LARGE frame says I need 115g. Interesting… Fitday is obviously not geared towards the athletes among us. Using the lean mass approach, the people at criticalbench claim you require 1.14g per lb of lean mass, which for me would equate to 228g of protein. That is sounding better. However I am disturbed, nay, astonished at the vast difference in calculations here. It does show however what I have believed for a long time, you can’t rely on a single source of information to get your requirements. Being exposed to the bodybuilding world for so long made me very aware of my protein requirements but what about all those people out there who are working out, using programs like Fit Day to calculate their requirements and leaving themselves woefully short on protein? You could say that someone who is serious about their workouts wouldn’t rely on FitDay and I hope they wouldn’t but I would be naive to think that is the case. Apparently the RDA for protein is .75g per lb of lean mass. Even using that calculation, I should be at 150g, not the 56 that FitDay claimed. So what is the issue with FitDay and their protein? It seems as if there is nobody out there who has noticed this problem. People are using FitDay to track their nutrients but nobody seems to have noticed how low the protein intake is. maybe it’s just me, but the extra calories I am missing will be in the form of protein from here. My goal is set to around 200g of protein a day given that I am pretty active and need to maintain my muscle mass. I didn’t go through years of torture building muscle so I could let it go to waste. The other side of the equation is what your body is doing to create or use the amino acids required to build protein. I mean protein doesn’t have to come from protein, as long as your body has the right amino acids it will make the protein. Is it possible then that ingesting low amounts of protein would be fine as long as you are getting enough amino acids (specifically essential amino acids) to build muscle. There is a ton of information out there about protein but seemingly little about how the body actually uses amino acids (and from where) to build the muscle tissue. Before this turns into a protein rant, I think I need to do some more reading. If my protein level is to remain low, thereby allowing me to keep my fat levels low also then where else do I need to get the amino acids from to provide the appropriate level of building blocks for the muscle. I am not even talking about ADDING more muscle, just having enough to repair the damage done by the workouts I am doing. It appears that although the meat protein contains all 8 essential amino acids (Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine, Methionine, Phenylalanine, Threonine, Tryptophan, Valine) in spades, you can in fact get all 8 from other foods (something which the vegetarians out there will no doubt think is common knowledge).

This does not answer my question though. How much food and which food do you need to provide the essential amino acids that you would get from meat protein? If you are eating enough vegetable based amino acids does that then reduce the amount of “protein” that you need in a day. I would say yes that is exactly the case, but if so, by how much? This is getting complicated…

Yesterday I did a chest and tricep workout, just flat bench for chest and for triceps a mixture of narrow grip bench and free dips. It wasn’t a crazy hard workout, 35 min long but I did get to complete failure on the dips. I am only going up to bodyweight for bench (275) and mostly will stay around 255 for my working max. Mostly because I can’t be bothered changing the plates all the time since I have a limited selection but also because I don’t want to stress my shoulders since they are getting a heavy workload as it is.

FitDay is still bothering me… What else could be out of whack?

Round 4 Day 34 – Pure Cardio, Pure Hell

Yesterday I started using Fitday as I noted and was amazed at how little calories I ate. Most likely due to the fact I am eating Paleo which basically just means real food. I am staggered at how much fruit and vegetables it takes to reach even 2500 calories, never mind 4000! So I knew I was undernourished (a little) and I think it messed with my head during my workout. Now I do have a bery sick wife and a sick baby at home so it is entirely possible that I am coming down with something however, I think I faked myself into thinking I was tired due to the fact I only managed 1500 calories before my workout. You would think, given my copious amounts of stored “energy” that I would be fine on the fuel front… apparently not so. And for those people who are claiming that I am on a high protein, low carb diet, check out my stats on Fit Day and tell me that 48% of calories from carbs is low carb…

Anyway, I am trying to eat more today before my workout to try and up my energy level but also to prevent having to scarf down 2500 calories late in the day. I am at almost 1100 and it is 1:30pm.

So I didn’t feel good at all yesterday during the workout. I didn’t skip it however, and I didn’t even duck out early, I gave it what I could and saw it through to the end. Thankfully I am doing such a varied mix of workouts right now because I don’t know if I could face another Insanity workout today. Instead, before I go to coaching I have to do a gym workout of chest and triceps regardless of the fact I am listed as having a day off. This is due to the fact that I inadvertently had to take off Saturday since we didn’t get back from dinner with friends at 6 like Nicole said but rather at around 11! I had taken Thursday off also which left me short on workouts and long on laziness. So I think I will try to make it to Friday this week and take that as my rest day.

Which brings me to planning for my WOD tomorrow. Since I have back and biceps the following day I don’t want to go crazy with pullups so I think I will be looking for something more squat and jump or shoulders and abs…

I am also on the brink of bringing in the chin up bar from the deck and installing it in the garage. However, I know once I do this I will be restricted to doing my chin ups upstairs rather than out on the deck. I did consider not moving the bar at all and sticking with the outdoors all winter but I can’t see myself doing chin ups in sweats, a wooly hat and gloves! It’s just the timing I am worried about. That and maybe taking the plunge and doing the whole workout in the garage while the bar is in there. But I don’t have an insulated garage and it is often -10 or colder in there during the winter months. Hopefully we will get a mild winter and I will be able to withstand the cold. Ugh, I hate the thought of having my well established routine messed with…

Round 4 Day 33 – Shoulders and Traps (Gym)

I can’t really find a good sequence of shoulder stuff in P90X so I am going to stick with regular gym and Crossfit stuff. I made up a short workout for yesterday and may have given myself tennis elbow in the process.

4 Rounds for Time:

Alternating Shoulder Press (35lb DB)
Upright Rows (95lb barbell)
Clean and Press (35lb DB)
Shrugs (95lb barbell)

It didn’t last long and I should probably have added some flys on the end of the workout to round out the shoulders but by the time I was done I was pretty tired. I was pushed for time since my wife and baby were waiting for me to finish so although it was short I had to make sure it was tough. The hardest part was the clean and press with the dumbbells. Controlling dumbbells through a clean motion is difficult at the best of times but add tired aching forearms to the mix and you have a potential disaster. Today I feel like I have tennis elbow in my left arm from not warming up properly. We went straight out for a walk after to Starbucks with the baby so at least I got the warm down right!
Anyway, that was yesterday, today is Pure Cardio.

I have also started to use FitDay.com to track my stuff. All my workouts and eating etc will be available here:

http://fitday.com/fitness/PublicJournals.html?Owner=Perfik

It’s OK, nobody is here… hehe.

Round 4 Day 32 – El Improvisario (FGB)

I don’t know if that is even a word but my improvising skills are getting better and better as I try to keep up with some of the signature Crossfit workouts. Today, as promised, was Fight Gone Bad but since I lack the basic necessary equipment I had to improvise.

The workout Rx (as prescribed) is like this:

You rotate through five stations, spending one minute at each:

Wall ball: 20 pound ball, 10 foot target. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
Sumo deadlift high pull: 75 pounds. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
Box Jump: 20 box. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
Barbell push-press: 75 pounds. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
Row: Your butt off. Each calorie burned (according to the monitor) is scored as 1 point.

Rest one minute, and then repeat the five stations. Rest another minute, and then repeat it all again. Three rounds total.

Wall ball is simple, just throw the ball at the 10ft target and catch. However, once you catch the ball, you have to go into a full squat at the bottom.
SDHP is also a simple move if you know the mechanics of a deadlift. Even if you don’t, as long as you keep your head up and back flat you should be OK with only 75lb.
Box jumps can be anywhere from 18″-24″ depending on your comfort level
Row – Since there are many people who don’t have rowers at home, you could sub outdoor sprints or treadmill running in a pinch. Since many of the WODs include sprints or short distance runs I don’t see the harm in this but your score would be off.

For me, working in my basement now that winter is closing in, this was going to be a challenge. I didn’t have the ball or the height to do wall ball and I have read that you can sub thrusters instead if you want. Not knowing this, I opted to use dumbbells and throw it as high as I could which in a 8 or 9ft ceiling basement isn’t far. I should probably have used more than a 20lb DB too but I can try that next time. For the SDHP I wanted to use the bar not only for the pull but also as a target to jump over for the box jumps so I put 25’s on the Olympic bar, rested the bar on 2 small boxes and had a decent set up. With my back history it was important that now I am moving back into Olympic lifts that I go easy so having the bar a little higher than it would normally be with bumpers was a bonus. The bar was only about 18″ off the floor so I had to make sure in my jumps I was clearing it by a decent margin. As you have figured out, my SDHP was done with 95lbs not 75.
I used 35lb dumbbells for the Push Press which left me 5lb short.
Instead of the row I had to run on the treadmill and since the treadmill we have doesn’t like me running on it the fastest I can go is around 5mph, after that I blow the fuse.

So there you have it. With the warm-up and the WOD it was about a half hour workout. 3 rounds of 5 minutes plus extras.
My counts were (I am sure) pitifully low but here you go:

DB throw – 30 – 40 – 40 (110)
SHDP (95lb) – 8 – 10 – 10 (28)
Jumps – 14 – 15 – 14 (43)
Push Press (35lbDB) – 20 – 15 – 16 (51)
Run ?

Without counting calories – 232

Round 4 Day 32 – What to do…

So I am feeling really tired. I know that everyone is going to say it’s the diet but truth be known my sleeping habits are awful. I usually don’t get to be until around 12 or 1 and am up at 530. I think that in the spirit of improving everything I need to look at my sleep and do something about it.

I also hurt my knee last night. I wasn’t doing anything, just noticed that at some point it started hurting. I have been lucky so far for someone so heavy that my knees have held up. Strong quads help but in the end I am sure my weight can’t be good for them.

I tried cold brewed coffee this week. It’s my latest bandwagon onto which I happily throw myself. From what they said, you just brew your coffee the same way you would with hot water but instead you use cold water and then let it sit for 12 hours, press and drink.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/dining/27coff.html?ex=1340683200&en=0a9cf1fb9bdd34ea&ei=5124

Now, I have been in the coffee business before so I think I know a little about it and I had never heard of this. Colour me skeptical but I tried it anyway. I have never been able to drink coffee black, it is just too bitter and unpleasant but as I took a sip of the clear brown deliciousness I was shocked, yes, shocked to find that the taste was extremely pleasant. No bitterness, just a really nice nutty caramel taste. This shocked me not only because I was expecting the whoile thing to be bullshit but also because I had used Folgers crappy coffee not even the Time Hortons good stuff! Now some people will tell you to use 4:1 ratio of water to coffee but that is a crazy way to start and gives you more of a syrupy super-coffee. if you just follow your usual directions using your French Press then it will work out fine. You can increase the coffe by up to 50% if you wish before it starts to get too strong and require dilution to drink. Don’t forget though, this is an exercise in patience, the coffee should sit for about 12 hours before drinking.

http://www.cookography.com/2007/cold-brewed-coffee-using-a-french-press

I was also looking forward to doing “Fight Gone Bad” tonight however I can’t find a 20lb ball to throw against the house…

http://www.fitbomb.com/2010/09/fight-gone-bad.html

I also don’t have a rowing machine and the way my knee feels, well, you get the idea. I will have to find another way to work out tongiht.

Now, I have been in the coffee business before so I thought I knew a little about it and I had never heard of this. Colour me skeptical but I tried it anyway. I have never been able to drink coffee black, it is just too bitter and unpleasant but as I took a sip of the clear brown deliciousness I was shocked, yes, shocked to find that the taste was extremely pleasant. No bitterness, just a really nice nutty caramel taste. This shocked me not only because I was expecting the whole thing to be bullshit but also because I had used Folgers crappy coffee not even the Time Horton’s good stuff! Now some people will tell you to use 4:1 ratio of water to coffee but that is a crazy way to start and gives you more of a syrupy super-coffee. if you just follow your usual directions using your French Press then it will work out fine. You can increase the coffe by up to 50% if you wish before it starts to get too strong and require dilution to drink. Don’t forget though, this is an exercise in patience, the coffee should sit for about 12 hours before drinking.

I was also looking forward to doing “Fight Gone Bad” tonight however I can’t find a 20lb ball to throw against the house…

I also don’t have a rowing machine and the way my knee feels, well, you get the idea. I will have to find another way to work out tonight. By the way, if you have an extra Concept 2 rowing machine just laying around that you don’t want…

..more later..

Round 4 (Phase 2) Day 29 – Chest and Tri (No Shoulders)

facepalm2

I have made a subtle mistake in my schedule. There seems to be too much chest in this second part of the schedule. My goal was to take the shoulder work out of the Chest Triceps and Shoulders routine so that my gym days would not include all 3 body parts. However, I seem to have mixed up the order and got an additional chest workout in there. This 3 weeks are based on my old gym workouts, a 3 day split with no legs however due to the fact I am doing Crossfit workouts and Insanity cardio, legs just aren’t necessary. If you saw my quads you would agree 😉
So I have modified the schedule a little (and gone back and noted the change in the previous posts) and come up with this for the next 4 weeks. Note that I have changed from a 4 on 1 off to a 6 on 1 off which given the failure to stick to my schedule so far probably won’t matter.

29 P90X Chest & Triceps, Ab Ripper X

30 Max Interval Plyo

31 P90X Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X

32 WOD with Pullups

33 GYM Shoulders Traps and Ab Ripper X

34 Pure Cardio

35 OFF

36 GYM Chest and Triceps

37 WOD with Pullups

38 GYM Back & Biceps

39 Pure Cardio

40 GYM Shoulders Traps and Ab Ripper X

41 WOD with Pullups

42 OFF

43 P90X Chest & Triceps, Ab Ripper X

44 Pure Cardio

45 P90X Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X

46 WOD with Pullups

47 GYM Shoulders Traps and Ab Ripper X

48 Max Interval Plyo

49 OFF

50 FOY Yoga

51 Core Cardio and Balance

52 Core Synergistics

53 FOY Yoga

54 OFF

29 P90X Chest & Triceps, Ab Ripper X
30 Max Interval Plyo
31 P90X Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X
32 WOD with Pullups
33 GYM Shoulders Traps and Ab Ripper X
34 Pure Cardio
35 OFF
36 GYM Chest and Triceps
37 WOD with Pullups
38 GYM Back & Biceps
39 Pure Cardio
40 GYM Shoulders Traps and Ab Ripper X
41 WOD with Pullups
42 OFF
43 P90X Chest & Triceps, Ab Ripper X
44 Pure Cardio
45 P90X Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X
46 WOD with Pullups
47 GYM Shoulders Traps and Ab Ripper X
48 Max Interval Plyo
49 OFF
50 FOY Yoga
51 Core Cardio and Balance
52 Core Synergistics
53 FOY Yoga
54 OFF

So for day 29 I did the Chest and Tricep portion of Chest Tri and Shoulders. It was about 30 minutes but was actually hard on me since you don’t get the rest of doing shoulders. It is basically a quick circuit of chest and triceps. Since I am doing dips instead of some of the stupid and frankly useless tricep moves Tony provides, my triceps get an awesome workout.

Following such a good day I was disappointed in my Insanity Plyo workout for day 30. For some reason I felt listless and tired. I didn’t make it through many of the sections and given that each one is only an minute that really sucked. Hopefully it was just a reflection of too few calories or not enough sleep.

Round 4 Days 26-28 (Rest Week) – Rest and Fit Test

So I figured I should take some time to unwind my body and change things up a bit. I was scheduled for a 4 day run of Core Synergistics and Core, Cardio and Balance however after a day of running and one installment of CC&B I figured I would make a change. So instead I did Stretch X, something that I was in dire need of since my whole body was starting to feel compressed and the Insanity Fit Test. This was my second attempt at the Fit Test, the first (prior to Round 3) made me quit so getting through this was going to be goal enough.

The Insanity Fit Test comprises of the following:

How the Fit Test works is you do 8 different exercises for a minute each doing as many reps as you can. Here are my first results with the Insanity Fit Test:

Switch Kicks 125

Power Jacks 45

Power Knees 84

Globe Jumps 8

Suicide Jumps 13

Push Up Jacks 25

Low Plank Oblique 50

You do 8 different exercises for a minute each doing as many reps as you can. Here are my first results with the Insanity Fit Test:

Switch Kicks 125

Power Jacks 50

Power Knees 114 (on weak side)

Globe Jumps 14

Suicide Jumps 11

Push Up Jacks 50

Low Plank Oblique 36

Since this was my first time I had nothing to compare to however since I have been doing the Crossfit workouts I have become much better at the “minute on/minute off” type of interval training. Given that I actually quit the last time I tried it, I have to figure I am pretty far along. I will try to do another run through next “rest week” approximately a month from now and see how that goes.

**Note, I did this again HERE for comparisons sake.

Diet Update – Escaping The Worst Man In History

evolution_20of_20men_small

So I have become a Paleo convert. I have done P90X for almost a year and up until now I haven’t really taken on my diet. I didn’t follow the book, I just assumed I knew better. However, knowing isn’t the key. Doing is the key.

My diet consists of fruit, vegetables, protein in any form and dairy. I am trying not to overdo the dairy part, cutting down my cheese intake and so on but apart from that, I am a caveman.

What I have found after almost 3 weeks:

I have lost 10lbs
I am not really hungry any more. Even if I haven’t eaten for a while (I no longer need to eat 6x a day at regular times according to some) I don’t seem to be getting the same craving for food as I did. This is particularly unnerving for me since I have lived my life thinking about food and pretending to be hungry. Now I just eat what’s on the paleo list whenever I want. You would be amazed (as I still am) at how long you can go on an apple.
I am not getting tired like I used to, no 2pm let down and getting out of bed seems a lot easier.
I am sleeping better. That may be because I am turning off the TV at night in the bedroom but also because I am not full of sugar.
I pee like a pregnant woman. Seriously I have not been drinking more, just the 3 liters (or quarts) a day but I guess the live food is mostly water anyway.

I can’t say I have lost 10lbs in 3 weeks any other time without being mostly miserable. Other than before the wedding but even then, I was losing a couple of pounds a week AT THE MOST. Mainly because I was eating plenty of rice and oatmeal but no wheat. Even when we went totally raw for a few weeks I didn’t see that kind of loss. I was so paranoid about not eating protein at that point however that I was eating waaaaay too many nuts! That didn’t last long I have to admit. This seems easy though. I like to snack, I admit it but snacking on an apple or a banana was laughable to me only a few weeks ago. Now, it’s like I found Jesus behind the couch.

I’m going to try being more positive too, I think the grains were making me angry and I am tired of being the “worst man in history”.

Round 4 Day 25 – Rest Day or Not

Today was supposed to be a rest day but since I have rest “week” for the next 4 days I thought I would do a short run in my VFFs and see how they felt. It was a short 20 minute run but the shoes held up great, super comfortable and with none of the usual calf cramping, shin splints or back ache. It was a huge boost to the justification side of the KSO argument. The other side of the argument being why would you wear something that looks like gorilla feet or badly cut off circulation.

*Edit

And by the way, don’t skimp on the warmup or stretch. Even a couple of minutes is enough. For some reason I didn’t stretch today after my run and I am now feeling the tightness through my hamstrings.

I thought I knew about this stuff…

Vibram Five Fingers KSO – My Experience So Far

VFF KSO I have been doing my P90X workouts in bare feet for as long as I can remember. The only reason I don’t do my Insanity workouts barefoot is because I was afraid of slipping on the ugly grey foam tiles we have on the floor. That is, until now. As you have probably noticed I am an avid reader of Fitbomb and his experience with the P90X program, the Insanity mix and his transition into Crossfit are similar to my own not by chance. I have always said that if you want to see the results other people have, a good place to start is by doing what they are doing. I am not trying to change myself into a small American-Asian man but I am interested in the fact that a lot of the mental arithmetic that you go through when subscribing to a “system” is similar inside his head and mine. So our paths have taken similar routes. He has long been an enthusiast of the Vibram Five Fingers KSO (among others) and the notion that barefoot running is the wave of the future. Yes, I know, roll your eyes now and then go and try it. For years I have professed that I am “not built” for running and a large part of that was because I got terrible calf cramps and shin splints from running. I have now discovered it was not my fault, I wasn’t running right. Ever since I have been forefoot running (both barefoot and in shoes) I have been relatively injury free. Now I don’t run a lot, in fact I rarely run at all however I find that everything that I do without shoes is better. What better way then to feed my desire for shoelessness than by getting a pair of the VFF KSO for myself.

This past weekend we went to Penetang and on the way passed by Soujourn in Barrie. For under $100 I walked out with a pair of KSO’s and, little did I know at the time, the stigma of having black gorilla feet. I wore them most of the day, went outside in them, walked around in them, even ran around the parking lot in them. The moment you put them on, you realize that this was a great idea. You can feel the floor beneath your feet (something of which I am a huge fan) however it’s like you have super tough bulletproof feet that can’t be hurt. If you are a fan of not wearing shoes, and I have noticed that you either are or are not, it’s not really a grey area for people I have spoken to, then these are the things you have been looking for. Forget the Nike Free, like most things Nike it is shit. It’s not a barefoot shoe, it’s sure as hell not a VFF competitor, it is the usual corporate response to the latest shift in the market from a company that pushes it’s image harder than it’s R and D. It’s a cop out. If you really want some comfy shoes for the office that is something else but if you are looking to lose the shoes for running or for your sport of choice for gods sake get off the Nike teat already. It is fair to say that the Crossfit rage now is pushing the sales of the KSO. Everywhere you go and talk about them people either assume you are or are becoming a Crossfitter. That is not a bad thing, there are worse things than following a trend that makes sense.

I have so far worn them for over 20 hours. I have done P90X in them, done an Insanity workout in them and did Chelsea in them today. I am currently wearing them at work and I have to say they are the most comfortable things I have ever put my feet into. I can tell that they change my posture when I walk. I can tell that my calves and arches are getting more work than they are used to but I can also feel that my legs just don’t feel as fatigued as they usually do. I am not walking with that weird “tipping” feeling like my shoes are trying to throw me out. Overall I just feel better. And what’s more, I am down to a few seconds for putting them on… Foot powder helps.