The Big Talk

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Check out the new CrossFit 201 Packet – A Guide to Changing your Diet and Developing a Better Understanding of Nutrition, Health and Fitness!

The first 30 minutes of class will be the presentation of the new 201 information!  We will discuss our Nutrition Template, practical implementation and a few tried and true guidelines for success!

Notes:   You will have 10 minutes after the lecture to warmup, so move with a purpose and mobilize your issues!

Warm Up:
Row 500m
Rack mobility
10 Power Clean and Push Jerks with Barbell

WOD:
“Grace”
30 Clean and Jerks (135/95)

-10 minute time cap-

Notes:  These should be power clean and jerks.  Keep the weight light and move well!

Cool Down:
Run 400m
Wrist Stretch

We want to preamble tomorrow’s nutrition talks with the fact that each class will have different instructors, and depending on what class you go to, the message delivery might be slightly different but the message itself will be consistent:  Nutrition is the foundation of our fitness and health, and only your fitness and health can tell you whether what you are eating is right for you or not.  Put another way, just because Greg Glassman, Barry Sears, Robb Wolff, Mark Sisson, Whole 9, Loren Cordain, Diso, Me, G, McCoy, that new Paleo Book you’re reading, the Zone block chart you’re using, the food podcast you’re listening to, tells you to do something, does not automatically qualify them for your dogma diet status, nor does it invalidate the other approaches.

It is our goal to expose you to as many best practices as possible, nutrition and otherwise, because of the varying degrees of excellent results that come from these practices.  The differences between said practices are something to celebrate and experiment with, and are accessible to everyone.  If you ask the top ten athletes in our gym about their food, you will see a pattern that is very similar, but with 10 slightly different strategies to get there.  Diso’s nutritional guide is posted above, expect to see the rest of the staff’s in the future.  Here are my top ten meals, and experiences gathered:

1.  Instead of favorite meals, I’ve got a Protein/Carb/Fat template of food to choose from and mix and match;

Protein – Beef (Skirt or Tri tip mostly), bison, lamb, goat, ground, salmon, cod, halibut. Grass fed, free range, and wild caught if possible.
Carb – kale, broccoli, sweet potato, strawberries, blueberries, lemon juice. Organic, farmer’s market if possible.
Fat – avocado, almonds, mac nuts, coconut oil, fish oil

2.  Brian’s Bowl of any sort. Caveman and chicken italiano are my favs.
3.  Spring Mix Chicken salad from Rainbow Acres.
4.  Mendocino Farms make your own salad: Pork belly, bacon, avocado, greens, beets, apple, almonds, vinaigrette on the side. (thank you Sean DeGuzman)
5.  Make your own shake:  Blueberries, almond milk, peanut butter, whey protein. (thank you McCoy)
6.  Steak salad from Pitfire Pizza.
7.  Moroccan chicken salad from CPK.
8.  Anything from the Venice Alehouse!  (thank you Jess)
9.  Regular Pemmican bars from USWellness Meats, and OhMyBars, either Tan or XXX.  YUMMY!!
10.  3 x 2 Protein style, Animal style, no pickles, from In ‘n Out Burger.

*****************************************

In March 2008, my blocks were 17P 17C 17F.
In August 2012, my blocks were 20P 12C 60F, approximately.

I take 6 to 10 grams of fish oil daily (1 to 2 tablespoons.)  Without a doubt, Fish Oil at high enough doses is integral to our training and performance.  Without it, I and a bunch of high level performers will not be able to perform as we do.

I have an SFH Post WOD shake with 4 parts water, 1 part coconut water after every workout.  Sometimes 2 to 3 a day.  Been on this for over a year.  It helps with soreness and I feel better, but I do not see it as more than a supplement to Paleo/Zone/Fish Oil.

Your performance over time is the ultimate arbiter of your nutritional needs.

No matter how many times and in how many ways I dance around this subject, no matter how many debates I’ve been in and refereed and watched and listened to, I can neither get simpler than nor stray far from:  Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds,  some fruit, little starch, no sugar.  Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat.

Avoid nutritional homilies, Argumentum ad vercundiam fallacies, assertions made A priori, or anything method based absent data.

Try everything and see what happens.

If you’ve been here for a while, we would love to hear your top 10 meals, lessons learned, and rules of your own.