Nutrition…always.

Warm Up/ Mobility:
3 rounds or 10 minutes:
Row (100m easy, 100m sprint)
5 Push Ups
5 Strict Pull Ups/ Lat activations

Strength:

Establish your 1 RM Bench press and 1 RM Weighted Strict Pullup

 Notes:  For the pullups, you must hold the bottom of the pullup for 2 seconds at full extension before performing the rep.  If you cannot perform a weighted pullup, establish the smallest assistance band at which you can perform a strict pullup.  If there is a big discrepancy between band options (meaning one is easy and the next is impossible), perform as many strict reps as possible with a given band.

 Workout:
2k row

Check out Alexi’s 2k Row Strategy and Breakdown HERE!

Midline “Cool Down”:
30 Evil wheels

Feel like this.

It all comes back to nutrition. The base of our Fitness Pyramid tends to be the most contentious and stressful topic for people to deal with when confronting their fitness and overall health goals. CrossFit is amazing in what does to the body but it only goes so far. The last bit of Kool Aid that people end up drinking in their search for physical dominance tends to be the alteration of their diet towards  Paleo/Primal/Low Carb, High Fat. Call it what you want, but it works.

The previous paragraph will be needlessly redundant for some, but for many the how and why of eating like this remains a mystery. I am bringing all this up because for the last month or so I have been far more lenient with my normally strict Paleo Diet. It’s summer time and I like tequila and wine. I like milk. I like white rice with my Mao’s (after I drink) and when Stacy buys Vanilla Granola and yogurt from Trader Joe’s it is impossible for me not to eat it. These are small cheats and I train reasonably hard in the gym but after a month of these incremental additions, I felt different. A little more sluggish, not quite as lean, and just generally off from how I know be when I align my diet with my training.

In the last week I have returned to a much lower carbohydrate/sugar intake and added more good fats. It might sound silly but I immediately feel the difference and it quickly becomes nearly impossible for me to gain weight eating like this. The workouts feel better, I recover faster, and I am not hungry every second of the day. I like feeling this way and I like knowing I am doing everything I can to give my self the best chance to perform on a daily basis and to be as healthy and happy as possible in the long run. 

As a gym promoting general health for its members, it is important for those members to be as informed as possible on topics such as nutrition (especially nutrition). I wrote the previous paragraphs with no real discussion of what Paleo is, just how I feel when I eat one way as opposed to eating another. But, people must know the how and why, as I mentioned before. Understanding the science behind the diet, then testing those theories by trying it for yourself, is the fundamental first step toward gaining a better understanding of why all of us trainers and most of our long time members eat this way. So I will leave you with a link to one of my favorite nutrition blogs, Mark’s Daily Apple. This specific link is Mark’s guide to Insulin and Sugar and what it does to the body. His Definitive Guide series of posts are the icing on the almond flour cake for me in terms of my food choices. I am linking to the Insulin guide because understanding this process of the human body, in my opinion, is the number one argument toward eating Paleo. Take some time and look it over and I suggest delving into some of the other guides learn more.

We will be implementing a Nutrition Challenge coinciding with the opening of the new gym and offer more nutrition lecturers as the new On Ramp progresses.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/diabetes/#axzz268OqX3Sx