Fran Likes it Hard and Fast

Today marked the final piece in the results of the crossfit610 best shape of your life challenge.  We had to do Fran and compare it to our previous Fran time.  Let me tell you something about Fran..she is a raging bitch who just can not be satisfied.  When she's done with you...you look like this:

The point of Fran is to sprint through the entire workout.  You do 21-15-9 of thrusters and pull ups and when you're done you feel like it.  You feel like you just ran the New York marathon.  But because it takes into account strength and endurance, it is a great workout to measure your results against.  

8 weeks ago I tried to handle Fran and did not do a fantastic job of it.  The weight I chose was 65lbs and it took me 14:02 to complete the workout.  (for comparison, the record at our box is 2:13 at 95lbs).  Today I pushed myself a bit more by upping the weight to 85lbs.  It hurt.  It hurt even more because we did seven 100m sprints 3 minutes before starting Fran.  I had a goal in my head of 12 minutes.  Not a great time by any stretch of the imagination, but it would have been a great improvement to knock off time while increasing my weight.  The workout started and I immediately felt it in my legs, I though I could do 21 unbroken, but that just was not the case..I got 12 and had to drop the bar.   The pull-ups just about killed me.  I was hurting but I finished the first round in about 4 minutes.  I don't remember much about the middle round other than to keep breathing and to not puke.  In the final round I was able to get through the thrusters, but then the pull-ups just killed.  I did 3 to start then I had to do them solo.  Not a positive.

I completed the entire workout in 10:12, which was much better than my goal!   Still not a great time, but next time I do this workout (likely in early October) I will do it prescribed and hopefully will be around the 9 minute time frame.  

So below are the accurate before and after statistics.

Fran:  14:02 (65 lbs)   10:12 (85lbs)

Weight:  173.6    163

Chest:  39"    38"

Waist:  36.5"   34.5"

Hips:   36"    33.75"  

I'll try to get the before and after photos soon and have them in this post.

Although the statistics are nice to report, what I care about is how I feel and I'm happy to report that I feel wonderful.  I have yet to get tired of a crossfit workout and even find myself making time to go.  My diet is under control and although I'm not keeping track of points for a contest anymore...I am not veering from my semi-paleo pallet.  I actually love the way the "diet" is set up.  It works...FOR ME.  

I am also VERY happy to report that Karen (digital mustard)  won the box contest for the most weight lost in the 8 week period!  She lost 8.17% of her weight!   She has stuck with the program for 16 weeks now and is still working hard!  I can see her confidence starting to peek through now as she moves more into some of the strength.

WOD

really?  You didn't read anything above did you?   Scroll back up and start from the beginning..all the WOD information is in there.   

It Just keeps falling off!

Today marks the end of the 8 week "Best Shape of Your Life" Challenge and I have some exciting results...

I lost 9 pounds.  My total 16 week weight loss is 25 lbs.  I started at 187 pounds and am now at 163.


I list between 2 and 2.5 inches on every measurement
My chest was 39...it's now 36.5 (I think)
My stomach was at 36.5...it's now 34.5
My waist was at 36...it's now at 33.5

and I feel great. (I'll get the official measurements for you later)

I think the most important thing I've learned over the past 16 weeks is that it's not that hard to find time to workout and that eating well is just as important, if not more so, than working out.  Just because the contest is over does not mean I'm going to start eating like shit again...I will continue to follow the principles I learned during the process to try and continue seeing results.  I'd like to be a solid 155 lbs.  I have a LOT more work before achieving that goal.

WOD

Strength:  65% x 5; 75% x 5; 85% x 5+ on back squat then 

92% x 2 x 1; 94% x 2 x 1; and 98% x 2 x 1 on full squat clean

WOD: 10-R-9- R-8-R-7-R-6R-5-R-4-R-3-R-2-R-1-R

Where R=200m run and the reps are for a full squat clean

Strength I felt good doing the squats.  I need to warm up a bit more cause the first set it took me a lil while to find my depth. I was able to do 7 of the 85% weight.  For the squat cleans..I felt a lot more comfortable doing them.  Although my form isn't perfect, it has come a long way over the past few weeks.  Because 98% was hard to figure out, I just did my max and was fairly easily able to d the 2 reps.

WOD:  it took me 27 minutes and some change today to do the workout.  I used 120lbs on the squat cleans and it felt REALLY heavy once I got down to the 1 rep. 

   

oh..on saturday I was able to get in my 2000m row and got it done in 7:48 which is really good for me.  When I started crossfit, I was doing a 2:10-2:20 500m row..now I'm averaging under 2 min on longer rows.  makes me pretty happy.  

Day 3: I'm like an old rubber band...if I stretch, I break

Let me start by directing your attention to the right hand side of this screen where there are some links that might come in handy.  First are some pages, the CrossFit Dictionary and the rules to the Best Shape of My Life Challenge.  Go here when you get confused on what I'm writing about and why.   Also please visit the other links I've added, most are great sites...others are just some more of my own fitness stuff.

WOD

In my first post, where I tried to define total fitness, I failed to mention flexibility.  To be honest, it is just something I never think of when it comes to my fitness, sure I "stretched" but I always looked at it as more a formality.

Kipping will help stretch a few muscles..and has the benefit of helping me work on proper pull-up form

Today's WOD really showed my lack of flexibility as I really struggled to get into the proper position to complete my power snatches.  Neither my legs or shoulders would go to where they needed to be without a lot of trouble.  As Mike told me, it was only my first time so going into the proper form is a work in progress.  He gave me some suggestions on how to increase my flexibility which unfortunately will take some time but at the least I know how to fix it.

Skill: 2 Snatches on the minute for 10 minutes

WOD: 3 rounds for time 15 hanging snatches 20 t2b

Skill: 65lbs (used lighter weight because my form needed work)

WOD: 13:44 at 65lbs 

Finished with a 500m row for time: 1:49 

Video Showing a snatch ....this is safe for work :-P

Of course, most immature people (me included) think of this definition.

Nutrition

Breakfast (3 points)
3 hard boiled eggs (2 whites only)
Cashews
Cantaloupe
Grapes

Lunch (3 points)
Chicken Garden Salad with Balsamic Dressing
Apple
Peach

Snack (2 points)
Cashews
Strawberries
Grilled Chicken

Post Workout Snack (2 points)
Protein Shake
Blueberries

Dinner (3 points)
Grilled Ham
Broccoli and Cauliflower with a small amount of butter


Other points
Sleep +1
5 Meals +1
<5 hours +1
Water +1

For a total of 17 points on the day.

If you look at the time this is posted, I clearly will not get my 8 hours of sleep, especially since I'm supposed to go to the 6am class.  I hate the morning.

Day 2: I am The Biggest Loser....but most of you already knew that

It was 8 weeks ago that my wife and I signed up for "The Biggest Loser" through the ROC Social Club and at the time I was doing it to make her happy.  I knew I needed to lose a few pounds but it was something that I figured would just happen for me as it always has.  Then I weighed myself and the real world hit me, I was 187 pounds and the come back of "round is a shape" came out of my mouth.  It was time to do something.  CrossFit 610 hosted the first weigh-in and I saw what CrossFit was for the first time.  I was psyched to start but I've never been able to keep a workout routine for more than a few weeks before getting bored and quitting the gym. CrossFit changed that.  I vomited the first workout...and I've never been so hooked on a workout that was so painful.

First (right) and Second Place

8 weeks later and I was "The Biggest Loser".  My final weight was 165 pounds, an 11.65% weight loss!  There were people who lost weight by just dieting, but I lost weight AND was MUCH stronger.  I was not able to do a single pull up at the start of the 8 weeks and by the end I could do 12 straight.  It was a total transformation.  The paleo diet is based on non-processed foods that were available pre-agricultural revolution (more than 10,000 years ago).  Lean meats, berries, vegetables and "good" fats such as cashews and almonds were the base of the diet.  I'd be lying if I said I never cheated...in fact I cheated a lot but kept with the workouts and minimized the cheats so they were "small cheats".  My wife also lost more than 13 pounds but we came in second for the competition to another team that also did CrossFit.  That's right, CrossFit 610 trained the top 2 teams of the biggest loser challenge in the Lehigh Valley.


Day 2 of the Best Shape of your Life Challenge


WOD

Skill: 800 meter run 3 min rest then 400 meter run
WOD: 15 minute AMRAP 5 Push Press 7 box jump 200m run

Skill Times: 800 meter:  2:59  400m:  1:15
WOD: 8 +13 reps into 9th  75lb weight, 24" box

Photos by John Haney

Diet

Adjustments needed to be made from the day 1 measurement debacle and they worked out really well.  Instead of 16 ounces of lettuce, I switched to 1/4 a head of lettuce which is much more manageable.  The meals went well today but I still need to work on my snacking as it is tough to get all the necessary components (fat, carb, protein) into the snack.

Breakfast (3points):
3 HB eggs (2 whites)
Cashews
Grapes
Cantaloupe

Lunch (3 points):
Chicken Garden Salad
Apple
Peach

Snack (2 points):
Cashews
Strawberries

Snack (0 points):
Protein Shake

Dinner (2 points):
Hamburger
Green Beans
Strawberries
Broccoli (made with olive oil)

Other Points:
Sleep +1
<5 hours between meals +1
Water +1

I am giving myself 13 points for the day.  I am not counting the extra point for 5 meals because one was only a shake.

Is anyone else out there doing CrossFit?  And if not, let me know and maybe you can come in and see or try what it's all about.

Day 1: More Lettuce than I Thought Possible

Day one of the Best Shape of My Life Challenge (BSOL) is in the books and I think I did well.  Ended the day with 18 points which is 2 less than the max possible.  The points are broken out below:

Breakfast at 9am (3 points):
1/4 Cantaloupe
1 cup grapes
3 eggs (only one yolk)
15 cashews
2 fish oil pills

Lunch at 12:30pm (3 points):
2 cups lettuce (which i ignorantly measured as 16 oz more on this later)
5 oz grilled chicken
1 tomato
~2.5 TBS of dressing
1 Large Apple
1 peach

Snack 4pm (3 Points):
3 cashews
1 egg white
peach

Post workout snack 7:45 pm (2 points):
Protein shake

Dinner 8:45pm (3 points)
5 oz chicken
2 cups peas
Pistachios


My food was ok, but I need to find some more healthy fats.  At the same time, I'd also like to get a bit more defined which means I want to limit my fat intake.  The parsing that Karen and I did last night helped a lot as just about everything was grab and go.  It was also nice to cook on the grill and sit outside last night.  The weather was beautiful!

The salad was insane, 2 cups of a solid should NOT be measured the same as liquid ounces.  I ended up eating almost an entire head of lettuce!  I am not concerned because 1 head of lettuce is about 4 calories but still a lot of food for one man to eat.  Lesson I learned is that lettuce can be eaten in just about any quantity so I need to fit it more to myself.

Salad from hell.  They serve these for families, and I ate it alone.

Workout (no points for working out a single day)

I biked to the gym for the first time, ended up being a 5 mile bike each way but it was great in warming me up and prepping me for my triathlon in 10 days.

WOD:
Over Head Squat (OHS): 21 18 15 12 9 6 3
Ring Dips                       :  3 6 9 12 15 18 21

I had to use a purple band to complete my ring dips because my arm strength just is not up to par yet.  I completed the workout in 21:11 which is respectable for me and I really pushed myself with 65 lbs on the squat.  my wrists felt like they were about to break!  Prior to the WOD I finally figured out my 1 rep max for back squats which ended up being 185lbs (WEAK!).  Lets hope I can improve that over the next 6-8 weeks.

Other Points

+1 -  5 meals
+1 - <5 hours between meals
+1 - half my body weight in water
+1 - 8 hours of sleep


We shall see what day 2 holds for me, I'm a little concerned with keeping up on water.  Any tips from the fish out there who drink a lot of water?

Preparing for the Challenge - Shopping/parsing

Grocery shopping while trying to be healthy is always easy, you just avoid 95% of the super-market and stay on the fringes.  It's the fringes where vitamins and protein hide.  Occasionally you may have to venture into the aisles to grab some almonds or cashews (which taste WAY better in my opinion).  As you venture through the more rural areas of the supermarket you will start to get concerned about some of the prices but fret not as this fear will subside once you begin parsing the food into service sizes (listed below). 

In addition to the fresh veggies, fruits, and meats; Karen and I also purchased some fish oil pills to keep my heart and our joints healthy.  If you go back to the rules of the challenge, this will limit any point losses I may incur. 

Grand total for the shopping tip: ~$140 for the entire week of food (some food will be frozen and last more than 1 week) plus a 2 months supply of fish oil pills for 2 people.  Break this into cost per meal, assuming 5 meals a day, and you get ~$2 per meal.  Take away the fish oil and it is much less than $2 a meal (on average).  Compare that to ANY fast food or meal from the middle of the store and you will find that buying healthy food is MUCH cheaper than purchasing a meal.  Of course the prep time will be more....

The Prep

Iron chef's have nothing on my wife when it comes to cutting fruits and vegetables into proper serving sizes. Vegetables are measured, weighed, cut, and bagged in record time.  There was a time commitment to prepping all of the food, we spent something on the order of an hour in the kitchen setting everything up and planning our meals for the week.  Although this was a MAJOR pain in the behind, I don't have to think about it the rest of the week. 

Examples of some of the prep:

putting grapes into 1 cup servings and bagging

Cutting strawberries and bagging into 1 cup servings

Parsing a cantaloupe into 1/4 melon servings and bagging

chicken into 5oz serving sizes and bagging

etc.  .....

Finally we ended up with a fridge that looked like this:

This was half way through the process...it ended up much more full.

Below you can see how we broke out the food into blocks.  Some of the baggies are in 2 block portions because that is what we planned to eat to get to our required blocks.  

Courtesy of CrossFit 610

If you have any tips on making this process go faster it would be appreciated.  Tomorrow begins the challenge, time to get 8 hours of sleep!

Best Shape of Your Life Challenge

Define the best shape of your life, go ahead think about it. What comes to mind?

Weight?

Strength?

Endurance?

Balanced Diet?

Well, the answer is all of the above. To be in terrific shape you have to be a good weight for YOU (not to be confused with super thin), be able to do some minimal strength exercises, be able to do those exercises multiple times and to eat well. If you do all of the above you WILL be in terrific shape, it's science.

What does this have to do with me and my life? My crossfit gym has decided to run "The Best Shape of Your Life Challenge" and I accepted. By incorporating every aspect of personal well being, the challenge will bring me to a point where I hope to, literally, be in the best shape of my life. Below you will see the rules to the challenge as well as some of the diet guidelines that I will attempt to follow. I will post my progress as I go through the weeks and hopefully I will see some very positive changes in the next 8 weeks (more than I already have by joining crossfit, but more on that in a later post)