Life Update!

Ive been MIA for a long time now. I am continuing college and pursuing a degree in Global Wine Studies with a minor in Retail Management and Technology. I am having to "restart" my fitness journey due to some complications with my back. I am not pain free but its time to get back into fitness and health! Due to my back I am no longer able to do a lot of Crossfit workouts, however, I will continue to body build. I will be posting occasionally about my journey, my workouts, and my nutrition. Please feel free to ask me questions about anything!

Break time

Now there is a certain way you should be training crossfit. Either 5 days on with two days off, or 3 days on with 1 day off. It all depends on what works with your schedule and how you feel. You also shouldn't just be doing crossfit but also related stuff. Here is how your schedule should look.

5 Days on, 2 days off. 
Week 1-
Day 1: M   Day 2: GW   Day 3: MGW   Day 4:MG  Day 5: W   Day 6: off  Day 7: off
Week 2-
Day 1: G   Day 2:WM  Day 3: GWM  Day 4:GW  Day 5: M   Day 6: off   Day 7: off
Week 3-
Day 1: W   Day 2: MG  Day 3: WMG  Day 4: WM   Day 5: G   Day 6: off   Day 7: off

 3 days on, 1 day off.
Day 1: M  Day 2: GW   Day 3: MGW  Day 4: off   Day 5: G  Day 6: WM  Day 7: GWM   Day 8: off
Day 9: W   Day 10:MG  Day 11: WMG   Day 12: off


M=Cardio
G=Gymnastics (not like back flipping but body weight exercises like pushups, pullups, squats, box jumps.
W=Weightlifting, power lifting, and Olympic lifts.

Now this is VERY specific, and I don't really go exactly by them. But the point is don't over work yourself, vary your exercises, and keep up the intensity always. Don't forget to give your body a rest, even if you think you are fine your body needs rest after a few days of intense workouts.

Food Food Food

A lot of people ask me what the heck I have been eating with the Paleo diet. No grains, no dairy, and (almost) no processed foods. Yes, it is a challenge. No, I'm not hungry all the time. Here is what I typically eat each day.

Breakfast: Protein shake (one banana, 1 cup almond milk, protein powder) Okay so the protein powder is not all the way Paleo, but I'm working on that. If anyone knows of one let me know!

Snack: Fruit!

Lunch: Salad with chicken, cucumbers, carrots, and balsamic vinaigrette  dressing.

Snack: Almonds

Dinner: Some sort of meat with either veggies or a side salad.

Dessert: My amazing chocolate Paleo cookies!

Now I try to keep a 30/30/30 ratio with my calories. If you want to get really technical. You should be eating about 50 grams of fat, 100 grams of carbs, and 100 grams of protein. 

Crossfit for Life!

When I mention the word crossfit most people think I mean crosstraining, like riding bicycles or ellipticals or something. No! Crossfit is much more intense than that. Crossfit is designed to train you to do more, faster. I'm not good at explaining things, so I'll let the video do the talking. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzD9BkXGJ1M .
Now I'm not this intense yet, but I soon hope I will be. I have already noticed a difference in my stamina while I've been eating Paleo.

What is the Paleo diet?

The Paleo diet is more of a way of eating. You eliminate all grains, dairy, and processed foods from your diet. There are many books on the subject like The Paleo Diet for Athletes, The Paleo Diet, and The Paleo Diet Recipes. There has been a lot of research going into this diet in the theory that what we eat has changed so drastically in the last 10,000 years and it takes about a million years in order for the human race to adjust to a new diet. For example, grains and dairy were not eaten one million years ago and we sure as heck had no processed foods. Adam and Eve and so forth never had to deal with heart disease, cancer, arthritis, high blood pressure, obesity, allergies, etc. The theory is that our bodies have not yet developed a tolerance to these foods yet, and eating Paleo will eliminate these diseases from your life.

2 weeks in!

As soon as I mention the word Crossfit to people they immediately think of some elite fitness cult...why is that? I have been crossfitting for two years now being coached in my strength class at my highschool. Now for my senior project I have decided to take it a step further and go out on my own to train and do the Paleo diet. To me crossfitting and working out is more like an addictive habit while the whole Paleo diet thing is the big challenge for me. I will be doing this over a 3 month span to see how my body changes and reacts to my training and diet, maybe I will encourage you to do the same! :)