getsfitfamily

[getsfitfamily]

All home workouts here.

WHAT WENT DOWN:

Hamstring Mobility

More Handstand Press Practice (but none better than the other day)

Handstands in Brooklyn Bridge Park

Dragon Flags

Lying Bar Maltese Pass-Throughs

More Handstand Practice

Compression Work

RESULT: Completed.

[getsfitfamily]

Just some mobility today. I’m writing three scripts at once. Bear with.

FOR MOBILITY:

Hamstring mobility.

RESULT: Completed. At least it’s for a Press Handstand now!

[getsfitfamily]

**DOUCHEBAG WARNING: This post contains a picture of me flexing in a mirror. I am so, so sorry. It was for science.**

HOKAY. The time has finally come to talk about diet, weight loss/gain, and my thoughts on how that impacts performance, and what I’ve done to affect those changes, particularly over the past five months. I’m going to keep this short and sweet, but thorough. And in order to do that, I have to do a little history lesson with regards to PGF. We must go all the way back to the beginning, to the dark days pre-PGF.

THE STORY

For most of my non-athletic adult life, I weighed somewhere in the 170s.  

But by 2013, this had crept up a bit to 181lbs, and I wasn’t in any particular shape at all. Lo and behold, THE DAWN OF PGF.

Now. As I began my journey into beastliness, I steadily became larger. With no particular diet plan in place (except for early forays into Paleo which I eventually turned away from,) I gained muscle, and I gained things other than muscle. 

By 2015, I was steadily in the 190s. And I was totally into it. As they say in weightlifting, “mass moves mass,” and a little meat on my bones translated into heavier lifts and strength under the bar. I was full-on bear mode.

But 2016 wasn’t a great year for training. Without a lot of training, that mass was a little less useful. Also, I felt like it was impacting OTHER aspects of my performance negatively: I felt sluggish with cardio, and even if it didn’t make a ton of sense, I felt like it was impacting my mobility (you try touching your toes when you feel chubby.) And yeah, I didn’t always love how I looked in the mirror.

Around of 2016, I was around 200lbs, a weight I had been hovering around for the past few months. 

Time to lean out a bit.

WHY

I want to make a couple things clear. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to diet for cosmetic reasons, but PGF is a performance-based project and that was the primary motivation for me. Weight is often a terrible metric by which to gauge body composition anyway, and more often than not decreases in weight correlate to reduced performance, especially in things like Crossfit. But for me, in particular, I felt like my strength-to-weight ratio was off, and that my “efficiency” wasn’t right for my size. I would HAPPILY be 200lbs again, but I’d want to build up to that so that I am the right 200. A lean 200 that’s really working, not an accidental 200 that doesn’t feel great in the gym.

PICTURE TIME:

This is what I look like in the high 190s, to give you a visual.

Notice that my parents’ dog and I have roughly the same physique. Also, just to prove that “before” pictures are total BS. Here’s a picture of me and Quinta five minutes later.

Note that I look about 20lbs leaner. That’s how diet pictures sell you on their efficacy. Watch “Bigger Faster Stronger” to see how you can take Before and After pictures five minutes apart and put them on the side of a bottle of diet pills. Anyway.

ENTER THE DIET

I’ve tinkered with a few diets in the past–counting macros, paleo–but the one I decided to go with on January 1st of this year was the Slow Carb Diet from Tim Ferriss’ The Four Hour Body.

I’ve posted the “rules” before, but here’s a summary, basically:

- No grains

- No dairy

- No fruit

- Couple glasses of red wine only

- Go nuts once a week

It’s barely more complicated than that. Eat vegetables, meats and beans and take one day off. 

Why did I choose this diet? I shall tell thee. Because it fulfills the only two requirements that a diet need fulfill:

a.) It works for my body

b.) It’s reasonable

Here’s what those mean.

a.) It works for my body. The reason there isn’t a lot of consensus about diet science doesn’t seem to be because we can’t get good data, it’s because one of the only universal truths is that there is so much variance from human to human that it’s incredibly hard to come up with unilateral rules for diet and weight loss. The unfortunate reality is that there are a million variables that make me different from you, and affect why I might respond well to a diet that has a lot of fatty meats and you might not feel great. 

b.) It’s reasonable. The best diet is the one that you do. I’m not going to sell you on the Slow Carb Diet, other than to say this: I do believe that it is one of the most reasonable diets out there. It doesn’t ask you to cut out any of the three major macronutrients (carbs, fats or proteins.) It doesn’t make you count or measure. You get to eat as much as you want and you don’t go hungry. Once a week you get to go nuts. Which is good physiologically and psychologically. The adherence factor is really high. 

HOW IT ALL WENT DOWN:

STARTING WEIGHT: 200lbs (approximately)

I began the diet and didn’t look back. Honestly, every diet I’ve ever done has been a nightmare and a struggle. This was a total breeze. I really felt like it was the easiest thing in the world. I basically just, y’know, didn’t eat a huge sandwich during the week (saved it for cheat day), and instead ate other stuff I like–chili, thai food, tons of stuff. It was, legit, no big deal.

I lost ten pounds in the first month. 

By April, I was in the 170s for the first time since high school.

CURRENT WEIGHT: 176-178lbs, depending on the day.

TOTAL WEIGHT LOST: 22-24lbs.

Shabang.

HOW DO I FEEL:

This is by far the most important piece. How has this whole thing affected me in the gym? And the answer is: hugely. I was actually surprised that a lot of my “oh, this would be easier if I was leaner” things were…totally true. Running, mobility, gymnastics, muscle-ups, pretty much everything but powerlifting got wayyyy better. Cardio absolutely skyrocketed. And on a clean diet that left me feeling great all the time, I felt awesome in general. Plus, I started seeing all kinds of other benefits: my migraines drastically improved, I felt less “up and down” on such a steady blood-sugar diet, cheat day honestly left me feeling sick and headachy. It’s been the best.

So, that’s all folks. If you have any questions, hit me.

As far as the diet itself, I recommend it for nothing else than it’s common sense-ness. It’s not low carb, nor low fat. It’s not low cal. It just keeps you away from quick blood sugar spikes and a lot of things that tend to make people feel a little gross. And it does seem to help most people lean out if they need to.

Here’s where I ended up for the moment:

I warned you.

[getsfitfamily]

Oh, also. Progress, not perfection.

[getsfitfamily]

THE GOOD: This is by far the closest I’ve ever come to a straddle press. Now that I’m a lot leaner, and my hamstring mobility is better, I can get closer to an advantageous start position and feel it start to happen. A little more hamstring mobility would go a LONG way. I’m out of practice with that so this is an easy improvement to make.

THE BAD: Need to stack my hips over my shoulders more, and build the handstand from the floor up. Gotta send my butt back when I start to descend.

THE UGLY: My finished handstand position. I was letting myself just flop against the wall because I was only worrying about the press, but why get lazy when my handstand has been improving? Get it together, bro.

[getsfitfamily]

Decided to bail on CFSBK due to some schedule shifting (I know), but rather than take a super light day, I had a nice gymnastics-based session in the dungeon. Strapped on the Tiger Paws and decided to take some focused practice towards a new skill that I’ve long had my eye on: the Straddle Press Handstand.

WHAT WENT DOWN:

Straddle Press Handstand Practice, supersetted with:

8 x Weighted Bar Maltese Pass-Throughs

RESULT: Completed. This was the closest I’ve ever come to starting to press up to a handstand. I didn’t really worry about my position at the top of the handstand, more about actually trying to get the mobility at the bottom to try and start lifting off. It was hard, and I had to pop off of my toes a little bit, but I could feel it starting to happen. I’m going to post a pretty ugly video of my best attempt, but gotta start somewhere! Still psyched! This feels like something I could maybe get in the next 6-12 months if I focused. Which seems crazy.

[getsfitfamily]

Not much these two days, except for mountains of writing. CFSBK tomorrow.

WHAT WENT DOWN:

Some chest press machine bullshit

Some mobility

Some push-ups

RESULT: Completed.

[getsfitfamily]

Whoa! Sorry, behind on posting. I’ve been working like a demon, and sometimes when I’m being a beast at the keyboard I have a little trouble keeping up with the beastliness in the gym, or at least posting about it. 

WHAT WENT DOWN FOR MOST OF THIS:

A lot of really light days, in which I did push-ups and mobility and not much else

Some days that were more dumbbells-y

Some days in which I swung a kettlebell

Some days in which I did some short running and felt like I lost my running progress

A lot of days in which I intended to get to CFSBK and then didn’t, and then felt really bad about it

Some hamstring mobility.

RESULT: Not a great stretch of training. Bah!

BUT THEN. Decided to go to CFSBK Open Gym on Saturday to try and break the streak and get under a barbell.

WHAT WENT DOWN:

Some handstand practice

Squatting, supersetted with Straddle Back Levers

Strict Muscle-up Attempts to See If That Muscle-Up From Last Week Was a Total Fluke or Not

RESULT: Let’s start with the squats. I haven’t been squatting at all and it felt like it. 225lbs felt heavy, but I don’t really care. My back levers felt awesome, and I felt like I was hitting and holding true parallel for REAL. Definitely has to do with the fact that I’m 20+lbs lighter, I’d say. So, that was encouraging. BUT THEN. I went to the rings to see if that muscle-up from last week was a Total Fluke Or Not, and, drumroll please, not only did I get a strict muscle-up, I got TWO, linked together, unbroken. And then I got that again. That’s right, we have strict muscle-ups for reps, which is something I have NEVER done in 5+ years of PGF. PR! baby. And you can’t fake a Muscle-Up PR. And I did the second set just to be sure that I hadn’t dreamed the first one. This isn’t really that impressive, if it weren’t for the fact that this blog has WEEKS worth of entries about not being able to muscle-up AT ALL. Again, I kind of don’t know where this has come from except for the diet. So, probably time to post about the diet, yeah?

[getsfitfamily]

Here’s a story for you. I went to CSFBK for a day of Back Rack Reverse Lunges and a gnarly MetCon. But the lunges went quickly and I had a minute to kill, so I hopped up on the rings and did my first strict muscle-up in, what, at least a year? This is after being away from consistent CF training for a couple weeks, doing absolutely no pull-ups, and otherwise making ZERO attempts to muscle-up in any way, shape or form. Outside of a couple false grip ring rows in the warm-up, I just…did it. The moral of the story? Twofold. One, don’t discount the value of long term recovery. Yes, you lose some conditioning when you haven’t been in the gym, but you also rebuild a lot of the slower-forming connective tissues that you beat on day to day. It takes time to get stronger, and more importantly it takes time to recover deeply when you’ve been training a lot. I was VERY fresh on the rings. Secondly, sometimes you have to sneak up on a skill or a PR. Especially if you’ve been trying and failing a lot, it pays to walk a way for a while and let yourself forget some bad habits. Come back when you’re fresh and there you go. Huzzah. Now let’s see if I can hang onto it for good this time. Also, weighing in the 170s now (!) doesn’t hurt.

FOR WEIGHT:

3 x 6 Back Rack Reverse Lunges

RESULT: Worked at 95lbs. Easy.

FOR TIME:

12 x 24kg Kettlebell Swings

10 x 75lb Thrusters

8 Burpees

Rest 2 Minutes

RESULT: Whew, this was tough. I forget my exact time. 13 something maybe? I had to scale to 8 thrusters for the last two rounds. Otherwise this was a good one, but a motherfucker.

[getsfitfamily]

Another day that got away from me. Just some light stuff.

WHAT WENT DOWN:

Push-ups

Other stuff

RESULT: Completed.

[getsfitfamily]

Not much today. I was all psyched to go to Crossfit but then my schedule went sideways.

WHAT WENT DOWN:

Some mobility

Some push-up-y-stuff

Regret

RESULT: Completed.

[getsfitfamily]

Not much these two days. Just some push-ups, dumbbell stuff, mobility.

WHAT WENT DOWN:

Some push-ups

Dumbbell stuff

Hamstring stretching

RESULT: Completed. #NoRestDays continues.

[getsfitfamily]

Got a solid workout in, at home. Dumbbell Fran. Sucked!

FOR TIME, 21-15-9 REPS:

35lb Dumbbell Thrusters

Pull-ups/Chin-up lock-outs from seated, it’s a weird set-up but what I had

RESULT: 6:47 min, switched halfway through the pull-ups to a 100lb lat pull-down. Man this thing is a gasser.

[getsfitfamily]

GUESS WHO’S BACK. BACK TO CFSBK. WAHOO.

EVERY 90 SECONDS FOR TEN ROUNDS, FOR WEIGHT:

Clean High Pull

Mid-Hang Clean

Push Jerk

Split Jerk

RESULT: Worked up to 155lbs on the complex. Felt great.

FOR TIME, 30-20-10 REPS:

Kettlebell Swings (white bell, can’t remember the poundage)

Box Jumps

Burpees

RESULT: Scaled the load on the bell, and to a russian-height swing, but otherwise did the workout as RX’ed, which I was proud of. 10:00 on the dot.

[getsfitfamily]

Okay, so not much to report during these six days as I had a CT scan, a bunch of doctor’s appointments, a battery of tests, and otherwise laid low as I played it safe while we tried to figure out what was up with my enlarged spleen (ladies, form a line to the left.) The bad news is, we don’t really know, the good news is, it clearly isn’t anything serious and will likely resolve on its own. The great news is, I’ve been cleared to return to training in full and, while squatting so heavy that my spleen literally ruptures all over the gym floor would have been DEEPLY metal, that doesn’t seem like a risk. Back to the lab again, yo. I have some cobwebs to shake off!

WHAT WENT DOWN:

A bunch of light runs, concluding with a more substantial mile run at the end of the week

50 burpees one day

Some light dumbbell stuff

Some planks and push-ups

General misery and atrophy

Dread at how much returning to the gym is going to suck because I have totally lost my progress

Fuark

RESULT: Completed.

[getsfitfamily]

Yoga and sprinting. Doing what I can…

FOR CONDITIONING:

A short morning run

Some sprints

RESULT: Completed.

FOR MOBILITY:

65 Minutes of Hot Yoga

RESULT: Completed.

[getsfitfamily]

If you’re the type of person who likes listening to Podcasts while you train, I recently discovered something called RemixPod. It takes episodes of popular podcasts (Tim Ferriss, Pod Save the World, TED talks, etc.) and adds a little backing workout beats/music, so it’s slightly more energizing and less…quiet.

Check it out!

- Coach Pete