Foundations Day 2

I just finished up my second day of Foundations at the Potomac Crossfit. It wasn't as intense for me as day 1, primarily because I rested a lot of the weight on my hands during the front squat, forcing me to reduce the weight given the pain. Lesson learned. I limped past the finish line at 12 minutes 45 seconds. Looking forward to the next round!

My Paleo/high-raw diet is going pretty well now, although I am considering going back to a raw vegan or high-raw vegan as I'm about 3/4 of the way through the China Study by Dr. Campbell. He's a Cornell prof who's spent over three decades studying nutrition as it relates to diseases, primarily cancer, but also heart disease, auto-immune disorders, and others. The book makes me want to switch back to 100% whole foods, plant-based nutrition. In order to get closer to that goal, I'm simply scaling back my meat intake on the Paleo diet significantly. I think a combination of CrossFit and a mostly raw vegan Paleolithic diet should lead to an interesting result set. We shall see!

At the end of today's CrossFit workout we got into a discussion about nutrition, and what I picked up was that very few of the people in the room had an idea about optimal nutrition. Why should they? Only crazy folks like me who've spent two years reading everything on the subject should know this much, and few people can rant about why dairy is so horrible for you.

Oh yes, so here's the very condensed advice from the China Study:

• No animal products

Less condensed rules are:

• Never ever ever ever have dairy. Very bad. Anything from a cow, just let it be.
• Have a whole foods, plant-based diet. This does not include potato chips or French fries.

Why?

• Dairy is one of the worst possible sources of nutrition on the planet for humans. Casein, which provides 87% of the protein in bovine dairy products, can actually be used to turn cancer on and off in laboratory rats. Basically no matter what other conditions, including environmental, it all comes down to what you put in your mouth.
• You don't need nearly as much protein as they would make you think you do.
• The food pyramid is a joke.
  
• Animal protein leads to cancer, heart disease, and other bad times on boats.
• Heart attack survivors who went on whole foods, plant-based diets survived decades versus those who continued on their standard fare, of which 100% were dead within 7 years.
• Did I say dairy was bad yet?

Enjoy!

Day 1 of CrossFit

I finished my first day of "Foundations" with CrossFit, which covers the fundamental workouts that build all CrossFit routines. For the actual WOD, we did "Cindy":

• 5 pullups (assisted with bands)
• 10 CrossFit pushups (chin and chest both touch the ground)
• 15 bodyweight squats

By round 3 I had to start cheating on the pushups as my arms were giving out. I thought by the fifth series I would be done, but with 60 seconds remaining I pushed as fast as I could to complete my sixth series. So my score for the day was 6. Not bad for a newbie!

I wrote this message to a buddy who was inquiring as to how CrossFit turned out for me:

After my first workout I can say I'm a big fan of CrossFit. By the end I was shaking, had problems walking straight, and was feeling a bit dizzy (which is a bad thing for drivers but thankfully I'm only a mile away). In short, it rocked.

They emphasize lots of high-intensity workouts and a workout routine that is never the same thing twice. They are also big proponents of the Paleo diet, which works out well for me. As I said in my last message, what I also dig is the competitive component. Our actual workout of the day (WOD) today was given 15 minutes and each series we completed earned us a single point, so we were driven to push harder against the folks around us. I've been a huge fan of high-intensity workouts for a while, but I've never experienced such friendly competition.

They also emphasize that CrossFit is about functional gains that improve overall athletic performance, not just bulking up a particular muscle group. They claim this will help in all athletic endeavors, which is on top of their CrossFit pyramid (the basis of the pyramid being nutrition). I think I will still work some specific exercises (chest, arms) on the side along with some kettlebell routines I love, but CrossFit can only enhance those.

Now I must excuse myself as I ice down my sore legs.

CrossFit opening nearby

It looks like the Potomac Crossfit is opening about a mile from Weathertop in a week or two! Very exciting, I'm a huge fan of high intensity workouts, high-raw Paleo diets, and team exercises. Crossfit seems to turn gym exercise into a sport, it's only 30 minutes max workout, and I could pick up my lunches on the way back every morning. Giddy up.