Emailed the guys @ Mountaineer Crossfit – going to a few WODs there next week. So far I’ve been doing my own thing @ Hilton Garden Inn Crossfit.

I miss lifting heavy in my garage. Not gonna lie, bicep curls in the mirror make me feel ripped. I even think there is some added definition creeping in. Let the grilling begin!

Well the holidays & blizzard have come and gone. Lots of awful food, traveling, and lack of exercise. Even still, my weight still hovers slightly above 150.

I started PCF’s paleo challenge with a renewed purpose to gain strength. I’m meticulously documenting my daily food intake as well as sticking to 3x strength days per week.

Links to check out:
Jay Cutler’s diet (the bodybuilder, 3-time Mr. Olympian)

Building Muscle 101: Master the Basics

The Best Muscle Building Exercise…If You Had to Pick One

So I’m eating like a beast now (not quite like Jay Cutler), and am religiously lifting heavy 3x per week.  As stated in previous blog posts, my goal is to eventually be able to Rx 90% of my WODs and gain real, functional strength.

Getting around to a computer to update food tracking was always a pain back in my Zone days.  This time around I’m tracking everything in my iphone via a sweet app called:

Muscle Gainer -Protein Tracker

I update my weight every morning, as well as track my protein / food intake throughout the day.  It’s pretty slick and keeps me motivated when shoveling down 150g+ protein / 3000+ calories / 60g+ fat per day.  I’ve developed a nice system for bulk cooking food which I’ll post later.  Taking in enough calories the paleo way is hard as hell.  Calorie-dense foods are tough to find outside of grains and sugar.

Luckily I’m switching roles at my job which will allow much more time to blog and share my transformation of a skinny “hard gainer” into a lean mean firebreather.

First metcon I’ve done in quite a while. Not bad but not great either:

Helen
3 Rounds
Row 400m
21 KB Swings (1.5/1)
12 Pull-ups

11:06 Rx’d.

*notes – did 4 extra pullups first round. Lets were shot from yesterday’s Rippetoe squats so running was so-so. Diet has been spot on, looking forward to this weekend’s rest days.

185-195-205-215-205
200 DU’s in 5:10

Thanks to Allison for helping me out with DL form. Tried to keep it to medium-loads to work on correct ROM. 200 DU’s were harder than I expected. Skill-wise I feel like I could do 200 unbroken but muscle wise I get burned out too fast. I did ~75 or so to begin with then purposely broke into sets of 25, then 10.

7:40 Rx.

Killed the DU’s, sucked at situps – forgot to relax and whip back every time. Instead, I kept my abs tight the whole time which affected speed like whoa. Not bad, looking forward to improving on this next time.

3107 rowing.

Rowing has always been one of my goats.  “Snapping” the legs down and not hanging out lunged forward really improved my splits.  Tried to keep a 150~ish pace throughout but bonked about halfway.  First metcon in over 3 weeks so I feel ok with my distance.  Great to be back in the box after traveling so much.

I switched from stronglifts 5×5 to Rippetoe’s 3×5 program. The weight is substantially heavier which better prepares me for 1RM attempts. I dropped down in weight at first to focus on form. I read Rippetoe’s Starting Strength book and am really dialing in on form. My squat and deadlift have improved dramatically, as well as the amount of weight I can lift with each set.

My weight is still down (low 150’s) and I plan on doing GOMAD soon to bulk up. Ryan and Zack’s GOMAD experiences went very well and I finally feel like I can lose some abs for a few months.

Then

6x :30 row sprints (damper on 5) rest :30 between efforts
Post loads and total distance to comments.

Legs were killing from squats so I basically ended up doing:
3 pullups
6 pushups
9 situps
for the entire 30 minutes.  Did RX the first 7 or so before switching.

Visiting affiliates is tough due to the crazy hours we’re bunkered down in data centers. Cised to get back to PCF and the garage gym.

Update on pushups – Have worked on these every day in the month of November so far… HSPU’s are getting better too. I’m excited to see the progress as the end of the 30 day goat challenge.