B-CUP

Do this workout for time starting with 21 reps for all four exercises, than in the second round decrease it to 15 reps, and then on the last round decrease to 9 reps.

======
21-15-9 reps

Burpees
95# Clean & Press or Clean & Jerk
double Unders (jumping rope where the rope goes around twice on each jump)
Pull-ups.

Sunday Workout

For time:

50 Sumo deadlift high pulls (45 lbs)
25 Pull-ups
20 Overhead squats (65 lbs)
15 Kettlebell swings (1.5 pood)
10 Burpees
Run 400 meters
10 Burpees
15 Kettlebell swings (1.5 pood)
20 Overhead squats (65 lbs)
25 Pull-ups
50 Sumo deadlift high pulls (45 lbs)

My time: 22 minutes

Good Crackers and a Great Desert

First off, this afternoon I re-tried this recipe: http://cavemanfood.blogspot.com/2009/04/grain-free-almond-crackers.html

...the Bomb! I seasoned with ground pepper, garlic salt, and cajun spice... Really nice!

Also, for desert this evening I decided to whip (literally) a banana soufle... no seriously.

Check this out.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Heat up a touch of water, pour in some honey and just a touch of pure maple syrup.

While that s heating on a very low heat and while constantly stirring (yeah you need about 8 arms to do this one) puree two really really really (i.e. brown and spotted and wonderfully ripe) bananas until they are smooth and no chunks are left.

Stir the banana mix into the honey/syrup/water mix until smooth and of all one consistency.

Remove from heat and let cool completely.

In a stainless steel mixing bowl whip using a whisk two egg whites, a little sea salt, and a touch of something sweet if you like (I used just a touch of raw sugar (I know naughty and not strict paleo, but whatever, you could also use raw honey or syrup, I think). Whisk that bad boy - took me the better part of the evening and I think I burned off the calories I ingested after cooking of the soufle was complete. Seriously, whisking by hand, it will take a while. You want this mixture to be really quite stiff. You can test this by sticking your whisk, your kitchen whisk - damn you American Pie watching fools! - and you should get little peaks. If that happens you are all set.

If your banana/honey/syrup mixture is cooled completely then using a rubber spatula fold that into your whisked and whippy egg white mixture.

Combine until mostly the same color and consistency.

Pour into ramequins and place he ramequins on a cookie sheet.
Place the cookie sheet into the oven and turn don the heat in the oven to 350-375 degrees.

Bake about 10-20 minutes depending on the size of your ramequins. The way you know they are done is by sticking a sharp knife into the middle, all the way to the bottom. It should come out dry; i.e. if it is wet put it back in the oven for a few more minutes.

Once you think it's done, serve immediately. Shortly after being removed from the oven they will, or might, start to sink. Serve with some fresh fruit, powdered sugar for your non-paleo friends, melted dark chocolate, etc.

Enjoy.

Today's Workout: 21 May 2009

So today I adopted two WOD's from the CF page. I took yesterday off for rest b/c I was dead from the previous workout (B.A.D.). That was a freaking killer!

So today...

2 round of each of the following sequences back to back for time (my time: 35:45):

75 reps of 45 lb sumo deadlift high pull (SDHP)
20 hand stand pushups (I did them in sets of as many as I could, with as little rest in between as possible)
(do the above twice, then do the following twice)

20 reps of 115 pound thrusters
20 reps of L-pullups

I followed this up by doing as many round of the following in 20 minutes as I could (I completed about 8-9 rounds, I think. I honestly lost count because people started talking to me about what I was doing)

5 pull-ups
10 push-ups
15 air squats
2 minutes of jump ropes, incorporating as many double unders as possible.

Bear Attack Defense (BAD)

Another new workout I tried today. This is a direct modification of a few CF WOD's that I adapted for my wife and I. She did what I call the "Grizzly" Bear Attack Defense, while I think mine was simply a "Koala" Bear Attack Defense; she's quite amazing though.

At any rate you should be pretty sweaty and tired after this bad boy.

Bear Attack Defense (BAD): (prerequisite: you must listen to Michael Jackson's "I'm bad" at least once while doing this workout ;-)

Do the following sequence of exercises 7 times:

• Power Clean + Front Squat + Push Press + Back Squat + Push Press 

Then Spring for 1/10th a mile (should take you about 30-40 second of flat out running as fast as you can)

Repeat the exercise sequence and run 5 times. So that's like this: Step 1: sequence-run; sequence-run; sequence-run; sequence-run; sequence-run. Step 2: rest 2 minutes. Repeat Step 1. Done. For time. That means you should do this entire sequence as quickly as you can and note the time. Noting the time allows you to try and do it faster/quicker next time this one pops into you exercise regimen. 

For the Clean/Squat/Press weight I used 95 pounds, which sounds like pansy ass weight and probably is, but I was tired & grunting (yes, I said grunting Eeck!) at round 7/8. Now my shoulders feel like they are going to cramp up, in a good way. This took me about 39 minutes, I think. My watch bugged out on me and I was helping my wife with form; actually we were helping each other out and then had to walk to a treadmill in Gold's Gym and each time the treadmill had it's panties in a bunch and would not get going... adding valuable time to our final metric... at any rate... that's the BAD. I past below a few pics of the exercises for edification purposes. 

Power Clean

Front Squat

Push Press

Back Squat

(here after the push press lower the weight behind your head to get into the back squat position)

I said above that my wife, Austen did a "Grizzly" version of this because she added extra squats. So for every rep she added about 3-5 more squats. She claims it is because her legs are stronger than her arms, but I think she is just a Grizzly eating kind of gal. I did as prescribed above with 95 pounds on the bar and as quick as I could. 

Pic refs: 

http://away.com/images/outside/200405/power_clean_lift.gif

http://www.greatweightlifting.com/Legs/images/FrontSquat/FrontSquat2.jpg

Dirty Thirty

So, I'e revamped my workout regimen to be more full body, CF-like. This was my first attempt to design a workout for my wife and I. I call it the Dirty Thirty after the adage of drinking 30 cans of shite beer, that often results in vomiting, not that I am hoping that his workout would make anyone vomit ;-). 


Alright so to it then: 


The Dirty Thirty - For time; that means do this as quickly as you can so that you can compare your time next time you do it. You should get faster each time!


30 - double unders (this is jumping rope where the rope goes under your feet 2 times for each jump
30 - forward walking lunges (that's 15 steps/leg) with a 30 pound dumbbell in each hand
30 - box jumps (24 inches is ideal, but use what you can or as high as you can!)
30 - situps
30 - back extensions
30 - burpee to pullups (this is a burpee and when you jump you catch a high bar and do a pull up; each rep your chest has to hit the floor on the burpee and your chin had to clear the bar for the pull, would be better if you could touch the bar with your chest!)
30 - back extensions
30 - situps
30 - box jumps
30 - backward walking lunges with a 30 lb dumbbell in each hand
30 - double unders


1 vomit... Just teasing. 


My first time out my wife and I were doing this together so we were working out some of the kinks and helping each other, but I completed this in just about 6 minutes. Next time I will shoot for 5 or lower. I think I could have done 5 had I not forgotten the routine and had to keep referring to my cheat sheet. 


Suggestions for making this easier: 

1. use a lighter weight for the walking lunges
2. don't do backward lunges at the end; they demand a bit more core stability and can cause overcompensation on the knees if you've never done them before
3. break up each 30 into smaller sets of 10 with a short rest in between
4. lower the height of the box jump or just jump in place
5. don't do double unders, just jump rope. if you do this, I'd recommend doing 60 jumps
6. don't do burpee to pullups, but rather do 30 burpees and then 30 pullups (& you could use pullup assist)

Suggestions for making this harder: 

1. increase weights on lunges
2. try doing 30 steps / leg on the lunges
3. add weight to the situps and / or back extensions
4. add weight to the pullups, or add weight to anything else

My new breakfast (of champions, of course!)

So, I've changed my diet a touch. Not too drastically, because I hate drastic changes, but a little bit. I happened upon some good resources on Paleo diet eating. Mostly, I typically think of fad diets as, well just that - fad diets. Take for example the Atkins diet - I hated that shite! I am not Enui and therefore I should not eat just whale meat. Sorry, but it's not in my genes. The Paleo diet, on the other hand is, after a little reading, quite interesting to think about.

In short, and I am by no means an expert, the Paleo Diet assumes the principle of mismatch between what (us) evolutionary psychologist call the environment of evolutionary adaptedness (the EEA) and our modern, industrialized world. The mismatch principle suggests (and I might note is supported by loads of psychological, biological, and anthropological data) that we are currently living in a world that was designed by us, but NOT designed for us. In fact, in strict EEA terms, our bodies are designed (by EVOLUTION) to be more like hunter gatherer tribes people.

Here are some straight up facts: Evolution is slow. It can take thousands, 10's of thousands, 100's of thousands, even millions of years for evolution to craft a change in an organism. We call this natural selection. In our ancestry, in fact in every organisms ancestry environments (that is landscape, food availability, predator risk, etc) tend to change fairly slowly. There are of course exceptions, but often in the event of exception many many individuals die. Take as an example, say, an ice age in the Northern parts of the world. Only those individuals who had evolved a mechanism to store large quantities of fat (for warmth) under our skin survived. The rest froze to death for a modern day anthropologist to dig up and become famous for ;-)  In stark contrast, Industrialization is fast. Once our ancestors invented a means to pass information from one member to another within generation - memetically - industry could grow exponentially. Once our ancestors invented a means for printing and mass distributing the information, thus preserving valuable neural resources from reinventing the same old "wheel" technology could, and quite literally has, grown at rates that approach light speed.

The figure above theoretically plots the difference between evolutionary and industrial change over n generations. The magnitude of change at any given generation can be thought of as the magnitude of mismatch.

Taking the above theoretically-derived data to the notion of eating. Imagine that we are the product of evolutionary change (a biological organism) existing in a world of industrial change. Thus, this very existence has wreaked havoc on our bodies, probably being one of the main drivers of food allergies, mental illness, among other things. When it comes to food, because we started this post with a discussion of food and the Paleo Diet, assume that our biology has evolved to digest properly, extract nutrients from, and process foods that we encountered n generations ago (think thousands to 100's of thousands of years ago). But now, we have evolved the brain power for agriculture: now we artificially grow animals, instead of hunting them. Now we harvest milk, while our ancestors would have most certainly not done so without getting kicked in the face by a bison, and most likely would not have sucked on the utter of a dead cow when they could be pigging out on bone marrow or organ meats. Now we grow grains and in order to utilize the grains they need to be artificially processed, mulled, hulled, and goodness knows what else. Our ancestors most likely harvested wild fruits, berries, nuts, tubors, roots, and root vegetables. Occasionally, a lucky ancestor may have happened upon a great protein resource - eggs. Eaten raw, gross by our standards, and mine included - I like Paleo, but would have a hard time thinking about going Raw Paleo. So in short, and by short I mean we've just scratched the surface, this is the heart of the Paleolithic diet. Eat like a caveman because that is what nature has in mind for you to eat.

Now back to my breakfast of champions. I used to eat one of either a very large bowl of cereal with cow milk (artificially harvested grains and dairy milk) or cereal and fruit topped with cottage cheese (same things here). So how does one make the swap to a Paleo breakfast but keep the breakfast-y foods they like to eat. It is so freaking simple. Here is my recipe for a dynamite tasting and healthy breakfast (and what's pictured at the start of this post).

Pecan waffles and Southwest Omelette

Here's how you make it - takes about 5-10 minutes prep (depending on how tired you are, last night my dog woke me up barking at 5 am, so it took a while this morning). Takes about 10-15 (MAX) to cook.

In an omelette pan start sautéing some vegetables - i use anything from broccoli, asparagus, spinach, okra, squash/zucchini, eggplant, onion, parsnips, carrots (you get the idea). Season to your liking. I use a cajun seasoning made of crushed red pepper, sea salt, pepper, and garlic powder (it's quite spicy and nice).

While the veggies are cooking prepare your 'waffle batter' and begin to heat up your waffle iron.
Waffle batter:  Combine 1/4 cup pecan meal + 1 whole large egg + 1/4 cup coconut milk (I use reduced fat, lite cocount milk, cuts about 66% calories from regular coconut milk). Whip together using a kitchen whisk. I sometimes also add a 1/3 smashed banana (really good) or some type of berry (blue, black, straw, etc).

By now your veggies are probably about ready to get egged. So pour 2 servings of Egg whites (I buy the 100% egg whites from the market, but you could easily make your own with real eggs).

Pour waffle batter into waffle iron and spread evenly. I usually wait just about 1 minute before closing the lid so that the bottom of this unusual mixture begins to cook a little.

Flip the omelette when ready.
The waffle iron will let you know when the waffle has been cooked, but with my waffle iron I need to let it cook another 2-3 minute so that I can pluck it out without the waffle falling to pieces.

And while all that was cooking, I chopped up a piece of red onion, a quarter of a tomato, and cilantro to make a fresh pico de gallo for a topping. Top the waffle with pure maple syrup or raw honey. Both are excellent toppings, although you do get more bang for the caloric buck using honey.

Enjoy.

I have found two major things associated with my change in diet:

1) i have loads of energy. That plus I sleep deeper. So when I wake up, I am usually not groggy, unless Bruno (my dog) has woken me up for no good reason at 5am and I have energy all day.

2) my knee joints no longer hurt. i had read about dairy related arthritic like pains, but never believed it. I can now do deep squats, one-legged squats, cleans, etc without pain.

Progress report

So in education we are often times required to submit "progress reports". These inform the student that, "Oh Shite" I am failing psychology 101. I had better study, work hard, put my nose to the grindstone; ah, F-it I will just ask the professor for extra credit. Progress, however you choose to achieve it, is something that pervades all of our existence. From lower organisms to humans, progress is something animals strive for. As humans, we attempt to get ahead, a better education, more money, nicer house, hotter wife... whatever. Animals strive for moving up dominance ladders, more mates, more food, being eaten "less often" or preferably, not at all. Evolution, of course does not work this way, does it? No. Evolution is not progress but change. And yet all of evolution's organisms somehow work toward progress - not at the species level, but at the individual level. At any rate, in fitness this also applies. So I thought I would provide a bit of an update on my fitness progress.

About 6-8 months ago I stopped using free weights for progressive overload resistance training in place of a program designed around gymnastics, martial arts, and mostly body weight maneuvers. About 8 months later I am leaner than I have ever been in my life, and I have maintained my strength. For shits and giggles, the other day I decided to drop into the weight room - to see, not surprisingly - that nothing has changed much in the average weight area of the gyms. Plopped my ass on the bench and did a few warm-up reps; about 50 reps with just the bar. NO this is not my max out weight HA! So I went for it - "Am I still as strong as I was when I doing weights, even though for the past 8 months I have not touched a weight, except maybe to use it to prop my L-seat or planche?"  225lbs - 4 sets 8-10 reps. Shit, at 34, going quickly onto 35 5 yrs old I am happy. That is as much, actually more than I was able to do when I was weight training. 

This little self-experiment, which many of my friends know full and well is my life. Yes, I use myself as a research subject all the time asking rather boring questions like: Will someone you call a friend kick your ass if you decide one drunken night to bend his wife over your knee and lay into her with a good spanking? Apparently, not...phew! This experiment - that lacks all kinds of controls and is completely riddled with confounding variables - asked the question: does my new exercise regimen work? My experiment was not without ridicule and putting myself at risk of laughs, jeers, giggles and flat out questions about the program. Yes, on more than one occasion I got the "what in the hell are you doing dude/mate?" So I explained... whatever. Here's the data m-f-ers - it works. Yeah, easy enough for me to say. But check this whack ass shit out - P90X. Yeah so just about everything I do is apparently listed in this new program. What the F?! I could have made millions? Huh? At any rate, the shite works! Try it!