Thank goodness the holidays are almost over

Today's Weigh-In: 217.2 lbs.

5-day average: 217.7 lbs.

Okay, so this past week did not go so well. Lots of candy, fudge, and chips. Very little exercise. I got 2 workouts in last week, on Monday and Tuesday, but all the Christmas stuff prevented me from going later in the week.

Thankfully that's all over. I ate great yesterday and did a good Olympic lifting workout. My muscles felt amazing afterward. They just crave activity now. Also, I find that when I eat crap food I get really stiff in my muscles and joints, and my flexibility (which is usually decent) goes to hell. If I eat right and take my fish oil (10 caps a day, now) I don't have any issues. Just something I noticed.

The year is coming to an end, and I'm glad. I know it's cliche but the new year does provide a fresh start, at least mentally, and that's what a lot of us need right now. A fresh start, and a kick in the pants.

Better than expected

Today's Weigh-In: 218.2 lbs.

5-Day Average: 217.4 lbs.

After all the fuss I made yesterday, it looks like my back is starting to get better quicker than I expected. I guess it was just the muscles getting used to my spine being straight again. It's a little sore today, but nowhere near the level of pain I was in yesterday. I went for a short run to test it out, and also did some squats, push-ups, and stretches to see how it felt. It felt pretty good, so I'm really happy that I won't be out of commission much longer. My lower back fatigued pretty quickly during my run, but that's most likely due to the fact that I haven't been running much in the past few weeks and I did heavy deadlifts twice this week.

I have a Christmas dinner to attend tonight, but I'm going to stick to mainly meat and vegetables. I really want to get under 215 within the next 2 weeks.

Screwed up back

Ugh. Just when I start to get some motivation behind me something bad happens. Somehow I screwed up my upper back. It wasn't from lifting, because it was bothering me on Monday during the day (and I hadn't worked out since Saturday). I was sitting at my desk, and my neck felt tight, so I moved it around to try to crack it and loosen it up. What happened instead was it locked up, and I couldn't turn my head to the left. I figured "okay, that sucks, but it'll go away." Well the neck pain did go away, but I could feel my upper back and left arm getting really tight and sore. I've had issues in the past where my back being out of alignment has caused pain down my left arm, so I pretty much knew nothing was actually wrong with my arm (but it hurt like a son of a gun). I went to the chiropractor yesterday, and he re-aligned my spine. This has caused the pain in my arm to disappear, and my neck feels fine as well. But my upper back is crazy sore today, and I can feel that it's the muscles and not the spine. So I'm thinking that it's caused by my spine being so out of alignment for so long that the muscles sort of got used to the bad configuration. But it's got me sidelined from exercise, because I really can't do much of anything without excruciating pain. Right now I'm rocking NSAIDs, and when I get home I'm going to use my foam roller and jacuzzi to help loosen it up. I'll probably go back to the chiro early next week for a follow-up, but I'm hoping it doesn't last that long.

I guess there's a lesson in this: if you don't take all aspects of exercise recovery seriously you can jack yourself up. I'm usually pretty good about my recovery, but I know I should be visiting the chiropractor every few weeks at least, and I haven't been. Lesson learned.

New PRs and a change of direction

I know, I know, it's been a long time since I posted a blog entry on here. Looking back at my last post, it was right before my last Crossfit Total. I ended up getting 870 (325 back squat, 170 shoulder press, and 375 deadlift) which surpassed my goal. Yesterday I did the Total again, and this time got a score of 905 (335 back squat, 170 press, 400 deadlift(!)). I finally reached one of my oldest goals, which was a 400 pound deadlift. I went for 405 as well but it just didn't go up. I just looked back at my first CFT score (from this post) which was 670. It feels great to know objectively how much stronger I am now than I was then.

Now for some bad news. I pretty much weigh the same as I did in January 2008, when I did my first Total. This morning I weighed in at 217.4 lbs., the highest I've been in a while. 2 months ago I weighed in at 207, so I've gained 10 pounds since then. It's time for me to buckle down and start using this blog (once again) as a resource to help me along on my journey.

I'm going to be changing the format of my blog posts a little bit, to reflect the changes that have occurred both mentally and physically since I've started this quest. Most of the posts on here are focused solely on weight, and, while that is important, I've come to believe that things such as athletic performance, quality of rest, and quality of food are just as important to me. Let's face it, I could have 6 pack abs and be completely unhealthy, but that's not what I want. I want to be strong, powerful, quick, agile. I want to have good indicators on all my bloodwork. So what if I never get "ripped." This is really about so much more than that. So my posts will reflect that mentality, with a focus on performance and food quality as a means toward health and fitness, and not just some arbitrary number on the scale.

That being said, I do need to lose some fat. My body fat percentage is higher than I would like, and it's hindering me in some aspects of my athleticism (mainly bodyweight stuff). There are only 2 weeks left in the year, so I'm not going to go for some drastic cut to meet an arbitrary deadline right now, but I want to be consistently under 215 by the new year. That's easily doable, and it gives me that bit of momentum that I'll need to see this through. I'll try to post a couple of times a week as well, to keep myself on track.

Food and fitness

Today's Weigh-In: 207.4 lbs.

The weight is still trending downwards at a nice clip, so that makes me happy. I got another personal record yesterday (I cut over a minute off my Fran time), which is awesome. I still need to work on my pull-ups, but I figure as I get lighter they'll get easier by default. I made buffalo wings at home last night, and they were really good. I heated up Frank's Red-Hot sauce (1/2 cup) with butter (2 tbsp) and chopped garlic (1 clove) in a saucepan until everything melted together, then I brushed the sauce onto chicken wing pieces (and a chicken breast) and baked at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. The wings were delicious, and the breast came out so juicy and flavorful I couldn't believe it. So I'm definitely adding that to my list of easy, delicious recipes.

I'm taking today off from working out so I can be ready for the Crossfit Total tomorrow. The CFT consists of max effort lifts (1 rep max) for back squat, deadlift, and shoulder press, and it can be really draining on the body. You add up the weights for each lift, and add them together for your score. You get 3 attempts to get a max on each lift. Last time I got 750, but tomorrow I'm hoping to get at least 850, since I've added quite a bit of weight to my back squat and deadlift since the last CFT. I'm also hoping to break 400 lbs. for my deadlift. I got 395 a few weeks ago, so it's definitely a possibility. I'm going to have to adjust my strength goals on here to account for my new strength levels. Yay!

Weight loss on a weekend? Yep.

Weigh-In: 209.4 lbs.

I had a good weekend. I stayed totally paleo and was rewarded with a 1 pound loss this morning. I'm now down 7 pounds this month. I did heavy squats yesterday for my workout, and I've got a date with Fran tonight. I'm hoping for a new personal record, since I haven't hit one on this workout in well over a year. Overall everything seems to be going according to plan. I did have some major carb cravings this weekend, but they passed and now I feel fine.

I've been trying all kinds of new vegetables lately. Last week I tried yellow squash, and yesterday I made some brussels sprouts. I roasted them in the oven with fresh garlic and onion, drizzled with olive oil, and sprinkled with salt and pepper. They were really good! I ate them with scrambled eggs and some sunflower seeds. I know that sounds like a bizarre meal (it was lunch, too) but it was delicious. It's definitely worth it to take the time to try out new things, you might find something you really like.

2 months already?

Weigh-In: 210.2 lbs.

Whoa, has it really been 2 months since my last post? Sorry about that, folks. I haven't been slacking of on the fitness front, but I guess I haven't really felt the desire to write about it lately. But I'll try to recap and bring you all up to speed with where I am.

I did let the diet slip a little bit for a few weeks, and got up to 216 lbs. But some of that weight was muscle, and I've been hitting personal records like crazy. I got my deadlift up to 395, my shoulder press to 165, and my push press to 215. I've been working on my grip strength so that I can start getting better numbers on pull-ups. And I've still been hitting the high intensity workouts hard, so my conditioning is still improving.

As of October 1st I decided to do a 30-day Paleo diet challenge. Many of the Crossfit sites and affiliates have been doing this, with great results, and so I figured I would give it a shot. The diet excludes all grains (including corn) and grain products, all sugar (except for what's found in fruit), all dairy (although I do allow butter), legumes, any artificial ingredients (including sweeteners), and alcohol. So what does that leave? Meat, veggies, fruit, nuts, seeds, and oils. There's actually a lot you can do with that list, and I've been trying to include as many new recipes and foods into my diet as I can. As of today I've lost 6 pounds in 7 days, while still eating enough food to keep me quite full. I expect the loss to slow down considerably soon, as much of it is water weight, but I do feel lighter and less bloated. My hope is that I'll get close to 200 lbs. by the end of the month, and use that momentum to blast through into the 190s.

Crossfit + Paleo = fitness and fat loss. I feel better than I have in months. My sleep is so much better (with vivid dreams), I wake up at 7:30 every morning without issue, I'm getting stronger and leaner, and mentally I'm much more focused. I know that part of that has to do with the "no alcohol" part of the Paleo diet, but I've done alcohol-free months before and haven't felt the same way, so I know it has something to do with eating quality food and staying away from the stuff that would serve to damage my body. I urge anyone who really desires to get lean and fit to check out Crossfit and look into the Paleo diet. You won't be disappointed.