Oh yeah!

Its funny how this thing called college takes all sorts of time and focus. Time for fitness? Yes. Time to study? Yes.Time for ladies? Yes. Time for beach? Yes. Time for tetris? Yes. Time for Breaking Bad? Yes. Time for saving the world for the obesity and bad health epidemics? Now there is!

So I am not really going to his on a whole lot of things today because I want to save them for later posts. Yeah, that right there is information hunger. Thank you COMM 103 for that little tid bit of knowledge! So that's that, time to get into the BEEE LAWWWGGG! Before some of you think that I am some immature little kid who writes like a child, just know that fitness is fun so therefore I can have fun with it....Haters.

So recently, I ran a little something I like to call the NorthFace Endurance Challenge Gore Tex 50 mile race. It was a 51.2 mile foot race through the Marin Headlands with a total elevation gain of 10,000 feet. By far the biggest test of mental and physical toughness I have ever done. Not to mention,by far the most fun I have ever had in fitness. My training however was put on hold due to two torn ligaments in my ankle 2 months before the race. This really put a damper on me.Not to mention, I had to run it in Nike Free shoes, and got some G.I. problems during it. But none the less, I finished proudly.

As for next year, I am going to take off all heavy lifting two months before the race, keep training in the off season and do crossfit only three times a week to maximize the benefit from my running. I am out for that sub 11hr mark next year and I WILL get it!

Well that is that, but here is what you can take away from this. Sign up for races and competitions, not just for the fun but to prove to yourself that you can and you will. I was nervous about this race and even finishing it, but I did and I proved to myself that I can do anything I set my mind to.

The mind is the most powerful thing in fitness and should come with its own form of training too. That set of 15 on Fran or those last 3 miles in a marathon, are your legs really giving out on you or is your mind telling you that your legs are fried. I will let you guess, but give you a hint in saying your legs are fine. So train thew mind! Push it to its limits so it has to be forced to realize that your limits are beyond what you thought. I guarantee that your times will drop on Helen, Cindy and Barbara.

I found out in mile 38 that my mind told me that I was done for, but what happened? I ran 13.2 more miles proving to my mind what I am really capable of. SO keep in mind that your limits are not physical, but they are mental.

Nutrition section :)

Post race diet....... uhhh we wont go there


Workout

Post Race rest... still. Feet=Dead

A Little Much?

Well here I am over training again. It is so easy to over train during the summer. I wake up, have nothing to do so I spend my time working out. Then one thing leads to another and I have been working out for 5 maybe 6 hours. I don't mind it until it hits me and one day I am worthless and am left with no strength. Haha. Sounds like I need another beach trip to give me a break. Nothing beats ice cold waters and burning sand. Actually indoor rock climbing does. Sounds like something to try.




Onto the topic. Don't over train. It is a horrible thing that I myself am very guilty of. Working out can be addicting especially if you love being fit. And especially with the mentality that comes along with it, the more I workout, the stronger and fast I will get. That is not true. When you overwork yourself it is detrimental to your progress and very unhealthy.

Symptoms of over training

• Always feeling tired
• Constant soreness
• Dreading each workout
• Waking up in the middle of the night
• no appetite
• Pessimistic

Let us look at the effects of over training.

1. Lack of energy: When you do too much, you have increasingly less energy for each exercise, so you lack the intensity with each set. As a result, you fail to maximize the benefit of the movement.
2. Prone to injury: Over training leads to bad form, and the body focusing all energy towards movement and strength and not other healthful benefits that we need to prevent injuries. For example too much lifting leads to bad form and a hurt back or impingement or shoulder issue. In running, too much running can lead to inflammation of joints, swelling, and stress fractures. 
3. When your body has no more glycogen or lipids to gather energy from, the body goes to its next source which is muscle cells. When this happens you are losing muscle while you are trying to gain it. That is self explanatory. Burning muscle is not good.
4. Weight gain: When your body uses all of its lipids, it begins to create and store its own lipids, leading to weight gain over time. If our body is the main source of lipids, it is most certainly a horrible thing because they arnt stored in the best of ways.
5. Central Nervous System fatigue. After serious over training you CNS will actually take a beating. It will actually run low on neurotransmitters, inhibiting your workout, the most important being acetylcholine.

Once you have over trained, you need to take a long rest. About a week would be ideal. During this week you want to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night, going into a low energy state in which your body can maximize muscle repair to fix the muscles you have destroyed and not for the better. You also need to keep the protein intake high so your body has building blocks for the muscles. 

Ways to prevent over training

1. Set a new workout schedule where you do not do as much in each day. You do not have to run, swim and lift everyday. It is not needed. Recovery is just as important as exercise. Make your schedule smarter not harder.( I made a new schedule that I will show you all tomorrow.)
2. Take at least one mandatory rest day each work. Two would be even better. On these days, do absolutely nothing. You need to rest and build back up. No running, no easy jogs or lifts. Nada. Zip. Zap. Zilch. ZERO!!! 
3. Spread your workouts throughout the day. Morning then evening. That little rest in the middle of the day will pay off greatly. I promise.
4. Eat Eat Eat!!!! Make sure you are eating plenty of calories. Plenty of protein and plenty of water. The more you eat, the faster you will recover.
5. Listen to your body. If it hurts, take time off. Don't push through it.

Well that about sums it up. I will add my email address for anybody who wishes to send me individual questions which I would be glad to answer.

Today's Workout

CrossFit

Practice Kipping Pull Ups

WOD

Each Round 1:30

200m run

AMRAP Push Ups

1:30 rest

Results:  32,28,27 (push ups)

Really really easy WOD.

Gym

50 Pull Ups Broken up as needed

Heavy Dumbbell walking lunges 4X(15,12,8,6) 45,45,50,55lbs

Dumbbell Incline Bench Press 4x(15,12,8,6) 40,50,60,70lbs

One Arm Deadlift 3x6 (each side) 95lbs

Refuel man

Sunday morning started out with ripping out some ivy. let's just say that I have done more fun things in my time. It not being one of them. But after that I had another beautiful workout. We got two topics, refueling your workhouse body and your body itself.

So during and after a long hard hot workout is crucial time when we need to keep our body happy. Of course before too because hydration starts hours before your workout. If your doing a long run, ride or strength workout in the heat and working up a sweat, not only are you losing water through your sweat, but electrolytes too. The main electrolytes are sodium, magnesium, calcium, and potassium. All of which are crucial ions in the firing of nerve impulses and in cramp prevention. So as you lose them you should replace them, and in hot weather and intense workouts, food is not enough. Sometimes it is necessary to have an electrolyte drink for example during a marathon. But do not get carried away, the diet does not stop here. Find the lowest sugar drink of it. I prefer cytomax because gatorade is way too full of sugar.

And afterwards, get some real food. Stick to the bones type stuff. A protein based meal is ideal to feed those muscles that are looking for something to build themselves back up with. But don't forget monounsaturated fat (avocado is my favorite source). A few carbs, fruit is the best source for these. So keep that body filled with happy food and healthy food. You put crap in and you will get crap out. You put good stuff in it and you will get good stuff out.

Secondly, let us talk about our body. Is it your ideal body? Do you have the abs you want? Are you arms big enough? Well if you are anything like me, the answers are all no. I workout countless hours only to gain strength, but no results in the way my body looks. no abs, no arm growth, nothing. It can be discouraging, seeing a guy who naturally has an awesome body. But ask yourself this. What is more attractive? I think we can all agree that a man with an average body destroying a nice body guy in a workout is much more attractive. Sure he may look better but if he can't compete at your level of fitness, then he cannot compete with you at all. By nature, women are more attracted to the man who can rise above other men, not the more attractive man with a nicer body. And this is not only men to all you ladies. Sure that lady might have breasts the size of watermelons and a skinny waist, but if you beat her in a workout, you are instantly more attractive. Body's are not attractive, fitness is.

Workout

2.5 mile bike ride

Crossfit
"Modified Murph"

1000m run
100 push-ups
200 sit-ups
300 air squats
1000m run

Time Of :  27:13

2.5mile bike ride home (sucked)

Watch It Bud.....

Another beautiful summer day and here I am ready to hit the workouts. But before we get to the exercise part of it all, we need to go down to the base and support of our lifestyle of fitness.

Nutrition!!! Fun right? We put our bodies through loads of ridiculous stress and training, so it is the least we can do to feed it what it needs to rebuild itself and keep it healthy. Now contrary to popular belief, a twinkie is not a good post workout food.... it is actually not a good food in general. Is it even food? I mean those things are faker than Pamela Anderson. But seriously, your body will only put out work as good of quality as you put into it. Will a twinkie let you run a mile...maybe. Will it like it? Only if your body likes to puke. Besides nobody wants to write their name on the puke buckets in the box.

Now I am not telling you to find a diet and go gung ho on that thing. That would not be advised, but slowly adjusting to it would be best. Also, diets are not specifically designed for any one person, so feel free to tweak it to fit your lifestyle better. Cupcakes fit no lifestyle for those of you who are wondering.

For example, I follow the Paleo diet, and it is amazing. Makes such a different in my energy, but I had to tweak it a little bit. I do lots of endurance training as I train for my triathalon and marathon, so there is no way I can cut out all starches. They are a necessity for endurance training even though they are not paleo. That quick energy is needed but how I get it is in my control. Whole grain only. None of that enriched white boo boo crap, commonly known as death in my mind.

When planning your diet there are several key factors to take into account. Diversity of choice, colories, timing, and goals.

Diversity of choice: Eats lots of different fruits and veggies. Don't limit yourself to a few or be boring about it, keep it entertaining and delicious. The more you limit yourself the harder it will be to eat enough.

Calories: If you workout a lot you need to eat a lot PERIOD. I have struggled with this because it is hard to eat a lot when you don't have a large appetite. Fix this by eating high calorie foods like avocado, some nuts and foods of that nature. As for myself I try to eat 3,200 calories a day.

Timing: This is a lifestyle type choice. Whatever fits in best. Ideally, to keep your body healthy try to eat mini meals throughout the day. But be careful because when you do this it becomes easy to mistake a mini meal with a snack. Bad JuJu right there. Protein should be the centerpiece of each mini meal. ALWAYS! If you cant do mini meals then fit meals however fits in best but make sure you are getting the calories and protein needed.

Goals: Now weight loss and Muscle gain goals can vary greatly. Lean muscle and weight loss go together,  but trying to gain sheer mass is way different. If you want to gain mass, start packing on the protein and post workout carbs with mando amounts of calories. For weight loss, eat lots of lean protein, low carbs, and hit the veggies up son!

Workout

Foot pain. Maybe bruise or ache from running to much lately. The earlier I rest the faster it will heal. I hate not being able to run or ride my bike, but I know my rest will be rewarded with fast healing. Besides no matter who says what two to three rest days will not leave you out of shape, it may feel like it, but on a physiological level you may be even stronger and more rested. So enjoy the free time.


Soccer training tonight.