I'm really excited! I just finished a 19-page ebook on practical Paleo dieting. It includes a lot of the stuff I've learned in the 5 or so years I've been doing a Paleo or "primitive" diet. It's a FREE download so be sure to check it out!

Making the Paleolithic Diet Work for You eBook

ttys

Adam

Something I've struggled with lately is getting the post workout nutrition thing right while staying Paleo. For a while I was "cheating" and using a rice protein powder for the protein component of my post workout shake. A typical post-workout shake for me was:

• 9-12oz bananas (and possibly some additonal fresh fruit)
• 1-3 scoops of rice protein (I was experimenting with different portions)
• 1 Tbsp Flax Oil

I'd usually follow this with 1 Tbsp of Cod Liver Oil.

Probably not the worst for post-workout nutriton, but I wanted it to be as good as it could be and be perfectly Paleo. Another requirement I have for a post workout meal is that it should be easy and transportable. I wanted to be able to consume it quickly and away from home if need be.

For the past few days I've been doing something pretty radical as far as post workout nutrion goes - I'm taking in my nutrients in separately. What do I mean, exactly? Here's what I'm doing:

• 12oz Bananas
• 1 Tbsp Flax Oil

Wait 20-30min then:

• 1 Can of Premium Tuna
• 1Tbsp Fish Oil

Nutrient-wise, here's what we have:

• Calories: 695
• Protein: 32g
• Carbs: 72g
• Fat:30

If you're into Zone-Paleo here's what the percentages look like:

• Protein: 18%
• Carbs: 41%
• Fat: 39%

The waiting serves two purposes. First off, I'm not putting the Tuna in the shake and I'm not eating them together. That's nasty! LOL Second, I'm currently of the belief that fruit should be eaten away from slower digesting foods. Giving the bananas a "head start" means my stomach should be empty again by the time the tuna gets to it.

So far, this seems to be working well. I'm not having any kind of low blood sugar problems because the tuna is starting to digest by the time the sugar from the fruit is starting to leave my bloodstream.

A question that comes up is: "Would a lower fat meal have a more favorable effect on nutrient transport?" I have no idea what the glycemic index of this thing is. Also, would it be more Zone-favorable if I added more protein and is this what I want for a post workout meal? So, I can basically drop the fat and/or increase the protein to see what's going to work.

I have a blood glucose monitor and I can certainly use it to determine the different effects of this meal as I tweak and tune it. I still haven't used the meter, so this is a good excuse to get working with it!

I'm going to keep going with this approach and see what happens!

ttys

Adam

Double Kettlebell Clean

 
This week I started working on my Competition Kettlebell lifts – Snatch and Long Cycle Jerk. I said in my last post (Training Long Timed Kettlebell Sets, Part 1) that I was going to get myself established with a baseline and I did that today. (It would have been done much sooner but I dropped myself back into overtraining AGAIN and needed a few days to come out of it and feel like I was up for hard training.)
 
So, the first thing I came up with while training the Long Cycle was – this is DAMN hard work! I have two 16kg AKC Competition Kettlebells, so these are what I was training with. Not terribly heavy by any means but, when you get into LONG TIMED SETS with two of them, it gets ugly pretty fast.
 
I started off training the full Two Handed Long Cycle. The lift was OK, but I realized that I lacked a lot of precision. My swings were decent, but I didn’t have the fine control that would have made me feel very comfortable doing the lift. Also, my press was somewhat sloppy once I got the reps going and got into the set.
 
I switched to the One Hand Long Cycle and did a set. It felt A LOT better.
 
I also worked on the Two Handed Clean. What I discovered is that my Two Handed Clean gets a lot better when I take out the Press and just focus on the Swing and Clean portion.

Here’s what I ended up doing as a workout after my experimenting:
 

• Double Clean with 16kg Kettlebells – 3 min at about 12 reps per min
• Single Handed Long Cycle with 16g Kettlebell – 6 min at about 10 reps per minute with hand switch each minute

 
Neither set was to the limit. I was glad when they ended but I surely had more to give if pushed.
 
So, here’s what I learned:
 
There’s a lot “going on” with a full Two Handed Long Cycle Jerk. There’s a lot to manage and it can quickly become overwhelming when you haven’t trained a lot of Two Handed Swings and Two Handed Cleans.
 
An initial period of training the Two Handed Long Cycle in pieces – Two Handed Clean and One Handed Long Cycle – seems to be a good strategy for me. Getting a lot of practice handling the two Kettlebells in the Two Handed Clean seemed right and seemed like it would bring me benefits later when I’m training the full Two Handed Long Cycle. Right now the Two Handed Clean is a movement I need to perfect and refine so I have a good base for the Long Cycle later.
 
The One Handed Long Cycle is MUCH easier to train than the Two Handed Long Cycle. This was a bit surprising to me since my long weightlifting background would have me think there was little difference other than using two Kettlebells instead of one. You wouldn’t expect doing dumbbell curls with two dumbbells to be MUCH harder than with one. Yet another sharp contrast between Kettlebell training and weightlifting.
 
It MIGHT make sense to invest in a pair of 12kg competition bells. I haven’t decided if this is something I want to do yet. I’ll spend a week or so playing around with the two 16kg Kettlebells and see. If I gain strength as fast on the Long Cycle as I have on other Kettlebell movements I shouldn’t need the 12kg bells and I can start thinking about a pair of 20kgs.
 
So, going forward here’s what I’m going to do:
 

• Train SHORT timed sets of Two Handed Long Cycle Jerks with the 16kg Kettlebells. This will get me training the movement and the shorter length of time will keep fatigue from becoming a factor and degrading my form. I’ll slowly increase the time and reps on this one.
• Train longer sets of the One Handed Long Cycle with the 16 and 24kg Kettlebell.
• Train longer timed sets of the Two Handed Clean with the 16kg Kettlebells.

 
That’s it for now. I’m off for a run followed by some Kettlebell training!
 
ttys
 
Adam
 
 

As my interest in Kettlebell competition has grown, I’ve been training more timed sets. This series of articles is going to detail my journey into longer timed sets in the Snatch and the Two Handed Long-Cycle Jerk.

One of the first things I feel I need to do is get a good baseline to measure my progress against. My criteria for the baseline is to basically do a “limit” timed set and see where I end up, This baseline set would have to be done with really good form though. A 10 minute set with 5 minutes of terrible form isn’t really what I’m after.

Tomorrow, I’m going to do a timed set of Two Handed Long-Cycle Jerks and see where we end up. 

All my baseline sets are going to use my 16kg AKC Kettlebells. I have two 16s and one 24kg. I actually wish I had gotten a 20kg instead of a 24kg, but I’ll work with what I have. I might buy a 20kg or two but, ideally I’ll be able to get by with what I have and then add one more 24kg to have a pair.

AKC Competition Kettlebells

One technique I’m already working with in the Snatch is to cycle my lifts between arms. Instead of doing a long set with only one hand change per set, I’m switching hands at each minute. While this isn’t DIRECTLY applicable to competition, it does serve one very important purpose: It lets me train the Snatch on both sides with perfect form. Because I’m not dealing with as much fatigue, I can get more perfect reps in while still training a long timed set and getting myself conditioned mentally for that training. This type of Snatch set is going to figure into my training at some level for sure.

For training the Long-Cycle Jerks, I’m going to have to simply do shorter sets to keep my form tight and work the time and the reps up from there. Another option is to train the One Handed Long-Cycle Jerk as I explained above for Snatches as an alternative training method.

For those who are curious, here are the AKC competition lifts and other details about AKC Competition. (You have to scroll past the Kettlebells and T-shirts to get the rules.)

That’s it for now, ttys

Adam

Mark Cheng Seminar Group Photo
 
Saturday 6/20/2009 Modern Self-Defense Center in Middletown, Connecticut hosted Dr. Mark Cheng, RKC Team Leader for a Kettlebell and Functional Movement Patterning workshop. I’d heard great things about Dr. Cheng so I was looking forward to the seminar for a while. I was absolutely NOT disappointed! Dr. Cheng is a fantastic teacher and has an understanding of the details and intricacies of movement that is inspiring and humbling at the same time.
Dr. Mark Cheng at Moden Self-Defense Center
We spent most of the morning working on a SINGLE movement pattern - The Squat. I think everyone there, including myself, thought they knew how to squat. The fine details we got from Dr. Cheng were really eye opening.
Dr. Mark Cheng Fixing Zach
 
The immediate impact Dr. Cheng had on me and my training from this one “simple” set of drills and corrections was:
 
1) My deadlift immediately felt stronger after working these new movement patterns with him.
 
2) My hips and hamstrings felt noticeably “better.” I’m not sure exactly how to define better. All I can say is that the new movement patters I learned for the squat from Dr. Cheng had my hips feeling noticeably “lighter” and more open. I’d describe the sensation as very similar to the feeling I get after a really good yoga session. My flexibility and my circulation felt noticeably better.
 
Dr. Mark Cheng Teaching
From the squats we moved into the Kettlebell Get Up. Again, I learned A TON about movement patterns in this seemingly simple exercise. In particular, loading the lats and opening the thoracic spine. Once again, it was a humbling, frustrating and absolutely inspiring experience to “crawl” through an exercise I’ve been doing for a long time and considered myself to be well experienced with.
 
 

 
Interestingly, when we finished the Get Ups my shoulders, chest and upper back felt great. I had the same feeling in my upper body that I had in my lower body after the squats. Amazing what moving properly can do for you!
 
From the Get Ups we moved into one and two handed Kettlebell swings. Again, a deceptively simple movement done correctly created a great learning and training experience.
 
The swings were actually my favorite part of the seminar. Mainly because Dr. Cheng really picked on me and my form. He also made me train ALL my sets with the 32kg Kettlebell because I was “MSDC’s resident Kettlebell coach.” It was great and I learned A LOT about firing the glutes to propel the Kettelbell in a swing.
 

Adam Farrah and Dr. Mark Cheng, RKC Team Leader

Throughout the day Dr. Cheng did a great job of tying together the movements we were doing with the basics of the squat we practiced at the beginning. It was really cool to see where the squat movement patterns were in the Get Up and the swing and all the other things we do as gireviks and martial artists.
 
Dr. Cheng is an outstanding teacher and is absolutely full of knowledge about human movement patters. And he’s completely accessible, funny and friendly. Thank you, Dr. Cheng and thank you Chris from MSDC for hosting him!
 
ttys
 
Adam
 
 

Today turned out to be a landmark day for me in my pursuit of world class fitness. I took my best friend, Kate, to CrossFit USA in Berlin, CT for her first CrossFit workout.

I was planning to do the WOD (which was a bit intimidating) but Merle had another idea. In his infinite wisdom Merle suggested that I do the “first time” workout along with Kate both to lend her some support and to see how my fitness had come along in the month or so that I’ve been training with at CrossFit USA.

Now, this is the same workout I blogged about in my post CrossFIt will change EVERYTHING. The workout that had me laying on the floor in Merle’s bathroom for 30 minutes feeling like an adolescent who drank too much at a party.

Me After Crossfit

Up to now, I had no idea where my fitness stood other than I’ve been LOOKING a lot leaner and more muscular. While Kate was doing her warmup I went out and did the first part of the WOD Merle had posted for my warmup - Run 1 Mile wearing the 20lb weight vest.

I got back from my run and we got into it. Once again, the workout is deceptively simple:

Row 500 meters
40 Wall Squats
30 Sit Ups
20 Push Ups
10 Pull Ups

I got through this workout in 6:33 minutes. That’s less than half the time I did it in last time - and I did full kipping pull ups instead of the jumping pull ups I did last time.

So, lets summarize:

I added a 1 mile run WITH a weight vest and did full kipping pull ups and STILL got this WOD done in less than half the time it took to do it a month ago. AND I was completely fine after the WOD. In fact, I could have probably done a few more rounds!
Now that’s progress!

ttys

Adam

Merle must have been feeling particularly sadistic today. Or, maybe he was just trying to offset the three-day weekend with an extra hard workout. Either way, Merle was administering some beatings today!

I got in and walked over to the whiteboard to read the WOD. Before I could, I heard a voice from behind me say: "You should have stayed home, Adam!" I turned around to see Scott dripping with sweat and breathing hard. I looked back at the WOD. It was a Filthy Fifty Friday WOD. Merle had about 10 exercises on there for 50 reps each!

At first I didn't see the ubiquitous 1 mile run on the board. Then I saw it off in the corner. I was happy because I like the run, but then I realized how much work was on tap for the day...

I was about to get started when Merle told me he had "something special" for me and to forget the WOD on the board. Scott had just finished his workout and he looked up and asked Merle: "What are you having him do?" Merle just laughed and said: "Grab some popcorn and watch. This is going to be fun.." "Great." I thought...

What followed was essentially a full-body beatdown with a rower, kettlebells and whatever else Merle could think of.

Here's the workout:

Run 1 mile
Row 500 meters
Walking lunge with TWO 25lb kettlebells - these started overhead, but quickly moved into the rack position
Back on the rower for 500 meters
Bench Press with 165lbs to failure
Run 1/4 mile
Back on the rower for 500 meters
10 Suitcase Deadlifts with TWO 80lb kettlebells
10 pull ups
Back to the Rower for 500 meters
50 pushups
10 suitcase deadlifts
Run 1 mile

I'm still not sure if I was better off with that workout or the Filthy Fifty...

I'm finding that I'm getting more and more used to the CrossFit workouts. They're still brutal and I STILL have a slight sense of dread when it's time to go to CrossFit USA, but they're getting better. It's like I'm getting more used to pushing myself through that pain barrier.

I'm also FEELING a lot better. I'm very certainly experiencing an increase in testosterone and my mood is more positive and optimistic. AND people are noticing that I look bigger and leaner already. That's with only about 3 weeks in hitting it hard with CrossFit!

Killer workout, Merle! Thanks!

Here are some pics:

CloseUp Kettlebell Lunge WalkOverhead Kettlebell LungeKettlebell LungeSuitcase Deadlifts Bottom PositionSuitcase DeadliftsPush Ups at CrossFit

I had another outstanding workout at CrossFit USA in Berlin, CT. I can’t say too many good things about Merle McKenzie or his box (that’s CrossFit slang for a gym - get your mind out of the gutter!)

It was an absolutely beautiful day outside. I walked in and checked out the WOD.

• Run 1 Mile
• Bench Press 3X3

Jackie:

• Row 1000 meters
• 50 Thrusters with 45lbs
• 10 Pullups

My normal run is just over a mile, so this wasn’t too bad. But I never time my runs and I don’t usually push the pace on them. Merle started the timer and I took off on the route he told me to take.

As soon as I started running I thought to myself: “how many other gyms send you OUTSIDE on a beautiful day to run at the beginning of your workout?” No others that I’ve been too...  This is part of the magic if CrossFit and the way Merle runs his gym. Just ONE of the reasons CrossFit will rule the fitness world.

The run was doubly cool because the route took me by the Powerhouse Gym down the road. I’m sure that was a complete coincidence, right Merle? ;-) As I ran by Powerhouse I was thinking how happy I was to be doing what I was doing and not pumping away in a place like that on a boring, too-long routine making no progress. But more on that later...

I did the run in about 8.5 minutes. Not too bad. Once I got back, the real work started. (BTW, my new goal for end of summer is to run that mile in under 6 minutes.)

I got my bench presses done with Merle spotting. He had me warm up with a set of 10X135. I don’t have much of a bench press at the moment, so this was heavier than I would normally go on a warm up. After that one one warm up I went right into 3 work sets of 3X165. (Yeah, I know, that’s terrible...)

I found something interesting here:

While I would insist on another couple of warm up sets next time, I was surprised to find that I did fine with just that one. The run before training probably helped here, but I was still surprised that one set of ten was enough to get ready for the low rep sets. It would be interesting to see if I was more comfortable handling more weight or reps with a better warm up or if it wouldn’t even matter. Obviously, I’ll consider all this when I plan my powerlifting workouts and be sure to keep the warm up sets down to a reasonable number.

Once I finished the bench presses it was on to Jackie. That’s Jackie the workout not Jackie my favorite That 70’s Show character.

Jackie is simple but brutal:

• Row 1000 meters
• 50 Thrusters with an empty Olympic bar
• 10 pull ups

This was an absolutely miserable workout for me. I knew I was in trouble when I finished the rows and was struggling to walk over to the squat rack for the thrusters.  I got though the thrusters only with Merle’s incessant “encouragement.” At some point toward the middle of the set Merle swapped in some Van Halen on the sound system and cranked it up. That helped. I was barely aware of what was going on in the gym - all I really picked up on was the energy change when he did that.

Somewhere along the line Jenelle, CrossFit USA’s crack new intern, started shouting encouragement to me as well. It helped...

I got through Jackie and felt surprisingly good. I was wrecked, but I felt good. I was hanging out with Merle after and I could actually feel the “health” welling up inside me. I use “health” for lack of a better word. I was obviously experiencing a surge of “feel good” chemicals. One of my fascinations with CrossFit is that it produces this hormonal cascade and I’m curious to find out what the long-term effects of having a release of these hormones several times a week are. If you haven’t figured out by now, I’m becoming obsessed with the long-term health and hormonal effects of CrossFit workouts.

All in all, it was another great workout at CrossFit USA. Thanks Merle! Can’t wait to see what’s on tap for tomorrow!

ttys

Adam

This past week I got my first taste of powerlifting in a CrossFit setting. One of the things I like about CrossFit is that it’s such a great amalgamation of different training styles and disciplines. It truly is a hybrid system that incorporates the best of many, many different methods and theories and makes them work as a whole.

Anyway, the big question I have to work out for myself is: “How do I get the technique practice time I feel I need on the big powerlifts AND maintain the recovery ability to keep hitting the CrossFit WODs at least 3 times a week?” This, along with training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu 2-3 times a week AND teaching 3 Kettlebell classes a week.

Just for fun, I ran through some calculations. Before I got started with regular CrossFit training, I had worked out a conservative 28 week powerlifting cycle for myself. I say conservative because I was going to “peak” my bench presses at 8 X 201 at the end of the cycle. The reasoning here was that I would build up my poundages SLOWLY and plan to keep my gains coming for a long time - about 2 years.

During my last layoff I read a lot of stuff by Stuart McRobert and Brooks Kubik and came to the realization that, while I was able to make fast gains often, my retention and consolidation of those gains wasn’t so good. My plan going forward was to gain much more slowly over a longer period of time rather than gaining quickly for a short period and not being able to retain the strength gain long term. On review, I also realized that I had a history of falling into overtraining and stagnation, so I decided to go for “slow and steady” over a long period as Stuart and Brooks advocate.

Below, I’m using the 3 X 3 bench press sets I did yesterday at CrossFit USA as an example.

Using the tables Stuart McRobert gives in Beyond Brawn, I converted my 3 rep max bench press from yesterday to its equivalent 8 rep max:

3 X 165 = 8 X 142

I also converted my last 8 rep set to it’s equivalent 3 rep max using the same tables from McRobert:

8 X 121 = 3 X 140

This is saying that, in effect, I increased my max weight by about 25lbs from where I last bench pressed (based on 3 rep sets) with the pressing I did yesterday at CrossFit USA. Obviously, you only make that kind of gain when you have something left in the tank on your training poundages. Adding 25lbs to a true max in one session would be nearly impossible for a drug-free lifter.

Taking this one step further, I looked up the poundage progressions that I laid out for the cycle and I was scheduled to do 8 X 141 on May 25. If I compare that to the adjusted 8 X 142 that I did at CrossFit USA, I can assume I’m more or less on schedule for what I was planning to do before ditching my powerlifting cycle and going after CrossFit full bore.

What this means going forward:

1. There is some type of conditioning or “knock on effect” (as Stuart McRobert calls it) from training CrossFit style. This is evident from the fact that my bench poundage progression was pretty much on schedule even though I wasn’t actively benching. Just how far this effect goes and how to work with it I have no idea at the moment.
2. I need to decide how I’m going to keep my powerlifts progressing within the framework Merle is setting forth at CrossFit USA. Merle has already told me he’s going to continue to train more of the powerlifts at CrossFit USA. What I need to do is decide how I want to manage my poundage progressions and technique practice while still being “ready for anything” when I walk in the door at Merle’s.
3. If I’m training powerlifts for poundage progression and technique on my own, I need to be able to convert my current poundages at whatever set and rep scheme I’m using to whatever the CrossFit WOD is asking for. If I’m training 20 rep squats or 8 rep bench presses on my own, I need to be able to convert whatever number I’m using on those to the 5, 3 or 1 rep number I need for the WOD at CrossFit USA.
4. I need to figure out how I can get in the technique and poundage progression work I feel I need and fit that together with the lower rep “max” sets Merle is incorporating into the WODs at his box.
5. This is going to be fun!

ttys

Adam