Farewell, SY 2011-2012!

Last session of this school year. After mini-lectures on nutrition and summer programming, we did a super-speed round strength training, followed by . . .

TABATA SQUATS: 8 rounds of (20 seconds air squats + 10 seconds rest), aiming for max quality-form reps each round.

This was the first time we've done tabatas with a single movement, rather than alternating two movements, and we were feeling the added intensity in our burning legs.

Congratulations, athletes! Y'all have come a long way already in just a few months. We're looking forward to working with you and witnessing more of your amazing accomplishments next year.

P.S.  See more on nutrition in this post.  Eat good food this summer!  As long as you do, there's absolutely no need for any fancy, expensive supplements, except one:  FISH OIL.  Read here for more on why.

Nutrition Notes

Nutrition Notes

Shuttle Sprints

After today's strength training session,

8 rounds of . . .

• 40-second shuttle sprints (25m lengths)
• 60 seconds rest

Compare to last week.  Post results to comments.

Wallballs / Situps

After today's strength training,

4 rounds for time:

• 20 wallballs
• 20 situps

Post results to comments.

Modified "Cindy"

After today's strength training, we re-visited a WOD that we've done previously (see April 11), a modified version of "Cindy". . .

AMRAP in 15 minutes:

• 5 ring rows (or 2 pullups)
• 5 pushups
• 10 squats

We had a LOT of PR's today!  Post results to comments.

Shuttle Sprints

After today's strength training session,

7 rounds of . . .

• 40-second shuttle sprints (25m lengths)
• 60 seconds rest

Compare to last week.  Post results to comments.

Spints, burpees, swings

8 rounds for time -- with a 15-minute cap:

• sprint 50m*
• 6 burpees
• sprint 50m*
• 12 swings

*The sprints are down-and-back, 2x 25m in the gym, touching down at the turnaround.

Post times/results to comments.

Distilled Nutrition Advice for Athletes

Here are some basic rules I've come to believe in and try to practice with regard to healthy eating (with a few specific to fat-loss). It's a simple set of habits that make up for a good and sustainable eating program.

• Eat complete, lean protein (meat or eggs) with each meal. Servings should be about the size of your fist. Your overall protein intake should make up at least 30% of your total calories. Or, to think of it another way, try to eat 1g of protein per pound of lean body mass. I generally try to get something like 100-120g of protein each day.
• Eat vegetables (or fruit, but in lower quantities) with each meal. A serving of fruit is about 5 ounces, which is about half of one of those huge apples you can buy from the commissary fruit guy! On the other hand, I can eat 2 cups of cabbage for the same number of calories.
• Ensure that your carbohydrate intake comes from fruits and vegetables, rather than starches and grains. No bread, crackers, rice, etc.
• Avoid sugar like the plague! It ages you, spikes your insulin levels, messes with your metabolism, and is generally evil.
• Drink only non-calorie containing beverages, the best choices being water and green tea.
• Eat mostly whole foods; avoid things that come in packages or boxes.
• Overall, aim for a rough calorie ratio of 30-40% carbohydrates, 30-35% protein, and 25-35% fats. (Your fat intake should split equally between saturates/animal fat, monounsaturates/olive oil, and polyunsaturates/fish oil).
• Prepare your food in advance to avoid having to make choices when you're hungry. One day each week spent doing this makes a huge difference!
• Eating out is hard, but there are tricks. Plus, once you learn more about what to eat, you'll be able to make good choices.
• When you're trying to lose fat and the scales aren't moving, re-evaluate. That will probably involve weighing and measuring to re-calibrate portion sizes. I use an online diet journal at fitday.com. You can make a free online account. It’s interesting to log your diet for a week or so (honestly!) and then analyze the data to adjust from there.
• You WILL break these rules from time to time, and that's normal! You can't beat yourself up about it. Try for 80/20 (80% compliance, 20% cheats). Then, eventually, you'll find that breaking the rules makes you feel crappy, so you will want to break them less and less.
• Remember, you cannot outwork a bad diet. No matter how hard I train, if I don't watch my diet, I get fat. (It's easy to consume 500 calories, but it takes a long time to burn it off!) Instead of thinking, "I work out, so I deserve this treat," you have to think: "I work out too hard to sabotage it by eating that stuff, which will inhibit my recovery and delay my athletic progress."

Even simpler:  Crossfit’s nutritional mantra -- “Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar."

Further reading:  If you really wanna geek out on this stuff, these are some things I've read that have been pivotal for me . . .

• "What If It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?" by Gary Taubes in the New York Times. Taubes is actually a science journalist (who also wrote the anti-sugar article I referenced in a very heated thread at AES about whether or not we should sell coke on campus.) He throws down a totally fascinating challenge to conventional wisdom about diet and nutrition. Inspired by the article, I read his later book called Good Calories, Bad Calories, which is big but an awesome read.
• Anything by Robb Wolf, the original Crossfit/Paleo guru.  His book, The Paleo Solution, is a good place to start if you're interested in finding out what all the Paleo talk is about.
• Mark Sisson's The Primal Blueprint. He also has a blog that I followed regularly for a couple years, and  here's the place to go for an intro.
• I also think Jon Berardi-- a coach who has advanced degrees in exercise biology and nutrition -- gives good nutritional advice for athletes, and I really like his 7 rules.

Double-tabata

During our warm-up, we spent a few minutes learning Turkish get-ups.  Check out the video below.  Pay attention to his arm and leg placements.



After the regular lifts today (including powercleans for the deadlifters):

An 8-minute double-tabata with squats and pushups -- 8 rounds of . . .

• 20 seconds of air squats
• 10 seconds rest
• 20 seconds of pushups
• 10 seconds rest

Note:  The original Tabata protocol is half this, only 4 minutes!

Your score = your total number of reps in all 16 bouts of work.  Post scores to comments.

Shuttle Sprints

After today's strength training session,

6 rounds of . . .

• 40-second shuttle sprints (25m lengths)
• 60 seconds rest

Post results to comments.