Beginning CrossFit Foundations Program 4/16

[TheFamilyMan]

Finally decided it was time to get back into shape. 10+ years of corporate work, traveling, bad eating habits, and no real workout regimen has resulted in me having quite a bit more weight on my frame than I care to have. It's also not the strongest weight either; i.e. not a lot of muscle tone nor dense muscle for that matter. I have a daughter that is becoming a very accomplished runner and athlete and she's mentioned a couple times about me coming out running with her. I'm doing this for the both of us and will need to make it stick this time. Getting older does not make it any easier to stay in shape and it definately takes more work than it once did.

I'm 6' 4" and currently weigh 250lbs. I do not have a lot of muscle tone or density. My goals are to be where I was 10 years ago...200lbs, toned, quite a bit more dense muscle on my frame. I'm planning on getting into better cardiovascular shape as well. I know the days of 4 or 5 nights a week playing basketball may not be there but I'd love to be able to get out there 2 or 3 and not be as winded.

I found a place here in town that is a CrossFit gym with very reasonable rates as well as a very good atmosphere and clientele. I've been to the place a couple times and talked with the people going there and got their feedback. It was very honest and open.

The schedule is 3 days a week for the first 3 - 4 weeks. One of the days is a 2 hour session where movements and exercises are practiced for one hour and a workout is planned for the 2nd hour. The other two sessions during the week are one hour long and are planned for workout only.

After the initial 3 - 4 week foundational program, we go into the CrossFit routines on a more regulated schedule. My monthly fee will cover as many workouts as I want in the month so I hopefully will begin to get more out of it as I progress.

I'm not very good at keeping logs or whatnot for working out but will definately try and update the posting. I'm also going to get some pics of body, tone, weight, etc now before starting and put them on my mirror in the bathroom. Then at intervals during the next few weeks take more pics to see the change that is occuring. I'm excited about it and looking forward to the challenge.

I've read quite a few of the threads here and never thought I'd be making one. My my, how things have a way of turning around. Any tips, good words of wisdom, or just positive comments in general are greatly appreciated. Here's to the first day of the rest of my life...

 

[killster1]

well me personally i dont like gyms where people watching you sweat all over the place with red face etc hahah.. (i got a treadmill instead and the p90x videos from a friend) i prefer at home infront the big screen where the time just flys by as i watch my fav tv episodes. Working out helps keep my diet intact as after you run 10+ miles you dont go crazying eating cheese burgers and whole pizza's. Good luck to you.. i weighed 245-250 in jan 31 and now am at 205-208 from just running and diet. (i had gone crazy eating big burrito's big bags of chips and 3 ice cream sandwich's at a time hahhaah. Now im on diet where eat carrots and apples for snacks and down to 3 meals a day.. (no more 2nd lunches and dinners hehe)

 

[ZOOYUKA]

down to 3 meals a day.. (no more 2nd lunches and dinners hehe)

Actually, you would probably have better results if you continued the 5 meals a day and did it properly instead of just 3 meals.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Actually, you would probably have better results if you continued the 5 meals a day and did it properly instead of just 3 meals.

It actually doesn't make a difference. It all depends on what he's comfortable with.

 

[ZOOYUKA]

It actually doesn't make a difference. It all depends on what he's comfortable with.

Really? There is lots of info supporting the fact that 5-6 smaller meals will help you increase you metabolism.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Really? There is lots of info supporting the fact that 5-6 smaller meals will help you increase you metabolism.

Actually, there's near to none in research. There's a lot more research showing there's no benefit to metabolism based on meal frequency, given the same amount of calories. Give me a little bit. I'll find some articles for you.

 

[Ksyder]

I have to agree, the whole "5-6 meals a day" is best dogma is really overblown....Personally I like to eat less meals, and the idea that if you can go longer without eating, glucagon levels will rise with the fall of insulin and allow to release and burn stored bodyfat.

At least, that is my understanding of it, personal experience I've had better fat loss results eating 2-3, larger meals daily.

 

[TheFamilyMan]

Well, was a great beginning.

Session was 2.5hrs long with first part being about movements, mobility, warmups, stretching, some light yoga, etc.

Workout consisted of:

5 x 5 KB swings
5 body rows
10 push-ups
10 squats

6min AMRAP...I completed 3 before my lower back started acting up a bit...workout leader gave me some exercises to work on between now and Tuesday when the class meets again. He wants me to do some extra work on that area to begin strengthening it to support more of the workouts and activities.

Sore and feeling it today but liking the feeling.

 

[TheFamilyMan]

Workout last night consisted of:

5 x 5 pull ups
5 x 5 KB rows
5 x 5 sit ups
5 x 5 lunges

6 sets of the above...timed. Shoulders feeling it, upper arms feeling it, stomach feeling it. The pre-workout warmup and post-workout cooldown exercises seem to really be impacting me as well. The yoga exercises they are incorporating are stretching things I never thought existed in my body. The years of inactivity have made for some really tight and sore hamstrings right now so my #1 objectives on non-workout days are to stretch stretch stretch hamstrings and lower back. I've got lots of work to do on the mobility and cardiovascular fronts.

Been trying to eat better as well. Yogurt & fruit in the morning, lighter lunch consisting of higher protein foods and fewer carb/processed foods. Mid-afternnoon snack of nuts/nutrition bar (healthier version, not processed to hell and back). Dinner heavily favored protein over carbs once again.

Right now I'm right around 2k calories/day. The trainers feel this should help drop some of the fatty weight while keeping "meaningful" calories for the recovery from working out. Completely removed sodas, processed drinks, etc from my diet and am drinking more water and milk. I will have the occassional brewed tea but that will be on occassion vs. daily as was before.

 

[Pantlegz]

Really? There is lots of info supporting the fact that 5-6 smaller meals will help you increase you metabolism.

Nope it takes about 24 hours of fasting before your metabolisim is effected, if SC doesn't find anything I'll start digging as well. I know I ran across it somewhere recently.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Nope it takes about 24 hours of fasting before your metabolisim is effected, if SC doesn't find anything I'll start digging as well. I know I ran across it somewhere recently.

I've been looking for it, but the articles are unavailable to me. My new university is terrible with getting rights to the main journals in my field

 

[wheresmybacon]

Really? There is lots of info supporting the fact that 5-6 smaller meals will help you increase you metabolism.

"Studies using whole-body calorimetry and doubly-labelled water to assess total 24 h energy expenditure find no difference between nibbling and gorging".

The study:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9155494

Martin Berkhan discusses that particular study here about halfway down: http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html

Lyle McDonald here: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/re...energy-balance-research-review.html#more-1389

 

[dmw16]

First off, congrats! I started CrossFit almost a year ago and love it. I've seen a lot of improvements. I've only dropped about 10lbs (from 190 to about 180, I'm 5'10") but I've gotten a lot stronger. When I started last May I could barely do 155lb deadlift with decent form and last night I pulled 305lb.

On the subject of diet, look into the paleo diet. A lot of CrossFit'ers are into it and I think it works well. I don't live it 100% of the time but I do in general and find it works well for me. I also like the idea of 5-6 smaller meals because I get hungry between breakfast and lunch or lunch and dinner and a good snack is better than having a weak moment and eating crap.

In general I'd say just stick with it. Sounds like you've got good coaches where you are which makes a world of difference. Listen to them and they'll take good care of you.

 

[SZLiao214]

Crossfit is a great way for you to meet your goals. Your work out seems kinda odd with the 1 hour of practice and 1 hour of planning. Most of my crossfit work outs were very intense and less then 35 minutes.

 

[TheFamilyMan]

SZLiao214, the initial sessions (i.e. 1st 4-weeks) consist of lots of work on mobility and movement training...probably just as much as doing the actual workouts themselves. The trainers at the place I'm going to stay very cognizant of not only the time, intensity, and workout we are doing but also of the movements. I like it as there have been a couple of workouts where the mobility training, stretching, and moving was a workout in-and-of itself.

We had another great workout Saturday. Workout consisted of:

5x5 KB cleans & presses
10 goblet squats
15 sit-ups

6 rounds, timed.

I'm really sucking wind on a lot of these. I can feel my cardio getting better though but it's tough. A lot of times it isn't the exercise itself that is wearing me out. It is me getting winded. It is getting better.

I've upped my water intake to about 3 liters per day and dropped sodas, sweet drinks, and any processed fruit juices out of my diet. This is along with the majority of the breads, potatoes, and pastas I used to eat on a more-than-regular basis. Green leafy vegetables are getting incorporated more along with more nuts, berries, and fruits as snacks during the day. I'm right around 2k calories per day and dropped about 5lbs so far. The soreness is still there post-workout but isn't lasting as long as it did the first week.

 

[TheFamilyMan]

Looking to get a question answered regarding pre-workout eating and energy levels.

First off, I'm replacing a lot of the bad carbs in my diet...slowly but surely. I'm getting a bit more protein than I did before and definately getting more green, leafy vegetables. We will be discussing the Paleo diet along with another (can't remember the name right now) during tonight's pre-workout discussion.

My question is:

My workouts are normally at 6pm. I get off a good bit before my workouts (around 4) so I could eat something hearty if needed but I just don't know quantity or what to eat. I'm seeing that my energy levels are pretty taxed out about 3/4 of the way through the workouts. Much of this could just be because of my cardio levels but I (and my trainers) suspect some of the cause is coming from energy levels.

So, what is a good example of a pre-workout supplement to take; if any? Are the G2 packets by Gatorade any good? A guy at work who is into workouts and nutrition a lot more than I am swears by a Cliff Bar 1 hour prior to workout. Are the Cliff Bars any good? I don't know enough about them or a pre-workout eating routine to place more than a passing reliance on his input.

I'm looking for more energy for the workouts but right now it may just be a function of doing it enough to build the cardio needed to get through the workouts. I'm good either way...I just want to be educated enough to know what's going on and when to begin making some tweaks and changes to get more out of the workouts.