Cheat Days

The most common question when it comes to diets….do you have cheat meals? You will get many different answers when it comes to this because it’s a subject that is up in the air and can go either way. Some say cheat days are good, some say they are bad. Now I am no doctor so don’t quote me on this but, I think cheat meals are necessary and should be incorporated with everyone’s diet a few times a month.
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I think were all familiar with this lovely picture to the left. The oh so healthy..carb free…sugar free..fat free…In N Out 🙂 This actually happened to be my cheat meal last weekend, consisted of 2 double-doubles with animal style fries and a chocolate/vanilla shake (yep pulled the combo). Not familair with animal style? Check out the secret menu it’s a goodie.

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What a wonderful chart, I couldn’t say it any better myself. You should have fun and have a great cheat meal. Cheat meals are meant to be apart of your diet journey, satisfy yourself. The whole purpose of a cheat meal is to give yourself something to look forward to, so that you don’t feel the overwhelming intensity of “NEVER”, but you are being reasonable. You must reward yourself for all the hard work and meal prepping you do. There is no better feeling than waking up and not worrying about making that same chicken and vegetables mean and just ordering a pizza. On the other hand, your tastes and digestion changes with a clean eating lifestyle. So when you do indulge on that certain cheat meal it may not taste as good (so it doesn’t seem worth it), or it also may cause a digestive upset (I have witnessed this one), so that even if you enjoyed the taste, it may not be worth it to have again. Overtime you may even choose to have smaller portions of your cheat meal and not order the whole menu and consume as much to the point where you feel sick.

All in all, cheat meals should be apart of every diet. You work too hard to not treat yourself a few days out of the month. Just don’t get too crazy with it, limit yourself to 1-2 a week at most. To me, weekends should be the days to do them. Now go on out and hit the In-n-Out drive thru, you won’t regret it. If you want to see more pros and cons, Raw has a great article on the pros and cons that come with cheat days. Go have a cheat meal…then hit the gym the following Monday….and REPEAT weekly. You won’t regret it. Have a great day.

Community Saturday

Every Saturday is open house at my gym, Double Edge. Soooo, feel free to drop in to our 8am or 9am class! Anyone is welcome whether you are a first timer or you are a member who wants to bring in family and friends. A healthy community is a strong community! Our slogan is fitness founded on community and by walking in on any given day you will see that. The picture to the left seems like just another CrossFit class but, it’s not. Today, the coaches switched things up and had a little fun with it. Something that works great for community day so all that who is not members…would want to be members, I know I had a lot of fun and WOW, what a workout. Rather than the usual; warm-up, strength, and WOD, the coaches pretty much had us make the workout and choose our own path to almost passing out. I am sharing this because I think it is something that all gyms should do at some point in time, great way to spice things up and have some fun.

First, he gathered us all in a circle and told us we had 30 seconds to think of different Crossfit movements and he would randomly call on us. The first person asked responded with Overhead Squats (not the easiest movement that’s for sure), picking a number between 10-15 was then asked…12 the answer. The next person answered with pull-ups and the number 6, followed by medicine ball slams and picking the number 15. Last, the coach asked for a number between 8-12…8 was the answer. The workout was as follows:
8 Min AMRAP
12 OH Squats
6 Pull-Ups
15 Med Ball Slams (20-40lbs)

The second after we finished the workout he called us all back over to the front…if you couldn’t guess already, we weren’t finished. He asked one of the girls up front to choose a body movement (no weight/barbells), Burpees was the response. Instead of asking us for another movement, the our coach picked 3 people to pick 3 numbers between 10-15. The results of these random numbers made up for the following workout from hell.
13 Rounds:
15 Seconds o/ most burpees you can do (fell in range of 4-7)
10 Sec Rest

At this moment I was soaked with sweat. The first 2 rounds I got 6 and 7, I then never made it back up that high. I was ready to be done after this but NOPE, that wasn’t the case. ANOTHERRR WOD was to be made. Laughter began as we gathered once again, knowing that this last one will really kick our butt. I have never had more fun while suffering before in my life. The last workout that was put together was by far the hardest to me. The movements that were shouted out by the various people in class consisted of DU’s (Double Jump Rope), box jumps, and push-ups. The coach added a few numbers together that were given to him and made up the following:
15 Min AMRAP (As many Rounds Possible “for those that didn’t click on prior link”):
13 DUs
6 Box Jumps
14 Push-Ups

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Yep, let’s just say that was how the ground looked when I finished the 3-in-1 workout. This was the first time we have done something like this and I hope it happens more often because it really was a lot of fun. I think it is a great way to get people to join our CrossFit gym. Community days just got even better in my book. So those of you in the Reno area, what do you have planned next Saturday? If your available at 8 or 9 come on down and join us. Hit the gym, drink a protein shake, make some gains, and stay tuned for more. Have a good night.

No Gym? No Problem!

The great thing about CrossFit is that you can find so many different workouts online and do them on your own. Of course you can’t do each and every workout as is because there is some equipment you don’t have access to (unless you buy on your own of course). For example, I attend Double Edge but I am also a member at 24hr fitness and I found the workout today online that my gym posts which consisted of back squats for the strength portion, and the WOD was as follows: 5 Pull Ups, 10 Push Ups, 15 Air squats, as many rounds possible in 20 minutes. This is one example of the, OH SO MANY workouts that you could do on your own. Many can even be accomplished outside with little equipment. The CrossFit WOD Generator is another one of the many sites that produces different daily workouts for you to see. Today’s workout on the site consisted of 75 Thrusters @ 95lbs, 7 push ups at the top of each minute, and a 3K run at the end. Obviously if you don’t have a bar for thrusters you can scale it or if you have a gym membership to a regular gym then just use one of their bars and move to an open area. Air squats or burpees would be options to substitute thrusters for.

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Perfect example to the left, no boxes? No Problem! You also see lots of workouts with tires, this is a great object to invest in, or even find one for free. I know that some workouts can not be done but you get what I am saying. Worst case you can pay for a few items of equipment (kettlebell, jump-rope, barbell, and a few weights) or just scale it to what works for you. Regardless of what you do, you will still be lying on the ground upon finishing. Not only will it be great workout, but it will also be at a time that is convenient for you but. Not to mention the tons of money you will save since CrossFit gyms can be a bit pricy, $130 for me.

CrossFit “Forging Elite Fitness,” is a great site to start off on. Not only does it offer workouts and eating tips, but it also has a FAQ page which discusses different substitutes for certain workouts that either are too advanced for you, or lack of equipment (genius I know). I think all of these websites are great ideas and should for sure be utilized if your not able to make it to a CrossFit gym due to time constraints or money. So give it a shot, try some on your own, have fun with it. I know that I plan to do a few on weekends when I can’t go to my gym. I plan on looking at a few different ones online and combining what I feel that I could do with the lack of equipment I have. Follow for more, have a great day.
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No bar? No Problem…. Just grab a log. Always remember, have fun with it, and be safe.

The Paleo Lifestlye!

Nutrition, a very important part in the sport that is, CrossFit. With nutrition comes a type of diet that I am sure you have all heard about, Paleo. You couldn’t have a conversation with a CrossFitter for 20 minutes without hearing the word Paleo come up. If it’s not Paleo then it’s “The Zone Diet,” which I will cover in later blogs. Paleo comes from the word Paleolithic (prehistoric period of human history). The name was coined from the Greek meaning Stone Age in which the period was characterized by the use of chipped stone tools to catch food. Food… what kind of food does the Paleo Diet consist of? Easy, pretty much anything a caveman could of ate, nothing processed. It’s an effort to eat like we use to back in the day. If it doesn’t swim, fly, walk, have green color, or grow in the ground you SHOULDN’T be consuming it– beef, poultry, fish, nuts, leafy greens, fibrous veggies, and seeds are the GOODS. So easy a caveman can do it.

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We existed as a species 150,000 years ago, the agricultural revolution didn’t happen until 10,000 years ago, which means we had 140,000 years without grains. So, we were forced to learn to thrive as a species without grains (or else we wouldn’t be here). The Paleo Diet is considered a lifestyle change because lets be for real, who likes to count calories or weigh their foods every time. Counting calories isn’t even considered equal, is 400 calories of chips the same as 400 calories of vegetables? UMMM NO. Some critics call it a fad diet , but lets be honest, Paleo is here to stay.

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The hardest part about Paleo for me has been the no grains. I have always eaten brown rice with my meals. Also, the dairy part as well because I grew up eating yogurt and drinking milk with my breakfast. Now, I have leaned towards almond milk which I absolutely love and I have brown rice and quinoa with some of my meals still. So, I guess you can say I’m not “strict-strict” paleo, maybe around 80% because I also have my cheat meals on the weekends. I never have eaten sweet potatoes until just recently, way better for you than regular potatoes because your avoiding those unnecessary starches and substituting it for unprocessed carbs. Our bodies weren’t designed for massive dairy consumption and that’s why animal don’t consume milk past infancy, and Hunter-gatherers didn’t lug cows around with them while traveling.

When it comes to the meats we want them GRASS-Fed rather than grain fed. Vegetables of course are great for you (unless they are fried,duh). When using oil think NATURAL, coconut oil, olive oil, avocado oil, etc. You get your sugars from fruit and fruits are GREAT carbs just make sure you limit intake if your trying to lose weight. My go to snack is almonds, they are high in calories and better than snacking on Hot Cheetos. I also eat sweet potatoes for lunch after a workout to replenish my glycogen levels, as should you. Think about the following:
OUR genes are 99% the same as our caveman ancestors and grains were NEVER a part of their diet, so why should it be apart of our everyday consumption.

Going out to eat can be tough, just think about this; a normal breakfast in the US consists of bagels, muffins, toast, cereal, or donuts. NONE of those things have any nutritional value and are loaded with useless carbs and calories, not nutritious at all. Go for something along the lines of a few eggs with broccoli, some avocado , and a handful of almonds. BOOM EASY AS THAT. Paleo can be done with careful planning and will-power, if I can do it then so can you. Try it for 30 days and you will see a change in your body and if your like me, and can’t 100% throw away grains or another item, then just work on minimizing those foods and you will see your body adjust (FOR THE BETTER). More things on Paleo to come…Now as always, GO HIT THE GYM. Until next time, have a great day.