Nutrition

The CrossFit dietary prescription is as follows:

Protein should be lean and varied and account for about 30% of your total caloric load.
Carbohydrates should be predominantly low-glycemic and account for about 40% of your total caloric load.
Fat should be predominantly monounsaturated and account for about 30% of your total caloric load.
Calories should be set at between .7 and 1.0 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass depending on your activity level. The .7 figure is for moderate daily workout loads and the 1.0 figure is for the hardcore athlete.

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Zone Diet">Zone Diet


What Should I Eat?

In plain language, base your diet on garden vegetables, especially greens, lean meats, nuts and seeds, little starch, and no sugar. That's about as simple as we can get. Many have observed that keeping your grocery cart to the perimeter of the grocery store while avoiding the aisles is a great way to protect your health. Food is perishable. The stuff with long shelf life is all circumspect. If you follow these simple guidelines you will benefit from nearly all that can be achieved through nutrition.

The Caveman or Paleolithic Model for Nutrition

Modern diets are ill suited for our genetic composition. Evolution has not kept pace with advances in agriculture and food processing resulting in a plague of health problems for modern man. Coronary heart disease, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, obesity and psychological dysfunction have all been scientifically linked to a diet too high in refined or processed carbohydrate. Search "Google" for Paleolithic nutrition, or diet. The return is extensive, compelling, and fascinating. The Caveman model is perfectly consistent with the CrossFit prescription.

What Foods Should I Avoid?

Excessive consumption of high-glycemic carbohydrates is the primary culprit in nutritionally caused health problems. High glycemic carbohydrates are those that raise blood sugar too rapidly. They include rice, bread, candy, potato, sweets, sodas, and most processed carbohydrates. Processing can include bleaching, baking, grinding, and refining. Processing of carbohydrates greatly increases their glycemic index, a measure of their propensity to elevate blood sugar.

What is the Problem with High-Glycemic Carbohydrates?

The problem with high-glycemic carbohydrates is that they give an inordinate insulin response. Insulin is an essential hormone for life, yet acute, chronic elevation of insulin leads to hyperinsulinism, which has been positively linked to obesity, elevated cholesterol levels, blood pressure, mood dysfunction and a Pandora's box of disease and disability. Research quot;hyperinsulinism" on the Internet. There's a gold mine of information pertinent to your health available there. The CrossFit prescription is a low-glycemic diet and consequently severely blunts the insulin response.

Caloric Restriction and Longevity

Current research strongly supports the link between caloric restriction and an increased life expectancy. The incidence of cancers and heart disease sharply decline with a diet that is carefully limited in controlling caloric intake. “Caloric Restriction” is another fruitful area for Internet search. The CrossFit prescription is consistent with this research.
The CrossFit prescription allows a reduced caloric intake and yet still provides ample nutrition for rigorous activity.

Become Legendary

FEEL THE BURN

I had the privilidge of working out with a fellow crossfitter at the gym the other day. We had a great work out and I hope to do it again soon.

10 box jump 20"/20"
15 ball slams 15#/8#
20 squats (air)

x5 rounds through
Our times were just seconds apart and we pushed each other through the workout which is what it's all about. We came in at 8:48 and 8:54. Great job and thanks Mark.

HOW AM I DIFFERENT?

We will run, jump, climb, push, pull, lift, press, squat, carry, throw, and catch. We will use body weight, medicine balls, free weights, plyo boxes, jump ropes, and pull up bars. We do so using OUR ENTIRE BODY; not isolating a certain muscle group. By doing this, we properly and equally tax and exhaust every major muscle group, which in turn makes you work much harder, in turn burning more calories and increasing your heart rate more than you ever will with other methods. Remember if you can read while 'working out' you aren't working.

The workouts I will have you do, are the same workouts for everyone. They are the same workouts I do. The intensity and weight/load resistance is adapted to each individual’s current fitness levels. CrossFit requires less equipment, but requires professional expertise on my part. You will never be bored. The only time you repeat a workout is to benchmark progress.My style of training is geared for:

1. engaging and recruiting multiple muscle groups simultaneously
2. using intervals to exercise the body’s metabolic systems (cardio)
3. performance in a safe, effective and timely manner

The goal is performance; not weight gain or weight loss. Frequency, round/circuit times, pounds moved, rest periods taken and intensity are all measured, observed and repeated. This information is your personal motivational tool for your next attempt when benchmark workouts are revisited. Weight and body measurements are discouraging for most and often not an accurate gauge of fitness capacity, which is why I frown on administering them.

Training takes place in small groups. (IDEALLY) Group training offers a high level of personal attention with the addition of positive peer influence. Natural camaraderie, competition and fun of sport yield an intensity that is unparalleled and cannot be experienced in one-on-one training. You are motivated to push harder in a group dynamic. It is also less expensive.

This method fosters teamwork, camaraderie, motivation, focus, and a sense of belonging. I hope to foster a fitter, healthier person, rather than building bigger muscles and smaller waistlines. I combine strength training and cardio using a different workout every day that is both timely and effective because to routine is the enemy.

The only requirement I have is that you commit to giving me your best effort. I commit to providing safe, efficient and effective elite fitness to those who find me an attractive alternative to the mainstream workout!

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WHY ARE YOU SO INSANE ABOUT CROSSFIT?

I get asked this quite a bit. Why do you like CrossFit so much? Why do you push yourself so hard? A fellow trainer made a comment tonight and said 'Man you are pretty intense' I looked at him and said 'yup' like there was no other way to be when it comes to fitness. I understand that what I do will unfortunately be rejected by some and I also understand that my opinion may not be accepted but I try here to shed light on the burning question everyone wants to ask me when I am at the gym...

Why Do you workout like that?

Who really relies on the results of their fitness to preserve their lives? Military Personnel, Law Enforcement Officers and Fire Fighters.

What is being adopted throughout the Canadian Military, Special Forces communities (most notably The US Navy SEALS ), Secret Service, US Marshals, FBI, ATF and many other people who rely on fitness to preserve their lives? CrossFit. When it comes to an endeavor where being weak costs you your life, they do CrossFit.

Most of us do not require that level of fitness in our daily lives. So why train this hard? If you look at a continuum when on one side is residing in a nursing home and the other end the decathlete (Or similar well rounded capable individual), ask this simple question: Which place do I want to be in?

Time, aging, and lifestyle conspire to put us in long term care homes and alike. The harder we pull toward the elite fitness side of the continuum, the further away we are from the nursing home. If teaching a 57 year old woman to dead lift 200 plus pounds seems extreme, think of the grandmother who can’t pick up her 20 lb grandson. Which place do you want to be in?

Very few of us will get to the level of being on the main CrossFit website for some outstanding physical feat. However, we can ALL work diligently to give our best effort in order to accomplish the maximum results our age and ability allow us to achieve.

All the training I do is influenced largely by CrossFit principles. Whether it is Sport Conditioning, Personal Training, or Group Training, much of what I do is based on functional exercises (life activities, sport, survival), executed at high intensity that is varied to the point of near randomness.

Why? My goal is to create people who are capable in ALL aspects of fitness.

When the Navy SEAL Teams and Special Forces adopt Swiss balls as a major tool to keep them alive when it counts, I will use them. Until that time, we (myself and clients) will do CrossFit.

– Adapted from the writings of Doug Chapman

If it is good enough for these people, then it is good enough for me. Besides if I am going to spend time doing something, I want to make sure I am getting the most bang for my time. It's like Dad's everywhere around the world. If you are going to do something, you may as well do it to the best of your ability, otherwise why are you doing it?

WHAT I DO

What I Do

I design each training session utilizing fundamentally sound scientific principles. I employ a back to basics, minimalist style of training focusing on primal movement and total body, multi-joint exercises designed to benefit even the most sedentary individual while still punishing the elite athlete. Each plan is unique and is structured to maximize performance in the 10 Fitness Domains.

My approach is consistent with what is practiced in elite training programs associated with major university athletic teams and professional sports. No one would argue that athletes in these programs are some of the fittest people in the world – but make no mistake, these individuals have to work extremely hard to reach and maintain those levels of fitness.

My goal is to bring these coaching and training techniques to both athletes and the general public who do not have access to current technologies, methodologies and research.

It is true that genetics do play a role in this equation; however the most elite athletes in the world dedicate a great deal of time practicing and training. Unfortunately, TIME in the gym does not necessarily correlate to results. It is quality of work and not quantity that Forges Elite Fitness rather than pretend fitness.

In other words, doing “an hour of cardio is going to turn you into someone who is capable of doing an hour of cardio. Twenty minutes of hard sprinting will turn you into someone who can sprint, jump, lift, AND do an hour of cardio. Everyone thinks they work hard. Most of them are wrong. The harder you make ‘hard work’, the more progress you will make”.
(Jon Gilson – CrossFit Affiliate / Owner)

Half Life

I learned today that the polyunsaturated fat (the bad fat) has a half life of 115 days. Interesting huh? Why is this important to know? It isn't. All it means is that if you have a serving of fries from your favourite fast food joint, it would be in your system for infinity unless of course your energy system burned it off (which it would, so you will not be carrying it infinitely) Thanks to Dan for correcting me on my math.
Here is the formula for you nerdy people out there.

M=c(1/2)^t/h

But never mind the technical stuff. All you need to take away from this lesson class, is that polyunsaturated fat is bad...... read food labels, it's in more than you think. But you already knew that right?

Heeeeere's Johnny!

Yes the blog did to sleep for a while, but no Dan, it definitely did not die. I am alive and well, and so is the blog. Between everything that I have on the go now, I don't have much spare time for blogging. I apoligize to all my readers. I had those right? Oh well start from scratch again...

This time around will be a little different because this will be used as a blog for my clients as well. I will write articles on different things fitness related and hopefully you find it helpfull. If not always write in and comment or email works too.

I'm back!