One Journey Ends, Another Starts

Since September I have been going to the local Goodlife gym. Today was my last day, as on Monday I am starting my assessment week with CrossFit Fredericton. Goodlife has suited its purpose for the last few months, but I'm looking to get more out of my workouts and I think I can learn a lot from Tony, Jodi, and the rest of the coaches at CrossFit.

Nevertheless, I am proud at how far I have gotten in a few months. While these surely are not stellar numbers, here is where I ended up on my major lifts

Deadlift - 185lbs
Bench Press - 135lbs
Squat - 125lbs (at full depth - ass to the ground as they say)
Overhead Press - 100lbs

My conditioning times have improved as well but I have not duplicated them enough to bother listing times.

Looking forward to seeing where this new path takes me ....

Food-Exercise Log 12-16-11

Breakfast
Beef Sausage & Sauerkraut
Scrambled Eggs

8:00am Workout
Overhead Press 6 sets @ 5 reps (55/65/75/85/95/100)
Deadlift 6 sets @ 5 reps (100/120/140/160/175/185)

No conditioning today :(

Lunch
Spinach Salad
Lebanese Sausage & Sauerkraut

Food-Exercise Log 12-14-11

Sorry I've been absent lately folks, will resume regular posting again soon. Busy month as you can all imagine.

Noon Workout Yesterday
Bench Press 6 sets @ 5 reps (75/90/105/115/125/135)

1/4 Murph of:
100 single unders
25 chinups
50 pushups
75 squats

Broken into 2 rounds. Time today was 8:20. Time a couple weeks ago was 14:57. Not a bad improvement.

Noon Workout Today
Squats 6 sets @ 5 reps (70/85/95/105/115/125)

50 single unders
400 m row
30 pushups
20 squats @ 95lbs
10 thrusters @ 65lbs

Time: 6:50.

Food-Exercise Log 12-11-11

8:00am Breakfast
Coconut Smoothie

8:30am Workout
Overhead Press 6 sets @ 5 reps (55/65/75/85/95/100)

3 Rounds of (for time):
50 Single Unders
10 Pullups
10 Thrusters (55lbs)

Time: 7:54

10:00am Breakfast
Scrambled Eggs
Sausage
Sauerkraut

Previous Day    Next Day

Food-Exercise Log 12-9-11

6:30am Breakfast
Omelet (eggs, onion, peppers, lamb, avocado)
Sauerkraut

10:30am Workout
Deadlift 6 sets @ 5 reps (

10 minutes for as many rounds of:
6 KettleBell Swings (55lbs)
50 single unders
6 burpees

Results: 5 rounds + 6 KB Swings + 12 single unders

Noon Lunch
Sweet Potato & Apple, pan fried in coconut oil, coconut milk, & green curry paste
Lamb
Sauerkraut

2:30pm Snack
Plum
Jerky

5:30pm Supper
Slow-roasted pork roast
Spinach Salad (spinach, lettuce, red onion, olive oil, balsamic vinegar)

Previous Day    Next Day

Food-Exercise Log 12-7-11

6:30am Breakfast
Bacon & Eggs

8:30am Workout
Bench Press 6 sets @ 5 reps (75/90/105/115/125/135)

In 12 minutes, as many round of:
50 single-unders
200m Bike (lvl 12 resistance)
15 sumo high-pulls (50lbs)
200m Bike (lvl 12 resistance)

Results:

150 single-unders (3 rounds)
30 sumo high-pulls (2 rounds)
1km Bike (5 rounds)

Noon Lunch
Gluten-free Pizza (yes, not even close to Paleo, was not my choice ;)

5:00pm Supper
6oz Wild Pacific Salmon
Spinach Salad (spinach, red onion, avocado, bacon, olive oil, balsamic vinegar)
Coconut Smoothie

Previous Day    Next Day

Food-Exercise Log 12-6-11

6:30am Breakfast
Egg Scramble (2 eggs, red onion, peppers, leftover grass fed beef roast)
Coffee

Noon Workout
Back Squats 6 sets @ 5 reps (65/75/85/95/105/115)

8 Minutes as many rounds of
25 single-unders
15 squats

Result: 4 rounds + 15 single-unders

Stretch

1:00pm Lunch
Spicy Sweet Potato bake (sweet potato, apple, coconut oil, coconut milk, extra green curry paste)
Grass-fed Ground Beef

5:00pm Supper
Curry Chicken (chicken, coconut milk, garlic, ginger, curry powder)
Steamed Broccoli & Cauliflower

Previous Day    Next Day

Food-Exercise Log 12-5-11

6:30am Breakfast
Scrambled Eggs
Beef Sausage
Coconut Smoothie

Snack
Paleo Stix

Noon Lunch
Salad (chicken, bacon, spinach, red onion)
Balsamic Dressing (olive oil, balsamic vinegar)
Plum

5:00pm Supper
Shepherds Pie (grass fed ground beef, sweet potato, corn*)

Previous Day    Next Day

Food-Exercise Log 12-4-2011

8:00 Pre-Workout Snack
1 banana

8:30am Workout
Overhead Press 6 sets @ 5 reps ()

3 Rounds of:
21 Burpees
15 Kettlebell Swings (55lbs)
9 Thrusters (65lbs)

Result: 12:53

9:30am Breakfast
Paleo Pumpkin Pancakes
Beef Sausage
Sauerkraut

5:00pm Supper
Mashed Potato
Beef Roast
Sauerkraut

Previous Day    Next Day

Food-Exercise Log 12-2-11

7:00am Breakfast
Scrambled Eggs
Bacon
Coconut Smoothie

10:00am Workout
Deadlift 6 set @ 5 reps (90/110/130//145/155/165)

2 rounds of:
25 single unders
13 chinups
25 pushups
38 squats
25 single unders

Result: 14:57

Stretch

11:00am Lunch
Wild Boar
Sweet Potato, Apple, pan fried in coconut oil, coconut milk, green curry paste

6:00pm Supper
Sirloin Steak
Shrimp
Steamed Broccoli & Carrot

Previous Day    Next Day

Food-Exercise Log 12-3-11

8:00am Breakfast
Scrambled Eggs
Bacon
Coconut Smoothie

5:00pm Supper
Ground Wild Boar
Guacamole
Sauerkraut
Spinach & Red Onion

Previous Day    Next Day

NorCal Margarita

As some of you already know, in addition to getting geeked out on all this nutrition and fitness stuff, I am also a software developer. As much as I love developing software, I am also a big fan of getting out and being social. This was my primary motivation for joining my local user group and then subsequently becoming a co-organizer. If you are in the Fredericton area feel free to check us out at http://frederictonug.net. The group is not only for software developers but IT folks in general so feel free to come out and socialize a bit.

So what exactly does this have to do with the NorCal Margarita? Well we generally hit up the Garrison Ale House post-meeting to have a drink and socialize outside of the usual classroom style atmosphere. While I love my beer (and the Garrison has a huge international beer menu), beer does not always love me. So lately my drink of choice for post-meeting has been the NorCal Margarita, made famous by Robb Wolf himself.

Last night a few folks got curious enough to try it with me, and then inquired about why I chose this drink. Robb mentions the drink in his book (The Paleo Solution) but does not really go into the 'why' about it. I did remember looking it up once but the explanation escaped me at the moment.

So, for those interested here it is.

NorCal Margarita

• 2 shots of 100% agave tequila (I prefer Patron Silver as its the only decent tequila in NB)
• Juice & Pulp of one lime
• Shake it all up with some ice
• Add soda water to taste

I generally half the recipe when I'm out as two shots is one shot too many for me in a social atmosphere where I also plan to drive home in a couple hours (don't drink and drive folks!).

So WHY is this an effective drink. Here are the goods on what I could find.

• Tequila is delicious.
• Tequila is fermented agave juice, which makes it gluten- or and starch-free. Gluten, as nutrition geeks know, is a gut irritant and just generally bad stuff, and starches are way too dense with unnecessary carbs.
• Lime juice blunts the insulin response of the alcohol, maintaining your precious and hard-earned insulin sensitivity.
• The lime juice also provides a net alkaline load when it gets to the blood stream, which is a good thing. Most other foods provide a net acid load, and it’s nice to balance that out.
• The carbon dioxide bubbles in the soda water help get the ethanol into your blood more quickly. This has the practical effect of allowing you to drink a bit less for the same effect.

So there you have it. Minimal damage, maximum gain :D