Getting Back To The Grind

The workouts of the day are as follows.
1K row followed immediately by 10 muscle ups.
Wendler bench press phase 1.
5 rounds of heavy back squat (250 lbs.) followed immediately by as many chest to bar pull ups as possible.

I was supposed to go to Jiu Jitsu tonight and I assure you I was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, my muffler fell off. Needless to say, I needed to handle that situation. I will be back to Jitsu full time next month. Until then, I'll be doing as much work as I can. Much needed rest day tomorrow.Victory is eminent.

The Time Capsule

I had a pretty fantastic workout this morning. After getting breakfast on the way home I decided to stop by my place of employment to see if they needed my assistance for a tent sale that was going on. Once I figured out that my assistance was less then needed, I spent a majority of my time in my room abusing Netflix on my computer. 

I was watching American Chopper when this thought popped into my head "Hey guy, we haven't looked at our Myspace page in awhile." The next logical step was to Google it. What I found was a flood of memories that have been happily sitting in the back of my head. It was literally a time capsule. One of which was in the blog section of my page and the reality is, it's probably one of the most profound moments of my life. Here we go, a short trip to my past. 

Jul 23, 2009

Realization time suckuhs!!

Current mood:relieved

I was shaving my face, and I had the realization that I am finally completely over this whole divorce thing. Shit man. It took almost 5 years. Five Finger Death Punch was practically the sound track for it. My main weapon against all that shit was my friends and family. Thanks to all for your support, to many to name at the moment. Second was work. Thanks to Fratelli Pizza for that. Third was my mixed martial arts training. Thanks to Mario Gomez, Mike Alonzo, and Peak Team for helping me with that. Through mma, I've got most of my confidence back, I've lost 50 lbs, and I've had the experience of having to straighten out my own nose, just like in the movies! That was one of the worst and best things that has ever happened to me. I'm looking forward to the next 5 years of my life. Never Die Co. + 5 years = EPIC. Believe it. Ready to do work.

This epiphany came about on July 23, 2009. It was a pretty big deal for me to get completely over that business and move on with my life. I went on to meet the woman who, to this point anyway, is the love of my life. Even though we aren't together anymore, we keep in touch and talk on a regular basis. This woman means the world to me and encouraged me to go to school full time in pursuit of a promising career. I have lost some serious weight since then, as evidenced in the picture below. I have fought in a cage and competed in 3 Jiu Jitsu tournaments. I have trained with professional cage fighters and CrossFit has changed my life. I bought my first car on my own. My best friend married a beautiful woman that came with 3 incredible children. I've evolved into a better, stronger, faster and more motivated and positive person. There is nowhere for me to go but up. Thank you to everybody that has supported me through all of this. Stay tuned, I'm going all out. 

As promised, this is a picture of the very unmotivated, un healthy, and generally un happy individual that I used to be and will never be again. 

Paleo?

I want to start this post by saying I can't stand the word "Paleo". It drives me crazy. One of the common occurrences in the CrossFit community is newer athletes trying the Paleo diet. They start asking if this is Paleo or if that's Paleo. For instance, we were gathering at a local restaurant called Busters. One of the newer athletes was there with us blabbing on and on about how Paleo everything is. She orders a steak with veggies and a Diet Coke. Diet Coke is not Paleo.

Ok, now that I got that off my chest, I can commence with the rest of this post. I know your asking yourself "I wonder what this guy is eating?""How did he change his diet for the nutrition challenge?" Well let me tell you. I started off by becoming really good friends with black coffee. That is a huge step for me. Next step is to cut out all sugar. The next thing to go is dairy. The final step is cutting out anything and everything that has to do with wheat or flour. This includes breads, pastas, tortillas and things of that nature. Essentially, it's the Paleo diet. But as I stated in the previous paragraph, I can't stand that word. I just call it eating healthier.

I just realized that I haven't answered the real question. What am I eating? The answer is fruit, veggies, meat, nuts, and seeds. I have been using my crock pot quite a bit. Crock pots are exactly how I need to cook. I put stuff in there. I go about my day. I come home and eat it. It's the best invention ever. Here is one of my favorite recipes from one of my favorite websites. http://paleomg.com/enchilada-chicken-stew/. Here is the recipe for the fine meal I will be having this evening. http://paleomg.com/sweet-chili-lime-shrimp-and-chicken-lettuce-wraps/. I follow this website quite a bit. One of the best things about it is that it has a treats page in order to satisfy your sweet tooth in the healthiest way possible. My favorite treat thus far is the sweet potato brownies. I assure you they are fantastic. One of my new favorite treats is 2-3 spoonfuls of almond butter, poor a little bit of coconut milk in there, stir it up and add blue berries. Its pretty fantastic. If I eat out, I eat a lot of salads. Most restaurants have just chicken or steak and they will allow you to have extra veggies for your sides.

There you have it. I have been cooking a lot as you can see. I used to think I didn't have time. But the great Ryron Gracie said,"If you don't have time to cook, all you have to do is stop doing something else." I'm not going to lie, I feel pretty fantastic right now. I have allowed myself some cheat days so I can enjoy a cup of coffee and some of life's simple pleasures such as pasta or pizza. However, I am going to make a serious effort to keep the ball rolling on this lifestyle change. The hardest part is the holidays. And they are coming up quick. Enjoy the recipes!

This Is Legit

http://breakingmuscle.com/mind-body/just-love-bleep-out-it

One Month Down

I've been eating really well lately. I've been pretty danged disciplined for the last month actually. Giving myself one cheat day a week, I have lost 10 lbs. total. This month is a whole other story. No more cheat days for me. Our gym is doing a nutrition challenge. I don't have the money to do it, so I will do it in the shadows. I will be a ninja nutritionist. Here are some recent pics of my progress. Lets see if I can get back down to 185 lbs!

Back On The Wagon

I hit the breaking point a few weeks ago. I stepped on the scale and it read 215 lbs. It's time to get back on the wagon and start eating right. I started eating badly over the holidays. Granted it was phenomenal food, but I gained 15 lbs. over the course of a month and a half. Long story short, I never cleaned up my diet and I kept the weight on. Now I'm dedicated like you read about. I'm back to eating healthy and allow myself 1 cheat day a week. Below are the before pictures I took at 213 lbs. I'll post some at the end of every month to show my progress.

Final Workout Of The CrossFit Open

The last workout of the Crossfit Open has been completed. It was the same final workout from last year. I did a lot better this year and I'm pretty excited to see how much I had improved. The workout is 3 thrusters at 100 lbs. then 3 chest to bar pull ups. Then 6 of each, then 9, then 12 and so on for the full 7 minutes.

Last year I hit myself in the chin with the bar on the third thruster of the first set. Needless to say, I was very angry and over the workout as soon as it began. The end result was 45 rep effort. This time, I knew I wasn't going to qualify for regionals so I just wanted to have fun with it. At the end of the day I ended up with a 68 rep effort the second time.

The only athlete from our gym that made it to regionals is Katie Brown. The regionals are located in Denver, Colorado. We are packing an RV full of CrossFitters and driving out there. Its going to be an insane amount of fun and you better believe that I'm going to document everything.