Crossfit Juice Fast #2

    Well, I'm on the wagon again. This is my second crossfit biochemistry hack. I'm drinking fresh fruit & veggie juices at least twice a day. They have been mostly carrot, apple, celery, beet, strawberry, spinach, lemon, grapefruit with a little mango, blackberry, broccoli, cantaloupe, ginger, blueberry, & pineapple thrown in for good measure. I prepare anywhere from 20-40oz of juice at a time and drink it immediately to maximize my absorption of the nutrients before they can oxidize and/or degrade. Some are great, some are meh, some are just nutrition. 
    Protein is the missing piece of the puzzle when considering a juice fast and simultaneously pursuing an aggressive training regimen. Therefore, I drink a little over 50grams of whey protein powder immediately post WOD mixed with 20oz of unsweetened almond milk and have the same shake before bed. I have used my preworkout supplement, 1 scoop of Jack 3d, for three of the four days. The caffeine in it helps me push harder and dig a little deeper. In fact, studies show it raises pain threshold and contributes to an average of about a 15% increase in power output. This has been a very good week of workouts.  
    I did an hour of yoga on Sun after I started the fast at noon and have completed one WOD (workout of the day) the last four days. My stamina has not been an issue. Strength has not been an issue. In fact, I set a new PR (personal record) for my rear squat this week. It was only 215lb, but I could barely muster 155lb to the proper crossfit squat depth when I started. Plus my form, if you want to call it that, was shit. Tuesday was Barbara (a deceptively difficult girl). We also did a crazy "Death by 10m" shuttle run on Wed. in which I performed well (16 rounds + 16 runs of the 17th round). Today was a metcon (metabolic conditioning) WOD from hell and I never hit the wall or had to rest an inordinate amount of time. My time was 23:33rx and I beat my competitive partner!

For time:

400m row buy in:
then
4 rounds:
10 push press 115lb
20 box jumps 24in
then
4 rounds:
10 burpees
20 kb swings 53lb
then
400m run cash out

Weight-203.6lb new all time low!

emotional status-irritated (hungry?)

Stamina-fine during WODs, but sluggish at other times

    This second fast has been much easier to abide by mentally. I've been here before and I know what it feels like. There really isn't any anxiety about food of the workouts. I understand my connection to my food and my addiction to it. The guts have been fine too (not the case the first couple days last time). It's as if my body just said, "yeah, ok... I remember. I got this!"

    I was in Costco today with my daughter and we had a great time talking about healthy natural foods and our choices about what we put into our bodies. My fridge and fruit bowl are filled with healthy options to eat and snack on. I've gotten into the habit of buying fresh vegetables and produce. I really like big green salads sprinkled in a raspberry or balsamic vinaigrette. This may have never happened if I didn't commit myself to experimenting with the juice fast, educating myself about nutrition, taking responsibility for my food choices, and busting my ass on the road, trail, gym, box, driveway, call room at work, etc...

Here is a link to the WODs that we do @ Ignite Fitness in Hoover Ignite Fitness Hoover WODs

Post fast labs and crossfit anniversary

     In one week, I will celebrate one year of doing crossfit workouts of the day (WODs). I've taken one week off this year. Otherwise, I have done 3-6 WODs a week with a little jogging, a mud race, & 10k trail run thrown in for good measure. It has been a great year of humility, pain, fatigue, misery, accomplishment, increasing mental/physical fortitude, stamina, and health.
     I have learned so many new and different movements and exercises this year. My flexibility has improved and I've started doing yoga once a week. I also incorporate many of these stretches into my warmups and cool downs. I am amazed how stiff and rigid my joints had become due to my sedentary job and lack of self maintenance.
      This year of increased activity and self awareness was capped off with the crossfit 7 day juice fast. I completed it about ten days ago. The fast was a great experience that I plan to do at least twice a year, if not quarterly. It helped me become more aware of my emotional connection to food and face those emotions when my drug was unavailable.
     I went to see my doctor last week for the first time in about 15 months. He told me that I was the healthiest person that he would see all day. That made me feel incredible! My weight was down 20lb from last visit (lean mass is up at least 10-12lb). My systolic blood pressure had fallen nearly 40mmHg! However, the biggest change was my blood chemistry.
     Now, keep in mind, this was after a week of nothing but fruits and veggies, followed by some pretty big "thank God I'm eating again" chicken wings and beer. So, not ultra clean living, but a metabolic reboot, mostly sensible paleo meals, and some regular trash food for five days after the fast.


                                  Nov 2010                                                          Feb 2012
Cholesterol mg/dL          198                                                                      148
triglycerides mg/dL         164                                                                       51
LDL calc                        104                                                                       67
calc VLDL                      33                                                                        10
HDL mg/dL                     61                                                                        71
   
Everything improved! LDL (bad) was down and HDL (good) was up. I am truly shocked. I feel very good about how far I've come and I look forward to the road that lies ahead.

Breaking the fast

     I've been eating again for 3 days and it feels good. My guts are still tying to figure it all out, but all is well. The cold is still bothering me. However, the symptoms are still less than the poor little ones. I had a juice yesterday and I'm about to have one for lunch. Today is Valentine's Day, so I'll be taking the family out for dinner tonight. I plan to eat paleocentric for the foreseeable future. 
     Today's WOD was the filthy 50. I don't know how many of you out there have done this workout, but it is a beast. The work never lets up. It's just rep after rep and requires exertion from every muscle in your body. My buddy beat me by about 40sec, but I beat my time from last August by 6 min! I am very happy with 32:40rx. I also kipped all my knees to elbows from the high pull up bar, which is a first.

“Filthy Fifty”
50 box jumps 24"
50 jumping pull ups
50 kb swings 35lb
50 lunges
50 knees2elbow
50 push press 45lb
50 back extensions
50 wall ball 20lb
50 burpees
50 double unders


weight-210.1
emotional status-happy to eat healthy
stamina-felt a bit sluggish a couple of times during todays WOD. the cold, maybe???


     I do miss the pre workout supplement buzz that I used to feel, but I don't want to go back to that. So, I'm going to suck it up and deal with it. Like everything else I've asked my body to do, it will adapt. I think that I will cycle creatine several times to see what, if anything I gain from it (25g in 3 divided doses morning, preWOD, & night. on 3 days. off 3 days) Maybe I'll blog about it. Keep reaching. Keep pushing.
   

7 Day Crossfit Juice Fast-Day 7

     The juice fast draws to a close tonight. It has been a good week and I've made some personal revelations. I have tremendous will power. Not one soda, alcoholic beverage, cooked food, meat, or any other cheat has passed my lips. A juice fast is somewhat extreme, but it is doable. I haven't been that hungry and have had plenty of energy and stamina to perform high intensity physical activity five of the seven days. Lastly, a plant strong diet makes me feel good. I am less sore, I recover faster, I feel better about myself, my choices, and my impact on the planet.

     My cold continues to progress, but my symptoms are mild. Much less pronounced than the kids have experienced. I don't feel bad at all, just a scratchy throat and a little cough. 

     I had a great workout this morning. It was a partner WOD and I got to do it with my buddy who is one of the top guys in our box. I was nervous about keeping up with him, but I did! I never felt too winded to get the work done. We scored over 400! Again, I felt like I could have done a two-a-day.

AMRAP in 3 min, teams of 2 people

Tire flips 350lb
25m shuttle run (5 reps)
game style push ups
sdhp 70lb kb
medicine ball sit up throws 20lb

Score is total number reps
Only one person can be doing work at a time

each team member must stop work and perform 2 burpees on the whistle (every min)

weight-205.1lb (post WOD)

emotional status-happy, grateful

stamina-really, really good. especially considering the week of nights and cold!

     The family and I are going out to breakfast in the morning. I'm excited by this and a little nervous. I'm curious how my body and GI tract will react. I'm going to take it slow. I have missed my old friend bacon, so there is definitely some of that in my future. I think I'll also have some eggs and OJ. 

     The fast has been a good experience and I will probably do it again, maybe once a quarter. Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead calls it a reboot. I like this description. It resets your mind, gut, metabolism, and priorities. If you have any ideas how I can make this process cleaner or better please let me know. Follow and message me on Twitter @Hypnos4hire. 

     

7 Day Crossfit Juice Fast-Day 6

     I have been reading The Hunger Games this week, while I've been playing my own hunger game. I find this ironic and amusing. I think that's a good sign that I still have a decent grasp on my sanity. The book is fun to read, but it goes into explicit detail about food. This is great in an literary sense because we, as the reader, get to feel the hollow emptiness of hunger and the sensuous pleasure derived from feasting on a rich meal. However, it's rough when you are on a juice fast.
     Many of you may wonder how I've had time to do all this juicing. Well, I've been working nights this week. I worked out in the morning and juiced during the day, with the exception of my post WOD protein and took an almond milk protein shake to work. This system has performed well for me, until last night.
     I'm a nurse anesthetist, so some nights are quiet and I rest. Other nights, all hell breaks loose, and I work feverishly until my relief arrives at daybreak. Last night was one of those nights. Today was a rest and recovery day. I mixed up a juice when I got home, drank some protein, and slept all day.
     When I got up, I made another juice and drank another scoop of protein in my almond milk. Today, sticking to the diet was easy! However, I did have a ravenous hunger when I awoke. I don't know what to make of this. The kids have been sick and when I got up around noon to check my renal function, I had a sore throat. So, I think that i'm incubating the bugs. It will be very interesting to see if and how a common cold progresses with my physiology in it's current state.


weight-206.8lb
emotional status-calm, relaxed, little tired
stamina-not tested, but feel ok


     My body still feels great! The lower body work from this week has my quads, hips, and glutes tight, but they don't ache. They do talk to me a little when I flex and stretch, but that's normal. I feel like working all last night was harder than it normally is, don't know if this was a function of the stress and acuity of the cases or the diet. I'm still glad that I chose to do this and continue to learn from it.
favorite juicing moment today: after I woke up super hungry and smelling fresh strawberries and broccoli being juiced together. It was amazing!

7 Day Crossfit Juice Fast-Day 5

     Love your weakness. That's right, love it. Embrace it and nurture it. In both your internal and external dialogue, speak positively about your weakness. Instead of saying "I suck at x" or "I hate to do y", try "x is challenging, but Wow! it's going to be cool when i get it" and "y is uncomfortable and I fail at it sometimes, but I will not give up until I have it mastered!". 
     I began doing yoga this year and have found it tremendously helpful in gaining balance and flexibility, both inner and physiological. One of my personal mantras has always been, "attitude of gratitude". However, I've never really applied this to my body because I've always been pretty unhappy with it. At the end of every yoga class, we hug our knees to our chest, lie in the fetal position, and thank our bodies for serving us, literally showering our physical container with love, respect, and adoration. This has been a beautiful paradigm shift for me. 
     I started today with only about 4.5 hrs of sleep and the WOD this morning was centered around my weakness, squats. I was dreading it since the night before when I saw it on the website. I have a history of low back pain and injury. In addition to this, 21 yrs ago I was in a car wreck that crushed my right ankle. I now have some stiffness and pain in that joint. Then, freshman year at college, 18 yrs ago, I blew out my left ACL hiking. So that joint has some issues too. Now, mix in tight, underdeveloped, largely ignored hip flexors and... you get the idea. Squats are challenging to me. 


Front squat
3-3-3-3-3 (record 3 highest sets)
then
AMRAP in 15 min:
10 front squats 115lb
15 pull ups
25 double unders


weight-206.3lb (post WOD)
emotional status-anxious today (lack of sleep,WOD, hungry???)
stamina-not great today. I failed at 185lb and I have done this wt before. 135lb and 155lb were manageable, but I couldn't dig to that deeper place. I also gassed out during the workout. 


     The food part of today was the easy part. I had a great time working out with my friends and got to spend some quality time with my brother. We made a big Costco run and I restocked the fridge with my last cache of fruits and veggies to carry me out to Sun morning. The diet felt easy and natural. 
     My body continues to recover faster than normal. My soreness is minimal, if at all. I went four rounds deep today and my competitive partner finished fifteen reps ahead of me (~1-2min of work). He has very strong legs and performs 115lb front squats with ease. So, I wasn't terribly disappointed with my output, but I did rest and struggle more than usual. We'll see what tomorrow holds...
favorite juice today: 1 lemon, 1/2 cantaloupe, 3 carrots, 2 cups spinach juice 


*I want to add that despite my previous injuries, I have never been stronger or more flexible in my lower body than I am now. More importantly, the low back pain and weakness I once had is almost completely gone after this year of fitness dedication.*

7 Day Crossfit Juice Fast-Day 4

     Today, I am so thankful for food. It's not that I miss it all that much, I just appreciate it. I am thankful to live in a country that allows me so many wonderful choices and am blessed to have the financial means to afford any food I choose to eat. That being said, today was great. I had a great workout and felt normal throughout. I even had the thought of doing two WODs today, but just a thought...

3 rounds; AMRAP in 1 min:
Ghd sit ups
Row calories
Russian twist 35lb
Box jumps 24"
Jacknives
turkish get ups 35lb
rest 1 minute after each round


weight-208.8lb
emotional status-calm, confident, got my swagger back
stamina-as good, if not better than normal


     This process is about doing, not thinking about, talking about, researching, or bragging. We either do a thing and learn from it or we don't. I'm learning so much about who I am and my relationship with my body. I'm amazed at my willpower. I brought some sausage biscuits home to the family a couple of mornings ago and they ordered pizza tonight. I wasn't even tempted because I'm dedicated to this process. 
     I feel really good. I'm recovering much faster and I'm not feeling as sore as usual. I attribute this to the diet, because nothing else has changed. I've never felt like doing two-a-days before, so this is truly unusual. 
     Juicing may become my new preworkout supplement. The nutrients and sugars energize me. I usually take a scoop of Jack 3d or Superpump 250. I'm letting that go. I don't need it anymore. 
Favorite juice today: 3 carrots, 2 small green apples, 2 stalks celery, large cucumber

7 Day Crossfit Juice Fast-Day 3

     I have heard that day 3 of a juice fast is the toughest. I didn't have this experience today. My energy and mood was good and I only missed the act of eating a couple of times. The morning WOD was heavy, but I set a new PR on consecutive 70lb kettle bell swings (21). I also posted a respectable time (14:56) and beat my competitive partner. It definitely is more challenging right now than day 1, but i'm cool.

For time:
21-15-9 reps
kb swings 70lb
bar facing burpees
push press 95lb

cash out:
800m run

weight-210.3
emotional status-strong, confident
stamina-normal


     My workout went great today. It was an evil mix of strength and cardio. I didn't bonk or hit a wall. I just got normally tired. After that, I worked out in the yard all day trimming hedges and spreading mulch. Then, I picked up the kids, played, and cooked dinner. The whey protein and almond milk must be helping.
     I drank broccoli, carrot, pear, apple juice for breakfast. I've been trying to get a juice in me at least 45 min prior to my WOD. I feel this is imperative to get some gas in the tank. Then, I drink my protein shake within 30min or so before that hyperdynamic, vasodilated, rapid cellular uptake window closes.
     This journey has given me lots of time to think about my food choices. It has also shown me how good raw fruit and veggies are. I had an asparagus, carrot, cucumber, romaine, lemon juice for lunch. It was hearty and interesting. The lemon cuts the bitterness from the greens, plus I really like lemon. I also like drinking out of my English pint pub glasses. It makes me think about beer (ahh, beer) and you get to really see the frothy, pulpy juice. That makes me feel good about the nutrients I'm taking in. Forging ahead. 

7 Day Crossfit Juice Fast-Day 2

     Today was a great day. I felt great, clear headed and strong. I made it to a morning WOD. It was cardiac and power intensive. I went seven rounds deep and got the last set of cleans before time expired. There was no noticeable difference in my endurance. It was just hard. 

AMRAP in 20 min:
5 power cleans  145lb
10 toes to bars
15 wall ball  20lb

weight-209.8lb (post WOD)

emotional status-more emotional than normal???

stamina-seemed normal during workout little tired in the afternoon

     So, it looks like I dropped a ton of weight in one day. How can this be you ask? Well, the night before I started this endeavor, I had a cheat meal. It was salty Mexican and it was delicious! I have been peeing like crazy, so I am downloading water. I do feel wonderfully hydrated. As a side note, I had a headache one day at work and my friend Cindy asked me if I was adequately hydrated. I really hadn't thought about it. I went and drank 30 or 40oz of water and felt better within the hour. 

     I forgot to state what supplements that I am taking in my previous post. I take fish oil (usually 1-2g, but i'm upping it to 5-6g), vit D3, and a men's health multivit. This process is working for me, so far. I'm learning about new foods. I drank fennel, pear, lime aid today. I've never even looked at a fennel in the market before! It makes me feel good to try these new healthy options. I could see chopping up this herb on a salad.  

     My wife and I went to lunch at an organic cafe today. I had a ginger, garlic, cayenne, beet, apple, kale, and carrot concoction. It reminded me of a spicy soup... It was interesting and flavorful and i'm glad I tried it. Two days down. 

7 Day Crossfit Juice Fast-Day 1

     Today is Superbowl Sunday. This may not have been the best day to start a juice fast. Tonight, my friends are all going to be drinking beer, eating nachos, wings, brats, and various other delectable game day treats. I will be drinking vegetable and fruit juice. In order to maintain the intensity of my workouts and prevent muscle breakdown, I am supplementing my fast with two unsweetened almond milk and whey shakes a day (~120g protein). One before bed and another post WOD. The rest of the time, it's raw, freshly juiced veggies and fruit. I'm using a Breville BJE510XL Ikon 900-Watt Variable-Speed Juice Extractor. 


weight-215.8lb
emotional status-anxious
stamina-did a 1hr yoga class & I felt normal


     First, I'd like to admit that I have a problem with food, an unhealthy obsession. I'm an emotional eater and I am attempting to step back from this paradigm so that I may examine it more clearly. I want to see what it feels like to live a week of my life with an ultra clean diet without the food getting in the way. 
     Being raised in the south eating southern foods, e.g. fried everything salted & buttered, white rice, potatoes, & biscuits, over cooked vegetables seasoned with fatty meats, pies, cakes, cookies, etc.., I have a history of making poor food choices. This week will allow me to saturate my cells with vital nutrients while I get my head right about how I choose to fuel my body. 
     Two years ago, I was a fat, depressed, stressed, over-worked father of a 3 & 4 year old. I was getting ready for work one day and I looked in the mirror and it hit me. I was on a bad trajectory. So, I joined a gym and began to work out. I got a little stronger. Later, my buddy asked me to run a 5k trail/mud run and I did. It was fun, so I began to jog a little. Then, a year ago, I began doing crossfit. 
     This has changed pretty much everything. I didn't know what a workout was, but I do now. I didn't identify myself as an athlete, but I do now. I think about nutrition, flexibility, strength, endurance, agility, and, power. My new body is leaner and I can see the fruits of my labor. This makes me want to be even better, train harder, and eat cleaner. 
     I started yoga this year and am really enjoying it. I can feel my balance, both physical and emotional, getting better. My workouts are getting better. I push as hard as I can, but I stay within myself, enjoying the struggle. I've learned to accept my faults and thank my body for how it serves me in this life.