I know there are at least a few folks around the gym that will be training for the shamrock and a half marathon next month, so in all likelihood you’ll be doing some distance running anyway. Make your training count a little more and register for this worthy cause. You must complete your run and upload your results between February 19-24 to be counted. Christian also said that if you participate you can wear a crown around the gym and boss Chad around like he’s your little sister… okay, that’s a lie.

Speaking of Chad, if you haven’t tried an MMAHITFIT workout yet, you really need to try it. He’s promised me I get to punch him 1000 times on Thursday. 1000!!! Seriously, love me some MMAHITFIT, I pummel Chad so much my knuckles are in a constant state of either scabbing over or outright bleeding, I love it!

As part of my transformation in this past year I have adopted CrossFit as well as much better eating habits. Initially I used the Zone Diet to try and enhance my performance and health but I also learned about the Paleo Diet more recently. In the past couple months, Robb Wolf, one of the major advocates of the Paleo Diet, came out with a free Podcast. Robb Wolf is the owner of Nor Cal Strength and Conditioning in Chico and he is also a very articulate clinical nutrition expert with a background in research and biochemistry. Until very recently he ran the CrossFit Nutrition Certifications. Initially I was reluctant to sign on to the diet but since listening to the Podcasts I have switched wholeheartedly because this guy really knows his stuff. My purpose in writing this is to simplify the Paleo concept into the bare bones so that you might benefit from it in a little easier process than my own. I want all of you to know that should you choose to embark on a Paleo challenge yourselves, there are many resources available to you that will support you in your specific goals.

Why Paleo? You all know nutrition is important, but in particular, Paleo is for you if you are interested in:

1)  Reaching your full potential as a competitive athlete

2)  Appearance and body composition

3)  Health and longevity

If you do any amount of research on the Paleo Diet you are bound to run into a couple major arguments:

1)  The Paleolithic Diet: “Paleo” is short for Paleolithic intentionally. They recommend you “eat lean meats, veggies, fruits, nuts and seeds” or in other words “avoid grains, legumes (beans), and dairy.” Sound restrictive? Well, the idea here is that only 10-15,000 years ago, humans did not have access to these foods (no agriculture yet) and so today we are not fully evolved to appropriately digest them and use them in an entirely positive way. Some of the evidence behind this information is still controversial although based on what I have heard I think they do have some merit and biomedical research is ongoing in this field to provide more evidence for it. If you are interested in health and longevity then you might consider looking into these concepts further (including systemic inflammation and gut health).

2)  Insulin resistance and carbohydrates: The Paleo Diet is inherently “low carb” when you consider that after taking out grains (ie breads, pastas, oatmeals, pancakes, flour based desserts, beer, rice) and beans there isn’t a whole lot you could eat to boost your carbohydrates in that magnitude. There is a ton of physiology behind this but in a nutshell if you eat carbohydrate rich foods – lets say a bagel – your body responds by giving a surge of insulin into the blood. That’s no big deal in isolation, but as you keep doing this over and over your body starts to say “Oh who cares if there’s a little insulin around, I’m just going to ignore it.” And before you know it you are what they call “Insulin Resistant” and you need a lot more insulin to get your body to do what its supposed to do. The end result is: your energy level is not maintained throughout the day, you get hungry even if you have eaten to your caloric needs, you build up fat stores and inhibit fat use, and you increase your risk for Type 2 Diabetes. There are a million other negative effects that I won’t go into here for simplicity sake. For more information this video gives a good illustration http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNYlIcXynwE. You can CrossFit 7 days a week and still you will not be able to avoid these effects. This is not to say you cannot have carbs, but it means if you eat less carbohydrates overall and avoid foods that cause big insulin spikes, you are well on your way to cutting fat which will improve appearance and overall body composition. What about my performance – don’t I need carbohydrates to fuel my workouts? Actually, no. It turns out your body runs just fine (if not better) on energy from fat and even protein. If you were to abruptly switch to a Paleo diet today, you would likely experience a decline in your CrossFit times for 2-3 weeks while your body gets in gear to metabolize these other macronutrients for energy. But after all your physiologic machinery is set up there is no stopping you! Everybody is different and how “low carb” you go will depend on your starting body composition and your goals.

Ok, I know it’s scary – we’ve just bad mouthed all your favorite foods. I’m sure you’re thinking “Then what CAN I eat?” Here is a list of the foods Nate and I eat most commonly (not a complete list of acceptable foods):

1)  Meats: ground beef, ground turkey, steak, sausage, pork chops, bacon, shrimp, fish, and chicken (feel free to eat lamb and other meats we just don’t tend to). There are no limits on meats but they do recommend grain fed/free range if possible for better fat quality.

2)  Veggies: broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, bell peppers, asparagus, salad, squash (butternut, spaghetti, acorn, yellow, zucchini), bok choy, kale, cabbage,  beets, leeks, onions, garlic.

3)  Nuts/Seeds: almonds (and almond butter), pecans, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, pine nuts.

4)  Other fats: olives, olive oil, avocados, coconut milk, coconut oil

5)  Other carbohydrates (in moderation): sweet potatoes/yams, fruits, wine, cider

The great thing about Paleo is that you can eat to satiety. This is not like the Zone where you weigh and measure everything. And you shouldn’t be walking around hungry – that is not the point. You should be revving up your metabolism and getting rid of that pesky insulin resistance so that when your body tells you you’re hungry, it’s because you are actually hungry. Try and keep these things in mind when feeding yourselves:

1)  Eat a good amount of protein – this should be a huge portion of what you eat. You are breaking your muscles down every time you do a CrossFit WOD so do your body a favor and build them back up.

2)  Eat a variety of vegetables – these are dense in nutrients and will help fill you up without spiking your insulin.

3)  Don’t be scared of fat – fat will provide your energy during WODs and will also help fill you up. Eating fat does not equal getting fat nor does it go straight into your arteries and wait to give you a heart attack: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8WA5wcaHp4&NR=1&feature=fvwp.

Now there is a whole lot more to it should any of you really want to geek out on it. There is a huge support structure if you guys need help getting started or if you have any questions. All of you have the following things available to you:

1)  I highly recommend listening to the Podcasts entitled “The Paleolithic Solution”. They are free on Itunes so download them and listen to them on your way to work. You will find that they cover just about every type of person with every type of goal. I promise, they will talk about YOU! And I find it a great motivational tool.

2)  Nate and I have been going strong on the Paleo diet for a while now. Luckily, Nate was a professional chef in a health food restaurant in his past life so he really knows how to make your meals amazing! If you are looking for tips on meal ideas, please, PLEASE just ask. In addition, if you just don’t know where to start we can certainly lead you in the right direction. We are both happy to help!

3)  Chad (our fabulous trainer) has given Paleo a whirl and Randy and Elisa (other ARCFit members) have also been eating Paleo for a long time with great results. Gina, Sean F., and Dan-O all attended a Nutrition seminar with Robb Wolf this weekend as well.

4)  The WEB:

-  Robb Wolf has a web page dedicated to Paleo entitled www.RobbWolf.com. There you will find blogs, comments, recipe ideas, and links to the Podcasts. As the owner of Nor Cal Strength and Conditioning there are some great ideas on their website too.  A direct link to their nutrition/recipe blog is http://www.norcalsc.com/index.php/index.php?/archives/C14/. Robb Wolf is also working on a book entitled “The Paleolithic Solution” so it should be available in the near future.

-  Loren Cordain, Ph.D. is widely acknowledged as a leading expert on the natural human diet of our Stone Age ancestors. His website: www.thepaleodiet.com/ and its related blog http://thepaleodiet.blogspot.com/.

-  A couple more videos to introduce you: Paleo in a Nutshell Part 1: Food and Paleo in a Nutshell Part 2: Exercise

5)  If there are enough of you wanting more information we can arrange another nutrition meet-up like we did last Spring. Just let Christian, Chad, or Nate know and we will make it happen!

6)  If you guys think a little competition might give you the motivation you need to see this through you may be interested in a “Paleo Challenge”. Similar to the “Burpee Challenge” several CrossFit affiliates have held Paleo Challenges where members compete for some preset length of time to see who can maintain it the longest. If anyone is interested in this we can make it happen too! One of the most powerful aspects of the CrossfFt community is to support each other in making healthy life choices and this is a great example.

A couple other features that look interesting but have been buggy for me are the new “export to email” and “import from url” feature. The export to email will allow you to send a backup of your workout log to yourself through email. The import from url is a little less clear but I’m assuming you can post that exported workout log to a website and then re-import it back into your phone if you lose your data. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get the emails to send even after trying a number of different settings. And, if you hadn’t already noticed, I’m a bit of a geek so I’m fairly certain my settings are correct. In any case, a minor criticism of a still stellar and improving CrossFit app. I’ll shoot the developer an email to see if the export to email issue can be fixed. I could see that being very useful if you wanted to send your workout logs to an instructor or if you wanted to pull the data into a website for some kind of web based viewing.

Also be sure to check out the recently posted tour of the app on the developers site if you are at all confused about how to use the program.

8 cups chopped cauliflower

1 tsp sea salt

2 Tbl. coconut oil

1 tsp. curry powder

chicken broth

Boil cauliflower in largish saucepan covered for between 10-15 minutes or until soft. Drain off water and add all ingredients into saucepan. Mash. Use chicken broth as needed for wetness. Serve with delicious main dish.

Most CrossFitters discover pretty early on in their initial forrays into the sport that beyond the intense soreness and cardiovascular shock of entering into a high intensity fitness program come a handful of minor annoyances, not the least of which is the almost constant hand tears. Before you develop the strong and smooth callouses that help prevent further rips, there is always a period of tearing and that intense stinging pain of performing pullups with bleeding hands.

If your experience has been anything like mine, the hand tears were as much a barrier to achieving more pullups and knees to elbows as the strength portion of the exercise. And you can’t build the strength if you can’t hang on to the bar. And you can’t build calluses if you don’t allow the hands to heal first. After experimenting with countless taping methods, and upping and lowering the amount of chalk on my hands, I finally turned to gymnastics grips. Simple, no nonsense, two holes for your fingers, a strap around your wrist, and a piece of leather that covers the areas most likely to tear.

Beyond preventing tears, which they do tremendously well, they served a second and more important purpose. As I wore them my hands slowly developed strong calluses. When you’re doing kipping pullups, the friction which causes the calluses is still present when using the grips, it’s just much less intense and much less likely to cause tearing. In any case, the calluses still build, but at a slower pace. The slower, more gradual growth of the calluses has allowed the skin on my hands to become much more resistant to tearing. I wore them for a period of about four months and have been without them for about two months and have not torn since.

In addition to grips, one of the keys to preventing rips, is proper skin maintenance. American River CrossFit had posted this on their blog some time ago, but it’s worth a repost. Hand Rips.

Simply Green Curry
1 can full-fat coconut milk
5-7 chicken thighs(1 package boneless skinless)
2 zucchini sliced
3 heads baby bok choy leaves
1 small yellow onion sliced
1 tsp. green curry paste
juice of 1 lime
3 cups broccoli heads
butternut squash or sweet potato cubes par-boiled (optional)
chicken broth
Using deep sauté pan add chicken, onion, curry paste, and coconut milk. Covet and simmer until chicken is cooked and easily separated. Add chicken broth as needed to prevent from sticking. Once chicken is done add chopped veggies and lime juice. Steam veggies until broccoli is tender and bright green. You may add cooked squash or sweet potato/ yams is you want more carbs. Top with chopped cilantro.

Seasonal local and nutritious!

Eating seasonal veggies is a paleo-diet given. Lauren and I get a weekly delivery box from Farm Fresh to You. The home  delivery is full of seasonal local organic produce. The variety that comes in the box is a nice deviation from the typical broccoli and carrot routine that you find in your grocery cart. We had dinosaur kale, leeks, and apples in the box this week. The salad followed.

Dinosaur Kale and Fuji Apple Salad served with Flank Steak in a Warm Leek and Dijon Dressing

2 heads dinosaur kale sliced into 1/2″ strips

chicken broth

Large leek or 2 small sliced into 1/4″rings and washed

1# grilled flank steak with your choice of rubs

1 Fuji apple sliced into 1″ pieces

1/3 c. olive oil

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

1/4 tsp crushed white pepper

3 Tbl. lemon juice

1/3 C. sweet Vermouth

1 tsp. sea salt

2 Tbl. crushed pecans

Start the dressing first. In saucepan add leeks and salt to oil over medium heat. Once leeks soften mix-in mustard, pepper and lemon juice. Add Vermouth to mixture and simmer till creamy and delicious. Set aside dressing. In deepish stock pan use about 3/4c. chicken stock to lightly steam kale. Once kale has yielded a deep green hue remove from stove and rinse in colander under cold running water. Slice flank steak and mix with apples, kale, and dressing in large mixing bowl. Plate salad. Top with crushed pecan pieces. Enjoy.

Also, you can now view the collected works of American River CrossFit anthologized nicely on a single page. No more searching through thousands of posts to find Gina give Sean the beating of his life. Just flip through a few videos and you’re there.

We started our run out of her father’s front door. Her father lives in Thousand Oaks, CA which is considerably hillier than Sacramento. The run started with an slow uphill grade that became progressively steeper eventually becoming the highest point in the city, as I would later find out. The first thing that struck me as I plodded up this hill was that I wasn’t stopping. This was not expected because I hadn’t been running. The second thing that struck me is that I couldn’t seem to locate the street that we were suppose to turn on to complete the 3.6 mile loop. Well we crested the hill and I explained to Lauren the path that we were suppose to be running and she rolled her eyes at me and said “that turn is at the bottom of the hill.” We had inadvertently ran the tallest hill around. We had come so far in one direction that we might as well make it a loop.

This loop brought us across hill and dale about 4 miles from dad’s house. Well we started running back uphill along  2 mile stretch of road.  We started talking about the experience amazed that we even had wind to speak. We came up with some obvious revelations that reminded us of why we do CrossFit.

The first realization is that CrossFit works. There is no way in hell that someone other than a Navy SEAL would be able to just tear off on a hilly 8 mile run without having trained for it. Not only were we able to run this far, but we were moving at decent clip. Although CrossFit seems difficult sometimes there is a reason to do it.

Realization number two. CrossFit IS hard. I think we get so used to coming into the box and blowing our WOD that we get used to the exertion. We forget that we are already so much better off than people that our doing something else or nothing at all. We need to keep in mind that this is a serious training modality and that there is a damn good reason for felling beat down if we don’t rest enough.

The third realization comes in the form of general physical preparedness. Yesterday it was a run, but at anytime it could be climbing  wall, lifting a heavy object, or helping someone off the ground. The mixed modality training that we do gives us the ability to function more productively in our everyday lives. At the end of the day, whatever we have been hoping to achieve, this is the long-term benefit from training across broad time and modal domains.

Well the run was done and we are sore for sure. We our happy we went and did the long loop, but we probably wont do it again for quite some time. It gives us a reason to celebrate this New Years Eve and it gives us a handful of resolutions and goals for the New Year. I hope you all enjoy the day and we will see you at the box when we return.