6am
Sprint!
9am
12pm
5pm and, yes, Vince did come back for more.
Box squat.
6pm
Paleo Challenge!
Eat meats and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, no sugar.
It’s the first line of World Class Fitness in 100 Words. It’s also just about the most important piece of the puzzle for our health, well-being, and our Fran times.
I am so proud of each of the athletes here at CrossFit West for the level of intensity you have brought day in and day out since we opened the new box in April. I am amazed at every class for your level of dedication to the workouts and the energy, discipline, and commitment that you bring. I see people pushing each other to get one more rep, yelling at the top of their lungs encouraging a fellow athlete to lift just 5 more pounds on a max effort, or mustering up whatever is left in the tank to push that last sprint just a little harder. Every week our Weekly PR board overflows with an array of colored dry erase markers. This makes me delighted because, just as I always encourage, everyone is getting better each week. It makes me feel really good inside to see this kind of commitment and excitement about what we do here. The ultimate goal: to make people’s lives better.
Now I’m going to challenge you to take it to the next level. If you really want to start seeing results it’s time to start thinking more about what you put into your body. You put the effort into your training, now I challenge you to put the same effort into your diet.
Nutrition truly is the most important building block to health and fitness. If we are going to train as hard as we do, we need to fuel our bodies with the proper nutrients so that it can deliver what we demand of it. CrossFit’s nutrition guru Robb Wolf says that we should gauge whether our nutrition is dialed in based on the following 3 things:
Do you look better?
Do you feel better?
Do you perform better?
Having said that,
The Challenge:
3 months, simple Paleo diet. This means no processed foods or grains. Simply follow the motto: Eat meats and vegetable, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, no sugar.
Minimum 2 days per week of CrossFit. If you can get in here more often, even better, but you must be getting in your CrossFit WODS at least twice a week. However that doesn’t seem to be a problem for most of you. I have found myself, if anything, having to send people home for not resting.
Pictures: We will take before pictures, and update pics at the 1st of every month until the challenge is over to follow your progress.
Get Better-Girls and Strength: We will do Helen, Grace, Max Rep Pull Ups, and Max Weight Deadlift. Don’t worry- if you can’t do this RX’d just yet or without assistance, that’s part of it! We want to see you progress. We want to see you get better!
Short Testimonial Essay (200-800 words): Tell us how CrossFit, along with proper diet, has changed your life. How has it made you look, feel, and perform better?
If we can get at least 8 people to accept this challenge, we will kick off this competition ASAP! And here’s the best part: the winner (who will be voted on by everyone based on total progress in all areas) will receive….Drum roll…
3 months of FREE TRAINING and a free Elements series for a friend!
If you are interested in being a part of this competition please let us know ASAP. Once we get at least 8 people we will get started. Don’t worry, you won’t be alone. You have tons of resources here at CrossFit West Santa Cruz to help you with a plan and encourage you along the way!
3,2,1, go!
Tips to get started:
When shopping- only shop the perimeter of the grocery store; produce, meats, nuts, etc. Don’t wander down the isles in the middle of the store unless it’s to get spices!
Try shopping in bulk at Costco. Get lots of chicken, ground turkey, lean cuts of beef, shrimp, fish, etc. Buy containers of cashews, almond butter, almonds, pecans. Buy flats of fruit- strawberries, blueberries, apples, etc and big bags of veggies- broccoli, green beans, onions, asparagus.
Read labels! Be sure that the food is not processed. If it comes in a box, and has funny names listed in the ingredients that you don’t recognize, chances are it’s processed.
Play with spices! Buy garlic salt, black pepper, parsley, crushed red pepper, Italian herbs, cayenne pepper, Tapatillo, etc. Experiment with them. Mix and match them in your dishes. Also, shop for spices in bulk at Costco because you will use them up fast if you are doing things right!
Planning food for the week:
Cook a big batch of chicken or other protein and keep it refrigerated in containers to use throughout the week for meals or in your favorite dishes.
Cook batches of veggies and keep them refrigerated in containers to use throughout the week for meals.
Always plan ahead. Make your own lunches to bring to work.
Always have nuts and seeds to snack on if you get busy and need to eat. Don’t let yourself get too hungry between meals as this sets you up for bingeing.
Drink tons of water.
Simple Spicy Italian Chicken Marinade Recipe: This recipe is super simple. I cook it almost every week and keep it in the fridge to pull out for meals throughout the day.
In a big Ziploc Bag Mix
1-2 cups Olive Oil
½ cup Italian Herb
¼ cup Garlic Salt
¼ cup Crushed Red Pepper
2 Tbsp Black Pepper
2 Tbsp Cayenne Pepper
Tapatillo to taste (more=spicier)
Toss in up to 8 chicken breasts and massage them in the bag. For best results let it sit overnight in the fridge.
Cook however you like- bbq, sear and bake, etc.
Then put it in containers and refrigerate to use throughout the week.
Bon Appetit!
–Jocelyn
Please post thoughts to Comments.
Workout:
AMRAP in 10 minutes
1 Power Snatch
3 Overhead Squats
40m Sprint
Guys–135#. Dolls–83#
Please post score to Comments.
Does that mean no alcohol?
The Italian chicken is so tasty!!!
Thanks for sharing Joc
I am in for taking the Paleo Challenge!
460-9228
Thank You Joc for this post on diet! I have made the shift about 80% to paleo/zone diet. It requires complete dedication. I have been challenged by the amount of ready snacks that people are eating around me constantly – cookies, chocolate, chips etc.. I am working on willpower to reach for fruit, nuts and seeds instead of the easy options. It is hard but crossfit is hard – It all takes a new way, a new level of dedication – I look at it as the ultimate respect for yourself. I realize this is a process. Thanks.
I’m in.
I’m up for giving the challenge a go. I wanted to try it out, anyway, to see what the results would be.
You have ‘green beans’ listed as a vegetable to get in quantity. Aren’t they legumes?
Gideon,
You are correct. Green beans are technically a legume however they can be eaten raw. There are many discussion boards out there regarding this. Some versions of the paleo diet don’t allow them as a result but others maintain that since they can be eaten raw they are ok.
I’m so happy to see that many of you are excited about this challenge and on board. Be sure to get on the challenge list by either posting here or letting us know at the box.
For those of you who want to do the challenge (or are interested in hearing more) we will have a meeting in the next week to go over the requirements, etc. I’m super excited to see so many of you take this on!
PS we will send out the meeting info/time/date soon!
how come Casey gets his own pic on his comment? I want that to!
[...] forget to sign up for the Paleo Challenge. Talk to Jocelyn or any trainer if [...]
First off, I just wanted to commend WSC for implementing this challenge! I think this is a GREAT challenge to put forth to the WSC community! I also want to commend, encourage, and support everyone who is taking on this challenge, or even *thinking* about taking on this challenge!
I have played with Zone for many years, though I find the Paleo or Paleo-Zone to be much more effective. As Robb Wolf states, …the Zone is great for a lot of people and balancing your macronutrient ratios so as to strive for optimization of human performance is great and a worthwhile endeavor, but if the food for which you are using to make up those ratios is in some way toxic to your body, you are not achieving nearly the health or performance that you could be. Furthermore, you could still be doing your body great harm even though you are “balancing your ratios”, weighing and measuring. Poison, even in small doses, is still poison. It’s still toxic to your body.
In two weeks of doing strict Paleo for the 2 weeks prior to the NorCal Regional Qualifier, I went from 173 lbs to 166.5 lbs, all of which was fat loss, and possibly some water-retention loss as I stopped adding salt to my food as well. I feel better and perform better on Paleo. It just seems to work better not only myself and Nicole, but for many clients and friends. For many people it’s also “easier” to do and follow.
Anyway, I just wanted to offer my support to anyone who desires it during this “Paleo-Challenge”. Just as Jocelyn stated in class yesterday, you can feel free to e-mail me with questions, etc, or even call me or text me when you are at the grocery store or a restaurant & ask questions about foods or the menu, etc. I have received the occasional , “J, I know you told me not to go to the grocery store hungry but I did!–Help!” phone call, as well as the quite whisper phone call while calling from a restaurant citing to me the menu. lol
…Just as with all of the Coaches here at WSC, I will help any of you in any way I can.
Look at it this way, everyone; …what better time to try to implement something like this than right now? You won’t be in it alone! Not only will you have a devoted and resourceful support team amongst all the coaches here at WSC, but you’ll also have a great support network amongst the rest of the athletes that you regularly sweat & bleed with every day in the gym as you’ll all be in it together. …We’ll all be in it together, everyone.
You won’t be alone.
To help get everyone started, I thought I would include for you a link to a friend’s Blog. His name is Steve Parsoneault, though he is known amongst a lot of the CrossFit’ers as “Paleo Steve”. He posts onto his Blog, Paleo and Paleo-Zone (Paleo foods at Zone ratios) recipes that he creates. They all taste very good, but some of them are just AMAZING!!!!
I would HIGHLY recommend everyone read his first entry as he explains how after about 3 months of doing strict Paleo, not only did he lose a LOT of body fat, add some lean muscle, and reap significant performance improvements in the gym with wods, …but he was also able to finally come off of Lipitor!!! …If any of you are currently on Lipitor, or any Statin or cholesterol meds, or any prescription medicine for things like heart disease, blood pressure, etc, you should seriously consider giving Paleo a try. …It can very much be life changing in a very real and measurable way.
We are all here for you and we’ll help you in any way we can. We will endeavor to make it as easy and doable for you as possible.
Jason “J-Dogg” Highbarger
Here’s the link to Paleo Steve’s Blog:
http://stevepaleo.blogspot.com/
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I added my image there for another site, but WordPress uses it too!