I Just received this email, thought I’d pass it along. A key feature I’d like to point out is that Mike got his food quality squared away, made sleep a priority and used intermittent fasting in measured, smart doses.
The result? Better performance and health.
This is BTW, the order of operations in how to implement this stuff:
- Food quality
- Lifestyle
- THEN play with IF. IF is not a fix-all for a shitty lifestyle…
And, if you’re going to play around with fasting, being sure that you’re getting enough electrolytes is critical to your success. Click to learn more about electrolytes and fasting…
Robb,
It was great seeing and talking to you at the affiliate gathering in Austin. Mary and I had a fantastic time seeing and talking with all of the other affiliates, in addition to the great speakers. I wanted to fill in some information I forgot to mention when we were talking.
I mentioned that my performance has taken off since the Nutrition seminar at GSX. The changes I made from that included reading Lights Out, gettting more sleep, waking up without an alarm clock most of the time, switching to completely paleo, cutting out dairy, buying grass-fed meat, non-farm raised salmon, and I coincidentally found one of my co-workers (I still have a day job) that has chickens and I started buying eggs from her. In addition, I moved half of my daily carbs to the post-WOD meal. I continued intermittent fasting, which I do about twice a week for close to 24 hours. All that has added up to setting PR’s in every WOD I do. And not little PRs, huge PRs like 5 minutes off of my Kelly time. And I had already been crossfitting for about 2 years, so it’s pretty much all due to all those changes I made.
And while that performance stuff is cool, the best (I’ll call it) side effect is that I haven’t gotten sick. For as long as I can remember, I have gotten sick with what I (and doctors) called a cold or allergies 2-4 times per year for 2-3 weeks at a time. While eating zone had reduced those numbers, I would still come down with some sort of illness more often than I liked. What really convinced me that it was working was when friends got sick, and I managed to avoid it. That never happened in the past. With Coach Glassman’s definition of health, maybe that performance stuff is especially important over the long-term, but having the short-term indicators that it’s working is pretty cool.
So, thanks for all the great info. Oh, and I like the new look of the website.
Mike
CrossFit Rockwall
Book Update: Chapter 1 is due to my editor tomorrow. Lasix has slowed that process down a bit but just so y’all know, I have scheduled deadlines. The book is moving forward.
Robb,
Can’t wait for the book to come out. Is there anywhere on your blog where you have discussed what topics you will cover in it? My wild guess would be something along the lines of; paleo/low carb, sleep, IF and Crossfit?
Cheers
You got it!
Good news about the book brother. I can’t wait to read it.
Rob talks about his book here.
http://robbwolf.com/?p=107
Nice post Robb. I have noticed the same thing since i started going Paleo. Less colds, runny nose, and getting sick. Now if i could only convince my family and friends to go the same route…
Anton
Congrats Mike, and great stuff Robb. The book will be well worth the wait. How you have time to write and do all of things you do is beyond me!
Lasix??? I always thought you used “piss” in a sort of cockney literary way. Are you literally pissing too much to write (sounds like someone is getting ready for a hulking stud Pose Down)? Hopefully you meant LASIK!!
True enough! Bad error that!
I can’t believe I missed your first post about the book plans! I’m totally stoked! Good luck! I can’t wait!
On another note, you wouldn’t happen to know of any paleo info sources translated to Korean, would you?
Ralph-
I do not but you might track down John Frankl who is a professor at Soul University. He is quite knowledgable in this area and is a professor of Korean Literature if i remember correctly.
Hey guys – where can i get more info about intermittent fasting? I’ve just started some crossfit fundamentals a few weeks ago, have been doing the zone thing for about a week and a half (and dropped a ton of weight already). I’ve read some info about fasting – think there was a menshealth article a few months ago – but would love to know where I can get some more. – thanks – johnny.
Johny-
Read my FAQ first, then check out the articles at the performance menu.
Hi Robb, it’s Dawn the redhead who can’t squat. Although I just went to the Barbel Cert and Rip said I have a “good squat” so I feel vindicated!
Just wanted to let you know that despite numerous “tweaks” to my very low carb diet I still have been unable to lose body fat. Yes, I’m sleeping, yes I’m taking fish oil, yada yada. Right now I’m averaging about 12-13 blocks of protein with atkins level 1 induction carbs (in other words, two romaine lettuce salads per day). I’m too hungry on 10 blocks–your original recommendation–if I hit the gym at all.
Generally I feel fine, am not hungry and am putting on tons of muscle but the fat loss just doesn’t happen. Pants are the same size or slightly snug.
One variable that is likely causing trouble recently is I just switched my birth control pill from one variety to another. That’s only been within the last 3 months but I’m sure that plays a role.
I’m happy for people that have success by simply switching to paleo but I’ve been on the wheel for a year now and it’s just not happening!
Any other 35 year old chick tips? Magic bullet of some kind?
dawn
Yep, two:
1-increase your iodine (a little) perhaps 200mcg/day.
2-Ditch your birth control.
1 might help, 2 will work like a miracle…until you get pregnant.
Hey can you give me more details on what you did to improve your overall work outs. I get up at 4:30 am and only have 30 minutes to workout..
Thanks for the advice..
Trav-
Not clear on your question.
Hi Robb,
I like to check in periodically to let you know how I’m doing. Per your latest suggestion am on iodine and off the pill (will get a IUD soon, using condoms now). Hasn’t been the magic bullet but am plowing ahead.
Am keeping a food diary again. Eating 10-13 zone blocks per day with very low carb (green veg only) and 5x fat per your recommendation. Actually, you recommended 10 blocks per day but I get hungry on heavy lifting days even with the carbs kept very low.
Have gained about 10 pounds in past 4 months, mostly muscle. Hopefully this abdominal fat will go away some day.
dawn
Dawn-
Try 200-300mg of phosphatidyl Serine with your last meal of the day.
Hey Robb,
How many days/week do you personally do an IF? I’m pretty intrigued by IF’ing and am looking to implement it into my own daily routine.
Ian-
No plan here…just whenever it streamlines my schedule.
Hey Robb,
I’m wondering how soon after a workout do you NEED to eat to help recovery? I read that Art DeVanny likes to wait an hour to allow GH levels to peak. I have been doing IF for the last three weeks and love it. Eating 17 blocks, 4x fat, all paleo except for PWO where I have taken your advice and eat yams/organic applesauce.
The main reason I’m asking is that I prefer to have my first meal around noon and finish eating between 5-7 pm. This usually works out pretty good cuz I normally lift around 10 am. If I have to do an early am WOD, then I’d be done eating sooner than that (I’d rather still wait till noon). I realize I don’t have to IF every day, but I find it soooooo much easier.
Just wondering if I’m still getting the benefits of recovery with a high carb meal 2 or 3 hours after the WOD. I also take about 10g BCAA pre and PW.
Thanks,
Ian
Hey Robb,
I’m wondering how soon after a workout do you NEED to eat to help speed recovery? I read that Art DeVanny likes to wait an hour or more to allow GH levels to peak. I have been doing IF for the last three weeks and love it. Eating 17 blocks, 4x fat, all paleo except for PWO where I have taken your advice and eat yams/organic applesauce.
The main reason I’m asking is that I prefer to have my first meal around noon and finish eating between 5-7 pm. This usually works out pretty good cuz I normally lift around 10 am. If I have to do an early am WOD, then I’d start eating sooner and be done earlier in the day (I’d rather still wait till noon). I realize I don’t have to IF every day, but I find it soooooo much easier.
Just wondering if I’m still getting the benefits of recovery with a high carb meal 2 or 3 hours after the WOD. I also take about 10g BCAA pre and PW.
Thanks,
Ian
Ian-
Look for my dealio on post WO recovery.
Hi Robb,
I’m wondering if the problem might be that Dawn’s carbs are too low over the long term. Barry Sears has a great little graph where his studies show that too low carbs increase cortisol, and glucagon can also be too high. Inflammation is then increased – which slows fat loss. Also with a lack of high nutrient carbs like many varieties of colourful vegetables and fruit, antioxidant levels are too low also increasing inflammation. Inflammation slows fat loss. Also you need a lot of green veggies and low GI colourful fruit to increase alkalinity in the body – protein is very acid forming. A weight loss specialist here is NZ says that not having the right acid / alkaline balance can slow fat loss.
Another neglected nutrient is vitamin D, higher vitamin D levels are linked with lower body fat.
Another problem I have witnessed with myself and many clients is that taking high levels of omega 3 without sufficient antioxidants E and C to keep it from oxidizing in cell membranes causes it to be ineffective. When you add both E (about 200 – 400 iu per day) and C (500 – 1000mg per day) increased it’s effectiveness. Often omega 3 works great for 3 months and then there is a drop off.
Julianne
Julianne-
I like EVERYTHING you have to say here except the low-carb piece. Matt Lalonde has been working on a post to address this. There is absolutely no research (or clinical findings) that support Barry’s graph. A few interesting historical points come to mind:The entire inuit population pre-westernization, epileptic children on a ketogenic diet, the thousands of athletes who have followed a cyclic low carb diet and found it to be far better for their intended goals than a balanced macro approach ala-the zone.
I like Barry, I do not like his graph.
Dear Dawn the Redhead,
Ijust read your comment re not losing weight AND the advice to ditch your birth control… now that would really help you loose weight;)))
I suggest….. considering the nuvaring or Mirena. Mirena has least effect on anything systemic and is great for several other reasons.. good for 10 years ( making it cheap) and worth it if you do not want to get pregnant for at least another 2 years… and after what can be as long as 6 months of spotting.. no more periods.. therefore a lot cheaper!! ( This is normal as the progesterone on the iud thins the uterine lining so there is nothing to dump out. The nuvaring is also great, but does have some systemic effect. This may be less than your pill depending on which pill you use.
Check out http://www.contraceptivetechnology.com
cheers,Melanie
I have the mirena, I can not wait until I get it taken out. I still have periods but it has absolutely killed my crazy nympho sex drive. there are hormones in the mirena.