A dollar in, a dollar out. My Dad said it to me when I was young. He told me that the things I do in life should have, at the very least, an equal return on the investment. The investment he spoke of was pointed at education, athletics......life. His message was all about putting forth something in the way of dedication, time and effort. So I carry that with me to this day and it's pretty damn accurate. If I put "X" into something, I should get "X" or more in return. If the return isn't there? Then it's just not worth doing. What you deem to be a fair return is up to you. That's the tricky part when it comes to payback. One for one? Double? Or flat out, un-adulterated exponential growth bordering on the the obscene? Think big returns, but don't do it illegally like Mr. Madoff did......his return on investment is 150 years.....in prison.... That'll leave a mark.
I find it mostly true to form that if you work hard enough and smart enough within certain subjects or controls, you can succeed at something. This applies to just about anything.
In the case of today's blog it's an application to NUTRITION. Simply put; Eat shitty and you will perform....well.... shitty. Eat with best practices in mind and you will more than likely get best results in return. Sprinkle in some good solid physical training - the constantly varied, functional kind conducted at high intensity - throw in some good biomechanics and you're on a real solid path to getting more than that single green Washington in return.
I'm going to break this nutrition rant/talk into segments.
There isn't any way to cover simple approaches to performance nutrition in one or two blog posts. This is ongoing, everchanging and subject to criticism. There is right/wrong and alot of tweaking for who you are and what your activity levels demand in the way of good fuel. The goal is to try to derive your nutrition from the best sources and then begin the journey, and it is a journey, to determining how much food, additional nutrition/supplementation and the frequency of nutritional intake. Furthermore, the timing of the intake is just as important. When are you at your best? Where do you think your blood levels are at these "best times". Can an athlete time their nutrition such that they sieze the most optimal window to execute an athletic event? I believe it's possible. First, we have to begin at the bottom and work our way up the chain. Think of this in the same way as you do your life - long term application and evolution. I guarantee that if you put your dollar in on this one, you will get it back - Dollar In - Dollar Out - and hopefully a hell of alot more....picture a big dope smuggling roll of singles.....one that makes it look like you have a codpiece in yer pants like a male ballet dancer......girls could wear one too, although that'd probably look a little fucked up.... I dunno...maybe.... Really? Fucking child. (Said the angel on my right shoulder----the devil on the left is laughing his fucking ass off)
I eat Paleo/Non-Industrial foods (www.robbwolf.com) What does Paleo mean to me? It means that I eat about 9 out of every 10 meals consisting of Meat, Veggies, Nuts, Seeds, Fruit, Starch....That's it. No Sugar, Legumes, Dairy or Grain. Why do I eat Paleo? It's my choice for best fuel and I can't find better fuel. If I could, I'd eat it. I have found that my body responds very well to clean whole food. My function both mentally and physically is far better this way as opposed to when I eat processed industrial garbage.
I look at processed food as industrial food. It is broken down prior to arrival in your stomach. Logically, if the food is already broken down into smaller parts, your digestive system and all that support it decide at some point not to do their job. It's like one big labor union banding together and saying fuck this.....we don't need to do all this work anymore. We all know the outcome (enter Detroit).... The need for the work force to perform it's job becomes less important and everything starts suffering. There are layoffs, laziness, horrible bouts of lethargy and then the drugs and hookers and fairies appear......"The point is, how do you know the fairy isn't a crazy glue sniffer? "Building model airplanes" says the little fairy; well, we're not buying it. He sneaks into your house once, that's all it takes. The next thing you know, there's money missing off the dresser, and your daughter's knocked up. I seen it a hundred times." (said Tommy Boy http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114694/quotes)......Gawd I love that shit! Staying on point, make the system work! The labor must labor! Eat whole foods, mimimally processed foods, grass fed beef, free range eggs, organic sourced produce. Your body has to do it's job to break this down into fuel. Do this right and the hookers and the coke will find their way back to the seedy part of town where they belong. As much as I love pizza or pasta, I might as well just throw it into the shitter and avoid the middle man. I do hit pizza and pasta once in awhile as an occasional cheat meal, but one cannot and must not subside on wheat monsters such as these two extremely convenient delights. To me, the pizza and the pasta, they are the dirty whores that can ruin my neighborhood, or in this case my body. Keep them the fuck away as often as possible.
How much do I eat? I use Zone Nutrition parameters to help select food portions. What is Zone? www.zonediet.com . I like Zone because it breaks Carbohydrates, Proteins and Fats into a custom portion prescription for an individual. Everyone is different. Take an aspirin. It will affect you differently than it will affect me. That said, the Zone isn't perfect, but the system can provide the framework whereby you can tweak the variables in order to find the Zone where your health markers are stable and you feel at your best. At it's core, Zone is a way to control blood sugar in the form of glycemic index (GI). By controlling the GI, you will in-turn avoid inflammatory responses to foods that send your blood sugar into super high, fucked up and un-safe levels. Once that happens, the rest of your body follows. Yes, this is the part where briefly touch on the host of degenerative diseases and all the horrible shit that industrial food can do to make you look nothing short of a chubby pot smoking who-er (Insert heavy New York accent). Think about it. Smoke the dope (Food is a drug so this'll work) and you'll get all puffy, exhibit shitty blotchy skin, bad blood, low energy levels, lack of motivation, horrible recovery processes post exercise.....and you'll be scratching your head as to why you can't achieve your fitness goals, whatever they may be. That's a shitty place to be. So, I'll say it a little differently this time - The outcome of poor nutrition is poor performance. If you get this wrong then most of what you're trying to achieve will likely follow. This is both physical and mental. Start reading. Start applying principles in order to get better. Start with whole foods, zone portions and see what happens. If your just starting out, shoot for 6 or 7 out of every 10 meals.....then watch and see what happens. Apply more "clean meals" over time. Again, see what happens. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
So where in fuck is Johnny going? (third person reference....uh-oh) Stay with me folks. There's more. A whole shitload of it. This is just the tip (that's what she said). Next week we drill down into the application of Paleo/Zone and the simple side of feeding yourself before, during, after a W.O.D. - This will be for the general CrossFit/Functional Athlete that enjoys kicking their own ass in exchange for fitness.
What is fitness? Read this - http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/CFJ-trial.pdf
W.O.W. Wod Of the Week
Here's a W.O.D. I did this week that kicked my ass -
Every Minute On The Minute (EMOTM) x10 of:
Burpee x1
Wall Climb x1
Jingle Jangles (5m military shuttle) x5
Atlas Stone Shouldered x3
You're welcome to try it but only if you warm up your shoulders and hips first. Also, please make sure you watch a video or two for shouldering an Atlas Stone (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB1_t4NKwhA) - You can always use big rock or other heavy smooth object for the Atlas Stone subsitute. Also, Wall Climbs suck ass....period. Take a look at the beginning of this vid for good wall climb tips (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TET1qi9ivUI). If you'd like to do this W.O.D. really fucking proper-----call me-----I'll take you on a 60 minute ride START to FINISH at New Species CrossFit - Standard 1:1 Training Fees apply.
Stay strong!
Peace - Johnny
www.simplypurenutrients.com
www.unleashtheevolution.com
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