ZONING OUT

CRUISIN' WITH SPEED BUMPS

I hate when I type a post, and then I lose it... The story of my whole day today.

The Zone really works. When I am nailing the diet, I feel better. I look better. I perform better. I run into problems because I am lazy. I don't like to spend time cooking. I like things quick and easy. I find something I like, and then I eat it to death. There are only so many four block salmon burrito lunches you can eat no matter how delicious they are. I know I am not the only person who does this. I have heard from several hardcore Zoners that they eat the same things all the time. You get to know what works for you and you know what is easy to prep. When I have some chill time, I don't want to cook 20 chicken breasts and divide it into four block packages. I want to chill....

Perfect example: I now take Wednesday nights off from One World so I can spend more time with the wifey. We both get home at about 5:30 pm. Perfect night to cook a nice meal at home right? Hell no. We are both tired. We haven't even walked the dog yet... Eating out is just so damn easy and effortless. We have ended up eating out the last two weeks in a row. At least we try to make smarter choices. Tonight we had sushi, though I probably ate a bit more than I needed to.

Random thought: Speaking of dogs.... My dog gets an hour or more of walking with my wife at least four to five days a week. I try to run him through 15 minutes of sprints at least four to five days a week. He eats only Nutro dog kibble, and he seems to love it everytime I put it in his bowl. He sleeps about 18 hours a day. My dog is fucking ripped....  It's a dog's life for me.

I was a busy little boy today. After a four block breakfast, I coached a few classes and then got caught up working on the bathroom construction project at One World. I squeezed in a four block lunch, but I ate only two meals in 12 hours. Once I get going, I hate to stop. I took three trips to Lowes Hardware today. (Yes, I was pissed about that..) Everytime I passed the hot dog vendor in front of the store I thought to myself, "Damn, a polish with relish and celery salt sounds good coupled with a pretzel and a diet coke." In the past, I would have stopped and ate that every trip to that hardware store. Today, I walked past that booth every time....

I missed my workout today, but it was a 5k run, I hate to run, and I am damn sore anyway, so I can live with that.

I would love to hear some of your thoughts on today's post.   

ON TRACK

Two days of pretty good eating. Kept it real tight yesterday. 17 blocks (and a couple glasses of wine...large glasses). I had my smoothie this morning and then did the crossfit.com WOD at 8am: 5 rounds of 15 sumo deadlift hi-pulls 95# and 15 thrusters with 95#. My time was 12:08. I felt really good, but I always feel good after taking some time off. I am sure that eating fairly well for a day helped a bit.

At lunch I went out to eat with the wifey... We ended up at some BBQ joint. I had some ribs and macaroni salad. Not so Zone friendly. I cleand it up the rest of the day and had a Zone bar and a four block dinner. I admit I had two beers too. My carb count today has been a mess, but I feel fantastic! Of course it helps that I am floating on a cloud becasue I am so happy to be working out again. Tomorrow is a 5k run. I am shooting for a new PR....

Random thought: I was thinking today about all the bad advice I got about nutrtion over the years. When I was wrestling, we carb loaded several hours before a match (pancakes, waffles, pasta...). When I was bodybuilding, it was all about protein and milk fat to get size. When I was fighting and I needed to make weight, I just didn't eat shit for a week. It was all so horrible. If I knew then what I know now....... What kind of bad nutritional practice have you tried in the past?

Have a great day and enjoy some good eats! 

I was going through some of my old Crossfit One World posts and found a video that demonstrates exactly what I meant when I said I just never cared about what I ate. Men really are stupid!

I appreciate everyone's comments that get posted on this blog. I really take to heart everything you all add, plus I am positive all the ideas brought to the table help others also. Trying the Paleo thing was exactly what I thought it would be: me getting lazy and giving myself an excuse to eat like crap. Sooooo, I am back on the Zone tomorrow. Just got back from grocery shopping. I start hitting the WOD again this week too. I thought I was going to take 2 full weeks off, but I think I will be good to go by Tuesday. I really noticed a huge difference in my mental health not working out hardcore coupled with not eating right. I had the blahs....

Back on the Zone with a few honest assessments:

• I suck at dieting, so I am just going to tell myself I don't have to diet, and I can eat whatever I want. Bladeboy once posted that whenever he told himself he couldn't have something, he wanted it even more. It was strange how my diet will power was like crap this week, but I didn't have any cravings whatsoever. Tomorrow night I will probably want to kill for a peanut butter M&M, but I haven't had one the whole time my diet has been like crap.
• Likely, I am going to have a beer or two a night, or a glass or two of wine. It is what it is. I am going to try to drink 16 oz of water after every drink. That should keep me hydrated and full.
• I am going to take Little Redhead's advice about not being so strict about weighing and measuring. After spending some time in the Zone, I know what sizes things are that I need to eat. If I eat a little more or a little less on any given day, I am not going to trip. I just want to eat good and get good performance out of the fuel that I put in my body. As long as my eats are 30-30-40, I should be good to go.
• Sunday is still a cheat day, and I will allow one cheat meal on Saturday just because it always seems to be the day at work when everyone wants to go out to eat.

I think if I make these adjustments, I will have a much easier time trying to Zone. Will I ever get below 10% body fat??? I doubt it, but I do believe my performance will excel. I hit so many new PR's the last two months....and I still want more! 

HIDING OUT

I have been dreading posting again. I stopped Zoning last weekend. It was ugly. It wasn't so much that I ate a ton of crap, but I just didn't even try to eat in the Zone. By Sunday night, I was disgusted with myself. I needed a change. I am not training (hard) right now, so I decided to try the Paleo Diet. The last time I tried the Zone I switched to the Paleo and it turned into a great excuse to not diet at all. I guess I'll see how it goes this time around. The fact of the matter is I need to get on the Zone again. I can attest to to the performance enhancing benefits of Zone on myself and others at One World. To tell you the truth....it's just fucking hard for me to stick to this diet because my will power sucks and I get lazy! I admire those of you who strict Zone and treat food simply as fuel for the body.

So here's how it stands so far... I did so-so for the last five days. I had a hamburger and fries one night, but for the most part, I have stuck to the Paleo diet pretty legit. Basically I nibble on food all day long.... meats, veggies, fruit, and nuts and seeds. I am not losing weight, but I am not gaining weight either. Tuesday will be my first day back to training hard again. I am interested to see how my first week of training goes.

Starting the Zone diet really screwed with my head in both good ways and bad ways.

• I now contemplate everything I eat before I put it in my mouth. Of course, that doesn't mean I always make the best choices, but at least I am thinking about my food. When I started the diet, I was hoping that my mindset about food would change. I think I make some smarter choices now.
• Even on my cheat days, I would feel guilty about what I ate. 
• I like wine and beer, and they will always be my dietary downfall.
• I don't eat hardly any of the junk I used to eat. Some things I have not eaten, or rarely eaten, that I ate regularly (like literally once a week or more, some lots more) before I started the Zone: carnitas burritos and tacos, western bacon double cheesburgers from Carls Jr. (minus bbq sauce add mayo), Pepperidge Farm's soft baked cookies and milk, Iced Mochas with whip from Starbucks, Big Mac's, french fries, vanilla milkshakes, Noah's bagels with cream cheese and lox, doughnuts from Amy's....there's more but I can't think of them all right now. When I think of the way I used to eat, I find it quite amazing that I didn't have any health problems and that I pullled off pretty good Crossfit WOD results .

So where do I go from here??????

I imagine I will try to just eat smarter than before. I will try to Zone again. I usually get some good inspiration from Joe D. I definitely will Zone for a couple months leading up to the Crossfit Games.

I placed a link for the Paleo Diet on the blog. Check it out, it's pretty interesting. I also changed the link for "What is the Zone?". Much more informative website now.

Stay tuned!!!   

SEMI-SQUARED AWAY

Hey all! I apologize for being MIA the last couple days. I told you I would get into a funk from not being able to train.

Yesterday was my first "day off" from training. I did really well at tightening the reigns on my food intake. I ate/drank a four block smoothie for breakfast. I went to work and had a Zone bar and two 2 block snacks (chicken/apple/cashews) over the next six hours. At around 8 pm, my partner suggested we get some Chnese food. Who am I to argue...he has senority! I had some Chinese chicken salad and some roasted duck. Definitely not a Zone meal. All was good for me the rest of the night until I got home around 3 am. I had a couple handfuls of roasted peanuts before falling asleep.

Today was the same M.O. Smoothie at home, Zone bar and a couple 2 block snacks at work. I lost control at dinner. We went to Fudruckers. I so wanted to eat a big giant bacon cheeseburger and some fries, but I made a slightly better choice: a rib-eye steak sandwich with a side salad. Neither item was very big, but I ate all of it, and I totally felt like I had overeaten afterwards. Though I felt full and sluggish afterward, I was still happy that I didn't order the 1 lb bacon cheeseburger and fries or eat the free chocolate chip cookies that wanted so badly.

Why is that food can make you feel so good while your eating it, but leaves you feeling like crap when you eat to much???   

GOOD TIMES!

Hey All!

Nailed my Zone diet Monday and Tuesday. Today I went to Crossfit Santa Cruz and did a WOD called "The Bear." I thought I had a pretty good workout. I felt really strong. I could have pushed the envelope a little farther my last set, but my grip was not as strong as the rest of my body. 

I left SC happy and hungry. By time I got back to One World, it was almost time to coach the 4pm session. I had enough time to go to Quizno's and get a very unZone prime rib sandwich on wheat bread. I might as well get some chips too right??? (I did...) Loser!!! The sandwich led to another sandwich on the way home from the gym. The second sandwich laid the groundwork for a few beers. So...good work performance followed by lousy dietary performance. Can you say LACK OF WILL POWER?!?!?!?

Some good news and some bad news.

The bad news first. I am taking the next two weeks off from training starting tomorrow. My back has not been right since July, and I have been training pretty hardcore for the last 8 weeks. I have a lot of soreness in my back that only subsides when I pop some 800mg motrins. Since it does't bother me much when I take the motrin, I am hoping the soreness is an inflamation issue and not a structural issue.

The good news, I am going to have to attempt to be strict on my diet for the next two weeks. I don't want to turn into a bum. This is going to be tough. I get real bummed out and grumpy when I can't train, and I see myself making a lot of excuses on why I don't need to watch what I eat. Wish me luck! Tony Budding suggests I stick to pull-ups and working on the rings for the next two weeks. Do you know how hard it is going to be tomorrow not to try the "Heavy Fran" posted on the main site???

Back to Zone info. The last two mornings, I have started my day with a four block smoothie (2 cups milk/1 cup frozen strawberries/half cup frozen blue berries/2 tbs protein powder/large scoop of cashews). I always swore I would never eat/drink these things again after trying it when I first attempted Zoning. It hasn't been so bad! I bring a Zone bar (another thing I swore I hated) and eat it a couple hours into my morning sessions. The Zone bar holds me off nicely until lunch. Besides, the smoothie tastes pretty damn good, and smoothies and Zone bars are pretty damn convenient.

Eat Smart and Tain Hard (with super good form so you don't trash your back)!!       

PERFECTION

I nailed my diet today! Talk about feeling 100% better. It was the first day I ate totally clean for quite some time. I must have really pounded down a lot of garbage over the weekend, becasue there was not a single time today that I can recall feeling hungry.I performed yesterday's front squat workout in the morning and today's shoulder workout in the evening. Both were strength workouts, and despite some problems with pain in my lower back, I performed really well. New PR's in both workouts.

I have found that eating a little less at breakfast and lunch gives me the opportunity to eat extra snacks in the afternoon. 4 block breakfast/ 4 block lunch/ Two 2 block snacks before dinner, and a nice 5 block dinner is the perfect combination for me. Those two block snacks in the afternoon are money! I am going to try the same thing tomorrow.

What I ate and my workout:

4 block breakfast- Two egg, cheese, tomato and jalapeno egg sandwiches.

Workout #1- Max front squats 1 rep X 10

4 block lunch- Salmon burrito (yummy!)

2 block snack- 3 oz salmon/ 1 apple/ 6 cashews

Workout #2 -Shoulder press/ push press/ push jerk workout as per www.crossfit.com

2 block Zone bar (still not my favorite thing to eat, but it worked really well for me today)

5 block dinner- 7.5 oz salmon/ 1 block brocolli/ 8 oz wine/ 1 apple/ 15 cashews

I only rowed 1000m today. I definitely could have used a little more cardio today to burn off all the extra calories I ate the last few days. There is a nice sweaty workout coming tomorrow though. I am determined to crush it despite my back problems.   

HANGOVERS AND WOD'S DON'T MIX

I just posted yesterday that I needed a really bad performance in a WOD to get my head back on straight about Zoning. Today was the eye opener. Yesterday was our Police Officer Association golf Tournament. I worked as a volunteer. I was running late, so I didn't workout, and I didn't eat or pack any food. I got stuck working at one hole with no golf cart... no food... and a ton of beer, well, Budweiser anyway (you know I am a Heiny or Becks man!) Needless to say, I was on a liquid diet all day long. There was a big buffet dinner that night. I remember eating bbq chicken, tri-tip and salad. I don't even recall what else I ate.

Did I ever mention that cops are some hardcore drinkers??? A bunch of us went to a bar afterwards and I had two pints of some good Blue Moon. I got home at 10 PM (Some of my co-workers closed down the bar) all fat and happy. I didn't think I would be hungover the next morning.

This morning sucked!! I didn't have a headache, but I definitely had a hangover. I was dehydrated and felt like crap. I had to do my workout because I missed it on Friday. I did the Filthy Fifty in a horrible 27:08. Over a full minute slower than my PR. I felt just horrible through the whole workout and was totally surprised that I didn't puke.

It's going to be Monday before I can get my act back together. I already have plans for dinner and other events tomorrow. At least one of those events will be a nice Zone friendly grocery shopping trip! 

UP AN DOWN

Sorry for the delayed post. I got home from work at almost three in the morning and tried to post, but I couldn't stay awake. I appreciate all the nice comments of encouragement and appreciation that have been posted here. I am doing my best to stay on top of this blog so we can all share our experiences.

Yesterday (Thursday), I fell into what is seeming to be my typical routine. A good Zone breakfast (four blocks), a good workout, and a good Zone lunch (four blocks). But then I went to work....Work has me kind of jacked up. I just got a new assignment at work. I patrol this huge shopping center on a bicycle. I look at it as I am finally getting paid to work out!!! I am on the bicycle all day. The problem is I get damn hungry. Its like swimming at the beach, I feel hungry every hour. I know I am burning up a lot of calories during the course of my day, and I end up using it as an excuse to eventually eat like crap.

So, a couple hours into shift, I went with a some of the guys to Chili's. They have a pretty good "Guiltless" menu there. I ordered a chicken sandwich with a double portion of steamed veggies. After about another hour or so of riding, I was starving again. There was a meeting at a local pizza place. The officer in charge invited me and my partner to stop by. I ate five pieces of pizza!! I felt almost sick after that. The wierd thing was that after another hour or so, I was hungry again. Luckily, I had to cover on a complicated call that kept me busy until the end of my shift, so I didn't eat again the rest of the night.

I have only put on about two pounds since I stopped strict Zoning. But really, I am not so interested in losing weight anymore, I want performance numbers. The crazy thing is I have PR'd almost every workout I have done for the last two weeks. I have always been kind of lucky in that I had pretty good performance numbers prior to doing the Zone. I remember being at the Vancouver trainer cert and Coach Glassman started out his nutrition lecture by stating you could not have a sub-four minute Fran without a good diet. I had no diet whatsoever at the time, and my Fran time was 3:29. So I guess I was an exception to the rule. It was the Crossfit Games that made me see the light. I got crushed by some AMAZING athletes. All the top five athletes were Zoners. Seing those results and having Nicole dog me about not dieting put me over the edge and was the kick in the pants that I needed.

I definately have seen an improvement since I first attempted the Zone. My Fran time is down to 3:18. But as I said in past posts, I don't think it is all diet. I am sleeping better (not working graveyard anymore). I am programming 3 on, 1 off, per the main site. Everythng except my diet is clicking pretty good right now. I think I really need a crash and burn workout to help me get my head on straight, but for now, the way I have been eating is working for me. I definitely eat a WHOLE lot better than I did pre-Zone.

Any thoughts??? 

SMOOTH SAILING TO TRAIN WRECK