Often during our warm-up, our athletes find themselves walking around in a full squat with their hands up behind their heads. We encourage them to go and take a certain number of steps and find out what their fellow athletes have had as a fat source for breakfast. This wonderful hip opener is affectionately called "pigs on ice skates". This morning, if an athlete was found out not to have had any fat prior to workout, they had to perform some dynamic encouragement (aka. pushups).
We often find that many of our morning athletes have failed to consume any fat at all and are working out in a fasted state or missing this vital macro-nutrient. Some of our super jocks actually meet their fat intake with whole milk or half and half in their coffee. Clearly even a few almonds will do. The dietary fat dearth is often more indicative of a larger nutritional problem, mainly that while some people know how many grams of protein they've consumed, they don't actually know how much fat they've had.
This is a problem. You should treat your fat source like you do your protein (ie. organic free range, grass fed beef with names and child sleep partners).
We consider the glucagon/insulin teeter toter to be balanced out. Protein on one side and carbohydrate on the other. In the middle, as a teeter totter neutral fuel source, is good old fat. So get some, and make it quality would you?
Coach kstar
11 comments:
Ok, ok. So I know that I tend to be the one to dispute these fasting things. First off, I tend to eat quite a bit of fat in my diet. Considering I have lost as much if not more than Bernard in the last 7 months, I think I am doing something right.
One thing I have never done however, is eat before a 6am crossfit class. I generally eat dinner pretty early (by 7 or so). Normally dinner is my largest meal (5 blockish with 2x fat). I guess the issue that I have with this (especially as it relates to the 6am class) is that I am not going to wake up half an hour to an hour earlier than I already do in order to get something in my stomach. I have always been told it takes at least an hour to begin digesting food. On top of that, I have a weak stomach and I don't know that I would want to be any closer to pukie than I already get.
That being said, I have taken Kstar's advice of eating before the Saturday classes. Is my performance better? Its really hard to say as I have never done two of the same workouts in a similar cycle (within a month or so) with one of them in a fasted state and the other in a non fasted state. Also, as one of the few who frequents both the evening and the morning classes, I can't really say that my performance is too different between those either. Obviously the evening classes are in a non fasted state. Anyway just my 2 cents.
Because the crossfit workouts are relatively short, I can tolerate some amount of food in my stomach prior to doing the workout. I can also eat before cycling or swimming with high intensity. For some reason I cannot do that before running hard. Running gives my stomach the hee-bee geebies something awful whether it has food in it or not but its better off empty. I need at least 2 hours before running hard to eat something and not get an upset stomach.
I'll eat a Lara bar (fat from nuts) sometimes at 5:30 before the morning class, and then get my protein (eggs, ham, bacon, protein shake if in a hurry) after class. Seems to work OK.
I love how Coach K said that we "find ourselves walking around in a full squat"... like we happened upon it accidentally ... and I am with Nick on this one. It is hard enough to get out of my warm plush bed at 5:30, ain't no way I am getting up early enough to eat first...and while a few almonds seems reasonable, it also seems gross at that time of day.
I'm one of those rare people that actually does wake up hungry first thing in the morning, so since I'm a 6am class girl, my routine is a little tupperware for the car ride that has a walnut half (or 3 almonds), half a stick of TJ's light string cheese, and half a dozen blueberries. Not very much, but enough for me...that's my routine and i like it! Then again, I don't have a sensitive stomach so maybe that grosses people out, but to each his own I suppose :)
Kitty
Before Sat. AM workouts I like to have a miller high life and an AM/PM hot dog or slim jim jerkey stick.
BTW, if anyone is interested, Jack and I were considering going to this Olifting seminar at Crossfit Norcal in October. Its drivable and features Greg Everett and Aimee Anaya.
http://www.performancemenu.com/resources/events/olyClinicChicoOct18-19.php
Jack, my email is nrhrun@gmail.com
I like to mix up a pre workout shake consisting of hair from a lions mane, fresh goats milk, sharks teeth which I grind up into a fine powder, and gilly weed so I can breathe underwater. Its kind of grainy going down, but 30 mins later im ready to PR. O r I just have an egg, some bluberies, and a handful of almonds. Whatever works.
Lucas
I like to mix up a pre workout shake consisting of hair from a lions mane, fresh goats milk, sharks teeth which I grind up into a fine powder, and gilly weed so I can breathe underwater. Its kind of grainy going down, but 30 mins later im ready to PR. O r I just have an egg, some bluberies, and a handful of almonds. Whatever works.
Lucas
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2008-07-01-oblique_N.htm
I just read this article and it reminded me about Kelly Starrett's post about training rotation. Just thought it would be interesting, any comments?
Jerimiah
PS hi Boz
Very interesting article! The picture of the batter swinging really drove home Kelly's point for me. If the upper torso is not able to resist the rotational forces generated by the hips and legs, then you would seem to get over-rotation, where the upper torso rotates more than the hips, potentially straining the obliques. At least that's what my intuition tells me (I'm no physio).
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