Fiddleman

Thanks for the response BTB. Always thoughtful and honest. I am not sure I buy into this study myself. It sounds too good to be true and consuming that much caffeine (500-600 mg) post workout on a regular basis seems like a problem.

I found this interesting study of the impact of caffeine on restoration of glycogen stores. Interesting! http://m.usatriathlon.org/about-multisport/multisport-zone/fuel-station/articles/post-workout-caffeine-consumption-recovery-tips-100510.aspx I am a strong supporter of using caffeine as a tool for better and more effective workouts. Using caffeine to aid in the recovery process is counter to what I thought I knew about caffeine after working out.

15 m plank? You are awesome!

great - thanks for the suggestions. I'll look them up, starting with Flynn.

Talked to my primary cross fit coach (owner) today about my December goal of achieving sub 20 or sub 18 min on filthy 50 workout described earlier in this thread. We both came to the conclusion it is not realistic. Instead, I am going to attempt to shave 30 seconds off my existing time by end of month. Today I did 3 rounds of 10 x set of max back squat. This is harder then I anticipated and began to really struggle after 3rd round at rep 7 where I "failed and bailed." Bailed properly this time and did not drop bar forward as I did a week and a half ago. Second part of workout was 4 400 m sprints with 1 min break in between. Man, it was frigid outside for this. I know Seattle is not nearly as cold as Midwest (25 f instead of -20 f), but still. First time sprinting in sub freezing temps. Did not cramp so am glad for that.i got 55 s,61 s, 55 s and 54 s for the 4 sprints (aggregated, 1 mile). Feel bad for you guys in Midwest that are bone chilling cold and are trying to run outside. The only negative aspect of running in such cold weather is my respiratory system got all screwed up for about 45 minutes afterwards. Hard to breath. Felt like I needed an inhaler or something.

I may bail on this challenge. Not sure yet. I will give it a few more days to see if it makes sense to do this one with my daily workout (cross fit), the plank challenge, work and family time. Fit 20 knees to elbows in after doing the plank hold for the other challenge. Again, did these after the primary workout of sprinting a mile and doing some rounds of 10 rep max back squats so already taxed for energy. I do not have time to spend more time or, dare I say, energy, in the gym and spend close to 1.5 hours as it is doing all the prescribed cross fit stuff (warmup, mobility, pre workout, skill, workout,cool down, stretching). Not enough hours in the day. Hope I do not let you down if I duck out.

180 s on my plank today. Need to stop doing this after the workout when my energy is depleted. Arg. Bad habit I guess. I will try tomorrow to find time in the morning when not tired from a workout.

We have some 400 m sprints today to do as part of a workout. The kicker is that the air temperature is going to be between 25 and 30 F when I go to workout after work. Conflicting information out there. I do not have any nights, just workout shorts. Any suggestions for how to sprint in sub freezing temperatures as I have not done this before and am afraid of cramping. I get cold pretty easy too, especially in the hands and feet - even at normal temperatures.

Yup, my doctor did not ban NSAIDs for life, just during first 6 months.

very useful information as another point of view. Many different points of view lead to a more educated and discerning decision making process. Thanks for sharing. For myself, I think taking NSAIDs or some other pain medicine post workout was a knee jerk reaction when soreness hit and may have contributed to a prolonged healing process and lack of progress across months of working out. I had always taken nsaids for my chronic back issues and taking it after the grueling Cross fit workouts just made sense as a means to eliminate soreness completely or good enough. Definitely a learning experience for me to not take them. I think my justification for using NSAIDs regularly stems from never being in this situation before. That is, being in a situation of constant soreness derived from working out like an athlete for many months (following attainment of goal weight in February 2013), but without the guidance or experience to know when to take off season rests or when to recover for more than a day or two or how to manage the recovery process more effectively. I made a deliberate decision to stop using NSAIDs last week as a post workout strategy. Surprise- I have done several hard met cons and lifting days since then, and, actually feel better overall in the period before the next workout. I no longer feel so fatigued long after the workout (bed time for example), but rather, as BTB states above, invigorated. I am finding I do not need the nsaid to control inflammation as much as I thought I did, but, instead, need to continue a keen focus on stretching, mobility and good posturing outside of working out. I am still using fish oil and contrast showers to feel my best, but not taking ibuprofen when the soreness hits (30 minutes post workout). The mobility work (roller, lacrosse ball, yoga) seems to be the magic to reducing the lactic acid build up, so I feel aligned with the view point of the article.

Yes, I do planks with shoes on. Always have from day 1. Might I add that doing planks with cross train or lifting shoes really helps (make sure it has a solid toe box). Just started trying this a few days ago with my new lift training shoes and it makes it so much easier to feel planted and stable on the floor (surprise - burpees, squats and jumping lunges got way easier and more fluid also) . Maybe planks would work even better with cowboy boots on! Just sayin...

200 s plank in middle of hard 30 m "deck of cards" workout. Will try again tonight or tomorrow morning.

Anyone know how to get formatting to work right on android phones? HTML tags instead of WYSIWYG. Hope this bug gets fixed soon because it make reading posts harder then it needs to be.

Deck of card workout today:<br><br> 25 burpee warm up<br><br> 405 jumping lunges <br> 405 pushup jacks<br> 405 air squats<br> 405 burpees<br> Joker 1: 200 jumping jacks<br> Joker 2: 200 s plank<br><br> 800 m cool down<br><br> Time: 31 minutes Sets are tied to numbers on cards. Ace counts as 20. 20 burpees sets...ug.<br><br> Really good workout.

Anyone found this interesting? I think it is really relevant. Applies to all pain medicine, not just nsaids.

Working out almost always causes weight gain in the days following. The primary reason is that protein synthesis pulls water into the muscles as part of the conversion of carbohydrates and fat into glycogen. Muscles will use this glycogen in the process of protein synthesis. And so the cycle continues and effects on the body are additive, meaning that you will see a net loss over time (e.g. a few days, a week, a month, etc. For this reason, it is best not to gauge the effectiveness of a workout solely on scale weight, especially the next day. <br><br><br><br><br> Also you need to eat enough calories and enough carbohydrates to fuel the workout. Insanity is going to require a lot of carbohydrates in order not to hit a wall during a workout or, worse, blackout, as you have stated almost happened a few times on your first day. Your body will work against you if it does not have enough fuel to support the expenditure of energy, as a defense mechanism, so eating is very important. No starvation diets if you want to reap the benefits. Not only will 500 calories cause you to hit a wall during a workout, but continually eating at such a deficit is going to put your metabolism into hibernation (you are 3 + years post op; I would not say the same thing to a 4 month post op individual). <br><br><br><br><br> Good luck on your insanity program. It should be a good one and will help you change body composition in addition to weight loss.

I am thinking about fiber one, all bran or high bran trader Joe bran. I an just a little concerned about the extra sugar in these. What do you guys eat?

Agree. My wife and I have been on vacation and are going to catch up when we get back. I read her the same quote above and nearly got killed myself.

I experimented this morning by mixing together 1/2 cup steel oats, 1/2 cup fiber one cereal (original) and 2 scoops of my syntha 6 cookies and creme protein powder. Normally, the steel oats and protein powder tastes pretty good together and fiber one in isolation, but all together, it was a little stomach churning. Still doable. I got full much quicker and got +100 fiber DV. Works for me. As an aside, steel oats and protein powder are awesome for slow release energy required for workouts that test your endurance, stamina and overall energy.

She hasn't started it yet (just asked), but did go to cross fit a couple times last week and plans on getting into that some more. She is ecstatic that it helped her drop an extra 3 lbs. Running, unfortunately, is not her thing yet. Perhaps in the future.

Thanks! I started doing planks about 8 months ago. 20 s was a long time. Over several months I surpassed 30 seconds, 60 seconds, 90 seconds, 180 seconds. A few months later, I worked up to 300 seconds. Practice is what it takes. I started in same condition as everyone, but have found fitness to be enjoyable in a somewhat self enlightening manner. And the more time you dedicate towards it, the easier and more enjoyable it becomes. Does not happen over night!! So that is how I got to 300 s over several months. Now I want to stretch my goals more.

Started out toward my DEC goal today with a travel workout (vacation cross fit box closed today) Warmup- 3 min plank 1/2 mile run 4 rounds: 10 pushups 10 air squats 10 sit ups 30 min mobility - mashed IT, gluts w/ lacrosse ball. Very sore and tight from 7 hours of car ride yesterday. "Deck of cards" workout- with following exercises: Pushups Jumping lunges Burpees Air lunges Joker #1- 100 jumping jacks Joker #2 - 1/2 mile sprint Time: 26 min For those wondering, deck of cards workout has a different exercise assigned to each face card. You do as many reps as number on card. Cycle through all cards until no cards left. Downloaded a new app to help with this workout. Special thanks to my wife for pressing the button and calling out the exercises. And motivating me. Good app, but randomness was grueling, especially with 10 burpee sets, sometimes 2 in a row. And the joker cards were separated by 2 cards near the end, when I was dieing. Anyways, glad to have my wife helping as I would probably give up 1/2 way through.

By the way, I am not able to click this link on my android phone version of the app.

The world record is over 3 hours set back in April, 2013. Impressive! I need to work more on core constantly so count me in on this one. However, as I can already do 300 seconds, I will start at 300 s and build a time table to reach 500 s by end of month. This extra challenge should only complement other fitness goals this month that need more core stability . Looking forward to an extra 3-5 minutes of burn every day.

That's a bit rude to cut in don't you think? Should at least ask.