LAst week or so

Hey all,

With all that has been going on (gym change, moving to LA and in with the girlfriend) my fitness has definitely taken a back seat. Doesn't that suck when life gets in the way of things we 'want' to do!? :) We have been looking for real state like crazy, in contact with our new employer and trying to solidify things up on the back end. To say the least it has been incredibly stressful. All yesterday afternoon/evening my Mother (thanks Mom) came over and helped me pack everything up. Only thing that is not in box or a crate is my bed, dresser, and book case (without books, I have a lot). My kitchen and garage are like a staging area ready for loading tomorrow morning so the move should be pretty smooth. Getting the couch in was a bit of luck so getting out should be interesting.

Moving, starting a new job, and starting to live with a significant other which I never have, has put my mind on many other things. I am excited to start up in LA, nervous a bit, but am excited to start a new chapter.

The last few weeks of fitness has had one goal. Attempt to maintain, not overtrain (under recover) and keep my sanity.

I am putting together a 4 week (6 if you consider transition) endurance phase geared towards improving aerobic capacity, building mitochondria, and have a bit more recovery than usual. Without getting too into it, but having an ample supply of mitochondria will benefit energy production and fat metabolism (which is why we workout right?) The more we have, the more efficient these things are, the more fatty acids can be utilized for energy which burns fat at a better rate. Strength training, HIIT training, and steady state cardio all help develop more, however HIIT without 24-48 hours to recovery do not let these organisms regenerate (to speak your language, if you do a crossfit metcon EVERYDAY this will deplete over time). So the last few weeks I have been doing a strength session or power endurance session 3x/week plus 3 steady state sessions/week, 1 day completely off. Too many people in crossfit get caught up in the sexy metcon but once you hit that 'plateau' one must figure out how to improve and get past it. In my case my strength is decent, my steady state cardio and ability to recover is pretty low. This comes a perfect time for me to do this because HIIT (crossfit metcon) is incredibly stressful on your nervous system, where as steady state cardio at 55-65%MHR, not so much.

A sample of this, yesterday:
1. cardio + mobility
2. triple under practice
3. 30/30's where rest period player must complete 5 strict pull ups (4 exercises were given, a total of 5 rounds at each station)
 a) double under
 b) DB snatch @ 70#
 c) sprint on treadmill @ 8%incline @ 8.5 speed
 d) StOH @ 135#
player completes as many double unders as possible in 30'' then during 30'' rest period player must complete 5 strict pull ups, same for snatch, then sprint, then StOH...cycling through for 20'

Then today I did 45' of steady state cardio at a pretty easy pace (I ran)


I will be starting this new cycle in a few weeks once I get settled in LA. I encourage all of you who have my same weaknesses/strengths to do this. It is the perfect time (for the open next year)


For an interesting read on some truths behind Crossfit, read the following link:

http://joshsgarage.typepad.com/Crossfit_White_Papers_--_Timeline.html