Vintage

This is going to depend heavily on your particular crossfit programming. Do you have dedicated strength sessions there? Is it heavy, low volume, or high volume low weight? Do you do a lot of long metcons, but lack the super short, all out efforts? Or is it the other way around? Skill work was the first thing that popped into my head. Gymnastics work can keep you occupied and let you work on a lot of the stuff cf classes don't get into their programming (at least not in depth). Handstand progressions, lots and lots of hollow body drills, ring-work if you can find a place. Forward rolls and handstand forward rolls, cartwheels. Even simple gymnastics movements help with body position awareness and control, and that has huge carryover. Double-unders are a cf specific skill area. Go get on a rower and focus on your form, timing, and hitting+ holding certain paces. Spend some time learning to kip correctly if you've got the shoulder stability, and work on making your TTB and pull ups super efficient. When you're close to a muscle up, start drilling towards those. Oh, and mobility work. One day/week of sprints might be awesome, too. Hill sprints especially. Last idea: go find a physically active class or activity to get into, or join a rec league.

1. It's very very difficult to lose weight and gain muscle simultaneously, and gets harder the leaner you get. This is why bodybuilders and the like will cycle through bulks and cuts. BUT the exception is beginners who have a good amount of fat on them. Beginners can definitely lose fat while their strength numbers go up. In truth, a lot of those early gains are more about technique and neuro-muscular adaptation (in other words, you and your brain learn to use your muscles better) than actually adding muscle mass. So you should be able to lift while eating at a deficit and still see strength gains for a while. How long will depend on a lot of personal factors, including where you're starting at. 2. What do you mean here? Is sounds like you need a workout routine that allows you to improve you pushing and pulling strength. Those are both important parts of "proper" workout routines. You can go with a bodyweight routine and find a scale of pull up (inverted rows, bent over rows, negatives, etc) that work for you now that you can progress within the routine. You can also use something like starting strength or strong lifts. Focus on compound, full body movements and stay off the machines if your goal is functional strength, balance, coordination, etc. Look for a routine that gives you space for progression in weights, reps and/or movement difficulty. 3. There is a way around that - a well-rounded diet composed of a variety of nutrient-dense foods, and a healthy dose of skepticism. Protein is the most commonly taken supplement around here, and it's useful if you're having trouble getting in a solid amount of protein. I take fish oil, but personally I take it because I have rheumatoid arthritis, my recovery is often poor and I work out hard 5-6 days/week. 4. Do you mean how do you maintain gains long-term without having to work out? I don't know that you do. Plus I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around not wanting to work out or keep on making gains.

If you don't feel comfortable in the low-bar position, there's no real reason to do it. I use both on occasion (I had to learn to high bar squat for oly lifting mechanics) - I could come in on Friday and low bar squat a one rep at 205 to just below parallel, but then come in the next week and go ass to grass on high bar but only at 195. I didn't get any weaker over the weekend. As for the advice to arch... I don't like that much. Thinking about arching may work for some people to counteract the tendency to round forward, but having your back really arched during heavy squats could cause some problems. Plus there's no real reason not to learn to brace your core properly from the start.

"Just one more" plays in my head a lot when I'm in the higher rep range. I'll be partway through a tough set of kettlebell swings, thrusters, toes to bar, pull ups, etc. and start wanting to break it up... so I tell myself "just get one more before you break"... and then do it again and again... at some point in this I realize I'm so close to being done that it would be pointless to break it up, so I just finish it out. When I'm getting tired and lactic acid is building, thinking that I have to do 10 more may seem impossible so I'll break it up. But I know I can always do one more.

I use myfitnesspal and it works well for me. The more you use it, the faster/easier it is, because it stores what you ate previously for quick access. Recipes you have two options - make an actual recipe, if it's something consistent, or enter ingredient by ingredient. Either way, you'll have to actually put in your ingredients and quantities at least once. I'd honestly recommend doing some measuring at first. It takes less time than you think. For most ingredients it's cups, tablespoons, teaspoons or liquid ounces (I'm American), but usually for meats it's in weight. If you don't have a scale, there are two options - look online for some pictures and explanations for what 3 oz or 4 oz of your favorite ingredients look like, and estimate, or when you use full packages of meats they should have weights on them (so if I buy 1.25 lb of flank steak, I have 20 oz, then I know I have 5 portions of 4 oz). I rarely have to measure any more (though periodically I will), but that's because I did it enough that I'm reliable about estimating now. One tip: if you do things like make smoothies, they may vary every day by what fruits/veggies you put in, but they also might have a common base that you start with. You could make a recipe for that, and then only have to add the ingredients that vary daily separately. I do this with my fridge oats, since the fresh fruit/nuts/sweeteners I use vary, but the basic recipe for the oats is the same. For calories, I'd say to track for a day or two, look at how much you're eating, and reduce by maybe 100-200 (if you're already losing weight with your current diet, and depending on how fast that's happening now). This relates to another option besides calorie counting... if you've got a rather consistent diet, then really you could just not bother finding out how much you're eating, and just cut out a couple of hundred calories/day from your usual diet now by removing something you eat regularly. So for me that might mean knowing that I have about 1.5 tablespoons of almond butter with my apple or banana for afternoon snack - that's about 140 cals. Get rid of that (and don't replace the calories elsewhere), and I've increased my deficit.

I'd suggest consider using ground beef and/or turkey. They're cheap, easy to cook in quantity, and versatile (you can get some variety by using different seasonings and vegetables). For chicken, thighs and legs are much cheaper than breasts and often better for bulk cooking because they don't dry out nearly as easily. And for vegetables, try to get in some variety there to make sure you're getting everything you need. In-season veggies are cheapest. Frozen is superior to canned, and can be a lot cheaper than fresh at times (I keep giant bags of frozen broccoli florets in the freezer all the time - I chop them up to add to all sorts of stuff). Dried (not canned) beans and lentils can be a great, cost effective way to add bulk, fiber, protein and carbs to your meals. They take longer to cook, but soaking them first helps.

I would say give it a little time. Your brain and body might adjust to the new foods and your appetite might level off. You might also not be eating as many calories as you think if you're basing your diet around vegetables and lean meats. If you notice significant weight gain that sticks around for several weeks, then do some calorie counting and adjust accordingly. What's makes a vegetable a breakfast vegetable? In my life, if you eat it for breakfast, it's breakfast. My breakfasts often involve a lot of re-purposed leftovers (meats and veggies). I keep veggies pre-diced in the fridge for quickly tossing in a pan in the morning (and fully or partially cooked sometimes, depending on the veggies). I bulk cook on Sunday, but generally don't make anything specific for breakfasts - but I will make extra of some things (meats and veggies) or dice extra veggies while I'm at it, and set them aside for breakfasts. It all gets tossed in a pan in various combinations, and if I want it to be breakfast-y, I top it with an egg. An example morning: Yesterday I woke up and tossed some leftover shredded, roasted sweet potato in a pan and stirred it around til it was warm, then slid it on a plate. Then I put a little bit of butter in the pan, and put in a few tablespoons of onion (pre-diced and stored in tupperware in the fridge), stirred it around a few times, and added in kale and spinach (the pre-washed, ready to eat stuff) and a little bit of water, a few red pepper flakes, and sprinkle of salt, and let them soften. Then came chunks of pork chop (Thursday night I had made pork chops for dinner, and cooked an extra one, then cut it in bite-sized pieces so it was ready for rapid reheating). After about 60 seconds, I tossed in about 5 cherry tomatoes that I had cut in half (using the lid of my pork-chop leftover container as a makeshift-cutting board since it was going to have to be washed anyways). After about 5 stirs, I slid it all onto the plate next to the sweet potato. Then I put a little bit more butter into my pan, and cracked in an egg. I broke the yoke so it would cook quickly (I don't like runny yolks), sprinkled it with salt and pepper, let it cook most of the way, flippped it over and immediately turned off the heat (the pan is still hot, so it will finish cooking the egg without drying it out accidentally). I poured my second cup of coffee, grabbed some salsa out of the fridge (I'm Texan), slid the egg out of the pan on top of the kale mixture and chowed down. Total time was less than 10 minutes, and I ended up with one small skillet, a spatula, a knife, a thing of tupperware, and my plate and fork to wash.

I don't know that I agree to be honest. Yes, many people can eat strict paleo and not need to count calories, because it is harder to go overboard on calories if you're truly eating paleo (read: your diet is based around unprocessed meals of vegetables, lean protein, healthy fats and some fruit... you didn't just replace your daily baked goods with paleo-fied versions and you're not eating almond butter by the jar). But the question here is related to the opposite issue - is the OP eating enough calories (or enough of the right things)? And that is very much an issue with paleo. Depending on your diet before, there's a good chance that your calorie estimations are off, simply because your old standards of estimation aren't going to be much use. I'd say if you're feeling hungry and want to know if all is well, then do the math, at least for a few days. Be accurate. How many calories, carbs, fats and proteins are you getting per day, and where are those distributed through the day (especially relative to physical activity)? After a few days of doing the math on calories, not only will you have several days worth of concrete data to make your decisions on, you'll also have given yourself time to adjust to the changes. There's a good chance your body will adjust just fine -- many of our hunger signals are a combination of our brains expecting food and communicating that to our digestive system and our bodies trying to adjust to using different amounts and sources of energy. the short version: give it more time and gather some concrete data while you're at it... then you'll be in a better position to judge whether changes are needed.

Excellent! I was out of town for the March 8th meet and totally bummed about missing the chance to meet everyone. For Nerdster... potluck? How should we go about that?

That does sound like normal stiffness/soreness after use. Just stay moving throughout the day (being a preschool teacher helps... I've done that job), so if you have to sit for long periods try to get up periodically and stretch a bit. Do some basic stretches (child's pose, up/down dog, toe touches) to minimize the stiffness. I always end dead lifting sessions (or any other heavy back days) with 5-10 minutes of stretching that focuses on my back and posterior chain. Some people use ibuprofen, but I've read some research that says that while it's not harmful, we should remember that a certain amount of inflammation is part of our body's healing process, so we shouldn't be too quick to medicate it away. I try to reserve the pills for the days I'm too sore to perform basic functions.

Without a form video or a medical examination, none of us can say for sure, but my back does get stiff and sore just like the rest of my muscles when I work them. You're not supposed to lift the weight with your back when you deadlift... but that doesn't mean your back muscles don't get worked. With all of your compound lifts, the muscles in your back (along with the rest of your core) should be active and working hard to provide stabilization -- if they're not active and working, your back will start rounding and your odds of a back injury skyrocket. Muscles have two big jobs: flexion/extension and stabilization. This is going to be true of all of your big compound lifts. Even on a bench press or strict overhead press, your legs, glutes and core should be super duper tight and active.

Maybe mention it to your doc next time you're in, but if you don't have other symptoms I might not worry overmuch. In addition to the other types of symptoms people have already mentioned, pay attention to the location of the bruises. Bruises on places with thin skin that get bumped around a lot is one thing (think shins, arms, knees, etc.)... if you start seeing bruises on your stomach and chest, for instance, that may be a different story. I've always been an easy bruiser, but now I've got some additional medical complications that make the problem even worse. I tend to play "Hey, how'd I get that bruise?" in the shower every night. I get strangers asking me what happened because my thighs are purple splotched and I'm like "Oh, I was foam rolling last night." One thing I noticed is that my bruising is always much, much more apparent in the winter (particularly towards the end, like now), when I'm at my palest. Once I start to get a little color, it's not nearly as obvious.

A lot of parents at my box use the back-to-back scenario. One will go to the first class, while the other one keeps the munchkin(s) and brings them to the box towards the end of the class. They get to cheer on one parent for the last few reps, then that parent takes the kiddo home while the other parent takes the next class. It's not perfect, especially because you don't actually get to work out with your S.O., but it works. Babysitters get expensive quickly, but there are probably some creative solutions. Ask around at your box, starting with the coaches, to see how other parents do it. There may be someone who has a great sitter that they'd be willing to share with you, or another mom that you can trade off watching both kids with, someone who has a teenager that could come to the gym and keep the toddler occupied and out of the way for an hour (while you're close-by), etc.

I would say that women on average have a harder time on OHP (and bench) than men on average. My guess is that if you were to somehow to graph the difficulty factor in making gains to show the distributions for men and for women, the mean for women would be higher (harder) and for men would be lower, but the two distributions would overlap quite a bit. You'd have men who struggled more than some women, and women who were close to the mean for men. The same is true for the ability to pack on muscle (yes, some women "bulk" up faster than others), fast twitch vs slow twitch muscle fiber ratio, lower body vs upper body strength, and all of the other areas where we compare men and women. Hell, it's probably very very similar to a histogram showing height distributions for males and females. As for OHP, one thing I've used for stalls (since I don't have fractional plates) is introduce tempos, particularly on the eccentric (downward) movement. If I had 3X5 of 75, for instance, but not 80, I would work on slowing down those 75# sets, maybe using a 2 or 3 second count down to start with. It helps with strength, control of the movement, and gives me time to focus on form.

I know sciatic nerve issues can cause symptoms that radiate in the pattern you've described. I had similar issues. In these cases, the sciatica stuff is a symptom of another problem, such as disc issues in your lower back. I'd go with the chiro or your gp, but it depends on the specific person and your relationship with them. If it is sciatica, you won't want to leave it at that, you're going to want to know the underlying cause so you can address it.

That's a tough thing to quantify. More than that, it's a pretty broad goal if you're not already really close. How about you pick 1-2 more specific behaviors that would get you closer to your goal? Depending on your current eating patterns, that might be eating one (or two, if you're already at one) home made, cooked from scratch meal/day (so you made it using whole ingredients that didn't come out of packages). Or look through your diet and find one processed food that you eat frequently and replace it with an unprocessed/homemade version - at one point for me that was salad dressings, mayo, marinades for my meat, and salsa. Meal-prepping was a huge one for me... I think I started with just having my meals planned out every week, and then I went to having 4/5 lunches for the week prepped on Sunday, and so on. A general note.. When I write out goals, I do it with a sort of flow-chart style diagram. In one bubble I'll have that type of big, overarching aim like "eat clean" or "improve absolute strength" or "reduce procrastination" but then I have a couple of smaller bubbles feeding out of that that are some of the specific behaviors to change to get me closer to the broad goal, and they become the focus of my SMART goal setting and measuring. This allows and encourages me to think long term, ensuring the things I'm choosing to focus on make sense within the bigger context and indulging my desire to have those big, vague and lofty goals, but on a day-to-day basis I can narrow my focus and efforts to the stuff I can do that day.

I'd spend more time on your diet before worrying about a B12 shot. I see some spinach, but breakfast and dinner are devoid of veggies -where are the rest of your greens? Not only will these provide you with vitamins, fiber, and minerals you need, they'll help your feel full without packing in calories. How're your iron levels? I see a lot of chicken, but that's not a great source of iron. Throw in some beef, pork, turkey, etc. And seafood, too. (bonus: these are significantly better sources of B12 in your diet than chicken, and the seafood will improve your Omega 3 intake). You seem to be taking in the bulk of your carbs at dinner (in the form of sweet potato), which may not be ideal. Carbs are a fantastic source of energy - night time usually isn't when we need that. As for calorie goals... don't spend too much time right now stressing about the perfect number of calories. First focus on figuring out what you're eating now. Be precise. No internet calculator will be as accurate as tracking your intake, reducing it by a couple of hundred cal/day to start with, and tracking the results. Then adjust accordingly.

Walking is unlikely to be a big issue. It's possible that it will slightly increase the calories you need to take in to bulk, but that should be it. For the exception of people for whom walking is very challenging (the very overweight and out of shape), our bodies are super efficient at walking long distances as far as calorie use and muscle use/damage goes, and that efficiency improves even more relatively quickly when someone walks a lot. If you think about early human history and evolution, the why will make a lot of sense. But just out of curiosity... how are you being forced to do this? If you really don't want to walk 8 miles and it isn't a part of your goals, don't do it.

I'd echo just about everything said above, especially the parts about measuring the stuff you plan to train and the advice to focus on 3-5 rep maxes as a beginner, but I'd add max reps of strict pull ups to the list (or longest negative if you don't have a strict pull up yet). And while you're doing this, see if you can get your friend to video you. It's helpful to look at at the time and to have as reference. And let this be the start of an obsessive habit of tracking everything. I keep a log on penzu now, so I can easily search for stuff when I need to, go back in and add notes and attach images, etc. Record what you planned to do, what you did (if it differed), the weights/reps, and how if felt/random thoughts. If I didn't PR but hit a previous number and it felt better, I note it. If I tried out a new cue or noticed a weakness or technique issue, I note it. If some body part isn't feeling so awesome, I note it. I'm losing weight, so I note bodyweight changes every 10 lbs or so because it affects my lifts.

I really really hate the way mine look without a bra. I've lost about 75 lbs in the past 18 months, and went from a 36G to a 32D in the process - I'm a lot happier with the overall size of my boobs, but I can't stand the shape. I'm 25 and I've never had kids, but my boobs sure look like they have. It's frustrating, and I suspect surgery is the only real fix. On the plus side, I've got pecs now... it doesn't help when I don't have a bra on, but when I do, the muscle helps fill out the top of the cup more.

Old navy actually does a damn good job with their compression bottoms. You might check those out. I do spend money on lululemon because their stuff holds up well, performs well, and looks cute. And since I left my previous job that required me to dress like a real grown up and I'm at the gym 1-2x/day, I wear workout clothes a lot, so they're a reasonable investment. But they have a fairly narrow size range, and when they pants are too tight they WILL be see through. Also, what I've learned from them is that stuff that was designed specifically as running gear often won't pass the squat/yoga test, since it wasn't designed for that.

I wouldn't spend too much time specifically training your calves. Like others have said, things like squats and prowler pushes will hit them hard. I have calves (and quads) that strangers comment on in grocery stores and whatnot. Part of this is just my genetics, but some things that have seemed to make them even more defined: jump roping as a chunk of my conditioning,often barefoot (though I do double unders also, which is awesome but should not be done barefoot unless you want to break a toe); sprints (on flats, up hills, and prowler pushes/sled pushes if you have access); lots and lots of squats of all kinds, including jump squats, almost all of which I do without shoes; bike riding. Oh, and try skipping. Power skipping, trying to get as high off the ground as possible, and long skips. Good for coordination, magically makes you happy, and works calves well.

The only supplements I take are protein powder and fish oil. I started taking the fish oil because I do have rheumatoid arthritis, and I did notice a big difference for that. But I also noticed that I was generally recovering better, my skin looks fantastic, and my lifelong depression is managed without medication. Of course, it's all anecdotal evidence... I don't have scientific proof for anything. But I think it's worth trying. I take a high dose of quality fish oil, and it's expensive. The Stronger, Faster, Healthier liquid is the most tolerable, high concentrated stuff I've found. Take it like a shot (my roommate actually uses a shot glass for this), and chase it with OJ to get the last of the taste out of your mouth. I struggle with the liquid stuff, so I generally take PurePharma's gel capsules. My dosage adds up to 3g of DHA+EPA per day (not 3g of fish oil, which isn't the same thing). Just a note: work up to higher dosages pretty slowly and use higher quality products to prevent side effects. Going from no fish oil to a high dose all at once will leave you with some tummy issues.

I'd lower reps and then add them back in. Go to the point where you feel yourself really struggling, and do one more rep. Then stop there, and aim to hit that same number in the next set. You'll be surprised how fast things like that will improve. Just a note... My natural tendency with lunges was to push off of my front toe and drive back up with my back leg, which was inefficient and exhausting. I had to focus for a long time on driving back up off of my front heel. This made things so much more efficient and stable (and hit my glutes harder, instead of letting the quads on my front leg power the drive).

Most definitely!